In The News This Week … Mar. 13–19, 2005: A Miscellanea on Cancer

On Cancer

A March 15, 2005 press release issued by the Association for International Cancer Research (AICR) reports that scientists based at the Marie Curie Research Institute have found a way to "put cancer cells into a permanent 'coma' by reactivating a natural self-defence mechanism which responds to dangerous mutations by putting the cell into a state called senescence – meaning that it cannot divide anymore."

Also this week, numerous articles cited research from the journal Cancer Research showing that the polyphenol EGCG, taken from green tea leaves, inhibits cancer cell growth, even at low concentrations (the equivalent of two to three cups per day).

And a research letter published in the March 16, 2005 Journal of the American Medical Association found that, contrary to earlier warnings, there was no association between dietary acrylamide – which is found in the baked and fried foods we all love – and breast cancer risk.

Meanwhile, a study published in the same JAMA issue found that vitamin E supplements do not prevent cancer or major cardiovascular events, and may increase the risk of heart failure in patients with vascular disease or diabetes.

On the X-chromosome (& Cancer)

Two articles (The DNA sequence of the human X chromosome and X-inactivation profile reveals extensive variability in X-linked gene expression in females) published in the March 17, 2005 issue of the journal Nature are helping to explain the differences between women, and between men and women. But with the X-chromosome sequence 99.3% complete, another interesting detail from the first mentioned article is that 10% of the of the X genes belong to a family of genes (testis-antigen genes) that has been linked to cancer.

On Our Overeating (& Cancer)

A report entitled "A Potential Decline in Life Expectancy in the United States in the 21st Century," published in the March 17, 2005 The New England Journal of Medicine, warns that children's lives are being cut short by obesity, which is linked to diseases and complications that include Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, kidney failure, and cancer. The authors conclude, "Unless effective population-level interventions to reduce obesity are developed, the steady rise in life expectancy observed in the modern era may soon come to an end and the youth of today may, on average, live less healthy and possibly even shorter lives than their parents."

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