Cancer

A Vaccine Against Breast and Ovarian Cancer?

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 How great would a vaccine be against these horrible diseases.

And, a new vaccine is showing some promise.

 A vaccine that coaxes the body to attack tumor cells has shown promise in a small study of advanced breast and ovarian cancer patients, improving overall survival times and stopping the disease for a handful of breast cancer patients.

The PANVAC vaccine, administered to 26 women through monthly shots, helped the body’s immune system recognize proteins produced specifically by cancer cells, said study author Dr. James Gulley, director and deputy chief of the clinical trials group at the Laboratory of Tumor Immunology and Biology at the U.S. National Cancer Institute.

All of the women had breast or ovarian cancer that had spread to other organs and were considered “heavily pre-treated” with other therapies, with 21 having received at least three chemotherapy regimens. In addition to the four breast cancer patients whose disease stopped progressing, one woman with breast cancer experienced a “complete response,” meaning her cancer disappeared.

The study is published Nov. 8 in the journal Clinical Cancer Research.

Let’s be hopeful that work progresses on this vaccine and that it is made widely available as soon as possible.

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Cancer

Coffee Drinking Associated with Decreased Risk of Skin Cancer?

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Miley Cyrus out for some coffee

The answer is YES, according to a new study. And, the cancer is the slow growing Basal Cell Carcinoma.

Scientists reported Monday that drinking coffee was associated with decreased risk of a common and slow-growing form of skin cancer called basal cell carcinoma. It appears that caffeine may play a role, they said.

The team, based at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, presented their study at the American Assn. for Cancer Research International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research.

Examining data from the Nurses’ Health Study, which followed 72,921 people between 1984 and 2008, and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, which followed 39,976 people between 1986 and 2008, they found 25,480 skin cancer cases. Basal cell carcinomas represented 22,786 of the cases, squamous cell carcinomas 1,953 and melanomas 741. 

Women who drank more than three cups of coffee had a 20% reduction in risk for basal cell carcinoma.  Men who drank that much coffee had a 9% reduction in risk of the slow-growing cancer.  People who drank the most coffee had the lowest risk.  The team did not identify reduced risk for squamous cell carcinoma.

Co-author Fengju Song, a postdoctoral fellow in dermatology, said that the discovery could help prevent cancers in the future.

“Daily dietary factors with even small protective effects may have great public health impact,” Song said in a statement. “Our study indicates that coffee consumption may be an important option to help prevent basal cell carcinoma.”

Great news since I love my coffee and had a squamous cell carcinoma surgically removed from behind my left ear a few years ago.

Now, if I can drink coffee and prevent cancer.

Really a WIN – WIN here.

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