Surviving-Cancers.com

Early detection and treatment has provided the US with the best cancer survival rate in the world, including other Western nations.  This survival rate may soon be getting even better.

For non-small cell lung cancer, specific genetic factors have been determined to be the cause in about 5% of cases.  Recent advances in genetic research, combined with a new treatment, may turn a virtual death sentence into a manageable condition for those with this genetic characteristic.

A gene called Anaplastic Lymphoma kinase, more commonly known as the ALK gene, can combine with another gene or form a duplicate copy of itself.  When this happens, a relatively rare type of tumor can appear.

Presence of the ALK gene is determined by FISH testing which is also sometimes used to detect copies of the HER2 gene in breast cancer patients.

By administering a new oral drug called an “ALK inhibitor”, this type of lung cancer is not only stopped from growing, but appears to melt away.  The drug does not rid the body of the gene, so tumors can reappear, requiring additional future treatments… but the disease becomes manageable.

Five cancer centers worldwide participated in the first two trials of the drug, including the University of Colorado Cancer Center, one of the few places where the related FISH test can be performed.

23 people were treated in the initial studies and almost all of them had dramatic responses within short periods of time.

Ila Hegland, diagnosed nine years ago with stage 4 non-small cell lung cancer, was told she only had two years to live. After six weeks of treatment with the ALK inhibiting drug, no signs of the cancer could be found.

Third stage trials are now being performed and it is hoped that the treatment will be generally available in the near future.

Other forms of cancer are also tied to the ALK gene, including 10 to 15 percent of childhood non-hodgekin lymphomas and myofibroblastic tumors (sarcoma).  With further studies, perhaps the drug can be applied to these types of conditions as well.

An 8 to 12 year study has determined that women with non-Hodgekins

lymphoma who drink wine on a regular basis are less likely to suffer a relapse or death.

Xuesong Han, a doctoral candidate in cancer epidemiology

Wine helps against Non-Hodgekins Lymphoma

at the Yale School of Public Health, led the study which analyzed 546 women with non-Hodgekins lymphoma. The results were presented at the 100th annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.

The longer a woman drank, the lower her chances of a relapse or death. Those who drank for at least 25 years prior to diagnosis were 26 percent less likely to relapse or to develop secondary cancers and 33 percent less likely to die than those who did not drink wine.

76 percent of women who drank at least 12 glasses of wine over their lifetime were alive five years after diagnosis versus 68 percent of those who drank none.

The best outcomes were found among patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. These women had a 40 to 50 percent reduced risk of death which rose to 60 percent if they had drunk wine the previous 25 years.

Other alcoholic beverages such as beer or liquor had no effect on lymphoma risk, relapse, or secondary cancer.

More and more evidence suggests wine contains chemicals that promote good health.

Tricyclic anti-depressants such as Aventyl HCL, Elavil, Endep, Sinequan, Norpramin, Tofranic, and Pamelor are used in low doses to relieve pain for cancer patients.  According to Web MD, these drugs increase levels of chemicals produced in the brain to improve mood and lower doses relieve pain and may help a person to sleep.  For these reasons they are prescribed to cancer patients.

A recent study done between 1989 and 2003 by Dr. Susanne Oksbjerg Dalton of the Danish Cancer Society on a population of  354,551 showed a very strong correlation between those taking tricylic anti-depressants and the 92 new cases of non-hodgekin lymphoma.   Other types of anti-depressants showed no higher incidence than the general population.

This study backs up a previous study done by Dr. Dalton where a long term usage correlation was observed between Tricylic antidepressants and non-hodgekins lymphoma in a population of 30,000.  The results were reported in the July issue of Epidemiology.