Cytogenetics and Cancer Research

Since 2009 is getting close to the end, I am going to join the Group Writing Project organized by DailyBloggingTips.com to write this article about the top 10 new discoveries of cancer treatment in 2009.
 
I have gathered the cancer research news from Google and NCI. Below are some of the new findings of cancer treatment which I found really benefits to the world.
 

1. Brachytherapy – New Cancer Treatment without Surgery

On the 27^th of January 2009, U.T.’s Health Science Centre unveiled a new promising cancer treatment that revolutionized the way to treat cancerous tumors in patients’ lungs. This new finding is called Brachytherapy, a new cancer treatment without surgery.

After mild sedation, a catheter is inserted into patient’s throat and the lung near to the tumor. Radiation is released from a small seed at the end of the catheter and killed the tumor cells without killing the normal lung tissue. Therefore, the patient can still live normally after treatment. It only takes 3 to 4 minutes to undergo the Brachytherapy and the patient can leave the hospital a short time later without feeling sick.
 

2. Linac – Machine Boots Cancer Treatment

On 12^th of June 2009, a new machine called Linac that can speed up cancer treatment for cancer patients has been unveiled at Velindre Cancer Centre. This machine enables an extra 200 radiotherapy cancer treatments to be carried out every week. Linac generate high intensity of radiation beams to kill cancer cells effectively.
 

3. CD8+ Memory Stem Cells to Destroy Large Tumors

On 14^th of June 2009, the researchers at the National Cancer Institute found that a subset of immune cells, T lymphocytes called CD8+ memory stem cells, were capable of mediating strong anti-tumor immune response. These stem-like characteristics of CD8+ memory stem cells enable tiny numbers of T cells to stimulate the destruction of large melanoma tumors. The CD8+ memory stem cells have the enhanced ability to renew themselves, to proliferate, to differentiate and to kill tumor cells effectively.
 

4. α-CbT – Compound Inhibited Nicotine Receptors for Cancer Treatment

On 15^th of June 2009, the compound α-CbT was found to inhibit the expression of nicotine receptors and increased apoptosis. As we all know, changes in genes encoding nicotine receptors can drive the urge to smoke and increase susceptibility to lung cancer as well. Exposure to nicotine will boost the expression of nicotine receptors which inhibits the apoptosis. Therefore, this new cancer treatment that targeted nicotine receptors by using α-CbT can prevent the developing of lung cancer. The α-CbT did not affect the noncancerous cells.
 

5. microRNA – Help Identify and Cancer Treatment for Lung Cancer

On 7^th of October 2009, the scientists at National Cancer Institute (NCI) revealed that a small RNA molecule, known as microRNA, can help to identify liver cancer and respond well to cancer treatment with a biological agent called interferon. The researchers showed that miR-26 (microRNA) status in tumors may be useful indicator both to determine prognosis for patients with hematocelular carcinoma (HCC) and to inform the selection of patients who might benefit from treatment with interferon to prevent disease relapse.
 

6. Suicide Gene – Induce Apoptosis on Tumor cells

On 9^th of October 2009, A group of researchers from National Cancer Institute (NCI) have used the suicide genes that cause a cell to kill itself through apoptosis to treat cancer. This new technique used the surviving gene promoter to induce the expression of suicide gene in cancer cells with a minimum effect on normal cells. When the survivin promoter-driven mutant bax was injected in to tumors of mice, the gene induced 60% of cancer cells in tumor tissue to undergo apoptosis. This slowed tumor growth significantly.
 

7. Reduce Radiation Damage by Blocking the Expression of CD47

On 21^st of October 2009, the researchers at National Cancer Institute (NCI) once again showed their contribution to the cancer research by developing a method that protects healthy tissues from damaging effects of radiation cancer treatment. Previous cancer research showed that mice lacking CD47 are resistant to radiation damage. Therefore, the researchers injected an agent that suppressed the CD47 expression during the radiation. They proved that this can protect the normal cells from damage by radiation.
 

8. Nicotine Patch and Nicotine Lozenge Works Best for Smoking Cessation

On 2^nd of November 2009, the researchers from National Cancer Institute (NCI) showed that the combination of nicotine patch and nicotine lozenge provided the great benefit for smokers to quit smoking effectively.
 

9. PDF – Mushroom Extract that Shrink Tumors Effectively

On 1^st of December 2009, Dr. Brandon Louie and colleagues from Department of Urology at New York Medical College showed that a combination of interferon alpha (immunotherapy for bladder cancer) and PDF (mushroom extract) can reduce bladder cancer cell growth. However, it is too soon to claim that the PDF are a cure for cancer as the study provides no evidence that the mushrooms extract have health benefits in humans. Anyway, I still feel that this study has the further research value for cancer treatment in future.
 

10. Lunasin – Fighting Leukemia and Blocking Inflammation

On 2^nd of December 2009, Elvira de Mejia, a professor of Food Science and Human Nutrition from University of Illinois claimed that lunasin, a soy peptide may have important benefits that fighting leukemia and blocking the inflammation that accompanies such chronic health conditions as diabetes, heart disease and stroke. Lunasin is a soy peptide often discarded in the waste streams of soy-processing plants.
 
In conclusion, the cancer research on cancer treatment is still has a long way to go. The cancer research will continue to carry out to provide the greatest benefits to the world.
 

Do you know any new discovery of cancer treatment in 2009 that I do not mentioned above? Please leave your comment to provide us a great resource of information.

Cancer is the most common cause of death especially the lung cancer in most of the developed countries. Lung cancer has been frequently recognized as the malignancy that is caused by environment and the cigarette smoking. I have described the cigarette smoking risk factor that causing the lung cancer in Cytogenetics and Cancer Research blog these last few days. Therefore, I wish to write about another common risk factor which is environmental exposure so that we can take more appropriate prevention step of getting lung cancer.
 
Exposure to environmental carcinogens has been cited as the secondary risk factor of lung cancer independent of smoking. The exposure includes both outdoor and indoor air pollutants with contaminants of soil and drinking water. According to cancer research, the exposure of the carcinogens can occur because of both residential and occupational setting. There are many carcinogens exposing in our environment that will cause lung cancer. I just choose some major factors to be further reviewed.
 

Gas Radon Contributes to Lung Cancer

One of the carcinogens is gas radon. Gas radon and its radioactive progeny are the sources of exposure to inhaled radioactive substances. People who work at tin mines might be greatly exposed to radon. If the homes built on radon-containing soil, the residents might be exposed to the naturally occurring radioactive gas radon too. According to cancer research, residential radon is the primary cause of non-smoking related lung cancer.
 

Indoor Air Pollution Contributes to Lung Cancer

Sometimes, the indoor pollution which is caused by the cooking and heating will contribute to the developing of lung cancer too. For instance, during the time we are cooking the meat at high temperature, the potentially mutagenic cooking oil fumes and the carcinogenic metabolic products of heterocyclic amines will be released. Tai-an Chiang et al. showed that the fumes were not, or weakly mutagenic in the Salmonella assay when the distance between fume extractor and oil surface was 60 cm or less.
 

Outdoor Air Pollution Contributes to Lung Cancer

Outdoor air pollution is a contributor to the risk of lung cancer too. The fossil fuel combustion products are known carcinogens that will increase the risk of getting lung cancer. People who live in rural area have less lung cancer cases than the urban area residents regarding to the lower level of air pollution. Outdoor air pollution is composed of complex mixtures including the radionuclides, gas and particulate combustion products and fibers. Exposure to others respiratory carcinogens such as asbestos is related to the increased risk of lung cancer. How can we deal with the air pollution? Migrating to the rural area? The best way is to make our environment free of pollutant. We need to work together to help in increasing people’s awareness. Otherwise, we might pollute our rural area too at the end of the day.
 
In conclusion, by understanding the multiple components contributing to lung cancer which include the cigarette smoking and environmental exposure, we can identify the high-risk subgroups so that they can benefit from a proper screening or relevant interventions.
(Reference: David S. Albert, Lisa M. Hess. Fundamental of Cancer Prevention, Second edition)
 

Are you exposed to the environmental carcinogens? Take some actions to deal with it now.