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PHILADELPHIA - Researchers at Amgen are testing a fully human monoclonal antibody that inhibits the activity of insulin-like growth factors (IGF-1 and IGF-2) and appears to reduce pancreatic cancer cells in early testing, according to a report in Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

This is a very long newsletter. I will answer questions about oil versus water-soluble Vitamin D, depression, mental clarity, malignant melanoma, Crohn's disease, an imagist poet, multiple sclerosis, sun-exposure, high-intensity red light and collagen repair in the skin, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, influenza, the 1918 influenza pandemic, statins, the new Food and Nutrition Board, thyroid disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, athletes, the upcoming 14th Vitamin D Workshop, prostate cancer, the wrong blood test, pregnancy, autism, Alzheimer's disease, soap and sebum, asthma, sleep, the co-factors vitamin D needs to work (all contained in spinach), and-my favorite-UVC light and Vitamin D

The recommendations, to be officially announced on Tuesday by the United States Preventive Services Task Force, affect more than 44 million men age 50 and older who typically are candidates for a simple blood screen call the prostate-specific antigen (P.S.A.) test.

At first glance, deciding whether to get the PSA screening test for prostate cancer seems pretty straightforward.

ScienceDaily (June 15, 2009) - Using a highly sensitive new test, scientists in Europe are reporting "convincing evidence" that marijuana smoke damages the genetic material DNA in ways that could increase the risk of cancer.

Scientists advising the government say a Pap test is a good way to screen young and middle-aged women for cervical cancer, and it's only needed once every three years.

Three leading U.S. cancer groups have proposed new guidelines for cervical cancer testing for women, including when to start screening for sexually active young women, extending intervals between screenings and in some cases, supplementing the traditional Pap test with human papilloma virus (HPV) testing.

Creative Bioarray offers 160 different cell types by experimenting more than 13 types of animals. All the cells are taken form living animal tissues. Our scientists also select primary cells of human and other animal for comparative testing between human and other animal cells.

Some tumors are too slow-growing to ever threaten your life.

For the first time, medical groups have issued guidelines that say healthy older men should consider taking a drug that may reduce their risk of developing prostate cancer, even if they're just among the worried well who go in for regular screenings.\n\nThe drug, finasteride, is already used to treat male pattern baldness and to shrink enlarged prostates. The new guidelines suggest that patients who are already taking finasteride for those conditions or who go for regular prostate cancer screening tests should discuss long-term treatment with the drug with their doctors.

The prostate is the gland below a man's bladder that produces fluid for semen. Prostate cancer is the third most common cause of death from cancer in men of all ages. It is rare in men younger than 40. Levels of a substance called prostate specific antigen (PSA) is often high in men with prostate cancer. However, PSA can also be high with other prostate conditions. Since the PSA test became common, most prostate cancers are found before they cause symptoms. Symptoms of prostate cancer may include Problems passing urine, such as pain, difficulty starting or stopping the stream, or dribbling Low back pain Pain with ejaculation Prostate cancer treatment often depends on the stage of the cancer. How fast the cancer grows and how different it is from surrounding tissue helps determine the stage. Treatment may include surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy or control of hormones that affect the cancer.

BSD Medical Corp. (Amex: BSM ) announced today that the results of a 340 patient randomized Phase III clinical trial testing the benefit of adding hyperthermia therapy to chemotherapy were presented at the annual American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASC

Berberine inhibits human tongue squamous carcinoma cancer tumor growth in a murine xenograft model. Ho YT, Yang JS, Lu CC, Chiang JH, Li TC, Lin JJ, Lai KC, Liao CL, Lin JG, Chung JG. Phytomedicine. 2009 Sep;16(9):887-90. Epub 2009 Mar 20. PMID: 19303753 Our primary studies showed that berberine induced apoptosis in human tongue cancer SCC-4 cells in vitro. But there is no report to show berberine inhibited SCC-4 cancer cells in vivo on a murine xenograft animal model. SCC-4 tumor cells were implanted into mice and groups of mice were treated with vehicle, berberine (10mg/kg of body weight) and doxorubicin (4mg/kg of body weight). The tested agents were injected once per four days intraperitoneally (i.p.), with treatment starting 4 weeks prior to cells inoculation. Treatment with 4mg/kg of doxorubicin or with 10mg/kg of berberine resulted in a reduction in tumor incidence. Tumor size in xenograft mice treated with 10mg/kg berberine was significantly smaller than that in the control group. Our findings indicated that berbeirne inhibits tumor growth in a xenograft animal model. Therefore, berberine may represent a tongue cancer preventive agent and can be used in clinic.

"COLLEGE STATION - Mango. If you know little about this fruit, understand this: It's been found to prevent or stop certain colon and breast cancer cells in the lab. That's according to a new study by Texas AgriLife Research food scientists, who examined the five varieties most common in the U.S.: Kent, Francine, Ataulfo, Tommy/Atkins and Haden. Though the mango is an ancient fruit heavily consumed in many parts of the world, little has been known about its health aspects. The National Mango Board commissioned a variety of studies with several U.S. researchers to help determine its nutritional value. "If you look at what people currently perceive as a superfood, people think of high antioxidant capacity, and mango is not quite there," said Dr. Susanne Talcott, who with her husband, Dr. Steve Talcott, conducted the study on cancer cells. "In comparison with antioxidants in blueberry, acai and pomegranate, it's not even close." But the team checked mango against cancer cells anyway, and found it prevented or stopped cancer growth in certain breast and colon cell lines, Susanne Talcott noted. "It has about four to five times less antioxidant capacity than an average wine grape, and it still holds up fairly well in anticancer activity. If you look at it from the physiological and nutritional standpoint, taking everything together, it would be a high-ranking super food," she said. "It would be good to include mangoes as part of the regular diet." The Talcotts tested mango polyphenol extracts in vitro on colon, breast, lung, leukemia and prostate cancers. Polyphenols are natural substances in plants and are associated with a variety of compounds known to promote good health."

...has been the number one Google search term leading people to the blog this week - and that worries me. As I wrote about a week ago, dichloroacetate, or DCA, is the molecule tested recently by a team at University of Alberta for its ability to slow the growth of human lung cancer in immunocompromised rats. Among DCA's action is the ability to prevent cancer cells from producing lactic acid via aerobic glycolysis, a process used by more than half (but not all) tumors. Scientists continue to debate whether this process is a cause of cancer, or just a byproduct of malignant cell transformation. I am deeply concerned that desperate cancer patients may be trying to purchase dichloroacetate (DCA) and self-treat for cancer based on this highly-hyped single paper. To the credit of the researchers and their institution, who have set up a website to address the intense interest, they discourage such practice:

Dr Marco Falasca and colleagues have discovered that a natural compound, called inositol pentakisphosphate, which is found in most legumes as well as in wheat bran and nuts, blocks the activity of the enzyme. When they tested its action in mice with ovarian and lung cancer they found it not only blocked tumour growth but also enhanced the effect of other cancer-killing drug

Artemisinin (pronounced /ɑːtə'misinən/) is a drug used to treat multi-drug resistant strains of falciparum malaria. The compound (a sesquiterpene lactone) is isolated from the plant Artemisia annua. Not all plants of this species contain artemisinin. Apparently it is only produced when the plant is subjected to certain conditions, most likely biotic or abiotic stress. It can be synthesized from artemisinic acid.[1] The drug is derived from a herb used in Chinese traditional medicine, though it is usually chemically modified and combined with other medications. Artemisinin is under early research and testing for treatment of cancer, primarily by researchers at the University of Washington.[7][8] Artemisinin has a peroxide lactone group in its structure. It is thought that when the peroxide comes into contact with high iron concentrations (common in cancerous cells), the molecule becomes unstable and releases reactive oxygen species. It has been shown to reduce angiogenesis and the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor in some tissue cultures.

Targeted cancer therapy and gene therapy have been mentioned in the blue before, but oncolytic viruses are the hot young thing. For consideration in cancer treatment, an virus must replicate in and kill a high number of exclusively cancer cells, while sparing healthy tissue. A Philadelphia-based company called Neotropix has won awards for its research into a prime contender - the Seneca Valley Virus. It has been the subject of Phase I adult clinical trials, with Phase II adult and Phase I pediatric clinical trials to start this year. SVV has advantages over some other contenders in that it is a naturally occurring (lest we create a race of mutant zombies) organism and studies so far suggest it is not harmful to healthy human cells. While a number of other oncolytic viruses are being examined, NTX-010 seems able to treat a very wide range of common and rare forms of cancer, some of which are now considered uniformly fatal. In addition, unlike some other tested viruses, it can travel through the bloodstream to treat metastatic and not just local disease. Compared to the side-effects and late effects of chemotherapy and radiation treatment, and because many of the cancers ideal for treatment with an oncolytic virus have no surgical options, this may be the next big breakthrough.

San Diego, CA (PRWEB) May 25, 2009 -- Coming on the heels of the publishing in the Annals of Epidemiology of a new study led by Dr. Cedric Garland, on the preventive measures of vitamin D, GrassrootsHealth D*action Project is calling on physicians, health clinics and groups throughout the country to recognize the need for determining vitamin D levels and to ensure the public have their blood levels of vitamin D tested. According to research from the newly published study by Cedric F. Garland, Dr. P.H., FACE, Department of Family and Preventive Medicine and Moores Cancer Center of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), "It is projected that raising the minimum year-around serum 25(OH)D level to 40-60 ng/ml (100-150 nmol/L) would prevent approximately 58,000 new cases of breast cancer and 49,000 new cases of colorectal cancer each year, and three quarters of deaths from these diseases, in the US and Canada."

"SCIENTISTS have shown that a new class of cancer drugs called PARP inhibitors, currently being tested in clinical trials to treat breast and ovarian cancer could have dramatic results when used to treat other solid tumours, according to work presented at the NCRI Cancer Conference today. "