New ‘fluid biopsy’ could help save thousands of cancer victims per year
London, Feb 4: A new, extra sensitive blood test could help detect the spread of cancer through the body.
It is hoped the “fluid biopsy”, which tracks malignant cells moving around the body, will help scientists to stop metastasis, the process by which cancers spread.
This is the primary cause of death in nine out of 10 people struck down by the disease.
The Californian researchers say their test more accurately mapped the journey of cells in patients with prostate, breast and pancreatic cancer. It works by attaching fluorescent “tags” to cancer cell proteins, making them glow.
“This is the technology we have been waiting for to solve the problem of resistance to chemotherapy drugs,” the Daily Express quoted leading US oncologist Dr Jorge Nieva as saying.
By tracking cancer cells, doctors will be able to better predict which treatments are working.
The study was published in a report in the Institute of Physics journal, Physical Biology. (ANI)
Lower levels of sunlight may up risk of allergies and eczema
Washington, Feb 4: A new study has found that children living in areas with lower levels of sunlight are at greater risk of developing food allergies and the skin condition eczema, compared to those in areas with higher UV.
A team of researchers from the European Centre for Environment and Human Health, along with several Australian institutions used data from a study of Australian children and analysed how rates of food allergy, eczema and asthma varied throughout the country.
As well as finding a link between latitude and allergies to peanut and egg, the results showed that on average children in the south of the country are twice as likely to develop eczema as those in the north.
The report builds upon existing evidence that suggests exposure to the sun may play a role in rising levels of food allergy and eczema.
Sunlight is important because it provides our body with the fuel to create vitamin D in the skin, and locations closer to the equator typically receive higher levels of sunshine.
Australia is a particularly good place for this type of study as it spans nearly 3000 miles from north to south, with a large variation in climate, day length and sun strength from Queensland in the north to Tasmania in the south.
Dr Nick Osborne, who led the study, believes these findings provide us with an important insight into the prevalence of food allergies and eczema, which appear to be on the increase.
He also cautioned that exposure to sunlight can vary for a host of reasons beyond latitude, such as local climate variations and behaviours, and these factors will also need to be considered.
“This investigation has further underlined the association between food allergies, eczema and where you live,” he said.
“We’re now hoping to study these effects at a much finer scale and examine which factors such as temperature, infectious disease or vitamin D are the main drivers of this relationship. As always, care has to be taken we are not exposed to too much sunlight, increasing the risk of skin cancer,” he added.
The study is published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology this week. (ANI)
Soy supplements may not protect against breast cancer
Washington, Feb 4: Soy isoflavone supplements have failed to decrease breast cancer cell proliferation in a randomized clinical trial, according to a study.
Lead researcher Seema A. Khan, M.D., professor of surgery at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, said the results of this study were consistent with the findings of previous studies that were designed to test cancer prevention benefits of dietary supplements.
“Simply put, supplements are not food. Although soy-based foods appear to have a protective effect, we are not seeing the same effect with supplementation using isolated components of soy, so the continued testing of soy supplements is likely not worthwhile,” said Khan.
Khan said that beta-carotene and selenium supplementation have also been shown to lack benefit in lung cancer prevention studies.
“Foods are very complex and there are likely traveling companions that we haven’t identified that are protecting against cancer,” said Khan.
For the current study, Khan and colleagues randomly assigned 98 women to receive a mixed soy isoflavones supplement or placebo. Isoflavones are components of soy foods that were expected to have anti-estrogen activity.
These women had more than 4,000 breast cancer epithelial cells identified by fine needle aspiration biopsy.
At six months, researchers evaluated the levels of Ki-67, an established protein marker of cancer cell growth. In the overall population, no difference was seen after six months in either group.
However, among pre-menopausal women, the level of Ki-67 increased from 1.71 to 2.18, suggesting a negative effect of the supplementation.
“This was a small finding, but one that should suggest caution,” said Khan.
The study was published in Cancer Prevention Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. (ANI)
Sleep disorders up risk of diabetes and heart disease 6-fold
London, Jan 31: People who struggle to sleep are six times more likely to develop diabetes and heart disease, according to a new research.
It found that the symptoms of diabetes developed after just three days of disrupted sleep, the Daily Mail reported.
The latest findings could help to explain previous research that has shown night shift workers are prone to type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
The study involving almost 20,000 participants found those with any of four particular variants of the gene were at much greater risk - offering hope of personalised treatments for the condition.
Scientists say the faulty protein, known as MT2, may disrupt the link between our 24 hour, or circadian, rhythms and release of the hormone insulin - leading to abnormal control of blood sugar and, hence, type 2 diabetes.
“Blood sugar control is one of the many processes regulated by the body’s biological clock,” said Professor Philippe Froguel, of Imperial College London.
“This study adds to our understanding of how the gene that carries the blueprint for a key component in the clock can influence people’s risk of diabetes.
“We found very rare variants of the MT2 gene that have a much larger effect than more common variants discovered before. Although each mutation is rare, they are common in the sense that everyone has a lot of very rare mutations in their DNA.
“Cataloguing these mutations will enable us to much more accurately assess a person’s risk of disease based on their genetics,” he dded.
Dr Iain Frame, director of research at Diabetes UK, said: “Genetic studies like this one are useful as they can help us understand how a person’s genetic makeup can influence their risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
In the study, researchers examined the MT2 gene in 7,632 people to look for more unusual variants that have a bigger effect on disease risk.
They found 40 associated with type 2 diabetes, four of which were very rare and rendered the receptor protein completely incapable of responding to the hormone melatonin.
The scientists then confirmed the link with these four mutations in an additional sample of 11,854 people.
Each mutation was analysed by testing what effect they have on the MT2 receptor in human cells in the lab.
The mutations that completely prevented the receptor from working proved to have a very big effect on diabetes risk, suggesting there is a direct link between MT2 and the disease.
“This risk is not controlled by one single gene, however, and we already know that other genetic changes, as well as lifestyle factors, can affect the likelihood of developing this complex condition,” Dr Frame stated.
“The more we understand about the effect of these genetic differences, the more likely it is that we will be able to design new drugs or apply existing drug treatments for people with type 2 diabetes, but we are not yet at that stage.
“What we can be sure of now is that eating a balanced diet rich in fruit and vegetables, maintaining a healthy weight and being more physically active can help to reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes as well as help people with the condition to manage it more effectively, and lower the likelihood of developing serious complications,” he concluded.
The latest study has been published in Nature Genetics. (ANI)
Cardiac pump ‘could bring down deaths in heart patients’
London, Jan 31: Cardiac surgeons say that hundreds of deaths could be prevented if heart failure patients were fitted with a special pump.
The battery-powered devices are plumbed into the left side of the heart to keep it beating if drugs don’t work.
At present only patients awaiting a heart transplant, about 90 a year, are fitted with LVADs (left ventricular assist devices), the Daily Express reported.
Surgeons say they could be a long-term solution for serious heart failure or even an alternative to transplants. (ANI)
