Archive for the ‘Colon Cancer’ Category

Bisphosphonates Now Linked to Lower Risk for Colorectal Cancer

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Posted 29 Jan 2011 — by James Street
Category Colon Cancer, Drugs, Prevention

Authors and Disclosures

Journalist

Zosia Chustecka

Zosia Chustecka is news editor for Medscape Hematology-Oncology and prior news editor of jointandbone.org, a Web site acquired by WebMD. A veteran medical journalist based in London, UK, she has won a prize from the British Medical Journalists Association and is a pharmacology graduate. She has written for a wide variety of publications aimed at the medical and related health professions. She can be contacted at ZChustecka@webmd.net.

Zosia Chustecka has disclosed no relevant financial relationships.

From Medscape Medical News > Oncology

Zosia Chustecka

January 27, 2011 (San Francisco, California) — Taking bisphosphonates for osteoporosis for more than a year is associated with a reduced risk for colorectal cancer, according to a new study from the same Israeli group that reported a reduced risk for breast cancer.

Both sets of results come from an analysis of postmenopausal women who were taking mainly oral bisphosphonates, such as alendronate, for osteoporosis, and were reported by Gad Rennert, MD, PhD, and colleagues from the Clalit Health Services National Cancer Control Center in Haifa, Israel, at the 2011 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium, which is cosponsored by the American Society of Clinical Oncology and other societies..

The previous study, showing a reduction in breast cancer risk, was published last year; a similar finding has been reported by 2 independent groups from 2 different populations of postmenopausal women taking bisphosphonates.

These findings stirred great interest in the potential anticancer effects of bisphosphonates, but some experts raised concerns about the breast cancer data. They pointed out that postmenopausal women who were taking bisphosphonates for osteoporosis were likely to have low levels of estrogen, which led to the osteoporosis, and lower levels of estrogen are known to reduce the risk for breast cancer.

Dr. Rennert told Medscape Medical News that his team specifically set out to investigate the effect of bisphosphonates on tumor sites other than the breast to address these concerns. Demonstration of a protective effect at a site other than the breast “would help clear the question” of whether the effect seen with breast cancer is a drug effect or simply a reflection of low estrogen leading to osteoporosis and requiring bisphosphonates, but also reducing the risk for breast cancer in itself.

“Our new data about a similar effect in the colon suggest that it is the drug itself,” Dr. Rennert reported.

Further studies are ongoing. “We are working with more tumor sites and seeing a similar effect to what we are seeing with statins,” he said. “It definitely looks like a class effect, with a mechanism that possibly involves the mevalonate pathway, which is also involved in the metabolism of statins.”

New Data on Colorectal Cancer

“The use of oral bisphosphonates for more than 1 year was associated with a 60% relative reduction in the risk of colorectal cancer, similar to the recently reported association of this drug class with reduction in breast cancer risk,” Dr. Rennert and colleagues told the meeting.

The results come from a population-based case–control study of colorectal cancer — the Molecular Epidemiology of Colorectal Cancer — conducted in northern Israel. The data on bisphosphonate use were collected in a subset of 933 pairs of postmenopausal female cases and controls from the Clalit Health Services, using computerized pharmacy controls.

The use of bisphosphonates for more than 1 year prior to the diagnosis of colorectal cancer, but not for less than a year, was associated with a significantly reduced risk for colorectal cancer (odds ratio, 0.50; 95% confidence interval, 0.35 to 0.71).

This association remained statistically significant after adjustment for vegetable consumption, sports activity, family history of colorectal cancer, body mass index, and use of low-dose aspirin, statins, vitamin D, and hormone replacement therapy, the researchers note. Concomitant use of bisphosphonates and statins did not reduce the risk any further.

Intense Interest in Bisphosphonates

There is an intense interest in the potential anticancer effects of bisphosphonates, prompted by several intriguing findings in recent years. In addition to the data suggesting a protective effect against cancer discussed above, there have been several studies suggesting that these drugs have anticancer effects in patients who already have cancer.

The most positive of these results come from an Austrian study, which showed that breast cancer recurrence and death were reduced by a third in women taking bisphosphonates.

However, the most recent study on this was negative overall. The AZURE study found no effect from the potent bisphosphonate zolendronic acid (Zometa, Novartis) on the recurrence of breast cancer or on overall survival. However, a subset analysis showed a significant effect in postmenopausal but not premenopausal women; breast cancer recurrence and deaths were reduced by about a third.

Results from the AZURE study, presented in December 2010 at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, were described as unexpected and puzzling, and sparked much discussion at the meeting, as reported by Medscape Medical News at the time. This story will continue, because several more studies addressing this issue are underway.

Dr. Rennert and colleagues have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.

2011 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium (GICS): Abstract 371. Presented January 22, 2011.

Medscape Medical News © 2011 WebMD, LLC
Send comments and news tips to news@medscape.net.

Screening Can Substantially Reduce Risk of Colorectal Cancer

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Posted 05 Jan 2011 — by James Street
Category Colon Cancer, Diagnostic, Prevention

Previous studies have suggested that colonoscopies were only beneficial for finding cancers on the left side of the colon, the region more easily reached during the procedure. New research contends that while the test does detect more cancers on that side, it remained substantial for also finding adenomas on the right and is an effective tool for the protection against colon cancer.

Dr. Hermann Brenner and colleagues from the German Cancer Research Center enrolled 3,620 patients for a study – 1,688 with colorectal cancer and 1,932 healthy controls. The participants, all aged 50 or older) were asked if they had had a colonoscopy during the previous 10 years (1,023 had at least one) and their medical records were analyzed.

Overall, for those who had undergone colonoscopy, the risk for any colorectal cancer was reduced by 77%. Risk reduction was essentially the same among men and women, at all stages of cancer, and across ages.

Read: Lifestyle Changes Alone Could Cut Colon Cancer Rates

As seen in previous studies, there was a larger reduction in risk for left-sided colorectal cancer (84%), but the risk reduction in right-sided cancer was still significant at 56%. According to Dr. Brenner, his findings contrast that published in a 2008 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association in which a Canadian study found no protection from deaths from right-sided colorectal cancer.

According to the American Cancer Society, colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer diagnosed in both men and women in the United States with over 142,000 new cases found each year. The overall lifetime risk for developing colorectal cancer is about 1 in 19.

The colonoscopy is the standard and preferred method of screening for colorectal cancers, but there are also other methods available such as a flexible sigmoidoscopy and a fecal occult blood test.

Read: Home Colon Cancer Screening Test in the Works

Beginning at age 50, both men and women at average risk for developing colorectal cancer should be screened based upon their doctor’s recommendations. People at higher risk, including those with a personal or family history of cancer or polyps, should be screened earlier and more often.

Regular screenings can often find colorectal cancer early, when it is most likely to be curable, or may prevent the disease by removing benign polyps before they have a chance to turn into cancer.

Source references:
Brenner H, et al “Protection from colorectal cancer after colonoscopy: A population-based, case-control study” Ann Intern Med 2011; 154: 22-30.
Weinberg DS “Colonoscopy: What does it take to get it ‘right’?” Ann Intern Med 2011; 154: 68-69.
Soetikno RM et al “Prevalence of nonpolypoid (flat and depressed) colorectal neoplasms in asymptomatic and symptomatic adults”,JAMA. 2008;299:1027-1035.

99,000 lives saved from bowel cancer in Germany

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Posted 18 Nov 2010 — by James Street
Category Colon Cancer, Follow up Treatment, Prevention

11 Nov 2010

By the end of this year, colonoscopy screening will have prevented bowel cancer in approximately 99 000 people since it was introduced in Germany. This is the result obtained by Hermann Brenner of the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg and his co-authors in their interim assessment conducted eight years after the procedure was added to the German cancer screening program. The authors present their projection and initial results of colonoscopy screening in Germany in the current edition of Deutsches Arzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2010: 107(43): 753 – 9). The article was accompanied by an editorial on the subject written by Stefanie Klug of the Dresden University of Technology (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2010; 107(43): 751 – 2).

On the basis of German registry data, Brenner et al. determined the rates of participation in screening and the prevalence of advanced adenomas and carcinomas detected early, for each year from 2003 to 2008. Their projections for 2009 and 2010 were based on the values recorded for 2008.

The study showed that advanced adenomas had been identified and removed in more than 300 000 screening participants in the first eight years of the screening colonoscopy program. The projections showed that this had prevented approximately 99 000 cases of bowel cancer. If they had not been removed, these advanced adenomas would have become clinically manifest a median of 10 years after screening colonoscopy. Over the same period, approximately 50 000 colorectal carcinomas were detected early as a result of screening colonoscopy, mostly still at a curable stage.

In the authors’ view, still more cases would be prevented if the participation rate could be improved, using targeted invitations for example.

Screening colonoscopy has been offered as part of cancer screening in Germany since October 2002. It is available to men and women aged 55 and older.

Sources: Deutsches Aerzteblatt International, AlphaGalileo Foundation.

Article URL: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/207429.php

Main News Category: Colorectal Cancer

Also Appears In:  Preventive Medicine,

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Bowel cancer: 8 years of colonoscopy screening in Germany — a success story

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Posted 10 Nov 2010 — by James Street
Category Colon Cancer, Prevention

Contact: Dr. Stefanie Seltmann
presse@dkfz.de
Deutsches Aerzteblatt International

By the end of this year, colonoscopy screening will have prevented bowel cancer in approximately 99 000 people since it was introduced in Germany. This is the result obtained by Hermann Brenner of the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg and his co-authors in their interim assessment conducted eight years after the procedure was added to the German cancer screening program. The authors present their projection and initial results of colonoscopy screening in Germany in the current edition of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2010: 107(43): 753 9). The article was accompanied by an editorial on the subject written by Stefanie Klug of the Dresden University of Technology (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2010; 107(43): 751 2).

On the basis of German registry data, Brenner et al. determined the rates of participation in screening and the prevalence of advanced adenomas and carcinomas detected early, for each year from 2003 to 2008. Their projections for 2009 and 2010 were based on the values recorded for 2008.

The study showed that advanced adenomas had been identified and removed in more than 300 000 screening participants in the first eight years of the screening colonoscopy program. The projections showed that this had prevented approximately 99 000 cases of bowel cancer. If they had not been removed, these advanced adenomas would have become clinically manifest a median of 10 years after screening colonoscopy. Over the same period, approximately 50 000 colorectal carcinomas were detected early as a result of screening colonoscopy, mostly still at a curable stage.

In the authors’ view, still more cases would be prevented if the participation rate could be improved, using targeted invitations for example.

Screening colonoscopy has been offered as part of cancer screening in Germany since October 2002. It is available to men and women aged 55 and older.

A new food supplement from Israel targets colon and rectal cancer

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Posted 07 Nov 2010 — by James Street
Category Alternative Therapies, Colon Cancer, Natural Therapies, Nutrition and Cancer

A new food supplement from Israel targets colon and rectal cancer, as well as ulcerative colitis and other bowel diseases. The product, which has yet to hit the world market, is called Coltect. It is a combination of green tea polyphenols, curcumin powder from the turmeric root and the trace mineral selenium. Its effects were described at a recent oncology meeting and it is the subject of two clinical trials.

Results were presented at the 2010 American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium. The authors, from Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, tried Coltect alone or combined with a common drug, 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA), in cell line and animal models of colon cancer.

Depending on the dose, there was up to an 83 percent inhibition of cancer cell growth using Coltect. In the animal model, the combination of Coltect and the drug 5-ASA reduced the number of precancerous lesions from 66.5 in the control group to 20 in the group that received both agents. The authors concluded that Coltect “can be administered as a chemopreventive regimen to prevent” colorectal cancer.

While waiting for Coltect to hit the world market, one might consider taking a combination of green tea polyphenols, turmeric (with its key ingredient, curcumin) and Brazil nuts (a good source of selenium–use the kind that you have to shell yourself).

As for 5-ASA, it is not available without a prescription. But it is a derivative of salicylic acid and is chemically similar to aspirin. A 2003 journal article concluded: “Preclinical, observational, and clinical data consistently show that non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)—particularly aspirin—reduce colorectal carcinogenesis” (Hawk and Vine, 2003). So you might ask your doctor about taking a baby aspirin (81 mg) along with the anticancer food components.

Colon cancer afflicts over 100,000 Americans each year. Perhaps some of these cases could be prevented by the judicious use of anticancer foods, supplements and drugs, all of which are readily available. The toxicity of such agents is low and the cost of all together is less than a dollar a day.

References:

http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00793130

http://biopromedical.com/Coltect.html

http://www.asco.org/ASCOv2/Meetings/Abstracts?&vmview=abst_detail_view&confID=72&abstractID=1745

Hawk ET, Viner JL. Aspirin: still learning about the wonder drug. Gut. 2003;52(11):1535-1536.

Black raspberries may prevent colon cancer, study finds

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Posted 02 Nov 2010 — by James Street
Category Antioxidants, Colon Cancer, Natural Therapies, Nutrition and Cancer

Contact: Sherri McGinnis González
smcginn@uic.edu
312-996-8277
University of Illinois at Chicago

Black raspberries are highly effective in preventing colorectal tumors in two mouse models of the disease, according to a University of Illinois at Chicago study.

The findings are published in the November issue of Cancer Prevention Research.

Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer-related death in both men and women in the U.S., according to the National Cancer Institute.

Building on previous research that found black raspberries have antioxidant, anti-cancer, anti-neurodegenerative and anti-inflammatory properties, the researchers looked at the fruit’s ability to prevent colon cancer.

“We saw the black raspberry as a natural product, very powerful, and easy to access,” said Dr. Wancai Yang, assistant professor of pathology at the UIC College of Medicine and senior author of the study, whose research focuses on the interactions of genetic and nutritional factors in the development of intestinal cancer and tumor prevention.

The researchers used two strains of mice, Apc1638 and Muc2, which each have a specific gene knocked out, causing the mice to develop either intestinal tumors (in the case of Apc1638) or colitis in the case of Muc2. Colitis is an inflammation of the large intestine that can contribute to the development of colorectal cancer.

Both mouse strains were randomized to be fed either a Western-style, high-risk diet (high in fat and low in calcium and vitamin D) or the same diet supplemented with 10 percent freeze-dried black raspberry powder for 12 weeks.

The researchers found that in both mouse strains the black raspberry-supplemented diet produced a broad range of protective effects in the intestine, colon and rectum and inhibited tumor formation.

In the Apc1638 mice, tumor incidence was reduced by 45 percent and the number of tumors by 60 percent. The researchers found that black raspberries inhibited tumor development by suppressing a protein, known as beta-catenin, which binds to the APC gene.

In the Muc2 mice, tumor incidence and the number of tumors were both reduced by 50 percent, and black raspberries inhibited tumor development by reducing chronic inflammation associated with colitis.

The researchers now hope to obtain funding to begin clinical trials in humans, said Yang. Because black raspberries not only prevent cancer but also inflammation, they may also protect against other diseases, such as heart disease.

###

Yang is a member of the UIC Cancer Center. Co-authors are Xiuli Bi of UIC, Wenfeng Fang of UIC and Wuhan University in China, and Li-Shu Wang and Gary Stoner of the Ohio State University.

The research was funded by UIC’s department of pathology and the National Cancer Institute.

UIC ranks among the nation’s leading research universities and is Chicago’s largest university with 27,000 students, 12,000 faculty and staff, 15 colleges and the state’s major public medical center. A hallmark of the campus is the Great Cities Commitment, through which UIC faculty, students and staff engage with community, corporate, foundation and government partners in hundreds of programs to improve the quality of life in metropolitan areas around the world.

GE Launches Study To Improve Diagnosis Of Early Stage Colon Cancer

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Posted 28 Jul 2010 — by James Street
Category Colon Cancer, Individualized treatment, Molecular

23 Jul 2010

A team of scientists at GE Global Research, the technology development arm for the GE (NYSE: GE), has launched a study with Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, (MSKCC) one of the world’s premier cancer centers, to better understand the early stages of colon cancer. The goal is to yield new insights that improve treatment selection and outcomes for cancer patients in the future.

“Information is one of the best weapons we have in the fight against cancer,” said John Burczak, Chief Scientist for Molecular Imaging at GE Global Research. “With colon cancer, we know that not all cases in the early stages of the disease are alike. Some are more aggressive than others. Through the promise of molecular analysis, we can identify those patients at higher risk and help ensure they receive the best possible treatment option.”

One of the primary issues in cancer diagnosis today is the limited amount of molecular information pathologists have about a particular cancer. At the time of diagnosis, little is determined about the characteristics of cancer itself such as how fast or slow it may be growing. New breakthroughs in molecular medicine are promising to change this paradigm.

Last October, GE scientists announced a major cancer research breakthrough in molecular pathology that is unlocking information about cancer previously hidden from view. This molecular information will not only increase our understanding of cancer; it could improve treatment selection for patients. This is particularly true for patients with early stage colon cancer.

Today, the standard treatment for early stage, or Stage 1 and Stage 2 colon cancer is surgery. However, the cancer recurrence rate for Stage 2 cases is high at approximately 25% because more aggressive forms of these cases go undetected.

New molecular analysis from cancer mapping tools such as GE’s have the potential to change this paradigm, so that these cases can be identified and directed to the appropriate treatment.

As part of the study, GE and MSKCC will collaborate to evaluate biomarkers for their prognostic value to segregate high from low risk early stage colon cancers. Scientists and investigators from GE and MSKCC will work together to first identify cancer cases, acquire and process cancer tissues, and collect treatment outcome information, then biochemically and statistically analyze the molecular profiles for the cancer tissues, and relate the molecular profiles to treatment outcomes.

GE’s Cancer Mapping Technology

GE scientists have developed new molecular pathology technology that can create a visual map of more than 25 proteins within a single tissue sample at the sub-cellular level and apply sophisticated imaging analysis tools to collect and interpret the data. With the ability to study multiple proteins in one sample, GE’s technology could provide more insight than ever before into the signaling networks and cell activity that may characterize different types of cancers.

Currently, a diagnosis of cancer and the decision of which therapy to prescribe are based on the histology of the tumor and, in some cases, the expression of just one or two biomarkers inside the patient’s tumor. To enable more biomarkers to be mapped and viewed together in one slide, GE researchers built a prototype system that can stain, wash and re-stain tissue samples for study under a digital microscope. The system combines image analysis of cancerous cells and structures with GE’s patented visualization tools to provide a color map of multiple protein concentrations within the sample. With the ability to visually map cancer in this way, GE is hopeful that critical information about the disease can be uncovered that was previously hidden from view.

The goal of GE’s protein mapping technology program is to provide new insights into cancer that one day will assist physicians to better determine the prognosis for a cancer and the appropriate treatment. These insights also may be useful in saving drug companies time and money in the development of new therapies. With more information, drug companies may be able to better understand what patients will and won’t respond and overall, help them make more informed choices during the development process.

GE’s research programs in protein mapping and molecular pathology are aligned with GE’s healthymagination initiative, which is built on the global commitments of reducing costs, improving quality and expanding access to healthcare for millions of people.

Source:
GE Global Research

Article URL: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/195579.php

Main News Category: Colorectal Cancer

Also Appears In:  Cancer / Oncology,

Cancer deaths drop as colonoscopy rates soar

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Posted 05 Apr 2010 — by James Street
Category Colon Cancer

Cancer deaths drop as colonoscopy rates soar
Frederik Joelving
Mon Apr 5, 2010 10:08am EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Colonoscopy appears to slash colon cancer deaths, according to the largest study of the procedure so far.

Health

Although colonoscopy is considered the gold standard for colon cancer screening and is used in millions of people every year, it hasn’t been clear how its widespread use impacts the disease’s overall death toll.

The new report, based on close to 2.5 million Canadians, shows that for every one-percent increase in colonoscopy use, the risk of death from colon cancer dropped three percent.

“These procedures cost a lot, and we’re doing an awful lot of them in the US and in Canada,” Dr. Linda Rabeneck, who led the research, told Reuters Health. “Now we know they work.”

During a colonoscopy exam, the doctor inserts a slim, flexible tube into the rectum. A camera at the tip of the tube shows the inside of the colon and allows the doctor to identify small cell clumps that might one day turn into a cancer tumor. The tube, or scope, can also be used to biopsy or remove the abnormal cells.

Rabeneck, of the University of Toronto, said many countries have seen steep increases in the procedure since the 1990s, and it is recommended during routine colon cancer screenings of people older than 50 years.

For their study, Rabeneck and colleagues used healthcare databases from Ontario, Canada, to link colonoscopy rates and colon cancer deaths in the province over 14 years.

They followed more than 2.4 million people, who were between 50 and 90 years old at the outset of the study and did not have colon cancer. By 2006, about 1 in 100 had died from the disease, which mostly attacks older people.

Over the same period, as colonoscopy rates nearly quadrupled, the risk of dying from colon cancer tapered steadily, even after accounting for factors such as income and age.

The risk reduction presumably is achieved by removing abnormal cells before they become cancerous or, if they already are, before the cancer becomes aggressive, the researchers report in the American Journal of Gastroenterology.

The findings square with earlier research, although no one has tested the effect of colonoscopy on cancer death directly. Doing so would require a so-called randomized controlled trial — the most powerful kind of study in the scientific toolbox — in which participants are randomly assigned to screening or no screening.

Short of such a study, which is expensive, time-consuming and possibly unethical, the new work “is as close as you can get,” said Dr. John Allen, a colon cancer expert and a community practice counselor with the American Gastroenterological Association.

While the evidence isn’t perfect, Allen, also of Minnesota Gastroenterology PA, said it was pretty clear by now that colonoscopy reduces colon cancer deaths.

“There are enough studies out there to cement the idea,” he said.

SOURCE: American Journal of Gastroenterology, online March 2, 2010.

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