Science Daily reports: Gene Panel Predicts Lung Cancer Survival, Study Finds

Researchers from four leading cancer centers have confirmed that an analysis involving a panel of genes can be used to predict which lung cancer patients will have the worst survival. The finding could one day lead to a test that would help determine who needs more aggressive treatment.

The study, the largest of its kind, appears online in Nature Medicine.
The researchers looked at 442 lung cancer tissue samples collected from six cancer hospitals in North America. They tested the cancer samples to look at the expression of hundreds of genes, and factored in clinical predictors such as tumor stage and the patients' gender and age. The results showed that the lung cancers could be divided into groups with better and worse survival rates.
Typically, lung cancer patients receive chemotherapy after surgery to reduce the risk of the cancer coming back. But specialists know that some patients with stage I disease, the earliest stage, have an aggressive disease with poor prognosis while some patients with more advanced stage II disease have a relatively good prognosis. The question is how to identify which patients need the additional therapy and which patients could potentially avoid it.
"We found that looking at clinical data along with gene expression can be a more reliable indicator. Gene expression is not just a black box approach -- which a lot of researchers think it is. Sometimes knowing the context actually helps you use that information more efficiently," says study author David Beer, Ph.D., professor of surgery and radiation oncology at the University of Michigan Medical School and co-director of the Cancer Genetics Program at the U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center.

To read the complete article, click the following link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080721110309.htm

The State reports: Black members of Congress split over issue of menthol cigarettes

By STEPHANIE SAUL - The New York Times

Free cigarettes are no longer handed out at Congressional Black Caucus functions. But the Congressional Black Caucus has not severed its financial ties to big tobacco. And that can complicate matters when the political discussion involves smoking’s impact on African-Americans.
A rift has opened in the 43-member caucus over a menthol provision in legislation that would enable the Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco. To reduce smoking’s appeal to teenagers, the legislation would outlaw flavored cigarettes — except for menthol cigarettes, which are exempted. The exemption was seen as a compromise to win broad backing for the legislation.
But menthol has become a politically charged subject in Washington because an estimated 75 percent of black smokers choose mentholated brands.
Critics of the menthol exemption tend to denounce it as a sellout to the tobacco industry, and some members of the black caucus are pressing to narrow the exemption or ban menthol outright. But other caucus members oppose any changes, saying that pushing too hard now on menthol could endanger the entire legislation.

Philip Morris has been one of the biggest contributors to the caucus’ nonprofit Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. That financial support has been the reason some critics perceived an alliance between big tobacco and black lawmakers, some of whom were willing to help fend off anti-tobacco efforts.

Black lawmakers who maintain strong tobacco industry ties include Rep. James E. Clyburn, D-S.C., who represents a tobacco-growing region of South Carolina and is majority whip of the House.

To read the complete article, click the following link:
http://www.thestate.com/nation-extra/story/470931.html

The New York Times reports: Billionaires Back Antismoking Effort

Article By: Donald G. McNeil Jr.
Photo By: Nicole Bengiveno

Bill Gates and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced on Wednesday that they would spend $500 million to stop people around the world from smoking.

The World Health Organization estimates that tobacco will kill up to a billion people in the 21st century, 10 times as many as it killed in the 20th.
This time, most are expected to be in poor countries like Bangladesh and middle-income countries like Russia. In an effort to cut that number, Mr. Bloomberg’s foundation plans to commit $250 million over four years on top of a $125 million gift he announced two years ago. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is allocating $125 million over five years.

To read the complete article, click the following link: http: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/24/health/24smoke.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=bill%20gates%20smoking&st=cse&oref=slogin

Editorial from The State: Cities, counties can save lives by adopting smoking bans

By WARREN BOLTON - Associate Editor

SMOKING BANS save lives. A recent government study affirming that fact shouldn’t shock anyone.
Instead, it should prompt more cities and counties in South Carolina to act.
It’s hard to understand why even more local governments haven’t jumped at the opportunity to protect the health and lives of workers and patrons since the S.C. Supreme Court gave them the green light.
Many have been wringing their hands over the prospects because some bar and restaurant owners won’t like it. Those business owners should be able to make the decision themselves, some argue.
But this is a matter of life and death. And — now, this may be a shock for some — keeping people alive and healthy is a higher priority than personal preference.
Innocent people ought not be at risk of getting sick and dying because of someone else’s bad, and dangerous, habit. The U.S. Surgeon General has declared there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand cigarette smoke. Cigarettes cause lung cancer and other deadly illnesses — in smokers, and in nonsmokers who inhale smoke.
Health officials say secondhand smoke increases the risk of lung cancer in nonsmoking adults by at least 20 percent.

Just think of what would happen if our state raised the cigarette tax and passed a statewide smoking ban. Unfortunately, state elected leaders haven’t seen fit to do either. They came close to raising the tax this past legislative session, but the governor vetoed it. And lawmakers haven’t summoned the will to pass a smoking ban, largely due to the strong tobacco lobby.
So, for now, local governments are South Carolinians’ only chance for relief.
And there’s a great need for relief. While there’s been a great decline in the number of nonsmokers who take in secondhand smoke, that’s tempered by the fact that nearly half of nonsmokers continue to involuntarily inhale poison.
The new CDC report has somber news for some groups, particularly children and black people who are nonsmokers. While the proportion of blacks with a recent exposure to smoke dropped from 94 percent to about 71 percent, it dropped from 83 percent to 43 percent for whites.
Also unsettling is the fact that exposures for children didn’t drop as steeply as for adults. More than 60 percent of children ages 4 through 11 had recent exposure to cigarette smoke in the 1999-2004 period.
It’s time to kick the habit.
Governments must ban smoking in public places, including bars and restaurants. Families and individuals must stop lighting up at home and in cars.
I know quitting isn’t easy.
But it’s easier than watching friends, loved ones and neighbors suffer and perish from the effects of secondhand smoke.

Reach Mr. Bolton at (803) 771-8631 or wbolton@thestate.com.

Read the complete editorial at the following link: http://www.thestate.com/editorial-columns/story/468617.html

Study: High cancer in Great Falls

The News & Reporter of Chester County
Photo by Stephen Guilfoyle
editor@onlinechester.com

Lung cancer and deaths from lung cancer are "significantly" higher than expected in the Great Falls area, a state study shows.

The area has almost 20 percent higher than expected cases of cancer, according to a survey done by the state at the request of a former Chester County councilman.

The state Department of Health and Environmental Control has now done "cancer cluster" surveys of the ZIP codes for the county's four major towns at its request.

Separate surveys for each area show that from 2001 to 2005, expected incidents of cancer in:

• the Fort Lawn ZIP were 10 percent higher than expected;

• the Great Falls ZIP were 19.8 percent higher than expected; and

• the Richburg ZIP were 2 pecent higher than expected; and

Combined, that's about 8.2 percent higher than expected for the four ZIP codes.

The N&R previously reported on the Chester ZIP code findings.Former County Coun-cilman Tom Hamilton, himself a cancer survivor, requested the surveys. He received a report on the Chester ZIP code last month, and last week, he received "the rest of the story."

He said people have been coming up to him since The N&R reported the Chester ZIP code results two weeks ago. Comments range from curiosity to concern, he says.

"People are talking about this," he said. Almost everyone has had some form of cancer hit them or their family. "It strikes a nerve."

To read the complete article, follow this link:
http://www.onlinechester.com/cgi-bin/storyviewnew.cgi?155+News.2008718-5934-155-155007.Full+News

Study on why the South is the Cancer Belt

UPI.com - Health News

NASHVILLE, July 22 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers are trying to determine why the South has become the Cancer Belt and why African-Americans experience higher rates of several cancers.
"When you look at a map of brain cancer incidence in the United States the Southeast just lights up in red," Dr. Reid Thompson, of Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville said in a statement.
"When we found this hot-spot on the National Cancer Institute's mortality maps we realized something unusual is going on in this region."
Brain cancer is one of the most alarming malignancies disproportionately affecting people who live in this cancer hot-spot, Thompson said.
However, the most prevalent cancer in the South is lung cancer. Southerners continue to smoke more than individuals in other regions of the country, the researchers said.
"We're asking patients about their diets, possible job-related exposure to cancer-causing chemicals, and we're collecting DNA samples," Thompson said. "We know there are some genetic markers that are linked to other forms of cancer and they may play a role in brain cancer, as well."
The Southern Community Cohort Study hopes to recruit 90,000 people in 12 Southern states to learn about their lifestyles, their family medical histories and their risk factors for cancer and other serious diseases.

WIS News 10 reports: Loss shapes bond for Clemson football duo

Former Florida high school teammates used friendship to overcome adversity

By Paul Strelow - pstrelow@thestate.com

Photo credit and notes: Lindsay Semple - lsemple@thestate.com

Left to right, Daniel Andrews and Jamie Harper, both incoming Clemson football players, have been on the same team since elementary school. They share the lose of a parent to cancer and the love of football.

The news came as Jamie Harper reached his public-speaking class late one March morning.
His teacher had received a phone call with word that the father of Harper’s close friend and future Clemson football teammate Daniel Andrews Jr. had died after a relatively brief bout with cancer.
Harper and another friend skipped the class and made the quick drive to Andrews’ home.
“If we had gotten into trouble, well, we’d have gotten into trouble,” Harper said.
Harper and Andrews, recent graduates of Trinity Christian Academy in Jacksonville, Fla., have been by each other’s sides for more than a decade — a key factor in their decisions to play football at the same college.
Life circumstances have stitched their bond tighter, making both all the more appreciative they began their lives away from home this month as college roommates.
Harper’s mother, Dietria, died of lung cancer when Harper was 9. Her name is tattooed across his back.
As Andrews continues coping, Harper has made a point to stick close as a sounding board.
“Whenever it first happened, people don’t know what to say,” Andrews said. “With most, it’s kind of awkward. But he knew how it felt. And ever since then, our relationship has grown stronger.”

Read the complete article here: http://www.thestate.com/sports/story/465759.html

WIS News 10 reports: Gene Profiles Might Help Guide Lung Cancer Care

By Jeffrey Perkel, HealthDay Reporter

A sweeping genetic analysis suggests that the activity of certain genes might someday allow doctors to predict which lung cancer patients need more aggressive therapies and which do not.
But the findings also underscore the difficulty of making such predictions, especially in the case of people with the earliest forms of the disease, when aggressive therapies could be of greatest value.
The goal is to build effective predictors based on gene expression (activity) and use them prospectively to guide treatment decisions, experts said.
However, to do that, "you have to know what are the potential issues that might influence how well gene expression might predict," said researcher David Beer, a professor in the department of thoracic surgery at the University of Michigan. "I guess the bottom line from this study is that because of the heterogeneity of lung adenocarcinoma, it is not an easy problem. There are still significant issues."

Still, this study -- the most comprehensive yet to date -- could pave the way to more tailored lung cancer treatment based on gene expression profiles, said one expert.
"The goal is five years from now, if I had this data on a stage 1 or stage 2 lung cancer patient, that I could say, 'Hey, you have a very low-risk profile, you don't need chemotherapy' and vice-versa, of course," said Dr. Edward Kim, an assistant professor of medicine in the department of thoracic/head and neck oncology at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, in Houston.

To read the complete article, click on the following link: http://www.wistv.com/global/story.asp?s=8704838

GoUpstate.com reports: Basketball teams aim to D up on lung cancer

By Dudley Browndudley.brown@shj.com

Next weekend, basketball teams will take the court at the T.K. Gregg Recreation Center for bragging rights. They'll also be honoring Barbara Haywood.

Haywood, the aunt of Leroy Wilks, died in December from bone marrow cancer. Wilks, the recreation center's assistant director, wanted to do something to recognize her and possibly extend her legacy beyond his family.
In January, he started sending e-mails to organizations fighting cancer and learned about the Chicago-based LUNGevity Foundation, which raises money for lung cancer research. Wilks said the foundation was the first to respond, so he decided to get involved, even though his aunt didn't have lung cancer.
A basketball tournament made sense because of the sport's popularity at the center, he said.
"Everybody else is doing walks and runs, and we decided to put our touch on it," Wilks said. "We thought we'd do basketball. It's different."

Wilks plans to have at least six teams playing in the tournament, which also will include games for kids, food, poetry readings and gospel singing. Trophies will be given to the top three finishing teams.

To read the entire article, go to: http://www.goupstate.com/article/20080701/NEWS/807010306/1106/living06&title=Basketball_teams_aim_to_D_up_on_lung_cancer#

Special place for those with cancer is tribute to woman’s late sister

Penny Cunningham’s high energy level is contagious.

When she walks into the vestibule of Candy’s Place, the nonprofit organization she founded in April 1998, she’s greeted by smiles and laughter from volunteers, staff and anyone else who happens to be at the Forty Fort location.Named after Cunningham’s sister, the late Candice Vincent-Mamary, who died of lung cancer at the age of 47, Candy’s Place is a hangout of hope, support, inspiration and relaxation for cancer patients and their families.

In addition to the prerequisite positive attitude one needs to keep a facility like Candy’s Place running, Cunningham has created what she calls a “homelike atmosphere”: meeting rooms with large, comfortable furniture, color collages on the walls, and a bright, beach-themed exercise room.

Read the complete article from the The Citizens Voice of Pennsylvania at: http://www.citizensvoice.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19849079&BRD=2259&PAG=461&dept_id=457355&rfi=6

North Carolina's NBC 17 reports: Minimally Invasive Lung Cancer Surgery Speeds Recovery

By: Julie Henry Health & Fitness Reporter

YOUNGSVILLE, N.C. - It started with a spot on her lung. Erin Sampson's doctor found it during a routine chest x-ray. As a lifelong smoker, the former nurse knew it was cancer.

"It's a terrible thing to be told that you've got lung cancer," she said.
But the odds were in her favor. Sampson was one of only 15 percent of patients whose cancer is localized to one area of the lung, making her a candidate for surgery.
That could have meant a large incision on her back and maybe even removal of ribs to get to the lung. But Duke thoracic surgeon Dr. Tommy D'Amico chose a minimally invasive technique called thoracoscopic lobectomy. A national leader in the procedure, he used camera operated equipment to remove the large lobe of her lung through an incision just two inches long.

"Patients go home after the minimally invasive approach and they can return to normal activity faster," he said. "If they work, they can go back to their jobs. Because they're not taking pain medicine, they can drive again. They get back to their life much sooner."
When Sampson reported for pulmonary rehab less than two weeks after her surgery, therapists and other lung cancer patients were shocked.

Read more and view the video at: http://www.nbc17.com/midatlantic/ncn/news.apx.-content-articles-NCN-2008-07-12-0008.html

Free Screenings of Why We Smoke Film Documentary at Nickelodeon

COLUMBIA (JULY 9, 2008) - There will be free screenings of Why We Smoke on Thursday, July 10 at the Nickelodeon Theatre on 937 Main Street in Columbia. Film times are at 3PM, 6PM and 8PM. The Musicians & Songwriters Guild of SC is also featuring a music video release for the song "Her Life" during the screenings.

Why We Smoke gives smokers, friends of smokers, social workers, public health representatives and medical experts a new look at America’s number one preventable cause of death. The film documents three important components of this topic: 1) smokers, 2) the experts who study them, 3) and the ways in which media and advertising has been, and is still, a major reinforcement of smoking behavior.

Why We Smoke represents a unique experiment in a college media center. Eighteen Undergraduate students at the University of South Carolina traveled to meet smokers in their hometowns and researchers in the labs where they studied tobacco and nicotine. They also interviewed media experts who revealed the tactics of advertising to induce behaviors.

Why We Smoke is funded by the South Carolina Tobacco Collaborative and the University of South Carolina, Department of Art and sponsored by Healthy Carolina and The Free Times. The film is part of the Nickelodeon Theatre’s monthly “Community Film Forum” and will feature a Q&A and panel forum following the film.

View the film trailer at http://www.cas.sc.edu/art/WhyWeSmoke/trailer.html

The sooner you quit, the better it is

By Jeremy Manier - the Chicago Tribune

Both of this year's presidential candidates say they are ex-smokers, but recent research suggests that they may face increased health risks from cigarettes for years to come.Some of the damage that cigarettes inflict on the body subsides quickly, halving the risk of heart disease and stroke within five years after a smoker quits. But the effect of smoking on risks of cancer and other diseases can persist for decades, experts say.Even Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), 71, who quit smoking in 1980, still faces some increased risk of cancer from smoking two packs a day for 25 years, studies suggest. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), 46, who says he has struggled to stay off cigarettes since quitting last year, may have less long-term risk because he smoked fewer cigarettes per day.

Better to quit youngA major message of the research is that people who quit at a young age are far better off than those who put it off until later. Obama and McCain, both of whom waited until their mid-40s to quit, would have been measurably better off if they had stopped a decade sooner, experts said.

The danger intensifies as smokers approach their 30th year of addiction, Pechacek said. The risk of getting lung cancer for a person who has smoked for 30 years can be six times greater than the risk for someone who has smoked for 20 years.

Test can find tiny tumor level in blood

By Stephen Smith of The Boston Globe - July 3, 2008
Boston researchers have developed a test that can identify minute amounts of tumor cells floating in the blood of cancer patients, a discovery that could lead to better treatments with fewer side effects.
The technology, invented at Massachusetts General Hospital, uses a microchip scanner no bigger than a business card to analyze a patient's blood, hunting for stray cells shed by tumors. The device is so powerful that it can detect a single cancer cell among 1 billion healthy blood cells.
Once those cells are captured, their genetic fingerprints can help determine the most effective drug for a patient whose cancer has already begun spreading, and also show whether medication has lost its power. The technology is now being tried in patients whose cancer has already spread, but scientists hope in the fu ture the chip will be able to detect cancer's spread before secondary tumors have become established.
Although the device is not yet ready for widespread use, a report posted online yesterday by the New England Journal of Medicine showed that it successfully identified migrating cancer cells in lung cancer patients and spotted important genetic quirks in those cells.
Scientists not involved with the research said the innovation represents a significant improvement on existing cancer blood tests and predicted that it could revolutionize treatment, especially for lung cancer, which kills more Americans than any other cancer.
"><$BlogItemTitle$>

Lung Cancer Alliance Mourns the Loss of Board Chairman Rear Admiral Philip J. Coady, USN (Ret.)

...he was our hero, who led Lung Cancer Alliance (LCA) with the same unflinching conviction and steady purpose as he did when commanding naval destroyers, cruisers and battleship groups.
Indeed, he was uniquely qualified for this assignment. He was an avid hiker, rower and outdoor enthusiast. As a non-smoker, Admiral Coady never imagined himself as someone at risk for lung cancer.
The rude shock of his unexpected diagnosis spurred him to investigate the disease, its treatment and the status of efforts to find a cure. He was stunned at what he learned -- especially the fact that few cancer research dollars spent by the Veterans Administration and U.S. Department of Defense were directed at lung cancer, even though it is the largest cause of cancer deaths among Veterans.
Admiral Coady immediately set to work and resolved to help permanently change public perceptions and public health funding for lung cancer research. He engaged Congress, Agency officials, national media, and business leaders on the need to increase compassion and support for the entire lung cancer community. He commanded attention – and got it - as just last week the first-ever lung cancer research funding legislation was introduced in the United States Senate.
Admiral Coady was an extraordinary man – a natural born leader. He exuded confidence, determination and purpose. He was principled, compassionate, honorable, and resolute. He sought truth and justice. It was easy to “fall in behind” as he led with such dignity, intelligence and grace. He was -- simply put – a “cut above”.
Laurie Fenton Ambrose
President & CEO
Lung Cancer Alliance

Five Genes Identified In Metastasis Of Breast Tumors To The Lung

ScienceDaily (June 24, 2008) — The identification of five genes involve in the metastasis of breast tumours to the lung is the principal finding of a scientific team made up of two bodies from the University of Navarra, the Applied Medical Research Centre (CIMA) and the University Hospital of the University of Navarra.
According to the results of this study, of the five genes identified, the Tenascina-C gene seems to be a good therapeutic target for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer. In fact, the blocking of the expression of this gene in the animal model enabled a significant reduction, both in tumour growth and in the incidence of pulmonary metastasis.
This new discovery in the complex network that is the metastasis process of tumours provides key data on the knowledge of cancer and its spreading, at the same time identifying new targets for which new pharmaceutical medicines that contribute to more efficacious treatment of this disease can be designed.

Faulty DNA Repair Could Be A Risk Factor For Lung Cancer In Nonsmokers

ScienceDaily (June 27, 2008) — People who have never smoked but whose cells cannot efficiently repair environmental insults to DNA are at higher risk of developing lung cancer than those with effective genomic repair capability, according to researchers from the Department of Epidemiology at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

"About 15 percent of lung cancers occur in lifetime never smokers. Risk factors for lung cancer in people who have never smoked are poorly understood, but this study demonstrates that poor DNA repair capacity is an important predictor of lung cancer risk in never smokers," said the study's lead author, Olga Gorlova, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology.
In the June issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, the researchers say that, overall, nonsmokers with suboptimal DNA repair capacity (DRC) are almost twice as likely to develop lung cancer, compared with nonsmokers with normal DRC. Study participants with the lowest ability to repair their DNA had a more than a threefold increased risk, compared with individuals with efficient DRC.
Secondhand smoke exposure is another established risk factor; in participants with inefficient DRC who also reported such exposure, the risk of lung cancer was almost fourfold.
Although the research team has not pinpointed the gene or genes that cause suboptimal DRC, their data suggest that the trait is heritable to some degree. Notably they found that first-degree relatives of those with lowest DRC were 2.5 times more likely to develop lung cancer than were first-degree relatives of people with efficient DRC.
"Our findings demonstrate that suboptimal DNA repair capacity together with secondhand smoke exposure are strong lung cancer risk factors in lifetime never smokers," Gorlova said.