Preliminary research results and the media - more harm than good?
A preliminary study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology this past week suggests that women who have mutations in the BRCA 1 or BRCA 2 genes and are exposed to any X-rays have a greater chance of developing cancer.
Over 1600 women with a mutation in either their BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes were questioned about whether or not they had ever had an x-ray. The study revealed that the women who had received chest x-rays were around 54% more likely to get breast cancer. And if they had the x-ray before they were 20, they were 2.5 times more likely to have breast cancer before they were 40.
This study was reported by Reuters, Forbes and others who did make it clear that it was just a preliminary study. Issues about the problems with self-reporting on questionaires were discussed also - as well as the fact that even high risk women don’t usually start having mammograms before 20.
Despite those caveats a study like this being reported by the general media might leave some high risk women - or even those without the mutations - afraid of getting mammograms.
It may very well be true that women with the BRCA 1 or BRCA 2 mutations may be increasing their chances of developing breast cancer even more by getting mammograms - it is known that some percent of the population is more at risk from radiation damage due to x-rays. Plus BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 are believed to be involved in DNA repair mechanisms.
If it turns out to be a big enough risk it may prompt the faster development of alternative screening methods for breast cancer - possibly methods that are more comfortable for women.
Meanwhile - do you think it does more harm than good when these types of studies are released? Is it best that all research results - even if preliminary - are made available to the public? Is it worth the risk of some women being afraid of getting regular mammograms? Do most people understand the relationships between genes, mutations and cancer well enough to put the study into a proper perspective?
I lean toward having results of all medical and scientific results available to all regardless of the confusion it might cause. I can see how others may disagree though. What do you think?
(Technorati Tags: BRCA1, BRCA2, breast cancer, mammogram, genes)
June 26, 2006
Odds and Ends
Reuters reports about a new imaging technology that combines CAT scans with PET scans to detect cancer at an earlier stage.
A new study from researchers at the University of Wisconsin show a correlation between high cadmium levels and breast cancer. The study consisted of 246 women with breast cancer and 254 without. Cadmium levels were tested through urine. The women with the highest 25% levels of cadmium had twice the chance of developing breast cancer compared to those with the lowest 25%. This study was published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Rachel at Women’s Health News has a good discussion on her blog about the new breastfeeding campaign from the Department of Health and Human Services. She brings up some good points about how the recommendations don’t seem very in touch with most women’s lives and the challenges many have to breast feed. Feministing has a great discussion in the comments section too!
(Technorati Tags: cancer, breast cancer, cadmium, breast feeding)
June 21, 2006
New breast cancer gene discovered
BARD1 is the name of a new breast cancer gene that was just discovered by a group of researchers in Iceland. They believe it works with the genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 to increase the chances of developing breast cancer by a significant amount.
In 15%–25% of familial breast cancers either the BRCA1 or BRCA2 is defective. The BRCA1 protein forms a heterodimer with the protein BARD1, which is a related protein. In previous studies it has been shown that the BARD1 variant Cys557Ser is associated with some breast cancers.
In this study the genes of 1,090 women with breast cancer and 703 women without it were compared. It was found that the Cys557Ser variant was almost 2 times as likely in women who had breast cancer. Women who had both the BARD1 mutation and a specific mutation on BRCA2 had an even greater chance of developing breast cancer.
This BARD1 variant has not been found in women who are Chinese, Japanese, African-American or Yoruban, but is present in some European families.
To learn more you can read the research article at the Public Library of Science Medicine.
(Technorati Tags: breast cancer, BARD1, BRCA1, BRCA2, gene, health)
June 19, 2006
New way to freeze your eggs!
Yes, freeze your eggs!
As you may know, sperm are relatively easy to freeze, but eggs aren’t. Because of this, infertility problems of women including from cancer treatments leave some women unable to have children.
While it can be done, it doesn’t always work too well - the eggs tend to get damaged when they are thawed. So far only around 150 babies have been born from eggs that were frozen.
Now some Japanese researchers have revealed at a scientific meeting that they have come up with a new method for freezing eggs that works much better. With their method they were able to successfully thaw 94.5% of 111 eggs that they tested the method on.
For more detailed information about this new egg freezing method please see the ScienceBlog post about it at ‘New egg freezing technique offers hope to hundreds of women‘.
(Technorati Tags: eggs, women, sperm, freeze, infertility)
June 14, 2006
The New England Journal of Medicine had a recent article about how the use of angiotensin-converting–enzyme (ACE) inhibitors by women in their first trimester of pregnancy can result in major congenital malformations.
Previously it had been shown that the use of ACE inhibitors during the 2nd and 3rd trimesters of pregnancy could result in an increased chance of fetopathy.
ACE inhibitors are used to treat hypertension and cardiovascular disorders. They work by lowering arteriolar resistance and increasing venous capacitance; increasing cardiac output and cardiac index, stroke work and volume, lowering renovascular resistance, and leading to increased natriuresis (from Wikipedia)
The study looked at 29,507 babies born between 1985 and 2000 . Of these 209 were exposed to ACE inhibitors in just the first trimester and 202 were exposed to other antihypertensive drugs in just the first trimester. The rest were not exposed to any medications for hypertension during gestation.
Based on vital records and hospitalization claims while they were under a year old it was determined the ones exposed to the drugs during the 1st trimester had a greater chance of major congenital malformations. The authors of the study suggest that ‘exposure to ACE inhibitors during the first trimester cannot be considered safe and should be avoided’. Reference: New England Journal of Medicine Volume 354:2443-2451 June 8, 2006 Number 23
(Technorati Tags: pregnancy, ACE inhibitors, trimester, hypertension, NEJM)
June 12, 2006
FDA approves vaccine to prevent cervical cancer
Last Thursday the FDA approved the first vaccine to help prevent cervical cancer. It is called Gardasil and can prevent cancer and other diseases such as genital warts caused by Human Papillomavirus (HPV) types 6, 11, 16 and 18.
Worldwide 300,000 women die from cervical cancer, 4,000 women in the US. Around half of adults in the US are infected with HPV however it is mostly harmless.
Unfortunately it is only been approved for women and girls from ages 9-26. Apparently it is only effective if given before a person has been infected with the virus.
Gardasil is given as a series of three shots over a six month period, which cost about $360 or more.
Women who get the vaccine still need to have regular cervical cancer screening since the vaccine doesn’t stop all cancer-causing HPV strains.
Meanwhile studies are being done to test Gardasil in older women and in men.
Gardasil is made by Merck & Co. Inc.
For more information see:
FDA Approves Gardasil Cervical Cancer Vaccine,
FDA Approves First Vaccine Against HPV, Leading Cause of Cervical Cancer or Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Recombinant Vaccine Approved by FDA.
Also a great discussion about how Focus on the Family is against the vaccine even though it could save thousands of live can be read here: Focus on the Family Opposes HPV vaccine
(Technorati Tags: cervical cancer, Gardasil, Human Papillomavirus, HPV, virus, Merck, vaccine)
Favorite Blog Goals
Darren Rowse at ProBlogger asked us to blog about our favorite blogs from his latest writing project.
Here are some of my favorites (in no particular order):
With great changes comes great responsibility… by Jennie Rosenbaum.
Lofty Blog Goals And Attempt To Beat Shyness by Helen.
Sanity Check! by Ann Michael.
My Father’s Saloon — A Blogging Story by ‘Liz’ Strauss.
Prevent a Midlife Crisis — Blog! by Sheila Scarborough
Day 5: Have Goals (or unGoals) by Jill Murray
My Digital Photography School Goals
And I promise I will get back to blogging about women and women’s health after this post!
June 7, 2006
Quick blog round-up here:
I don’t have time for a regular post today but I’ve found some good links recently that need to be shared:
1) Marjory and Gordon Cameron have a new blog about Marjory’s breast cancer. Gordon is a family doctor and Marjory is a nurse. Their blog has some great information about breast cancer treatments and research a lot of which I don’t have time to cover here. So if you are looking for more specific information or want to follow one person’s story about how they are dealing with their situation - you should read their blog: Beating Breast Cancer
Good Luck Marjory - I hope it all goes well!
2) You may not have heard of Barbara Ehrenreich. She’s written a few books. One of which I read some time ago - Nickel and Dimed - which is about the struggles many people in the US experience working minimum wage types of jobs. She went undercover and worked at some of these places to see if she could really make ends meet, etc. She has a newer book now too, which I haven’t read yet. Well, she has a blog now too. She has a regular web site too, I don’t know why she didn’t put her blog there though instead of blogs.com. Here’s the link: Barbara’s Blog.
3) Here’s another health story I just came across today but don’t have time to look up information to blog about it: Plastics chemical alters female brains. A brief - very brief - summary is that a substance found in polycarbonate plastic (bisphenol A) such as the resin lining food cans and dental sealants can leach out and that bisphenol A behaves a lot like estrogen. More research needs to be done though, but if bisphenol A does get into our food and does cause health problems it is a concern. To soon to say for certain though. The abstract for the paper is here:http://endo.endojournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/en.2006-0189v1
4) And lastly I want to say ‘Hello!’ to the people I met last night at Liz’s Successful Blog open mike post: Liz, Joe, Chris Cree, Ben, Claire and Mike - and I’m sorry if I missed anyone!
Thanks for making me feel welcome and putting up with my Dr. Who obsession! (A Dr. Who blog - what do you think? Should I do it?)
(Technorati Tags: health, Liz Strauss, Barbara Ehrenreich, Dr. Who, breast cancer)
June 6, 2006
New drug for HER2/neu breast cancers may be available soon!
At the recent annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Atlanta postitive results of a study testing a new drug for treating breast cancer were announced.
The new drug is called Tykerb. The study involved 321 women with advanced breast cancer who were divided into two groups. One group only took the drug Xeloda (a standard chemotherapy drug for use in breast and some other cancers). The other group took both Xeloda and Tykerb.
The study was actually stopped early because the results looked so good. The growth of the tumors were delayed about twice as long in the group that was also taking Tykerb.
The target of Tykerb is the protein HER2/neu, which is a member of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) family. Around 20-25% of breast cancers involve the overexpression of the HER2/neu protein.
Tykerb functions similarly to Herceptin, but also targets another protein and works from inside the cell. Other advantages of Tykerb include few side effects, its taken in a pill form rather than intravenously and is a smaller molecule which may be able to cross the blood-brain barrier and attack metastatic brain tumors also.
Tykerb is made by the British company GlaxoSmithKline PLC. There are additional studies taking place now with Tykerb and it may be approved for use in the US either this year or next.
(Technorati Tags: breast cancer, HER2, neu, Herceptin, Tykerb,health)
June 5, 2006
Blogs, my Goals and Everything
Darren Rowse at ProBlogger has a new post on his blog about Blog Goals and I have decided to participate.
What I need to do to participate is to write a post about what my goals are - that’s what I’m doing now. Then when I am finished I need to send him an email with the url for this post.
Hopefully these goals are written in a general enough way to be useful to anyone else who has a blog too.
My blogging goals:
1) Post more frequently and consistently: I’d like to try to post about 3-5 times a week - that may not seem like much to some people, but the time I can spend on this blog is limited and some of my posts take a while to write.
2) Improve post topic quality: I need to spend more time reading original science journal articles to post about - and have 1+ posts a week based on a journal article.
3) Participate more at and with other blogs: This something I’ve been bad about not doing in the past.
4) Keep on topic: Occasionally post about something other than the main topic of my blog, no more than one post a week that is not health related.
5) Increase interactivity with readers: I will add a poll to this blog to get more feedback from readers. I’m not sure how to get more people to comment though.
6) Improve writing skills: I need to work on letting my personality show through more in my posts
7) Start a new blog: I’d like to start a general science blog, this is something that I would really like to do someday, it would mean a lot to me.
Find a paying blogging opportunity: I would like to find a way to get paid to blog, unless I can get my own traffic up quite a bit.
Issues that may interfere with achieving these goals:
1) Time - this could effect goals 1-3 and 7.
2) Money - if I don’t make more money by other means I may not be able to do 7.
3) Me being shy and not knowing enough people could be a problem with 8.
That’s all I can think of now - I’ll add more if I think of something.
(Technorati Tags: Darren Rowse, ProBlogger, blogging, goals)
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