Possible vaccine to treat breast cancer….. (February 2012)

 Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania in the US have developed a vaccine, made up of a patients own cells, that could be used to treat breast cancer. In a small initial trial of the vaccine, scientists enrolled 27 women with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), the most common form of non-invasive breast cancer.  Using a technique similar to blood donation, specialised white blood cells were taken from each patient. They were then manipulated in a laboratory so that the immune system would recognise cancer cells as foreign and would therefore attack them. Patients were then injected with the personalised vaccine in four weekly doses, followed by surgery to remove the remaining cancer cells.

 The study, published in the Journal of Immunotherapy, compared pre- and post-vaccination samples to monitor the effect of the vaccine. Researchers found that after treatment, twenty percent (five) patients had no disease visible. This suggested that their immune system had killed the cancer. They found that damaging proteins were eliminated in eleven patients and reduced by twenty percent or more in another two. They also found that certain patients maintained their immune responses for over four years, indicating a degree of protection from recurrence.

 Study leader Dr Brian Czerniecki said: “Here we are going after HER2/neu, which is critical for survival of early breast cancers. If we knock it out with the immune response, we cripple the tumour cells. […] We are continuing to see this pattern in our second, ongoing trial.” The team is continuing to enroll patients into a larger study and is designing another study to test the approach in women with early invasive breast cancer.

Breast Cancer – Detected in 8 Seconds!….. (December 2011)

British scientists have created a new breast-screening scanner that can detect cancer in seconds, without the radiation risk of conventional mammograms.   The radio-wave scanner uses anti-landmine technology and can be used on women of any age, unlike the current screening methods.

The new system, called Maria, is expected to be in widespread use within five years in GP’s surgeries and clinics.

At present, women under 50 are not routinely screened for breast cancer, partly because of the risk from regular does of radiation from an early age and also because they have denser breast tissue which makes it harder to detect tumours using X-rays.

Using radio waves makes it easier to spot problems and, as the breast is held in a ceramic cup rather than being squeezed between two X-ray plates, it is totally painless.  The Maria technology is based on a landline-detection project that was able to locate non-metallic explosives in soil. In the same way, it can find dangerous ‘hot spots’ in breasts using scanning signals from radio waves.

In pilot studies on 200 women, the system picked up about 80 per cent of tumours and the latest phase of testing took place at Frenchay Hospital’s Breast Care Centre in Bristol and the city’s Southmead Hospital.  Dr Mike Shere, breast specialist at Southmead Hospital, said: “We are very excited about the potential of this completely new method of breast imaging.

“It has none of the disadvantages of the current methods – ultrasound, mammography and MRI. It is quick, safe, comfortable and cheap, and is already producing good images with high sensitivity. This technology uses radio waves which are almost exactly the same as mobile phone frequency – and less energy. It is completely safe, unlike mammography, where there is an increasing cancer risk when women have more X-rays.

Boiling Breast Cancer!….. (November 2011)

A new treatment for breast cancer has been discovered after scientists found that breast tumours can be killed in minutes – by boiling them.

The latest treatment, known as Preferential Radio-Frequency Ablation, uses a targeted electrical current that heats, or ‘boils’ the tumour to 70 to 90c (160 to 190f).

The researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden found that the cancer cell dies within 10 minutes of the heated treatment.

The treatment uses a thin, needle-like electrode, which is inserted into the breast. An electric current is sent through the electrode to heat the tumour, killing it while leaving the surrounding tissue unharmed. The patient will only need one treatment and will require regular MRI scans and mammograms to check that the tumour has returned.

“It’s like boiling an egg,” explains radiologist Dr Karin Leifland from the study.

“The tumour is heated to such an extent that the cancer cells are killed off, while leaving the surrounding tissue unharmed.

“The treatment is suitable mainly for women with tumours which are smaller than 2cm and are contained in a single lump. There is no pain or scar afterwards and within minutes of the treatment, women can leave the hospital and go home or back to work,” Dr. Leifland added.

Exercise and cancer care….. (August 2011) 

The impact that physical activity can have on cancer patients is the subject of frequent studies and much press coverage. For example, in May we reported on a study into the positive effects of yoga for breast cancer patients, showing how it helped counter the side-effects of treatment such as fatigue. Yoga is but one of the exercise and movement classes Cancerkin offers – over the years we have introduced sessions in Tai Chi, Pilates, Kundalini yoga, Nia Technique, dance and drama, which are open to everyone and are completely free of charge.

 An interesting new report published this week by Macmillan Cancer Support shows that exercise can not only help cancer patients cope with the side-effects of treatment but can help lower the chance of developing other conditions such as heart disease and may reduce the risk of dying from cancer.  As the report explains, previous research suggests that staying active can help patients overcome fatigue and weight gain and that exercising to the recommended level can reduce the risk of cancer recurrence. For example, studies have suggested that the risk of breast cancer recurring can be reduced by up to 40 percent.

 Whilst cancer patients have been advised in the past to rest after treatment, the report states that moderate physical activity is both safe and advisable during and after treatment for most kinds of cancer. It recommends that all patients being treated for cancer should aim to do two and a half hours of physical activity each week, as currently advised by Department of Health guidelines. This activity does not need to be strenuous and may include taking a brisk walk or doing the gardening

Breast cancer risk assessment service…..

This service is to assess the risk of breast cancer for people who have a family history of breast and/or ovarian cancer. Two breast cancer family history nurse specialists, see patients in clinic. Clinics are based at Guy’s Hospital and Southwark PCT, although more locations are planned.  Each patient is assessed according to NICE guidelines for breast cancer family history and referred if appropriate for breast screening.

We have a webpage on the Guy’s and St Thomas’ website. On this webpage you will find information about the Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Service and you will be able to download a copy of the patient information leaflet. The website link: http://www.guysandstthomas.nhs.uk/services/genetics/BreastCancerRisk.aspx

If you live in Lambeth, Southwark or Lewisham and you are worried about breast or ovarian cancer in your family, you can request an appointment by calling 020 7188 1385.

Breast cancer rates in the UK are falling…

 This week has seen many articles reporting on the positives of breast cancer diagnosis and treatment in the UK.  Firstly there was the news that breast cancer rates have fallen faster in the UK, since the 1980s, than in any other major European county. Following this a group of researchers have challenged claims that survival rates in the UK are worse than anywhere else in Western Europe.  Studying mortality rates in 30 different countries, the researchers have said that the UK’s apparently poor survival rates are misleading because of the way cancer patients are registered, whereas population-based mortality rates are more reliable.

 Anna Gavin, a public health consultant for the National Cancer Intelligence Network and one of the report’s authors, said: “Despite the fact that the number of cases are going up, and the population is getting older, deaths have still fallen”.  In the report, published online at the British Medical Journal, Gavin accounts the fall in death rates to the large investment in the way breast cancer services have been organised, alongside improved awareness and screening and better treatments.

 Professors Beral and Peto from Oxford University agreed with the studying telling the British Medical Journal that “death rates are a better guide to how the UK is doing because incomplete data makes survival rates seem significantly worse than they really are…In contrast with death registration, cancer registration is not statutory in the UK and is known to be somewhat incomplete,”

Source: Cancerkin

Other Facts……..

• Survival rates are improving and on average 74 % of women are still alive after five years later
• Deaths have reduced to 12,000 a year
• 82% of patients survive 5 years
• 66% of patients survive 20 years
• The screening programme is having an impact
• But we still have the lowest number of specialist consultants per 100,000 patients compared with the USA and Europe

Since peaking in the late 1980s breast cancer death rates in the UK have fallen by a third.  In the last ten years alone the death rates for breast cancer have fallen by almost a fifth.  This remarkable achievement is the result of several contributory factors; the development of new drugs, better organisation of cancer services, and earlier detection as a result of breast screening and public awareness.  Together we can continue to improve everyones chances of either getting or recovering from breast cancer.