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.
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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.