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Tag: Colon Cancer

  • Colon Cancer And Breast Cancer Still Have Racial Disparities

    Colon cancer and breast cancer are the two most common cancer killers.

    Colon cancer or breast cancer are not words that anyone wants to hear from their doctor, although the overall numbers for cancer deaths have dropped.

    However, according to a new report from the American Cancer Society, there is still a surprising racial difference in the number of deaths and survivors.

    Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, confirmed this, saying, “There’s been a dramatic decline in mortality for cancer for all groups. The decline is steeper for blacks than whites, but there is still a black-white disparity.”

    A great example of this is the mortality rate for breast cancer, which has also drastically declined overall, but much more in white females. The gap in mortality rates has significantly widened.

    In fact, those numbers have dropped 23 percent in black women, but a whopping 37 percent in white women since 1990.

    Brawley said of the trend, “Breast cancer in women is the most fascinating pattern because you have dramatic declines for blacks and whites, however the black-white disparity is greater today than it was in 2000, and it was greater in 2000 than it was in 1990, and it did not exist in 1980.”

    Colon cancer mortality disparities among white and black men also continue to widen. From 2003 to 2012, the death rate from colon cancer declined more slowly in black men. In fact, in black men it declined 2.5 percent. In white me, it was 3 percent.

    The death rate remains 50 percent higher in blacks than in whites since 2005.

    So just what is going on here?

    Dr. Roshan Bastani, director of Cancer Disparities Research at the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, said, “It’s a combination perhaps of some genetics, risk factors such as nutrition and physical activity, and also less access to state-of-the-art early detection and treatment (for blacks).”

    Speaking of early detection, those who are 50 years and older who have no symptoms and who are not at a high risk for colon cancer could be in for a change. Based on the latest research The Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health now recommends forgoing a colonoscopy for a simple fecal test for microscopic blood instead.

    Reportedly, research showed that a colonoscopy was not any more effective at detecting early colon cancer than stool tests.

    It remains to be seen if this new recommendation will be taken to heart in the U.S.

    What do you think about the racial disparities in colon cancer and breast cancer mortality rates?

  • Colon Cancer Testing Leveling Off In U.S.

    Colon Cancer Testing Leveling Off In U.S.

    According to the Center for Disease Control, “Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading cancer killer of men and women in the US, following lung cancer.” Why then are more people not having the necessary screenings? The study shows that one in three adults in the 50 and 75-year-old age group have not been getting their recommended screenings.

    It seems it is not from a lack of money, because studies show that 2 of every 3 adults, who have not been tested for CRC, have health insurance that could pay for the test.

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    There was hope that more people were getting tested each year seeing as though the numbers rose from 54 percent in 2002 to 65 percent between in 2010. However, judging by last year’s numbers, they are no longer increasing, but leveling off.

    According to the National Cancer Institute, colon cancer is defined as “cancer that forms in the tissues of the colon (the longest part of the large intestine). Most colon cancers are adenocarcinomas (cancers that begin in cells that make and release mucus and other fluids).” In 2013, there were 102,480 new cases of colon cancer.

    CDC director Dr. Tom Frieden says the decrease in testing is “very disturbing”. Many fear the most common test, the colonoscopy. However, Frieden says there are other, less invasive, tests that can be done at home, and they are equally as effective as the colonoscopy. “Colonoscopy is clearly preferred for high-risk people,” said Frieden. “But for others, there’s not a huge difference. The bottom line is the best test is the test that gets done.”

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    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Colon Cancer Cells “Two-Faced,” Shows Study

    Colon Cancer Cells “Two-Faced,” Shows Study

    A new study has revealed a group of colon cancer cells that can either suppress or promote tumor growth. Researchers stated that these “two-faced” cells are a subset of T-regulatory (Treg) cells that are known to suppress immune response.

    The study, published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, also showed that the two-faced cells were differentiated in their cancer growth or suppression forms by the presence of a protein called RORγt.

    “The subset of Tregs that expand in human colon cancer is different from the Tregs that abound in healthy individuals in their ability to suppress inflammation,” said Khashayarsha Khazaie team leader of the research and an associate professor at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center at Northwestern University. “Since their discovery, Tregs have been assumed to be harmful in cancer based on the knowledge that they suppress immunity. More recent clinical studies have challenged this notion. Our work shows that Tregs, by suppressing inflammation, are normally very protective in cancer; it is rather their switch to the expression of RORγt that is detrimental.”

    The study identified the abnormal Treg subset in mice with hereditary colon cancer, then looked for the same cells in human colon cancer patients. Research has already demonstrated that transferring Tregs from healthy mice to cancerous mice protects the cancerous mice from colitis and colitis-induced cancer. By inhibiting RORγt in Tregs, Khazaie and his team were able to protect mice against hereditary colon cancer.

    “Tregs are actually very useful in the fight against cancer,” said Khazaie. “We can do better by targeting RORγt or other molecules that are responsible for the expansion of this Treg subset, instead of indiscriminately eliminating all Tregs. We are very excited about the therapeutic options that targeting specific subsets of Tregs could provide in human solid tumor cancers, and that is our next immediate goal.”

  • Cancer Treatment Uses Rice Bran to Prevent Colon Cancer

    A new study hopes to show that rice bran offers “promising” cancer prevention properties. A clinical trial is currently testing rice bran’s effectiveness in preventing the recurrence of colon cancer.

    “While I have been trained as a molecular toxicologist, I am excited about the opportunities to deliver bioactive, cancer fighting compounds with food, and this has led to my focus now primarily on the multiple drug-like characteristics of rice bran,” said Elizabeth Ryan, senior author of the study, published in the journal Advances in Nutrition, and a University of Colorado Cancer Center investigator. “There’s a delicate balance of bioactive components in rice bran that together show anti-cancer activity including the ability to inhibit cell proliferation, alter cell cycle progression and initiate the programmed cell death known as apoptosis in malignant cells.

    Research with cancer cell lines in animals has now shown that the bioactive components of rice bran work together to promote the function of healthy cells, while also inhibiting the function of cancer cells. Ryan and her colleagues are now evaluating how rice bran may promote an anti-cancer immune response or modulate gut bacteria to protect against cancer.

    “We’re working now to tease apart the ratios of these active molecules required for bioactivity and mechanisms,” said Ryan. “Previous attempts to isolate one or another compound have been largely unsuccessful and so it looks now as if rather than any one compound giving rice bran its chemopreventive powers, it’s the synergistic activity of multiple components in the whole food that should be studied.”

    “There are well over 100,000 varieties of rice in the world, many with their own unique mix of bioactive components and so one major challenge is to discover the optimal composition for chemoprevention. Another challenge is ensuring that people consistently receive the required daily intake amount or ‘dose’ needed to demonstrate these chemo-protective effects. That said, rice is an accessible, low-cost food in most places of the world, and so work with rice bran as a dietary chemopreventive agent has the potential to impact a significant portion of the world’s population.”