Cancer - April 2015 Archives

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Herceptin has been touted as a wonder drug for women with HER2-positive breast cancer, an aggressive form of the disease that is fueled by excess production of the HER2 protein. However, not all of these patients respond to the drug, and many who do respond eventually acquire resistance. A team of researchers led by Mayo Clinic has found a promising way to circumvent this obstacle. They identified a small site in the HER2 protein that enables it to form a molecular switch that sets off a cascade of events that turn normal cells cancerous. The researchers showed that disrupting this site can stem the growth of breast cancer cells, even more effectively than drugs currently used in the clinic. Their study is published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. “This study is the first to look at the specific sequences for dimerization of HER2 as a possible anti-cancer target,” says the study’s senior author Ruth Lupu, Ph.D., a professor of experimental pathology and laboratory medicine and biochemistry and molecular biology at Mayo Clinic. “This finding could be beneficial not only for breast cancer, but also for other cancers with abnormal HER2 levels, such as ovarian, stomach and prostate cancer.” MEDIA CONTACT: Joe Dangor, Mayo Clinic Public Affairs, 507-284-5005, newsbureau@mayo.edu Journalists:  Sound bites with Dr. Lupu are available in the downloads. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2w43FjsbpU

Cancer diagnosis: 11 tips for coping If you've been diagnosed with cancer, knowing what to expect and making plans for how to proceed can help ...

PHILADELPHIA — A team of Mayo Clinic researchers has succeeded in identifying the source of cancer in patients’ gastrointestinal tracts by analyzing DNA markers from tumors. The results open the possibility that doctors could one day be able to screen for cancer anywhere in the body with a noninvasive blood test or stool sample. Such tests, if they prove practical and feasible, could mean greater convenience for patients and saved lives through earlier diagnosis of cancer, especially rare and often lethal diseases such as pancreatic cancer or lung cancer. The researchers' findings will be presented on April 21 in a poster presentation at the AACR Annual Meeting 2015 in Philadelphia by John Kisiel, M.D., a gastroenterologist at Mayo Clinic. MEDIA CONTACT: Joe Dangor, Mayo Clinic Public Affairs, 507-284-5005, newsbureau@mayo.edu Journalists: Sound bites with Dr. Kisiel are available in the downloads. https://youtu.be/DbDHEpZWteQ

Taking a prescription drug can be confusing. And taking several medications ... some before breakfast and others just before bed ... can multiply the challenges. ...

Taking a prescription drug can be confusing. And taking several medications ... some before breakfast and others just before bed ... can multiply the ...

  Low blood cell counts: Side effect of cancer treatment There's a good reason your doctor has your blood drawn so often — ...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — When people find out — usually from a diagnostic scan looking at something else — that they have a lesion in their pancreas that could morph into pancreatic cancer, they can panic. They insist on having frequent CT scans and biopsies to monitor the lesion, or they ask for surgery. Physicians also don’t know if these abnormalities are dangerous, so the patients end up in surgery having part of their pancreas removed. Often the lesion is nothing to worry about. But a team of international physicians, led by researchers at Mayo Clinic’s campus in Jacksonville, Florida, has developed a profile of the patient who would be most at risk of developing lesions that are most likely to develop into cancer. Their analysis is published online today in the journal Digestive and Liver Diseases. “The factors we found that increase risk of pancreatic cancer now allow us to separate patients as either low or high risk,” says the study’s senior author, Michael B. Wallace, M.D., MPH, a gastroenterologist at Mayo Clinic. “High-risk patients can then be scanned and biopsied more frequently or can opt for surgery, but low-risk patients don’t need such surveillance. They can be watched much less intensively.” MEDIA CONTACT: Kevin Punsky, Mayo Clinic Public Affairs, 904-953-0746, punsky.kevin@mayo.edu

Taking a prescription drug can be confusing. And taking several medications ... some before breakfast and others just before bed ... can multiply the challenges. ...

  The emotions of hair loss during cancer treatment Losing your hair to chemotherapy or radiation can have an emotional impact that you ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Recent large-scale genomic analyses have uncovered dozens of common genetic variants that are associated with breast cancer. Each variant, however, contributes only a tiny amount to a person’s overall risk of developing the disease. A Mayo Clinic-led team of international researchers has now combined 77 of these common genetic variants into a single risk factor that can be used to improve the identification of women with an elevated risk of breast cancer. This factor, known as a polygenic risk score, was built from the genetic data of more than 67,000 women. The results of the research are published April 9, 2015, in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI). A companion study has extended this finding to show that this measure of genetic variation can be combined with traditional predictors of breast cancer risk such as breast density and family history to improve personalized estimates of breast cancer risk. Those findings appeared in JNCI last month. MEDIA CONTACT: Joe Dangor, Mayo Clinic Public Affairs, 507-284-5005, newsbureau@mayo.edu Journalists: Sound bites with Dr. Fergus Couch are in the downloads. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AidVeXTZA8s&feature=youtu.be

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: After my annual mammogram last year, my doctor told me that I have very dense breasts. She suggested that this year I also get a test called molecular breast imaging. What’s the difference between that and a mammogram? Why would I need it? I’m 45 and have no history of breast problems. ANSWER: Molecular breast imaging, or MBI, is a new technology that can reveal tumors in dense breast tissue that a mammogram may be unable to detect. A recent study found that in women with dense breasts, MBI significantly increased the detection rate of invasive breast cancer. So for someone like you who has dense breasts, even though you have not had any problems in the past, MBI may be a useful tool in addition to your annual mammogram. Mammograms are X-ray images of your breasts. They play a key role in early breast cancer detection and help decrease breast cancer deaths. Mammograms have long been the standard test used to detect breast abnormalities. MBI is not intended to replace your annual mammogram. Instead, it is to be used as an additional tool that can help uncover hard-to-find tumors in dense breasts.

Hanna, a Wheaten terrier, visits the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center with her owner, Evelyn McAdams, as part of the Caring ...