3-D breast cancer screening reduces recall rates
NCI Cancer Center News
(Posted: 08/01/2013) - Tomosynthesis, or 3-dimensional (3-D) mammography, significantly reduced the number of patients being recalled for additional testing after receiving a mammogram, a Yale Cancer Center study found. The study appears in the journal Radiology. Digital mammography is considered the mainstay for breast cancer screening. However, it is not a perfect test, and many women are asked to come back for additional testing that often turns out not to show cancer. These additional screening tests increase patient anxiety.

Some women with abnormal breast lesions may avoid surgery
NCI Cancer Center News
(Posted: 08/01/2013) - Surgery is not always necessary for women with a type of breast tissue abnormality associated with a higher risk of cancer, according to a new study published online in the journal Radiology. Researchers said that periodic imaging and clinical exam are effective in these patients when radiology and pathology findings are benign and concordant, or in agreement. The study was led by researchers from the Emory University School of Medicine (home of the Winship Cancer Institute) and the University of Virginia (home of the UVA Cancer Center) and colleagues.

Novel gene target shows promise for bladder cancer detection and treatment
NCI Cancer Center News
(Posted: 07/25/2013) - Scientists from Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center have provided evidence from preclinical experiments that a gene known as melanoma differentiation associated gene-9/syntenin (mda-9/syntenin) could be used as a therapeutic target to kill bladder cancer cells, help prevent metastasis and even be used to non-invasively diagnose the disease and monitor its progression.

First major study to examine cancer incidence among Asian Americans
NCI Cancer Center News
(Posted: 07/25/2013) - Based on a comprehensive study that included more than half the Asian American population, scientists from the Cancer Prevention Institute of California (a partner of the Stanford Cancer Institute) have produced the first ever analysis of national trends in cancer incidence among the eight largest Asian American groups. The researchers examined cancer incidence data from 1990 through 2008 in 10 regions of the country, representing 54 percent of all Asian Americans. The eight groups studied in detail include Asian Indians/Pakistanis, Chinese, Filipinos, Japanese, Kampucheans (Cambodians), Koreans, Laotians and Vietnamese.

New trial launches to identify ways to prevent recurrence of colorectal cancer
NCI Backgrounder
(Posted: 07/25/2013) - To address concerns of colorectal cancer recurring after initial treatment, NCI, in collaboration with SWOG, one of NCI’s cooperative groups, recently announced a phase III trial that looks at whether someone who has been treated for colon cancer in the past can lower his or her risk of having a second primary colorectal cancer or an adenoma by regularly taking one or both of the study drugs, eflornithine and sulindac.

Digital PCR technology detects brain-tumor-associated mutation in cerebrospinal fluid
NCI Cancer Center News
(Posted: 07/24/2013) - Researchers from the Massachusetts General Hospital (a component of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute) and their colleagues have used digital versions of a standard molecular biology tool to detect a common tumor-associated mutation in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with brain tumors. In their report being published in the open-access journal Molecular Therapy – Nucleic Acids, the investigators describe using advanced forms of the gene-amplification technology polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to analyze bits of RNA carried in membrane-covered sacs called extracellular vesicles for the presence of a tumor-associated mutation in a gene called IDH1.

Thwarting protein production slows cancer cells' malignant march
NCI Cancer Center News
(Posted: 07/22/2013) - Protein production or translation is tightly coupled to a highly conserved stress response that cancer cells rely on for survival and proliferation, according to Whitehead Institute and MIT researchers.

HPV vaccine shown to also protect against oral HPV infection
NCI News Note
(Posted: 07/17/2013) - Costa Rican women who received a vaccine targeting two types of the HPV that cause 70 percent of cervical cancers had the added benefit of protection against oral HPV infection.

UCLA researchers find intestinal bacteria are linked to white blood cell cancer
NCI Cancer Center News
(Posted: 07/17/2013) - Researchers from UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have discovered that specific types of bacteria that live in the gut are major contributors to lymphoma, a cancer of the white blood cells that are part of the human immune system.

New study finds strong pregnancy outcomes for survivors of childhood cancer
NCI Cancer Center News
(Posted: 07/16/2013) - Although women who survived childhood cancer face an increased risk of infertility, nearly two-thirds of those who tried unsuccessfully to become pregnant for at least a year eventually conceived, according to clinical researchers at Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center and Brigham and Women's Hospital. This is comparable to the rate of eventual pregnancy among all clinically infertile women.