Saturday, February 13, 2010

VITAMIN E AND CANCER

About Vitamin E

The following information on general explanation of vitamin E, please see: (www.toosogie-health)

The Introductory Notes About Vitamin E Potential For Cancer

The study found no beneficial effect of vitamin E supplements on lung cancer incidence. It found lower rates of prostate and colorectal cancer among those who received vitamin E, but higher rates of bladder, stomach, and other types of cancer.

Studies and Statements to Future Potential of Vitamin E For Cancer

Vitamin E and cancer
Kline K, Lawson KA, Yu W, Sanders BG.
Division of Nutrition, University of Texas at Austin, Texas 78712, USA.

This chapter will review basic information about natural and synthetic vitamin E compounds as well as vitamin E analogues, summarize the current status of human intervention trials, review data from preclinical cell culture and animal model studies of vitamin E compounds and novel vitamin E-based analogues in regards to future potential for cancer treatment, and summarize some of the insights that have been gained into the anticancer mechanisms of action of vitamin E-based compounds which are providing interesting insights into their potent proapoptotic effects, which include restoration of apoptotic signaling pathways and blockage of prosurvival signaling events. PMID: 17628185 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]; Vitam Horm. 2007;76:435-61. ….. More


Vitamin E and cancer prevention: recent advances and future potentials
K. N. Prasad and J. Edwards-Prasad
Department of Radiology, School of Medicine, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver 80262.

Human epidemiologic studies utilizing retrospective and prospective case-control experimental designs are not suitable for evaluating the role of vitamin E in cancer prevention due to several inherent problems associated with these methodologies. Intervention trials utilizing vitamin E with appropriate biological and statistical rationales are most suitable for testing the role of vitamin E in cancer prevention in humans. Some human trials utilizing vitamin E alone or in combination with other nutrients are in progress. [Jounal Article] …. More


Supplemental and Dietary Vitamin E Intakes and Risk of Prostate Cancer in a Large Prospective Study
Margaret E. Wright, Stephanie J. Weinstein, Karla A. Lawson, Demetrius Albanes, Amy F. Subar, L. Beth Dixon, Traci Mouw, Arthur Schatzkin and Michael F. Leitzmann

In summary, we found no overall association between vitamin E supplement use and prostate cancer. However, higher intake of γ-tocopherol was associated with a significant reduction in the risk of advanced prostate cancer, providing support for continued research efforts directed towards this vitamin E isoform. . (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2007;16(6):1128–35) … More


The effect of vitamin E and beta carotene on the incidence of lung cancer and other cancers in male smokers. The Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta Carotene Cancer Prevention Study Group
[No authors listed]

We found no reduction in the incidence of lung cancer among male smokers after five to eight years of dietary supplementation with alpha-tocopherol or beta carotene. In fact, this trial raises the possibility that these supplements may actually have harmful as well as beneficial effects. PMID: 8127329 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE];Abstract N Engl J Med. 1994 Apr 14;330(15):1029-35. … More


Vitamin E and cancer prevention
P Knekt, A Aromaa, J Maatela, RK Aaran, T Nikkari, M Hakama, T Hakulinen, R Peto and L Teppo
Social Insurance Institution, Helsinki, Finland.

The strength of the association between serum alpha-tocopherol level and cancer risk varied for different cancer sites and was strongest for some gastrointestinal cancers and for the combined group of cancers unrelated to smoking. The association was strongest among nonsmoking men and among women with low levels of serum selenium. The findings agree with the hypothesis that dietary vitamin E in some circumstances protects against cancer. [REVIEW ARTICLES] …. More


Prostate Cancer Throws Vitamin E Another Strike
By ADAM VOILAND

Some 35,000 men who participated in a major prostate cancer prevention trial are in the process of getting this disheartening—yet not entirely surprising—letter in the mail from the National Cancer Institute. The message: Vitamin E and selenium, long buzzed about for their supposed prostate cancer-fighting properties, have flopped. Flopped hard. [Article] … More


A prospective study on supplemental vitamin e intake and risk of colon cancer in women and men
Wu K, Willett WC, Chan JM, Fuchs CS, Colditz GA, Rimm EB, Giovannucci EL.
Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. kana.wu@channing.harvard.edu

Our findings do not provide consistent support for an inverse association between supplemental vitamin E and colon cancer risk. Considering the paucity of epidemiological data on this association, further studies of vitamin E and colon cancer are warranted. (abstact; PMID: 12433706 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2002 Nov;11(11):1298-304.) …. More


Vitamin C and vitamin E supplement use and bladder cancer mortality in a large cohort of US men and women
Jacobs EJ, Henion AK, Briggs PJ, Connell CJ, McCullough ML, Jonas CR, Rodriguez C, Calle EE, Thun MJ.
Department of Epidemiology and Surveillance Research, American Cancer Society, National Home Office, Atlanta, GA 30329-4251, USA. eric.jacobs@cancer.org

Some epidemiologic studies suggest that use of vitamin C or vitamin E supplements, both potent antioxidants, may reduce the risk of bladder cancer. ……. Results support the hypothesis that long-duration vitamin E supplement use may reduce the risk of bladder cancer mortality. PMID: 12446256 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]; Abstract, Am J Epidemiol. 2002 Dec 1;156(11):1002-10. …. More


Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT)

However, the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial, ("SELECT"), run from 2004 to 2008, found that vitamin E, whether taken alone or in combination with selenium, did not prevent prostate cancer. [Article] …. More


A comparison of tocopherol and tocotrienol for the chemoprevention of chemically induced rat mammary tumors
Gould MN, Haag JD, Kennan WS, Tanner MA, Elson CE.
Department of Human Oncology, University of Wisconsin-Madison 53792.

Two forms of vitamin E, tocopherol and tocotrienol, were tested for chemopreventive activity in two chemically induced rat mammary-tumor models. When mammary tumors were induced by 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene (DMBA, 50 mg/kg), only the tocotrienol group had a statistically significant increase in tumor latency. There was no effect of either compound on tumor multiplicity. When tumors were induced by N-nitrosomethylurea (NMU, 30 mg/kg), neither analogue of vitamin E modified latency, whereas tocotrienol increased tumor multiplicity. In summary, neither vitamin analog had a major impact on mammary-tumor development after tumor induction with either DMBA or NMU.
PMID: 1845366 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]; Abstract, Am J Clin Nutr. 1991 Apr;53(4 Suppl):1068S-1070S. … More



Tuesday, January 12, 2010

DICTIONARY OF CANCER TERMS

DICTIONARY OF CANCER TERMS




Word List :

A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z

Thursday, January 7, 2010

THE HISTORY OF CANCER

The History of Cancer

Today, the Greek term carcinoma is the medical term for a malignant tumor derived from epithelial cells. It is Celsus who translated carcinos into the Latin cancer, also meaning crab. Galen used "oncos" to describe all tumours, the root for the modern word oncology.

Hippocrates described several kinds of cancers. He called benign tumours oncos, Greek for swelling, and malignant tumours carcinos, Greek for crab or crayfish. This name comes from the appearance of the cut surface of a solid malignant tumour, with "the veins stretched on all sides as the animal the crab has its feet, whence it derives its name". He later added the suffix -oma, Greek for swelling, giving the name carcinoma. Since it was against Greek tradition to open the body, Hippocrates only described and made drawings of outwardly visible tumors on the skin, nose, and breasts. Treatment was based on the humor theory of four bodily fluids (black and yellow bile, blood, and phlegm). According to the patient's humor, treatment consisted of diet, blood-letting, and/or laxatives. Through the centuries it was discovered that cancer could occur anywhere in the body, but humor-theory based treatment remained popular until the 19th century with the discovery of cells.

The oldest known description and surgical treatment of cancer was discovered in Egypt and dates back to approximately 1600 B.C. The Papyrus describes 8 cases of ulcers of the breast that were treated by cauterization, with a tool called "the fire drill." The writing says about the disease, "There is no treatment."

Another very early surgical treatment for cancer was described in the 1020s by Avicenna (Ibn Sina) in The Canon of Medicine. He stated that the excision should be radical and that all diseased tissue should be removed, which included the use of amputation or the removal of veins running in the direction of the tumor. He also recommended the use of cauterization for the area being treated if necessary.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, it became more acceptable for doctors to dissect bodies to discover the cause of death. The German professor Wilhelm Fabry believed that breast cancer was caused by a milk clot in a mammary duct. The Dutch professor Francois de la Boe Sylvius, a follower of Descartes, believed that all disease was the outcome of chemical processes, and that acidic lymph fluid was the cause of cancer. His contemporary Nicolaes Tulp believed that cancer was a poison that slowly spreads, and concluded that it was contagious.

The first cause of cancer was identified by British surgeon Percivall Pott, who discovered in 1775 that cancer of the scrotum was a common disease among chimney sweeps. The work of other individual physicians led to various insights, but when physicians started working together they could make firmer conclusions.

With the widespread use of the microscope in the 18th century, it was discovered that the 'cancer poison' spread from the primary tumor through the lymph nodes to other sites ("metastasis"). This view of the disease was first formulated by the English surgeon Campbell De Morgan between 1871 and 1874. The use of surgery to treat cancer had poor results due to problems with hygiene. The renowned Scottish surgeon Alexander Monro saw only 2 breast tumor patients out of 60 surviving surgery for two years. In the 19th century, asepsis improved surgical hygiene and as the survival statistics went up, surgical removal of the tumor became the primary treatment for cancer. With the exception of William Coley who in the late 1800s felt that the rate of cure after surgery had been higher before asepsis (and who injected bacteria into tumors with mixed results), cancer treatment became dependent on the individual art of the surgeon at removing a tumor. During the same period, the idea that the body was made up of various tissues, that in turn were made up of millions of cells, laid rest the humor-theories about chemical imbalances in the body. The age of cellular pathology was born.

When Marie Curie and Pierre Curie discovered radiation at the end of the 19th century, they stumbled upon the first effective non-surgical cancer treatment. With radiation also came the first signs of multi-disciplinary approaches to cancer treatment. The surgeon was no longer operating in isolation, but worked together with hospital radiologists to help patients. The complications in communication this brought, along with the necessity of the patient's treatment in a hospital facility rather than at home, also created a parallel process of compiling patient data into hospital files, which in turn led to the first statistical patient studies.

A founding paper of cancer epidemiology was the work of Janet Lane-Claypon, who published a comparative study in 1926 of 500 breast cancer cases and 500 control patients of the same background and lifestyle for the British Ministry of Health. Her ground-breaking work on cancer epidemiology was carried on by Richard Doll and Austin Bradford Hill, who published "Lung Cancer and Other Causes of Death In Relation to Smoking. A Second Report on the Mortality of British Doctors" followed in 1956 (otherwise known as the British doctors study). Richard Doll left the London Medical Research Center (MRC), to start the Oxford unit for Cancer epidemiology in 1968. With the use of computers, the unit was the first to compile large amounts of cancer data. Modern epidemiological methods are closely linked to current concepts of disease and public health policy. Over the past 50 years, great efforts have been spent on gathering data across medical practise, hospital, provincial, state, and even country boundaries, as a way to study the interdependence of environmental and cultural factors on cancer incidence.

Cancer patient treatment and studies were restricted to individual physicians' practices until World War II, when medical research centers discovered that there were large international differences in disease incidence. This insight drove national public health bodies to make it possible to compile health data across practises and hospitals, a process that many countries do today. The Japanese medical community observed that the bone marrow of victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was completely destroyed. They concluded that diseased bone marrow could also be destroyed with radiation, and this led to the discovery of bone marrow transplants for leukemia. Since World War II, trends in cancer treatment are to improve on a micro-level the existing treatment methods, standardize them, and globalize them as a way to find cures through epidemiology and international partnerships.

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cancer

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

WHAT IS CANCER

What is Cancer ?


Cancer is a term used for diseases in which abnormal cells divide without control and are able to invade other tissues. Cancer cells can spread to other parts of the body through the blood and lymph systems.

Cancer is not just one disease but many diseases. There are more than 100 different types of cancer. Most cancers are named for the organ or type of cell in which they start - for example, cancer that begins in the colon is called colon cancer; cancer that begins in basal cells of the skin is called basal cell carcinoma.

Cancer types can be grouped into broader categories. The main categories of cancer include:
Carcinoma - cancer that begins in the skin or in tissues that line or cover internal organs.
Sarcoma - cancer that begins in bone, cartilage, fat, muscle, blood vessels, or other connective or supportive tissue.
Leukemia - cancer that starts in blood-forming tissue such as the bone marrow and causes large numbers of abnormal blood cells to be produced and enter the blood.
Lymphoma and myeloma - cancers that begin in the cells of the immune system.
Central nervous system cancers - cancers that begin in the tissues of the brain and spinal cord.

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/what-is-cancer