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Bone Cancer

Breast Cancer

Cervical Cancer

Colon Cancer

Digital Mammography

How Cancer Spreads

Lung Cancer

Ovarian Cancer

Prostate Aspirin

Prostate Cancer Detection

Prostate Cancer Herbal

Pancreatic Cancer

Prostate Aspirin

Prostate Cancer Vaccine

Radiofrequency Ablation

Skin Cancer

Testicular Cancer

Health

The burden of cancer is still increasing worldwide. In the year 2000, 5.3 million men and 4.7 million women developed a malignant tumour and altogether 6.2 million died from the disease.

The most frequently affected organs are lung, breast, colon/rectum, stomach and liver, Professor Paul Kleihues, International Agency of Research on Cancer (IARC), told the 18th UICC International Cancer Congress today.

In developed countries, the overall cancer mortality is more than twice as high as in developing countries. The main reasons for the greater cancer burden of affluent societies are the earlier onset of the tobacco epidemic, the earlier exposure to occupational carcinogens, and the Western nutrition and lifestyle.

In developing countries, up to 25% of malignancies are caused by infectious agents, including hepatitis B and C virus (liver cancer), human papilloma viruses (cervical cancer), and Helicobacter pylori (stomach cancer). In developed countries, cancers caused by chronic infections only amount approximately 8% of all malignancies.

In North America and some European countries, the overall cancer mortality started to decrease in the 1990s. This is mainly due to the marked decrease in the stomach cancer rate worldwide, to the advances in the early detection and treatment of some major cancer types particular cervical and breast cancer and to a reduction in smoking prevalence.

Tobacco consumption remains the most important avoidable cancer risk. In the 20th century, approximately 100 million people died world-wide from tobacco-associated diseases (cancer, chronic lung disease, cardiovascular disease and stroke). Recent epidemiological studies indicate that the adverse health effects are even greater than previously estimated. Half of regular smokers are killed by the habit. One quarter of smokers will die prematurely during middle age (35 to 69 years).

It has been long recognized that in addition to lung cancer, tobacco smoking causes tumours of the oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, oesophagus, pancreas and bladder. In a recent consensus conference at the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon (World Health Organization), this list was extended to include several organs with a two- to three-fold elevated risk in smokers versus non-smokers: tumours of the kidney, stomach, uterine cervix, liver, nasal cavities, and myeloid leukemia.

However, there was no evidence indicating that breast and prostate cancer and endometrial carcinoma of the uterus are caused by smoking.

It was also unanimously concluded that frequent exposure to involuntary (passive) tobacco smoking is associated with a 20% increase in lung cancer risk.

There is increasing evidence that in industrialized countries, approximately one third of malignant tumours are due to the Western nutrition and lifestyle, characterized by a high caloric diet, combined with low physical activity. Tumours associated with the Western lifestyle include cancer of the breast, prostate, colon/rectum, and endometrial carcinoma of the uterus which are much less frequent in poor countries. The risk of developing some of these tumours can be reduced by frequent consumption of fruit and vegetables.

In addition to an elevated cancer risk, the Western lifestyle is associated with an increased prevalence of obesity, type II diabetes (late-onset, non insulin dependendent diabetes mellitus) and cardiovascular diseases.

Given the current trend of a world-wide increase in the prevalence of obesity and the increasing acquisition of the Western lifestyle by many countries, it is unlikely that the burden of associated tumours will decrease in the foreseeable future. A reduction in mortality will, therefore, largely depend on progress in early detection and treatment.

January 4, 2002 - Cancer-fighting drug may work in prevention and treatment

The ABCs of fighting cancer these days include two big words that describe exciting basic concepts. One is anti-angiogenesis, a strategy to stop or prevent the growth of blood vessels needed to nourish a tumor and allow it to spread. Another approach is chemoprevention -- using medication to halt, delay or reverse the development of cancer.

According to new prevention research by Fox Chase Cancer Center cell biologist Margie Clapper, Ph.D., of Harleysville, Pa., and colleagues at Cephalon Inc. in West Chester, Pa., the drug Oltipraz holds the potential to achieve both goals. A report on the ongoing studies appears in the January 2002 issue of Clinical Cancer Research. Co-authors include Dr. Clapper and Bruce Ruggeri, Ph.D., of Cephalon's Division of Oncology.

Clapper has been studying Oltipraz for more than a decade, concentrating on its ability to raise blood levels of protective "detoxification" enzymes that help ward off cancer. These enzymes resemble antioxidant compounds in broccoli, cabbage and similar vegetables.

In early clinical studies, Clapper worked with Fox Chase medical oncologist Christine Szarka, M.D., to see how well Oltipraz increased protective enzymes among people at high risk of colon cancer. For comparison, some trial participants took dried broccoli tablets instead of the drug. Oltipraz surpassed the dietary approach by a significant measure with few or no side effects. A later study used Oltipraz for people at risk of lung cancer.

Most recently, with support from the Cancer Research Foundation of America, Clapper has focused on individuals with ulcerative colitis, which increases the risk of colon or rectal cancer by 10 times. In studies with laboratory mice, Oltipraz has proved to inhibit colitis-associated colon cancer. This research will form a basis for designing the first trial of a preventive treatment for people with this disease.

The drug's ability to boost protective enzymes and decrease DNA damage from cancer-causing agents was thought to explain its success in halting the development and spread of a variety of tumors in mice and rats. But in evaluating this laboratory work, Clapper says, "we've seen tumor growth halted without an elevation of detoxification enzymes."

That observation led the researchers to look at Oltipraz' anti-angiogenesis ability. They started with studies using microarray technology, which can simultaneously analyze the activity of thousands of genes. This revealed that Oltipraz may have the ability to affect blood vessel growth.

A series of experiments in laboratory rodents then demonstrated that Oltipraz is an anti-angiogenic agent comparable in potency to two drugs currently being tested in clinical trials. One is SU 5416, now being tested at Fox Chase for patients with melanoma or sarcoma.

"Based on our work with animal tumor models, Oltipraz may not only be a cancer prevention agent but may also be effective in treating patients with advanced stage cancers and metastases," Clapper explains. "We're still doing pre-clinical testing," she emphasized.

Cephalon is screening the drug in mice with several kinds of tumors to gain additional data about the most appropriate cancer sites for a future treatment trial of Oltipraz in humans. In addition to support from Cephalon and the Cancer Research Foundation of America, a National Institutes of Health grant and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania appropriation are helping fund research on Oltipraz' anti-angiogenic activity.

Although still in clinical development for its broad-based chemoprevention activity, Oltipraz could turn out to be a doubly potent weapon against cancer -- either helping prevent it in high-risk people or shrinking cancerous tumors by depriving them of their blood supply.

This wouldn't be the first time Oltipraz showed promise beyond its established use, however. It was first approved as an anti-schistosomal treatment, to eliminate parasites known as blood flukes. In the same way, research aimed specifically at preventing cancer may serendipitously yield new approaches to cancer treatment as well.