Smart New Cancer Drugs Shrank My Tumours...

Smart New Cancer Drugs Shrank My Tumours by Half in Just Eight Weeks

When Irene Mullen was diagnosed with lung cancer in April last year, she and her family were naturally devastated.

As soon as she and her husband Steve got back from the hospital, they told their children Amanda, 21, and Stephen, 23.

'We all broke down — as a family we just cried,' says Irene, 51.

'We clung to the hope that cancer can be treated and people recover all the time.'

But there was worse news to come.

Trojan-horse Therapy 'Completely Eliminates'...

An experimental "Trojan-horse" cancer therapy has completely eliminated prostate cancer in experiments on mice, according to UK researchers.

The team hid cancer killing viruses inside the immune system in order to sneak them into a tumour.

Once inside, a study in the journal Cancer Research showed, tens of thousands of viruses were released to kill the cancerous cells.

Experts labelled the study "exciting," but human tests are still needed.

Using viruses to destroy rapidly growing tumours is an emerging field in cancer therapy, however one of the challenges is getting the viruses deep inside the tumour where they can do the damage.

Gene Breakthrough in Bowel Cancer

Scientists have discovered faulty genes that increase the risk of bowel cancer in families with a strong history of developing the disease.

Researchers from Oxford University and The Institute of Cancer Research, London, scanned the genes of 20 people from families with a strong history of bowel cancer.

They found everyone who had a faulty gene designated as either "POLE" or "POLD1" developed bowel cancer or had a precancerous growth in the bowel, according to findings published in the journal Nature Genetics.

Prostate Cancer Research 'Underfunded'

Breast cancer receives twice as much research funding as prostate cancer despite both disease killing similar numbers of people, a charity has said.

Despite being the most common cancer in men and the fourth most common cancer overall, prostate cancer lies twentieth in the 'league table' of annual cancer research spend per case diagnosed, new figures show.

Breast cancer – the most common female cancer which has a similar death rate to prostate cancer – received more than double the annual research spend with £417 per case diagnosed compared to £853.

Immune System 'Booster' May Hit Cancer

Vast numbers of cells that can attack cancer and HIV have been grown in the lab, and could potentially be used to fight disease.

The cells naturally occur in small numbers, but it is hoped injecting huge quantities back into a patient could turbo-charge the immune system.

The Japanese research is published in the journal Cell Stem Cell.

Breast Cancer Drug Trials 'Spun for Impact'

Results of breast cancer drug trials are routinely 'spun' to make the treatments appear more beneficial than they actually are, doctors claim today.

Researchers frequently downplay negative findings and overemphasise positive results - even when those results are much less important to the patient - claim experts who have reviewed studies.

Academics are also guilty of burying reporting of serious side effects in the smallprint of their articles, according to the Canadian doctors who examined the issue.

How well such scientists report their own research in medical journals matters, because it influences whether doctors opt to use certain drugs, they say.

Cancer Breakthrough as New Technique Reveals...

Cancer Breakthrough as New Technique Reveals How Far it has Spread in the Body AND Spares Healthy Tissue is Unveiled

A ground-breaking technique that reveals just how far cancer has spread in the lymph nodes has been developed by scientists.

The method, which uses flourescent molecules, will allow surgeons to identify which lymph nodes are cancerous so that they can save healthy tissue. The lymph nodes play a vital function in helping the body to recognise and fight germs.

Study leader Dr Quyen Nguyen, from the University of California, San Diego, said: 'In the future, surgeons will be better able to detect and stage cancer that has spread to the patient's lymph nodes using these molecules.'

Drug that Prevents Breast Cancer for 20 Years...

Drug that Prevents Breast Cancer for 20 Years: Protection for Thousands at High Risk

Thousands of healthy women could be offered powerful breast cancer drugs to cut their chances of contracting the disease.

New guidelines suggest the drugs tamoxifen or raloxifene could offer as much as 20 years of protection for those considered at high risk of cancer.

The aim is to slash the odds of developing breast cancer in the first place – just as statins are given to patients to stave off heart disease.

Simple Blood Test that Predicts if Breast Cancer...

Simple Blood Test that Predicts if Breast Cancer is Likely to Return

A simple blood test could predict if the most common form of breast cancer will come back after treatment, say scientists.

By providing an early warning the technique would spare some women unnecessary treatment with gruelling anti-cancer drugs.

Researcher Sambasivarao Damaraju said: 'If we can accurately predict which women are at high risk of breast cancer recurrence, it gives the physicians and oncologists treating these women time to design a more aggressive therapy in the hopes of preventing the cancer from coming back.

Lung Cancer 'Overtaking Breast Cancer...

Lung Cancer 'Overtaking Breast Cancer in European Women'

Lung cancer is set to overtake breast cancer as the biggest cause of female cancer death in Europe, say experts.

This is already the case in the UK and Poland, the Annals of Oncology reports.