March 24, 2007, 9:59 AM CT

Smoking Greatly Increases The Risk For Lung Cancer

Lung cancer is the most deadly of all cancers. It is the leading cause of cancer death for both men and women, as per the American Cancer society (ACS). More people die of this than of colon, breast, and prostate cancers combined. The ACS predicts that in 2007 there will be about 213,380 new cases. Of this number, about 160,390 people will die.

Sadly, this can be prevented if people would stop smoking. Smoking is the root cause of eight out of 10 lung cancer cases diagnosed in the United States. The risk for getting this increases if a person has been smoking more than a pack of day for several years.

The risk is lowered if the person stops smoking before lung cancer is developed. Stopping smoking will allow the tissue to slowly return to normal.

And it is not just cigarettes that increase the risk. Cigar and pipes are also likely to increase the risks. Second hand smoke is just as dangerous. If your husband or wife smokes, you have a 30 percent greater risk of developing lung cancer than a person with a husband or wife that does not smoke.

However there are other risk factors, as per the AMS. They are:

• Exposure to asbestos. Mesothelioma, another type of cancer that can begin in the lining of the lungs, is also associated with asbestos.
........


Posted by: Justin234      Read more         Source

March 24, 2007, 9:55 AM CT

Easy To Avoid Mesothelioma

It is known that mesothelioma is caused by breathing asbestos fibers into the lungs. When this happens, the lungs or the abdomen may be affected by the disease. Because asbestos is so strongly linked to mesothelioma, regulations have been created to set limits on the amount of exposure to asbestos a worker can have in a workplace.

People who must work around asbestos because of the nature of their work must wear protective clothing. Occasionally a family member may develop mesothelioma as a result of breathing the fibers that may remain on the clothing when the worker returns home from work. to avoid this, if you work around asbestos it would be wise to have a clean change of clothes to wear home. Never allow the fibers to get in your car.

It has also been known to occur that people working around asbestos do not acquire the disease. Many people have resilient genes that seem to fend off diseases such as mesothelioma. As we never know what our body can handle or not handle regarding health issues it is important to take precautions as if.

When working around asbestos treat yourself with protection as if your child's life depends on it. Refuse to take chances knowing you may carry home the very fiber that your child or spouse may breathe causing suffering as well as opening the door to the possibility of an early disease related death......... Posted by: Justin234      Read more         Source

March 13, 2007, 10:05 PM CT

Green Tea May Fight Lung Cancer

Looks like a cup of green tea is a good fight to lung cancer according to this article published on the medicinenet.com site:

Green tea may fight lung cancer and could inspire the creation of new lung cancer drugs, researchers report.

But it may be too soon to count on a cup of green tea to curb lung cancer. So far, the researchers have only tested green tea extract against human lung cancer cells in test tubes, not people.

The scientists included Qing-Yi Lu, PhD, of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).

Lu and his colleagues exposed a sample of human lung cancer cells to a decaffeinated green tea extract. The lung cancer cells marinated in the green tea extract for up to three days.

The green tea extract remodeled a certain protein in the lung cancer cells. As a result, the lung cancer cells became more likely to stick together and less likely to move, the study shows......... Posted by: Justin234      Read more         Source

March 13, 2007, 10:03 PM CT

CT Scans Still Not Advised for Lung Cancer Screening

Using CT scan to screen for lung cancer provides no benefit to smokers:

The use of computed tomography (CT) scans to screen current or former smokers for lung cancer is still too experimental to recommend for widespread medical use, as per results from a new study.

The potential use of imaging tests like CT to screen for lung cancer has been the subject of lively debate in recent years. Some prior studies have suggested that such tests can find lung cancer earlier, when tumors are smaller and more likely operable. The question is whether this translates into helping people live longer and whether it has an adverse affect on their quality of life.

In the latest study, scientists looked at the Computerized axial tomography scans of more than 3,200 adults with a history of smoking but no symptoms of lung cancer. As before, the imaging procedure was shown to find smaller tumors earlier, but the scientists saw no corresponding evidence that patients lived longer as a result of early detection and therapy.

Without such a benefit to justify the approach, the scientists warn, we are left with the prospect of taking people who have no symptoms of disease and subjecting them unnecessarily to the costs, pain, inconvenience, and health risks linked to additional scans, surgeries, recuperation, etc......... Posted by: Justin234      Read more         Source

January 24, 2007, 5:50 PM CT

If Mom Smoked During Pregnancy

Quitting smoking may be more difficult for individuals whose mothers smoked during pregnancy, as per animal research conducted by Duke University Medical Center researchers.

Prenatal exposure to nicotine is known to alter areas of the brain critical to learning, memory and reward. Researchers at the Duke Center for Nicotine and Smoking Cessation Research have discovered that these alterations may program the brain for relapse to nicotine addiction. Rodents exposed to nicotine before birth self administer more of the drug after periods of abstinence than those that had not been exposed.

The study suggests that pregnant women should quit smoking to avoid exposing their unborn children to nicotine, and that they should do so without the use of nicotine products such as patches or gums that also present a risk to the baby, the scientists said.

"Smoking during pregnancy can harm the baby in ways that extend far beyond preterm delivery or low birth weight," said lead study investigator Edward Levin, Ph.D., a professor of biological psychiatry. "It causes changes in the brain development of the baby that can last a lifetime".

Results of the study appear this week in the online issue of the journal Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior. The work was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and Philip Morris USA.........

Posted by: Justin234      Read more         Source

January 15, 2007, 4:58 AM CT

Dual Gene Therapy Suppresses Lung Cancer

Combination gene treatment delivered in lipid-based nanoparticles drastically reduces the number and size of human non-small cell lung cancer tumors in mice, scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center report in the Jan. 15 edition of Cancer Research.

Two tumor-suppressing genes given intravenously reduced cancer separately but had their most powerful effect when administered together, cutting the number of tumors per mouse by 75 percent and the weight of tumors by 80 percent.

"In cancer therapy we have combination chemotherapy, and we also combine different modes of treatment - surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. Now you've got the possibility of combined targeted gene treatment," said Jack Roth, M.D., professor and chair of the M. D. Anderson Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery and a senior researcher on the project.

The genes wrapped in the nanoparticles were p53, a well-known tumor suppressor that works by causing defective cells to commit suicide and is often shut down or defective in cancer cells, and FUS1, a tumor-suppressor discovered by the research group that is deficient in most human lung cancers. Each nanoparticle carried one of the two genes.........

Posted by: Justin234      Read more         Source

January 8, 2007, 9:36 PM CT

How Body Fights To Control Spread Of Cancer

Scientists at the University of Liverpool have found how two molecules fight in the blood to control the spread of cancer cells.

Researchers discovered that a large protein, which forms a protective shield around cancer cells and prevents them from causing secondary tumours, is attacked by a small protein that exists in the blood.

In diseases such as breast, lung and colorectal cancer, infected cells lose growth control and eventually form tumours at these sites. If caught early these tumours can be effectively removed surgically. However, when the cancer cells have invaded the blood, the effectiveness of surgery is reduced.

Cancerous cells that have entered the blood, however, are still prevented from causing further disease by the protective shield of a protein called MUC1 in which the cancerous cells are eventually destroyed by our immune system. Scientists have now discovered how this protective shield is broken down, allowing cancer to spread throughout the body.

Dr Lu-Gang Yu, from the University's School of Clinical Sciences, explains: "MUC1 on the cell surface prevents the cancer cells from attaching to the blood vessel wall which causes secondary tumours. We have discovered that a small protein called galectin-3, attacks MUC1 and breaks up its protective shield, forcing large areas of the cancer cell to become exposed. The exposed areas of the cell allow the cancer to attach to the blood vessel wall. The cancer cells then eventually penetrate the blood wall to form tumours at secondary sites.........

Posted by: Justin234      Read more         Source

December 17, 2006, 8:47 PM CT

Gender Disparity In Lung Cancer Survival

Is there gender discrimination for lung cancer? Scientists have previously indicated that women do significantly better than men in surviving lung cancer. Now there is proof, a new study shows that women do better with several types of lung cancer.

The study, led by Dr. Robert J. Cerfolio, a thoracic surgeon at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, observed that women at every stage of non-small cell lung cancer had higher rates of survival than men when tracked over five years.

Published in this month's issue of the journal Chest, the study focused on 671 men and 414 women diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer, which includes several types of lung cancer, but not the more aggressive small cell lung cancer.

The study observed that, overall, 60 percent of women were still alive five years after surgery, compared with 50 percent of men.

Dr. Ayesha Bryant, who served as a statistician for the study, said there were several possible reasons women had a higher rate of survival. "It could be a whole host of things."........

Posted by: Justin234      Permalink         Source

December 17, 2006, 8:41 PM CT

Pill helps early lung cancer patients

Avastin is a pill that is FDA approved for the therapy of patients with metastatic colon cancer. Now avastin is finding other uses. It has been shown that Avastin could be very useful in lung cancer.

A pill that starves tumors of their blood supply can help patients live longer, without adding to some of the worst effects of chemotherapy, scientists report.

They said Avastin helped patients live a median of two months longer -- a significant time for lung cancer, which commonly kills quickly after it is diagnosed.

And more patients were helped by chemotherapy when Avastin was added, they reported in this week's issue of the New England Journal (NEJM).

"This is great news for patients with lung cancer -- they live longer, and the side effects from Avastin are unlike those of conventional chemotherapy. For example, Avastin does not cause hair loss, nausea, or vomiting," said Dr. Joan Schiller, chief of hematology/oncology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, who led the trial.

The scientists added Avastin to standard chemotherapy in a trial of 878 patients with non-small-cell lung cancer.

This is the most common form of lung cancer, which will kill an estimated 162,460 people in the United States alone in in 2006.........

Posted by: Justin234      Permalink         Source

December 17, 2006, 8:29 PM CT

Heavy smokers who cut back

University of Minnesota tobacco scientists have observed that heavy smokers who reduce their number of daily cigarettes still take in two to three times more total toxins per cigarette than light smokers.

The study, reported in the recent issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, cites compensatory smoking as the chief reason for the increased exposure despite decreased cigarette use.

"We observed that the more that heavy smokers reduced their smoking, the more likely they were to increase their intake of toxicants per cigarette, presumably because they took more frequent puffs or inhaled deeper or longer on each cigarette to compensate for fewer cigarettes smoked," said Dorothy Hatsukami, Ph.D., lead researcher on the study. "This indicates that they are trying to maintain a specific level of nicotine in their bodies."

Hatsukami is a professor and researcher with the University of Minnesota Medical School and Cancer Center. She also directs the University's Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center.

"Our results are consistent with other studies that show that people who decrease their smoking by 50 percent or more do not experience a comparable reduction in risk for lung cancer because they tend to smoke their fewer cigarettes more intensely," Hatsukami said. "The best way to lower the risk for tobacco-caused premature death is to stop smoking altogether."........

Posted by: Justin234      Permalink         Source