cancer

Prostate cancer screening tests using PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) are associated with overdiagnosis, which calls into question their use. A clinical trial in men aged 50-60 years published in the journal NEJM has studied the possibility of adding an MRI test in those with an elevated PSA level and dispensing with biopsy if imaging finds no suspicious lesions. The results indicate that the procedure avoids more than half of clinically irrelevant cancer diagnoses that would not need treatment and only slightly increases the risk of failing to identify those that may become incurable. The authors recommend, on the basis of the study, to review the recommendations for such screening.

Newborns with Down syndrome, as they grow, face a higher risk of developing leukemia compared to those without the syndrome. An international team has sequenced the genes of more than 1.1 million cells from fetuses with and without Down syndrome, and it has discovered that the extra chromosome 21 they have alters the way DNA is packaged inside cells. According to the authors, whose research is published in Nature, this difference affects the regulation of certain genes and may contribute to the development of leukemia.

The regulatory agencies for medicines in the United States and Europe have issued statements informing about a possible risk of developing certain types of tumors following CAR-T cell immunotherapy treatment. What do we know so far? What is the real risk? Does the benefit-risk balance still hold? Has anything changed after these alerts? We answer these questions with expert opinions and the data currently available. 

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.