cancer

A study has analyzed data on prostate cancer incidence and mortality in 26 countries in Europe between 1980 and 2020. Its findings are that new diagnoses have increased due to the widespread use of PSA [prostate-specific antigen] testing, but mortality rates have not benefited in parallel. This suggests possible overdiagnosis, i.e., the detection of harmless tumors that are unlikely to cause symptoms or death in the patient's lifetime. The results are published in the journal The BMJ. 

The radiation exposure from mobile phone use does not increase the risk of brain cancer, with evidence of “moderate” certainty, according to a systematic review, funded in part by the WHO and published in Environmental International. Exposure from fixed-site transmitters (like broadcast antennas) is also not associated with childhood leukaemia.

Mice with Alzheimer's disease are more resistant to the development of colorectal tumors, a study shows. An inverse relationship between Alzheimer's and cancer has already been shown in epidemiological studies in humans. An imbalance in certain intestinal bacteria contributes to this negative correlation in mice, adds the article published in PNAS.

A ketogenic diet improves the results of a pancreatic cancer therapy in mice, according to a study published in Nature. The US research team fed the animals a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet before administering them a new drug, currently in clinical trials; in the absence of glucose, the body converts fat into ketone bodies. The drug blocks the metabolism of fat - the cancer's only source of energy while the mice are on this diet - and slows the growth of pancreatic tumours. 

The use of faecal immunochemical testing (FIT) for colorectal cancer screening is associated with a 33% reduction in the risk of death from colorectal cancer, a study claims. The research, published in JAMA Network Open, analysed data from more than 10,000 people aged 52-85 in the US.

Several studies have linked endometriosis to an increased risk of developing ovarian cancer. New research conducted in the United States on nearly half a million women has confirmed this association. Although the absolute risk remains low, the overall likelihood is four times higher than in the general population. However, the risk is higher when the endometriosis is of the infiltrative type or when an endometrioma develops in the ovary. The authors, who publish their results in the journal JAMA, raise the possibility of screening these women, because "precision medicine is more than just genetics".

Hormonal therapy to treat breast cancer is associated with a lower risk of Alzheimer's disease and dementia in women over 65, a study says. The retrospective analysis is based on data from more than 18,000 women with breast cancer in the US: two-thirds of them had received hormone therapy and one-third had not. The "protective effect" of hormone therapy declines with age and varies by ethnicity, adds the article published in JAMA Network Open. 

Research led by the Hospital del Mar Research Institute (Barcelona) and involving researchers from CIMA (University of Navarra) and Pompeu Fabra University (Barcelona) has revealed the existence of microproteins present almost exclusively in hepatocellular carcinoma, the most common form of liver cancer. These structures, which appear to be found in a significant percentage of patients, could be used to develop specific vaccines against this type of tumour. The results are published in the journal Science Advances.

Talc has been classified as "probably carcinogenic to humans" by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), an agency of the World Health Organisation. In a statement, IARC reports that, after thoroughly reviewing the available scientific literature, the expert working group classified talc as probably carcinogenic to humans (Group 2A) "based on a combination of limited evidence of cancer in humans (for ovarian cancer), sufficient evidence of cancer in experimental animals, and strong mechanistic evidence that talc exhibits key features of carcinogens in human primary cells and experimental systems". In the same monograph, the agency classified acrylonitrile as "carcinogenic to humans" (Group 1). It is a chemical used in the manufacture of fibres for textiles, synthetic rubber and plastics. Both assessments are published in an article in The Lancet Oncology.

Cancer immunotherapy, and in particular the so-called checkpoint inhibitors, have improved the prognosis of several types of tumours. However, they are not effective in everyone. Two early-stage clinical trials have tested the addition of a type of immunomodulator to this therapy in patients with lung cancer and Hodgkin's lymphoma, with apparent good results. The results are published in the journal Science.