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"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."

ScienceDaily (Feb. 22, 2009) - Cancer cells need a lot of nutrients to multiply and survive. While much is understood about how cancer cells use blood sugar to make energy, not much is known about how they get other nutrients. Now, researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have discovered how the Myc cancer-promoting gene uses microRNAs to control the use of glutamine, a major energy source. The results, which shed light on a new angle of cancer that might help scientists figure out a way to stop the disease, appear Feb. 15 online at Nature

top 10 questions people frequently asked about kidney cancer,

But, she said, the institute has identified three steps people could take to dramatically affect the chances of developing cancer: - Eat a mostly plant-based diet. - Maintain a healthy weight. - Exercise regularly. "The data is pretty clear that we can make a significant drop in the cancer rate with these three changes," Collins said. "We can prevent about one-third of cancers with these changes. And if you add tobacco prevention, which reduces about 30 percent of cancers, over half of today's cancers could be prevented."

What is VITAL? The VITamin D and OmegA-3 TriaL (VITAL) is a research study in 20,000 U.S. men and women investigating whether taking daily dietary supplements of vitamin D (about 2000 IU) or fish oil (about 1 gram of omega-3 fatty acids) reduces the risk of developing cancer, heart disease, and stroke in people who do not have a prior history of these illnesses. Recruitment for the study will begin in January 2010.

The Integrative Medicine Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center was established in 1999 to complement mainstream medical care and address the emotional, social, and spiritual needs of patients and families. The Service includes: patient and outpatient clinical care research, and education and training. In addition, the Service provides unique access to otherwise unavailable information about over-the-counter products and unproven cancer treatments and their impact in the context of cancer care via our about Herbs database

Stem cells are cells with the potential to develop into many different types of cells in the body. They serve as a repair system for the body. There are two main types of stem cells: embryonic stem cells and adult stem cells. Doctors and scientists are excited about stem cells because they have potential in many different areas of health and medical research. Studying stem cells may help explain how serious conditions such as birth defects and cancer come about. Stem cells may one day be used to make cells and tissues for therapy of many diseases, including Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, spinal cord injury, heart disease, diabetes and arthritis.

Induction of ovarian cancer cell apoptosis by 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 through the down-regulation of telomerase. Jiang F, Bao J, Li P, Nicosia SV, Bai W. J Biol Chem. 2004 Dec 17;279(51):53213-21. Epub 2004 Oct 12. PMID: 15485861 doi: 10.1074/jbc.M410395200 Overall, the study suggests that the down-regulation of telomerase activity by 1,25(OH)2VD3 and the resulting cell death are important components of the response of OCa cells to 1,25(OH)2VD3-induced growth suppression. Progressive shortening of telomere associated with cell divisions limits the life span of normal cells and eventually leads to senescence. To become immortal, human cancers including OCa are invariably associated with activation of mechanism that maintains telomere length. Approximately 85-90% of cancers show reactivation of telomerase. The present study shows that telomerase in OCa cells is down-regulated by 1,25(OH)2VD3. Down-regulation of telomerase is due to decreased stability of hTERT mRNA rather than VDRE-mediated transcriptional repression through the putative VDRE present in the regulatory region of the hTERT gene. It is known that the inhibition of telomerase may lead to a phenotypic lag during which cells would continue to divide until the point at which the telomeres became critically short. This phenomenon may explain why the apoptotic induction by 1,25(OH)2VD3 needs the treatment for more than 6 days. As mentioned in the results, no detectable shortening of telomeric repeats was observed in parental OVCAR3 cells after 9 days of treatment with 1,25(OH)2VD3 (Fig. 4D). This is likely due to the fact that the short telomere (about 3 kb) in OVCAR3 cells is very close to the minimal length required for survival and that cells with detectably shorter telomere may have been selected against apoptosis. It has been shown that transformed human cells enter crisis once the terminal restriction fragment of the telomere reaches a length of about 4 kb. This is insufficient to protect chro

Fragment antibody-binding (Fab fragment) is a region on an antibody that binds to antigens. It is composed of one constant and one variable domain of each of the heavy and the light chain. Single-chain variable fragment (scFv) is not actually a fragment of an antibody, but instead is a fusion protein of the variable regions of the heavy (VH) and light chains (VL) of immunoglobulins, connected with a short linker peptide of ten to about 25 amino acids.

The cancer industry is not on your side. Sign up for this live webcast and get the truth!

To better understand blood cancer, you may need to know a bit more about blood cancer and leukemia.

According to a recent YA study, doctors, nurses and other health care workers seem to be missing the chance to counsel patients with malignant pleural

Cell line is a permanently established cell culture that can proliferate indefinitely given appropriate fresh medium and space. Cell line differs from cell strain in that they have escaped the Hayflick limit and become immortalised. Some species, rodents in particular, give rise to cell lines relatively easily, whereas other species do not.

November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month and presents a chance to educate the public about one of the most deadly yet least funded forms of cancer.

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

World Cancer Research Fund launches new policy report: 'Policy and action for cancer prevention'\nOver 40 per cent of bowel and breast cancer cases in the UK are preventable through healthy patterns of diet, physical activity and weight maintenance, according to estimates in a landmark report that has set out recommendations for policies and actions to reduce the global number of cancer cases.\nThe report, Policy and Action for Cancer Prevention,  has estimated that about 43 per cent of bowel cancer cases and 42 per cent of breast cancer cases in the UK could be prevented in this way.

Policy Report\n\nLearn more about the new WCRF/AICR report, Policy and Action for Cancer Prevention, which was launched at an international press briefing in London at 10 a.m. GMT (5 a.m. US Eastern Time), and presented to US lawmakers at a Congressional Briefing at 10 a.m. US Eastern Time, on February 26th, 2009.

You may have seen articles in the news about a drug called DCA (dichloroacetate), that is claimed to be cheap, safe and "kill most cancers". Understandably this has caused a great deal of interest, especially as DCA is an off-patent drug and appears to be non-toxic to humans. DCA has now been approved for a trial in brain cancer patients in Canada. The researchers have raised $800,000 in public donations to fund the trial

The National Cancer Institute's research programs are extensive and contain many innovative initiatives. I invite you to explore our Web site to find out more about the exciting work being conducted here at NCI and by NCI-supported scientists throughout the country. You will also find valuable cancer-related information of all kinds. For the general public, patients, and health professionals, we offer consumer-oriented information on a wide range of topics as well as comprehensive descriptions of our research programs and clinical trials. Scientists will find detailed information on specific areas of research interest and funding opportunities.