(Posted: 01/27/2012) - The percentage of U.S. citizens screened for cancer remains below national targets, with significant disparities among racial and ethnic populations, according to the first federal study to identify cancer screening disparities among Asian and Hispanic groups. The report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, was published today in the CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

(Posted: 01/24/2012) - Results from a National Cancer Institute (NCI) sponsored multicenter study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association on January 25, 2012, provides strong evidence that BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutation carriers with ovarian cancer were more likely to survive in the five years following diagnosis than were women with ovarian cancer who do not have mutations in these genes.

(Posted: 01/19/2012) - A clinical trial has shown that addition of chemotherapy to radiation therapy leads to a near doubling of median survival time in patients with a form of brain tumor (oligodendroglioma) that carries a chromosomal abnormality called the 1p19q co-deletion. This abnormality is characterized by the simultaneous deletion of the short arm of chromosome 1 and long arm of chromosome 19. The presence of the chromosomal abnormality was associated with substantially better prognosis and marked improvements in survival in a treatment program of combined chemotherapy and radiation therapy compared to radiation therapy alone.

(Posted: 01/12/2012) - A new type of lab has been created to utilize near-atomic resolution microscopy and other structural biology technologies to help accelerate important medical discoveries relating to global health challenges, such as cancer and HIV/AIDS. The Living Lab Structural Biology Center was formed through a cooperative research and development agreement between the National Institutes of Health and FEI, Hillsboro, Ore., a scientific instruments company.

(Posted: 12/13/2011) - Adults with a form of muscular dystrophy called myotonic muscular dystrophy (MMD) may be at increased risk of developing cancer, according to a study by investigators at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health.

(Posted: 12/07/2011) - An independent panel convened this week by NIH has concluded that many men with localized, low-risk prostate cancer should be closely monitored, permitting treatment to be delayed until warranted by disease progression. However, monitoring strategies—such as active surveillance—have not been uniformly studied and available data do not yet point to clear follow-up protocols.

(Posted: 12/02/2011) - A new effort to help teens quit smoking will use one of today’s teen’s most constant companions—the mobile phone. Developed by smoking cessation experts, SmokefreeTXT is a free text message cessation service that provides 24/7 encouragement, advice, and tips to teens trying to quit smoking.

(Posted: 11/07/2011) - Researchers have designed a light-based therapy that allows the selective destruction of tumor cells in mice without harming surrounding normal tissue.

(Posted: 11/07/2011) - A science writers' seminar to discuss the latest research in cancer genetics and global health efforts, including talks from leaders of NCI’s new centers of cancer genomics and global health will be held Dec. 13, 2011, at NCI.

(Posted: 11/02/2011) - Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infects nine out of ten people worldwide at some point during their lifetimes. Infections in early childhood often cause no disease symptoms, but people infected during adolescence or young adulthood may develop infectious mononucleosis, a disease characterized by swollen lymph nodes, fever and severe fatigue. EBV also is associated with several kinds of cancer, including Hodgkin lymphoma and stomach and nasal cancers.