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.
CAR-T cell therapies may, in some cases, produce tumours secondary to treatment. A few months ago, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it was assessing this risk. Now, a study conducted at Stanford University Medical Center (USA) has tracked 724 patients who received this type of treatment since 2016. Of these, 14 developed another blood tumour, but only one was a T-cell lymphoma that could be a direct consequence of the therapy. Further analysis ruled out this link. The results are published in the journal NEJM.
The classical view describes most cancers as the result of mutations that happen by chance and accumulate over a lifetime. Now, a study claims to break that paradigm. A team of researchers from Stanford University (USA) has described that the genetics we inherit influences the surveillance that our defences do of these mutations, conditioning the type of tumour that can develop and its prognosis. The results, which for the moment refer to breast cancer, are published in the journal Science.
Vitamin D enhances the response to cancer immunotherapy in mice via the gut microbiome, according to a study published in Science. The role of vitamin D in cancer immune modulation had already been studied in previous studies. Now, the authors suggest that this nutrient acts on intestinal epithelial cells, altering the composition of the microbiome and favoring a species of bacteria called Bacteroides fragilis, which regulates immunity against cancer.
Although breast cancer mortality has reduced by more than 40% in most high-income countries, a Lancet commission warns that one million people will die from the disease by 2040, especially in low- and middle-income countries. The authors highlight some of the knowledge gaps that persist about the disease, such as the lack of knowledge about the number of patients living with metastatic breast cancer and their needs, or the costs associated with breast cancer - including physical, psychological, social and economic costs - which, according to the authors, are immense but underestimated, and not adequately reflected in global health indicators.