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Hot flushes, night sweats or painful joints may be good news for women taking hormone-based drugs for breast cancer — it may mean their tumors are less likely to return, researchers said on Thursday.

Women with any of these menopause-like symptoms after taking AstraZeneca’s breast cancer drug Arimidex or generic tamoxifen were 30 percent less likely to have their cancer return over the next nine years, they found.

“The treatment is designed to starve potential cancers of estrogen and these symptoms mean that there are lower levels of estrogen in the body,” said Jack Cuzick, an epidemiologist at Cancer Research UK, who led the study published in the journal Lancet Oncology.

“But it is too early to say whether having these symptoms is essential for the treatment to be effective. At the moment all we can say is that the symptoms indicate the likely success of the treatment.”

Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths among women worldwide, according to the American Cancer Society. The group estimates about 465,000 women died of breast cancer globally in 2007, and 1.3 million new cases were diagnosed.

Declining death rates from breast cancer in developed countries have been attributed to early detection through mammography screening and to improved treatment.

The researchers looked at some 4,000 post-menopausal women treated with either Arimidex, known generically as anastrozole, or the older cancer drug tamoxifen. Arimidex is one of a newer class of drugs called aromatase inhibitors that cannot be taken by women not yet through menopause.

Women who reported hot flushes, night sweats or painful joints within three months of treatment were more likely to remain free of their cancer and these early side effects may also help doctors more effectively target future treatment.

“Our main message is: No pain, no gain,” Ivana Sestak, a Cancer Research UK researcher who worked on the study, said in a telephone interview.

Sestak added the researchers do not know why some women responded differently but believe genetics is the likely explanation because every person metabolizes the drugs that cause a drop in estrogen differently .

By Reuters

Women who were bigger and longer babies may be more likely to develop breast cancer, researchers reported on Tuesday.

The study adds to evidence that, at least in some cases, something that happens in the womb may cause cancer later in life.

Previous research into links between birth size and breast cancer have proved inconsistent, but the findings published in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS Medicine are strong evidence that the two may be related.

“These findings provide strong evidence that birth size — in particular birth length — is a marker of a woman’s breast cancer risk in adulthood, although the mechanisms underlying this association are unclear,” Isabel dos Santos Silva of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and colleagues wrote.

Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths among women worldwide, according to the American Cancer Society. The group estimates about 465,000 women died of breast cancer globally in 2007, and 1.3 million new cases were diagnosed.

Declining death rates from breast cancer in developed countries have been attributed to early detection through mammography screening and to improved treatment.

Dos Santos Silva and colleagues examined 32 studies comprising 600,000 women, mainly in developed countries. Their analysis included more than 22,000 women who had breast cancer.

After considering established risk factors such as age and late menopause, the researchers found a strong association with birth size, birth length and head circumference. Of the three, birth length showed the strongest link.

“The amount by which birth size affected breast cancer risk was not affected by allowing for other established risk factors,” the researchers wrote.

For example, women with recorded birth weights of 4 kilograms or more had a 12 percent higher chance of breast cancer than babies weighing 3 to 3.5 kilograms at birth, the study found.

The link between breast cancer and birth size appeared smaller when compared with other risk factors. The researchers estimated that birth size may be responsible for up to 5 percent of all women who develop breast cancer by the age of 80.

Some research has linked hormones such as estrogen and human growth hormone with cancer.

The researchers noted age of puberty and adult height are also associated with breast cancer risk, and growth as a fetus can predict a girl’s growth, so there could be a link there.

“The maternal and/or foetal hormonal environment associated with large birth size may alter programing of the breast, making it more susceptible to cancer,” the researchers wrote.

by Michael Kahn | Maggie Fox and Tim Pearce ( LONDON Reuters )

Two tiny genetic variations may provide the best clues yet for finding more precise ways to estimate prostate cancer risk and improve screening and early detection for men of African descent, report researchers from the University of Chicago and the Translational Genomics Research Institute, Phoenix, AZ, in the December 2007 issue of Genome Research, published early online.

The researchers set out to determine whether results from four previous studies that linked genetic variations on one region of chromosome 8 to increased prostate cancer risk among Caucasians were also valid for men of African heritage. In the process, however, they found an additional genetic variation among African American men that was an even stronger marker for cancer risk for these men. That variation is located within a gene that plays a role in DNA repair. A malfunction in DNA repair could contribute to cancer development.

“This finding emphasizes the importance of ancestry in studying genetics,” said study author Rick Kittles, associate professor of medicine at the University of Chicago Medical Center. “Previous studies led us to one specific region of chromosome 8,” he said. “Then this approach—which took advantage of genetic differences among African American men, who are at very high risk for this type of cancer—led us to a different locus within that region and directly to a gene of interest.”

Prostate cancer is the most common male malignancy and the second leading cause of cancer death in men. According to the American Cancer Society, it will affect nearly 220,000 men in the United States in 2007 and claim the lives of more than 27,000. It disproportionately affects African Americans who “exhibit the highest rate worldwide,” Kittles said.

In this study, research groups lead by Kittles and by John Carpten of the Translational Genomics Research Institute analyzed the region of chromosome 8 highlighted by the earlier studies done on Caucasian men. But this time they searched for tiny genetic differences between 490 African American men who had been diagnosed with prostate cancer at Howard University Hospital in Washington, DC, and 567 African American men without cancer.

The researchers were able to replicate the linkage between one of the markers detected by previous studies and increased risk. More important, they found a new genetic marker, known as rs7008482, that was even more strongly associated with prostate cancer in African Americans. This marker was located within a gene that is involved in DNA replication, recombination and repair.

Altering this gene could confer an “inherited predisposition to genetic instability,” Kittles said. “This could lead to increased cancer risk. By studying this region, we may be able to develop molecular targets for improved screening, early detection, and possibly treatment.”

Multiple studies, the authors conclude, strongly support the existence of several independent genetic variants that could increase prostate cancer risk within this small region of chromosome 8. They have already begun to look closer at this region and to study the function of nearby genes.

The study also reinforces the need to keep ancestry in mind when looking at disease-gene genetics. “Since African Americans vary significantly in genetic ancestral proportions and the prevalence of prostate cancer is almost two-fold higher among African Americans compared to European Americans,” Kittles said, “the use of ancestry-informative markers for association with prostate cancer is quite powerful.”

The National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense supported this research. Additional authors include Jada Benn Torres, Stanley Hooker, and Wenndy Hernandez of the University of Chicago; Christiane Robbins and Angel Candreva from the Translational Genomics Research Institute; Carolina Bonilla of the University of Oxford (UK), and Chiledum Ahaghotu of Howard University Hospital.

Source: University of Chicago Medical Center

Breast cancer is second only to lung cancer as the leading cause of cancer death among women in the United States.
Breast cancer occurs in men also, but the number of new cases is small. Early detection and effective treatment is expected to reduce the number of women who die from breast cancer, and development of new methods of prevention continue to be studied.

No one knows the exact causes of breast cancer. Doctors can seldom explain why one woman gets breast cancer and another does not. However, research has shown that women with certain risk factors are more likely than others to develop breast cancer.

Anything that increases a person’s chance of developing a disease is called a risk factor; anything that decreases a person’s chance of developing a disease is called a protective factor. Some of the risk factors for breast cancer can be avoided, but many cannot.

Some studies suggest that the more alcoholic beverages a woman drinks, the greater her risk of breast cancer.

So if you an alcoholic, there is a higher risk of breast cancer.

The equivalent of a glass of wine after work - this is a relatively safe level to drink. However even low levels of alcohol intake have been linked to breast cancer.

Besides cutting down on alcohol, being physically active is important, as it further reduces risk of breast cancer.

Women who are physically inactive throughout life appear to have an increased risk of breast cancer. Being physically active may help to reduce risk by preventing weight gain and obesity.

It is especially important to remain physically active after menopause. The chance of getting breast cancer goes up as a woman gets older. A woman over age 60 is at greatest risk. This disease is very uncommon before menopause. High levels of estrogen may be the reason that obese women have an increased risk of breast cancer. And some studies show that gaining weight after menopause increases the risk of breast cancer.

Lack of physical activity is an important contributor to many of the most important chronic diseases for older Americans, including heart disease, diabetes, colon cancer, and high blood pressure. Lack of physical activity, along with poor nutrition, is a major contributor to the growing epidemic of obesity in the United States.

Start to be physically active today, and always be in the pink of health as you age!

by JULIE WALKER

Am I at risk for breast cancer?

Breast cancer is the most common malignancy affecting women in North America and Europe. Every woman is at risk for breast cancer. Close to 200,000 cases of breast cancer were diagnosed in the United States in 2001. Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in American women behind lung cancer. The lifetime risk of any particular woman getting breast cancer is about 1 in 8 although the lifetime risk of dying from breast cancer is much lower at 1 in 28.

Risk factors for breast cancer can be divided into those that you cannot change and those that you can change. Some factors that increase your risk of breast cancer that you cannot alter include being a woman, getting older, having a family history (having a mother, sister, or daughter with breast cancer doubles your risk), having a previous history of breast cancer, having had radiation therapy to the chest region, being Caucasian, getting your periods young (before 12 years old), having your menopause late (after 50 years old), never having children or having them when you are older than 30, and having a genetic mutation that increases your risk. Genetic mutations for breast cancer have become a hot topic of research lately. Between 3% to 10% of breast cancers may be related to changes in either the gene BRCA1 or the gene BRCA2. Women can inherit these mutations from their parents and it may be worth testing for either mutation if a woman has a particularly strong family history of breast cancer (meaning multiple relatives affected, especially if they are under 50 years old when they get the disease). If a woman is found to carry either mutation, she has a 50% chance of getting breast cancer before she is 70. Family members may elect to get tested to see if they carry the mutation as well. If a woman does have the mutation, she can get more rigorous screening or even undergo preventive (prophylactic) mastectomies to decrease her chances of contracting cancer. The decision to get tested is a highly personal one that should be discussed with a doctor who is trained in counseling patients about genetic testing. For more information on genetic testing, see Let the Patient Beware: Implications of Genetic Breast-Cancer Testing, Psychological Issues in Genetic Testing for Breast Cancer, and To Test or Not to Test? Genetic Counseling Is the Key.

Certain factors which increase a woman’s risk of breast cancer can be altered including taking hormone replacement therapy (long term use of estrogens with progesterone for menopause symptoms slightly increases your risk), taking birth control pills (a very slight increased risk that disappears in women who have stopped them for over 10 years), not breastfeeding, drinking 2 to 5 alcoholic drinks a day, being overweight (especially after menopause), and not exercising. All of these modifiable risk factors are not nearly as important as gender, age, and family history, but they are things that a woman can control that may reduce her chances of developing a breast malignancy. Remember that all risk factors are based on probabilities, and even someone without any risk factors can still get breast cancer. Proper screening and early detection are our best weapons in reducing the mortality associated with this disease. For further information about breast cancer risk factors, see Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool,and Risk Factors and Breast Cancer.