Metformin found helpful in treatment of lung cancer

Metformin

Carol Forsloff - While there are side effects from certain drugs, research has also found side benefits as well, as in the case of Metformin which has recently been found to prevent tobacco-induced lung tumors. New research undertaken by the National Cancer Institute was published in the September issue of Cancer Prevention Research in 2010.

This finding substantiates the notion that a medication used for one condition is often found useful for another.

There are many findings that indicate, for example, that aspirin has uses for more than just pain but can be a preventative against heart disease and stroke.

Now the journal of the American Association for Cancer Research has published findings that a common drug, used in the treatment of metformin, is also a  prevention and treatment for lung cancer.  

“Although smoking cessation is the most important step for current smokers, over half of lung cancer cases are diagnosed in former smokers,raising the importance of identifying those at highest risk and
identifying effective preventive treatments,” said Philip Dennis, M.D.,who works with the Cancer Research group.  He said this following clinical trials with mice using metformin on tobacco carcinogen-induced tumors.

Research found a 40 to 50% reduction in tumors with oral medication and 70% with injections, leading experts to consider administration of the drug to prevent and treat those with lung cancer.

While the news of the metformin benefit is not new, it is nevertheless one of those pieces of information that one does not often see on the front page of anything.  The side benefits of certain common medications can be helpful to a population looking for answers to complex health conditions.  At the same time the number of people diagnosed with diabetes in the past several years has been considerable, and many people may have a dual diagnosis where they find the special use for metformin an advantage, as in the treatment for cancer, found in the study discussed here.

Metformin is the initial drug of choice in the treatment of diabetes.  Most people initially fare well with it.  On the other hand, just like other medications, there are side effects of the drug as well.

Nausea, weakness and a metallic taste in the mouth are some of the more common side effects.  Others can be found listed on the WebMd site.

Seven years of cancer term runs out for Steve Jobs

[caption id="attachment_9766" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="Steve Jobs"][/caption]

4.7 percent is the five-year relative pancreatic cancer survival rate for white men. Steve Jobs was one of those who survived past that five-year mark, but the recurrence of cancer and Jobs eventual death shows the severity of the disease from which few people survive.

Jobs, the founder and principal guru of Apple,  died today, after battling cancer for seven years. Many people don’t discover they have the disease until it is too late for reasonable treatment, but Jobs was able to receive help early on. Jobs was diagnosed in 2004 with pancreatic cancer and underwent a process called pancreatioduodenectomy, which is the removal of the tumor from the pancreas. After the procedure, Steve was not required to have either chemotherapy or radiation. But last year Jobs underwent another surgery to replace his liver, and experts have speculated that’s because he had cancer again.

In March 2011, Science Daily reported research done at the University of Georgia that gives hope to pancreatic cancer patients.  Researchers identified a protein that helps restore CNT1 effectivene in killing pancreatic tumor cells. Lead author Raj Govindarajan, assistant professor of pharmaceutical and biomedical sciences in the UGA College of Pharmacy, was quoted as saying, "The transporter was failing to take up the drug, so there were a bunch of different drug-resistant tumor cells." Govindarajan said, "Therapies that restore CNT1 could increase the effectiveness of the drug by helping carry the drug into the cell."

Jobs, who had it all,  had the spirit and will to battle cancer for seven years. He also had the money. For many people, the battle is not just with the cancer but fighting to pay the bills and fighting the insurance companies with the ceilings on benefit amounts.  Once treatment begins many people face thousands of dollars in extra costs, beyond their health insurance policies. Furthermore,  those who recover from cancer find they often are shut out of the private insurance industry, especially if they change employer and are often dropped by insurance companies once those benefits are exhausted.

Steve Jobs was an inventor, a talented man and a rich one. He survived cancer for seven years, the kind of cancer that kills most of its victims within five years of diagnosis.  While his death is mourned for the loss it creates in the world of technology,  it also reminds us of the value of major coverage and benefits for treatment and how important it is that cancer patients receive maximum help to live the longest period of time medicine is able to provide.

Scientists find gene in the spread of cancer from the eye

GHN News Editor - Melanoma,
one of the most common cancers, is often thought of as only being on
the skin, but it can occur in the eye; and when it does is often fatal,
so present research identifying a source of its spreading is critical.



The
finding at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis establishing a gene linked
to the spread of eye melanoma will help lead to more effective
treatments.

The
gene is called BAP1 and is present in 84 percent of the eye tumors that
metastasize.  This is the process that can cause death.  Scientists
believe mutations in metastasis suppressor genes may be involved in the
spread of cancer to other parts of the body.

“Scientists
and physicians have been waiting for a rational, therapeutic target
that we could use to treat high-risk patients,” says J. William Harbour,
MD., first author and Washington University ophthalmologist “We believe
this discovery may provide insights needed to hasten the development of
therapies for these patients.”

Ocular
melanoma, also called uveal melanoma, is the most common eye cancer and
the second-most common form of melanoma, striking about 2,000 adults in
the United States each year.   It affects people over 50.  Half of
these do spread and become fatal, often to the liver with death
occurring within months.

What
scientists have found is that the BAP1 mutation is the second common
mutation in ocular melanoma, the only one also linked to metastasis.

“This
finding will fundamentally alter the concepts and methodologies
employed in patient management and in research in this field,” Bowcock
says. “For example, it should lead to new diagnostic tests to
distinguish benign from malignant growths of the eye, which could avoid
thousands of needless, vision-threatening treatments each year while
allowing earlier interventions in the few patients who truly harbor a
malignant melanoma. In addition, the insights gained from this research
into how BAP1 functions at a molecular level might pave the way for
innovative new therapeutic approaches to the previously recalcitrant
problem of metastatic disease.”

Relationship shown between light at night and cancer

GHN News Editor - A relationship between light at night and the development of cancer has
been found in new research from the Center for Interdisciplinary
Chronobiological Research at the University of Haifa.



This follows another correlation, "High power light bulbs contribute to
'environmental light pollution" or a carcinogenic pollution.

Prof. Abraham Haim, who headed the present study, says that people
living in areas with more night-time illumination are more susceptible
to prostate cancer, and women are more susceptible to breast cancer.

What they have discovered is that LAN negatively impacts melatonin
production.  This is the hormone released from the pineal gland during
the dark part of the 24 hour period.

When the hormone is suppressed, cancer rises.

Researchers tell us
that this suppression of melatonin due to exposure to LAN is
responsible for the significant rise of cancer patients over the past
several years.  They are not sure, however, what the mechanism is behind
all this.

“Exposure to
LAN- disrupts our biological clock and affects the cyclical rhythm that
has developed over hundreds of millions of evolutionary years that were
devoid of LAN. Light pollution as an environmental problem is gaining
awareness around the world, and the World Health Organization’s
International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has already
classified working the night shift as a higher grade of cancer risk,”
the researchers noted.

Common pain killer aids in cancer prevention

While researchers have pointed out people should limit their intake of anti-inflammatory drugs, the benefit found is that those who take them have lower incidences of cancer, which is something to consider in looking at NSAIDS use in preventing cancer growth.

In a study appearing in Cancer Cell on June 15, investigators at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham) and their colleagues have figured out how one NSAID, called Sulindac, inhibits the growth of tumors.

The study reveals that Sulindac closes down cancer cell growth and causes cells to die by binding to nuclear receptor RXRα, a protein that receives a signal and carries it into the nucleus to turn genes on or off.

“Nuclear receptors are excellent targets for drug development,” explained Xiao-kun Zhang, Ph.D., professor at Sanford-Burnham and senior author of the study. “Thirteen percent of existing drugs target nuclear receptors, even though the mechanism of action is not always clear.”

Sulindac is prescribed for the treatment of pain and fever, and to help relieve symptoms of arthritis and related conditions.  This new application for Sulindac as an anti-cancer treatment is important and negate some of the bad press NSAIDS has received.

Because of the problems with NSAIDS, researchers have created a new version of Sulindac they call K-80003 to decrease negative consequences and maintain the positive benefit of an anti-cancer drug.  “Depending on the conditions, the same protein, such as RXRα, can either kill cancer cells or promote their growth,” Dr. Zhang said.

“The addition of K-80003 shifts that balance by blocking survival pathways and sensitizing cancer cells to triggers of apoptosis.”