Tag Archives: skin cancer

Gossypin

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hibiscusDid You Know…

…this plant extract can treat the deadliest kind of skin cancer?

Melanoma, the least common form of skin cancer, is also the most deadly.  That’s why it’s so exciting to know that a new study published in Molecular Cancer Therapeutics in April of 2013 Continue reading →

The Canadian Cancer Society and Neutrogena: Partners

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Cosmetics giant Neutrogena, whose parent company Johnson & Johnson has allowed the use of potentially cancer-causing chemicals in their products (and only announced in August 2012 that they would be removing them by the end of 2015), has taken on Continue reading →

Lower Levels of Sunlight Link to Allergy and Eczema

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Sunshine may help to prevent allergies and eczema

Increased exposure to sunlight may reduce the risk of both food allergies and eczema in children, according to a new scientific study published this week.

Researchers from the European Centre for Environment & Human Health, along with several Australian institutions, have found that children living in areas with lower levels of sunlight are at greater risk of developing food allergies and the skin condition eczema, compared to those in areas with higher UV.

The research team used data from a study of Australian children and analysed how rates of food allergy, Continue reading →

7 Surprising Things you’re not supposed to Know about Sunscreen and Sunlight Exposure

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Ask somebody about sunscreen and you’re likely to receive an earful of disinformation from a person who has been repeatedly misinformed by health authorities and the mainstream media. Almost nothing you hear about sunscreen from traditional media channels is accurate. So here’s a quick guide to the 7 most important things you need to know about sunscreen, sunlight and vitamin D:

#1: The FDA refuses to allow natural sunscreen ingredients to be used in sunblock / sunscreen products

It’s true: If you create a truly natural sunscreen product using exotic botanicals with powerful sunscreen properties, you will never be able to market it as a “sunscreen” product. That’s because the FDA decides what can be used as sunscreen and what can’t, Continue reading →

Grape Seed Extract Emerges as Anti-Cancer Powerhouse Thanks to Pro-Active Supplement Users

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The therapeutic potential of grape seed extract (GSE) as anti-oxidant, anti-hypertensive and anti-inflammatory is so well established that this natural supplement is now being used in seven on-going clinical trials, only one of which is on cancer (of the breast). But the spotlight may soon shift to GSE’s anti-cancer potential as recent landmark studies on human patients have just uncovered remarkable protective effects of GSE against three major cancers: squamous cell carcinoma and prostate and hematologic malignancies. Even more remarkable is that this breakthrough in the science of natural medicine was not due to the foresight of medical practitioners who designed the trials, but to the patients who took GSE, on their volition, as a nutritional supplement to support general health.

74% Risk Reduction of Skin Cancer (SCC)
A recent study, just published in June 2011, was carried out in northern California on 830 participants to test the effects of general supplement use on the occurrence of squamous cell carcinoma (the second most common skin cancer). The supplements in use included vitamins A, C, D, E, Continue reading →

Five Foods for Healthy Skin

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Although the cosmetic industry would have us believe otherwise, beautiful skin doesn’t come from a jar full of perfumed chemicals. Beyond being born with great genes, the best thing you can do for your skin is to eat a healthy diet. Learn how to enhance your skin from the inside out by eating foods that will make your epidermis glow with health. Try adding these foods to your diet to both feel and look better.

Chia Seeds: Chia offers a multitude of health benefits. The word chia derives from the Aztec word for oily. Chia seeds offer high levels of omega-3 acids which the human body needs but cannot produce and which only come from a few dietary sources.

Without omega-3′s, people can suffer from poor circulation and dry skin, as well as heart problems, fatigue, Continue reading →

Sticking Plaster that Zaps Skin Cancer

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LONDON – A revolutionary light-emitting sticking plaster can help zap skin cancers.

The device, called the Ambulight, is a form of photodynamic therapy (PDT) – an alternative to surgery for many forms of skin cancer – using laser, combined with a light-sensitive drug to destroy cancer cells.

PDT treatment avoids the scarring associated with surgical removal of the tumor and the need for a hospital stay. It consists of a disc-shaped pod about an inch across that house medical-grade red LED lights. The light source is attached to a controller the size of a mobile phone, the Daily Mail reports.

Photosensitizing cream is rubbed on to the skin, and the pod is attached to the skin with a plaster.

The cream takes three hours to penetrate the skin, and then the pod turns on. Three hours later the light switches off and the device can be disposed of. Patients can move freely during treatment.

Ambulight’s developer James Ferguson, professor of dermatology at Britain’s Dundee University, hopes the treatment will eventually be offered at surgeries.

“Trials have shown it to be up to 90 percent as effective as hospital treatment and it’s a lot gentler,” he says.

The Ambulight plaster has just received a European license and is now being rolled out to hospitals in Britain.

Improve Survival from Bowel And Skin Cancer with Vitamin D Help

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LONDON – New research shows higher levels of vitamin D may help improve survival for both bowel and skin cancer patients*.

The results of two studies published in the British Journal of Cancer and Journal of Clinical Oncology found people with higher levels of vitamin D – at the time they were diagnosed – were more likely to survive.

In the first study researchers from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston followed 1017 bowel cancer patients for around nine years.

Using information about UV-B and sunlight exposure, skin type, body-mass index, and vitamin D intake from food and supplements they estimated the amount of vitamin D in patients’ blood at the time of diagnosis.

The results showed that those with higher vitamin D scores after being diagnosed with cancer were 50 per cent less likely to die from the disease – compared to those with lower vitamin D scores.

Professor Kimmie Ng, study author, said: “Our study shows that levels of vitamin D after colorectal cancer diagnosis may be important for survival. We are now planning further research in patients with bowel cancer to see if vitamin D has the same effect, and to investigate how vitamin D works with molecular and genetic pathways in the cell to fight cancer.”

The second study – funded by Cancer Research UK and the National Institutes of Health – found that malignant melanoma patients** with the lowest levels of vitamin D in their blood at the time they were diagnosed were 30 per cent more likely to relapse from the disease than those with the highest levels.

The researchers from Leeds also found that patients who have higher levels of vitamin D at diagnosis have thinner tumours at diagnosis.

Professor Julia Newton Bishop, study author at the Leeds Institute of Molecular Medicine, said: “It’s common for the general public to have low levels of vitamin D in many countries. Melanoma patients tend to avoid the sun as sunburn is known to increase the risk of melanoma. We use sunshine to make vitamin D in the skin, so melanoma patients’ levels of vitamin D may be especially low.

“Our results suggest that melanoma patients may need to get vitamin D by eating fatty fish or by taking supplements to ensure they have normal levels. But we are continuing to carry out research to find out the optimum level of vitamin D. There’s some evidence from other health studies that high levels of vitamin D are also harmful – so we should aim for a normal level rather than a very high one.”

Sara Hiom, director of health information at Cancer Research UK, said: “Both these studies support the theory that higher levels of vitamin D can improve the chance of surviving cancer. The key is to get the right balance between the amount of time spent in the sun and the levels of vitamin D needed for good health.

“But protection from burning in the sun is still vital. Cancer Research UK’s SunSmart campaign advises that people with lots of moles, red hair fair skin and a family history of the disease should take extra care in the sun as they are more at risk of the most dangerous form of skin cancer Anyone who is worried about changes in their moles should go to their GP.”

Star Trek -Style Infrared Probe Could Treat Skin Cancer

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LONDON – A new device could revolutionize diagnosis and treatment of skin cancer.

The new ‘Star Trek-Style’ probe beams infra-red light through the skin to see 2mm below the surface and allows doctors to map how far a cancer has spread with far greater accuracy.

The VivoSight Multi-Beam probe is being tested at Guy’s Hospital in London.

“Accurate and early diagnosis of malignant skin lesions is vital to ensure the best possible outcome for patients,” Sky News quoted consultant dermatologist, Katie Lacy, as saying.

“This new instrument will allow us to view not only the surface appearance of skin cancer but, for the first time, to also examine the structures under the skin,” she added.

The probe detects how infrared light is scattered by underlying tissues and then provides doctors with a highly magnified image.

It should avoid the need for some patients to undergo painful punch biopsies of suspicious skin lesions.

Surgeon Raj Mallipeddi said the probe should improve the cosmetic results of operations to remove cancers.

The balance is always to try to take just enough tissue – but not too much – when one’s trying to excise a skin cancer. So this technology will hopefully provide a non-invasive way of making that process far more accurate, beyond what can one can see with the naked eye, he said.

Study Suggests a Daily Vitamin Pill Causes Risk of Skin Cancer

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Millions of people who take vitamin pills could be putting themselves at risk of the deadliest form of skin cancer. Research has revealed that supplements containing antioxidants and minerals appear to increase the chances of developing a malignant melanoma.

Volunteers given pills containing vitamin E, ascorbic acid, beta-carotene, selenium and zinc were four times more likely to get cancer than those who took dummy pills.

The findings come from a follow-up study to one in 2007, which revealed the risks to vitamin-pill poppers.

The results of that research, by French scientists, showed that out of 13,000 adults, those who took daily supplements to stay healthy were at much higher risk of skin cancer.

To double-check their findings, the same team monitored patients for several more years. These results, published in the latest European Journal of Cancer Prevention, confirm that the increased risk virtually disappeared once patients stopped daily supplements.

Now scientists behind the research, carried out at the National Centre for Rare Skin Diseases in Bordeaux, are calling for those most at risk of skin cancer — fair-skinned types or those with a history of excessive sun exposure — to steer clear of supplements.

Women may be more at risk than men, possibly because they have more fat around the skin, where antioxidants and vitamins are mainly stored.

Malignant melanomas kill about 1,700 a year in the UK and are the third most common cancer in those aged 15 to 39. Over-exposure to the sun’s rays is the biggest cause. So far, the only proven way of reducing risk is to use high protection creams and wearing suitable clothing.

But it had been widely assumed that taking antioxidants would reduce the risk, since supplements theoretically protect the skin against damage from the sun’s rays.

The study, however, suggests supplements have the opposite effect. Scientists do not think taking vitamins actually causes malignant melanoma, rather it somehow speeds up the development of a tumor.

The findings are likely to heighten concerns about overuse of vitamins. Earlier this year, Swedish researchers found that taking daily multivitamin pills raised the risk of breast cancer in women by almost 20 per cent.

It is estimated that nearly a quarter of all adults in the UK take antioxidant supplements or multi-vitamins on a regular basis. The market is worth about Pounds 500million a year.

Dr Carrie Ruxton, from the Health Supplements Information Service, which represents supplement suppliers, said other studies had found no link between vitamins and skin cancer. She added the low number of skin cancer cases in the French research also cast doubt on the results.

Cancer Research UK stressed that vitamins and minerals found in foods did not appear to harm skin in the same way.

A spokesman said: ‘The best way to reduce the risk is to avoid sunburn.’

RECORD numbers of Scots from the ‘package holiday generation’ are dying of skin cancer, new figures show.

Deaths have risen by a third in only two years, most markedly among the age group which first took sunshine breaks in the 1960s and 70s.

The disease is now a bigger killer than either cervical or uterine cancer in Scotland. General Register Office for Scotland figures show that between January and June 2010, 102 people died from malignant melanoma. A decade ago, the disease claimed 115 in the entire year.

The Scottish Executive said it was funding campaigns to raise awareness of the disease.

‘Spectacular’ Treatment for Skin Cancer Developed

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NEW YORK –  American scientists have developed, what is being hailed as a “simply spectacular” treatment for skin cancer that could shrink the tumours at a “rapid and dramatic” rate in patients whose disease had spread.

The results of the drug trial are significant because skin cancer, though curable when caught early, usually become fatal when it spreads to other parts of the body.

Experts described the results as “simply spectacular” and said the drug, known at the moment only as PLX4032, could improve and extend the lives of those fighting the disease.

It is already known that around half of all malignant melanomas are fuelled by a mutation in a gene, known as Braf.

And now, for the first time, scientists have developed a drug that can interfere with this gene’s protein, cutting off the fuel supply to the tumours.

The small study, conducted on 31 patients showed that patients treated with the twice-a-day pill saw their ­tumours shrink rapidly and a larger trial is now needed to confirm the findings.

But the results showed that in two thirds of the 22 patients evaluated, the tumours shrank by 30 per cent in only a month.

A further six patients also saw their tumours shrink, but not by as much.

Cancer experts are excited by the findings because it means that PLX4032 could also work in other cancers triggered by the Braf ­mutation, which includes around five per cent of bowel cancers, accounting for 1,500 new cases a year.

In addition the drug also offers hope to the thousands of skin cancer patients who have very few treatment options once their tumours have spread.

However, experts admit the drug will not cure metastatic melanoma.

“We are very excited. So far 70 per cent of patients have responded,” The Daily Express quoted Dr Paul Chapman, from the ­Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre in New York, which carried out the trial, as saying.

Depression Ups Cancer Patients Dying Risk

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VANCOUVER – Depression can decrease a cancer patient’s chances of survival, a new research suggests.

Published in the November 15, 2009 issue of Cancer, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the finding of an analysis highlights the need for systematic screening of psychological distress and subsequent treatments.

In order to determine the effects of depression on cancer patients’ disease progression and survival, graduate student Jillian Satin, MA, of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, and her colleagues analyzed all of the studies to date they could identify related to the topic.

The researchers found 26 studies with a total of 9417 patients that examined the effects of depression on patients’ cancer progression and survival.

“We found an increased risk of death in patients who report more depressive symptoms than others and also in patients who have been diagnosed with a depressive disorder compared to patients who have not,” said Satin.

In the combined studies, the death rates were up to 25 percent higher in patients experiencing depressive symptoms and 39 percent higher in patients diagnosed with major or minor depression.

The increased risks remained even after considering patients’ other clinical characteristics that might affect survival, indicating that depression may actually play a part in shortening survival.

However, the authors say additional research must be conducted before any conclusions can be reached. The authors add that their analysis combined results across different tumor types, so future studies should look at the effects of depression on different kinds of cancer.

The investigators note that the actual risk of death associated with depression in cancer patients is still small, so patients should not feel that they must maintain a positive attitude to beat their disease.

Nevertheless, the study indicates that it is important for physicians to regularly screen cancer patients for depression and to provide appropriate treatments.

Novel Two-Step Chemical Process Makes Cancer Cells Glow Quickly, Safely

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Novel Two-Step Chemical Process Makes Cancer Cells Glow Quickly, Safely

BOSTON – Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital have developed a two-step process that uses a chemical reaction to make live cancer cells light up quickly and safely.

This attains significance because scientists generally label cells with colored or glowing chemicals to observe how basic cellular activities differ between healthy and cancerous cells, but existing techniques are either too slow or too toxic to perform on live cells.

Under the novel process, chemically modified antibodies first home in on cancer cells, and then a chemical reaction called cycloaddition transfers a dye onto the antibody making the cancer cells glow when viewed through a microscope.

Philip Dawson, a member of Faculty of 1000 Biology and leading authority in chemistry and cell biology, reviewed a study and observed that the novel cycloaddition reaction is fast, very specific, and requires minimal manipulation of the cells.

He comments that, in combining antibody binding with the cycloaddition, “low signal-to-noise ratios are achieved”.

He points out that the new labeling technique could be used to track the location and activity of anti-cancer drugs, the location of cancer-specific proteins within the cell, or to visualize cancer cells inside a living organism.

Dawson concludes that cycloaddition will allow scientists to observe live cancer cells in the body, leading to a better understanding of cancer’s basic processes.

Breast Tissue Feature Could Predict Woman’s Cancer Risk

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ROCHESTER – Certain structural features within breast tissue can indicate a woman’s individual cancer risk, say Mayo Clinic researchers.

The findings appear in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

The study shows that acini (AS-ih-nye), the small milk-producing elements in breast lobules, can be counted in sample biopsies. The percentage of acini present per lobule at a given age indicates cancer risk.

“Aside from the predictors of heredity, there is no effective independent predictor of risk of breast cancer,” says Lynn Hartmann, M.D., Mayo Clinic oncologist and senior author of the study.

“This risk estimate model based on novel tissue in each individual may provide a reliable strategy,” the expert added.

To reach the conclusion, researchers studied the tissue structures in 85 patients with breast cancer and examined earlier, noncancerous breast biopsies from the same women. They compared them to 142 age-controlled samples from Mayo’s Benign Breast Disease Cohort, a bio repository of benign biopsy tissues. Then, researchers developed the model and tested a risk prediction for each patient.

For the same women, they used the existing Gail model to make five-year risk predictions for the same women. While helpful in determining increased risk in groups of women, the Gail model is only slightly better than a guess when it comes to predicting cancer for an individual, the researchers say.

“Women who were more likely to develop breast cancer had larger lobules with more acini,” explains Dr. Hartmann.

As women age, especially as they approach menopause, the risk of breast cancer declines because the lobules and acini disappear. This natural process, called involution, is at the core of this risk factor.

Dr. Hartmann says if the lobules aren’t largely gone by the time a woman is 55, her risk of breast cancer triples. By looking closely at the structures in a large sample of benign tissues, the researchers were able to note standard measurements for lobule size and number of acini in the lobules.

This twofold approach led to development of accurate metrics on which to base individual risk. The team hopes this new model, combined with other patient information and assessments, will greatly improve a physician’s ability to predict cancer risk for individual patients.

More Women Opting to Remove Healthy Breast After Cancer Diagnosis

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BUFFALO – The number of women going for surgery to remove the healthy breast after cancer diagnosis in one breast, according to a new study of New York State data.

And this was despite a lack of evidence that the surgery can improve survival.

The study also found that despite extensive press coverage of women who choose to have both breasts removed because of a strong family history of cancer, the rate of this surgery is relatively low and has changed little in the last decade.

Prophylactic mastectomy, the removal of a non-cancerous breast, is one method for reducing a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer.

But not much is known about the prevalence of prophylactic mastectomies for preventing breast cancer among high-risk women or on the prevalence of the surgery to prevent tumours in the healthy breast among women whose cancer is limited to one breast.

Led by Dr. Stephen B. Edge, at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, the researchers examined the frequency of prophylactic mastectomies in New York State between 1995 and 2005 using mandated state-wide hospital discharge data combined with data from the state cancer registry.

They identified 6,275 female New York residents who underwent prophylactic mastectomies.

It was found that 81 percent of the women had been diagnosed with cancer in one breast, while 19 percent had no personal history of breast cancer.

The researchers found that the number of prophylactic mastectomies increased during the time period, particularly among women with cancer in one breast.

Over the 11-year study period, the prevalence of these contralateral mastectomies more than doubled.

The prevalence of bilateral prophylactic mastectomies among women with no personal history of breast cancer increased only slightly.

“These data from New York are the only data on a large population of women that examine the use of bilateral prophylactic mastectomy,” said Edge.

“These data demonstrate that prophylactic mastectomy is an uncommon procedure that is performed most commonly on women with a personal history of breast cancer. Although the total number of prophylactic mastectomies performed per year was small, it appears that the use of the surgery is increasing,” he added.

He also advised that women with breast cancer should have careful counselling regarding benefits and risks before proceeding with prophylactic mastectomy of the other breast.

The study has been published in the journal Cancer.