In The News This Week … July 20–26, 2008: Cancer, Liver Donation, HIV, Apnea, & Alcohol

Cell Phone & Cancer Warning

On July 23, in a move that is certain to cause enormous amounts of controversy, Dr. Ronald Herberman, Director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI), issued an advisory on cell phone use, stating, "Recently I have become aware of the growing body of literature linking long-term cell phone use to possible adverse health effects including cancer. Although the evidence is still controversial, I am convinced that there are sufficient data to warrant issuing an advisory to share some precautionary advice on cell phone use." Of the 10 points of advice, the first is: "Do not allow children to use a cell phone, except for emergencies. The developing organs of a fetus or child are the most likely to be sensitive to any possible effects of exposure to electromagnetic fields." In a TV interview with Pittsburgh's KDKA news, Herberman's colleague, Dr. Devra Davis, head of the Center for Environmental Oncology at the UPCI said in response to the interviewer's comment about lack of evidence and "crying wolf," "It depends on what you mean by evidence. If you want to have enough sick and dead people before you take action and prevent harm – that's what we did with tobacco, isn't it?" For more information, read Heberman's article The Case for Precaution in the Use of Cell Phones Advice from the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute Based on Advice from an International Expert Panel.

Fighting Lymphoma with Tobacco

While tobacco has a justifiably bad reputation for causing cancer, a new technique may allow it to help some people fight cancer. A phase 1 clinical trial has been conducted in which tobacco plants have been used to create a vaccine against follicular B cell lymphoma. Researchers altered a virus that only attacks tobacco plants by adding a gene from participating patients' cancer cells, and then infected tobacco plants with the altered viruses. In a week, they extracted the protein the plants produced in response to the infection, and then injected the patients with the individualized plant-derived vaccine. No patients experienced side effects, and more than 70% have had cellular or humoral immune responses, and 47% developed antigen-specific responses. The process has already worked to cure cancer in mice, but in humans, the study was only assessing the safety and immune-stimulating ability of the plant-produced vaccines. Future studies will be needed to show if the vaccine works as a treatment in humans. The research was published online on July 21 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Testing a Pill for Fighting Prostate Cancer

A report from a phase 1 trial of a drug to fight castration-resistant prostate cancer is showing promising results, with significant tumor shrinkage and dramatic falls in PSA levels in men who have not responded to other treatments. The drug, abiraterone, which targets an enzyme called CYP17, delayed worsening of the disease by a median of 400 days among a group of 21 men. The results were published online on July 21 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Also see the July 22 news release from The Institute of Cancer Research.

Livers from Older Donors

A paper on liver transplants for HCV, which was published in the July issue of Archives of Surgery, has found that those who received a liver from a donor aged 60 to 78 years had no difference in survival rates when compared to those who received a liver from a younger donor. At one, three, and five years, overall patient survival was 88.1%, 78.3%, and 69.2%, respectively.

Parasites & Susceptibility to HIV

An article published on July 23 in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases suggests that parasitic infection can increase susceptibility to HIV. Researchers tested two groups of monkeys, one parasite-free and one infected with the parasitic worm that causes schistosomiasis, and found that lower amounts of the AIDS virus (17 times lower) were needed to cause HIV infection in monkeys who had the worms than in the parasite-free monkeys. They wrote, "These results suggest that worm infections may increase the risk of becoming infected with HIV-1 among individuals with viral exposures. Furthermore, they support the idea that control programs for schistosomiasis and perhaps other parasitic worm infections may also be useful in helping to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS in developing countries where helminths are endemic."

Sleep Apnea & Night Heart Attacks

Research published in the July 29 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology has found that in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), the frequency of a heart attack was higher from midnight to 0600h, whereas for those without OSA, the frequency was higher from 0600h to noon. In the overnight hours, MI occurred in 32% of OSA patients and only 7% of non-OSA patients studied. Of all patients who had an MI between midnight and 0600h, 91% had OSA.

Music Volume & Alcohol Consumption

An observational study of 40 male beer drinkers in a bar has found that louder music makes people drink more and drink faster. They found that with the louder music, the average number of drinks ordered rose from 2.6 to 3.4 drinks, and the time taken to consume the drink fell to an average 11.45 minutes from 14.51 minutes. The study was published online on July 21 in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.

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