Inflammation in LE study

kira66715 · October 2011

Mei Fu has worked with us on stepupspeakout, we want to congratulate her on her new grant and study

http://www.physorg.com/wire-news/81174418/nyu-college-of-nursing-receives-450-thousand-dollar-nih-grant-to.html

NYU College of Nursing receives 450 thousand dollar NIH grant to research post-breast cancer lymphedema
October 27th, 2011

New York University College of Nursing (NYUCN) received a two-year, $452,218.00 grant from the national Institutes of Health (NIH) to research ""Proinflammatory Biomarkers and Post-Breast Cancer Lymphedema." Post-breast cancer lymphedema (LE), a syndrome of abnormal swelling and multiple distressing symptoms, is caused by injuries to the lymphatic system from cancer treatment. As advances in cancer treatment lengthen survival, LE has emerged as a high-impact long-term morbidity that profoundly impairs survivors' quality of life.

According to Fu, the purpose of this exploratory project is to prospectively examine levels and patterns of proinflammatory biomarkers and genetic variations in relation to limb volume change measured with the infra-red perometer-350S over a 12-month period in breast cancer survivors who are at risk for lymphedema.

"Among the 2.5 million breast cancer survivors in the U.S. more than 40% of them have developed lymphedema," said NYUCN Assistant Professor Mei Fu, PhD, RN, APRN-BC. "All women undergoing breast cancer treatment are at lifetime risk for lymphedema."

While removal of lymph nodes, surgery, and radiation are the major causal factors for lymphedema, cancer treatment is necessary for life-saving. Recent research has revealed that inflammation-infection and higher body mass index (BMI) are the main predictors of lymphedema besides treatment-related risk.

Unfortunately, these studies did not evaluate biomarkers known for inflammation, and thus the role of inflammation-infection in limb volume change and lymphedema development could not be ascertained.

Elevated levels of proinflammatory biomarkers have been speculated to be associated with inflammation in patients with lymphedema. Moreover, genetic variations may be one of the important factors that influence breast cancer survivors' responses to inflammatory processes and vulnerability to lymphedema, including survivors' responses to treatment-related trauma (such as surgery and radiation) and triggering factors (such as infection, burns, minor injuries, and higher BMI or obesity).

The project will employ a prospective, descriptive, and repeated-measure design. A sample of 120 women who are newly diagnosed and treated for invasive breast cancer will be recruited. Data will be collected to evaluate levels and patterns of proinflammatory biomarkers and genotypes known for inflammation in relation to limb volume change.

"This project is an important first step toward gaining necessary knowledge and insights into breast cancer survivors' susceptibility, which may help to identify survivors at higher risk based on individual survivors' biomarker patterns and genetic factors," said Fu. "Findings of the project are fundamental in developing and testing more intense and personalized interventions to prevent and treat LE among the breast cancer survivors."

Provided by New York University

NatsFan · October 2011

Hooray!!! Great news.

Of course the little cynical side of me can't help but notice that when money is involved, institutions suddenly recognize that 40% of us have LE and it can have serious impact on the QOL. However the rest of the time when we try to get care or bring it to their attention, we're dismissed because after all, LE is rare and/or non-existent. Undecided

Interesting on the inflammatory response issue. My onc put me on a daily baby aspirin regimen because she's been following studies that suggest a correlation between cancer and some kind of inflammatory response, and that women who take a baby aspirin a day have a lower rate of recurrence. I've been battling a truncal flare for the few days, but it wasn't until I read the article that it hit me. I've off baby aspirin for 10 days because I'm having a minor recon revision this coming Wednesday and they told me to stop taking it 2 weeks prior to surgery. I wonder if there's a connection between the flare and going off the baby aspirin???

kira66715 · October 2011

Mary, In the oncology text at my office, there's an entire chapter on inflammation and "sickness" in cancer patients.

I am hoping that the studies from Stanford hit the literature soon, as it's a direct study of treating LE with anti-inflammatory medications, and preliminary reports are very promising.

I always get confused with cytokines and markers of inflammation, but aspirin is clearly an anti-inflammatory (although ironically, it works "up the path" and can release some leukotrienes and some asthmatics wheeze with aspirin and standard NSAID's, and could take vioxx--or take them only when on singulair--a leukotriene inhibitor.)

I think your aspirin is likely working as an anti-platelet and an anti-inflammatory. Clearly there's a temporal association with the flare, and I sure hope it settles down quickly.

I know the anti-inflammatory diet has gotten press--fish oil is part of it, I just need to look up the other stuff. The anti-cancer diet is supposedly anti-inflammatory

OMG--went to get the anti-cancer book and discovered the author died this summer (he had recurrent brain cancer, was a researcher at Pitt, discovered his brain tumor when he popped into the MRI instead of a study patient. Still, I thought his research was good.)

http://www.anticancerbook.com/

Kira

Lunakin · October 2011

'Bout time LE gets more funding $$$. Great news.

carol57 · November 2011

Kira,

Much of the above is over my head, but it prompts a question: Does the c-reactive protein level provide a measure of 'pro-inflammatory biomarker'? Just curious.

Carol

Inflammation in LE study

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