FRIDAY, June 8 (HealthDay News) — U.S. medicine hat news paper
have
discovered that bone marrow stem cells attracted to an area of cancer
growth pharma
take on the outward appearance of the cancer cells
around them.

But they say it's not clear that these stem cells actually help cancer
develop.

Many scientists believe that the bone marrow stem cells do boost the
growth and spread of cancer. But the University of Florida researchers say
the stem cells may simply resemble the surrounding cancer cells, but not
act like them.

The bone marrow stem cells “have the same kind of surface proteins” as
cancer cells, noted study author Dr. Chris Cogle, an assistant professor
of medicine at UF's College of Medicine Program in Stem Cell Biology and
Regenerative Medicine.

But while the stem cells have the “same skin” as the surrounding cancer
cells, the question is whether “they have the same guts,” Cogle said.

“Our results indicate these cells act as developmental mimics; they
come in and look like the surrounding neoplastic tissue, but they aren't
actually the seed of cancer,” Cogle said in a prepared statement.

“At the worst, these cells could help support cancerous tissue by
providing it with growth factors or proteins that help the cancer grow and
survive. At the very least, these marrow cells are just being tricked into
coming into the cancerous emergency medicine news
and then made to walk and talk like
they don't usually do,” the researcher said.

The study will be published in the August issue of urnal Stem
Cells.

Cogle noted that about five percent of cancerous tissue contains
marrow-derived cells that resemble surrounding cancer cells. This
“developmental mimicry” could affect the results of tests of new drugs on
malignant tissue grown in the laboratory.

“If there are bone marrow cells in this cancerous tissue, these (bone
marrow stem) cells may actually contaminate our cancer studies and could
make a difference as to whether or not investigational drugs we're testing
work or don't work,” Cogle said.

“The medicine hat news obituary
of this is new treatments may work in the culture
dish but may not translate to the clinic or the hospital room, and for
many reasons. One of the reasons could be bone marrow contamination,” the
expert said.

More information

The U.S.

National Cancer Institute has more about cancer.

FRIDAY, June 8 (HealthDay News) — The male hormone-suppressing
treatment used against aggressive prostate cancer may help bring on
earlier heart attacks in older men, new research suggests.

“The new finding is that in men who have risk factors for heart attack,
even six months of medicine hat news paper
therapy and maybe as little as
three months, can cause a heart attack to occur sooner by about 2.5
years,” said lead researcher Dr. Anthony D'Amico, chief of genitourinary
radiation oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and
Women's Hospital in Boston.

That finding, which comes from analysis of pooled data of studies in
the United States, Australia and New Zealand, does not mean that such men
should not be treated to suppress the activity of androgens — male sex
hormones that spur the growth of prostate cancer cells, D'Amico said.

Instead, “the implication is that a man who needs hormonal therapy to
avoid dying from cancer but also has risk factors for heart attack should
be sent to a cardiologist for assessment and possible treatment of heart
disease before starting hormonal therapy,” he said.

“We're doing that,” D'Amico said. He noted that, “of about 50 men we
referred in the last six months, five or six had medicine hat news obituary
coronary
artery disease. They have had it treated and have gone through hormonal
therapy without being affected.”

The findings are published in the June 10 issue of the Journal of
Clinical Oncology.

Androgen suppression therapy (AST), as it is formally called, is
reserved for men whose cancer is believed to have spread beyond the
prostate or who have an aggressive form that is believed to have spread –
something that occurs in perhaps 40 percent of cases, D'Amico said. “You
give these drugs to starve the prostate cancer, and it dies,” he said.

Other side effects of AST are well-known. It can cause anemia, increase
body fat, reduce muscle and cause an increase in harmful LDL (”bad”)
cholesterol and a decrease in helpful HDL (”good”) cholesterol. But AST is
also widely used, because it extends prostate cancer survival.

The new medicine news
on the treatment's adverse cardiac effects comes
from analysis of data from 1,372 men who received radiation treatment plus
AST in three randomized trials and who were followed for at least five
years.

A faster onset of heart attacks was observed in men over 65 who got AST
for six months, the researchers found.

“This is one more reason to be careful when you recommend hormone
therapy,” said Dr. Eric M. Horwitz, clinical director of radiation
oncology at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia. “They do have cardiac
side effects.”

But AST will continue to be used in many cases, he added. “There is
clearly a group of men where the benefits outweigh the risks,” he said.
“This study shows that you have to weigh the pros and cons of the
treatment, who gets benefits and who doesn't.”

Men who benefit most are those with “aggressive, bulky prostate
cancers,” according to Horwitz. “The benefits for them still outweigh the
risk in terms of trying to cure the cancer. For men with less aggressive,
less bulky cancers, you have to weigh the benefits versus the risks.”

Other efforts to get the best effect from AST while minimizing the
damage are under way, D'Amico said. One method under study is to stop the
treatment now and then. “For advanced prostate cancer, we don't expect to
keep the treatment going forever,” he said. “You can make it intermittent
to get the same survival with less toxicity — six months on and six
months off,” he said.

Also, some studies indicate that a shorter course of AST can be
effective with fewer side effects — at least for some patients, D'Amico
said. “We need to be better at selecting men for therapy and directing its
course,” he said.

More information

A guide to prostate cancer is offered by the American Cancer Society.

SATURDAY, June 9 (HealthDay News) — Organizers have expanded and
updated a free national screening program to assess Americans' risk for
dangerous blood clots in the legs that can travel to the heart and lungs.

The National Venous Screening Program has grown from 17 to 158 centers
in 43 states and is expected to screen and educate an estimated 4,000
people about venous disease. The program, now in its second year, is
administered by the American Venous Forum.

Details about the program were to be presented in Baltimore on June 9
at the annual meeting of the Society for Vascular Surgery.

“The two main reasons people came to be screened were because it was
free or they indicated that they had varicose veins,” Dr. Robert B.
Medicine hat news paper
, pharma
, division of surgery, Southern Illinois University
School of Medicine in Pharma
, said in a prepared statement.

“When assessing the risk of developing a dangerous blood clot in the
leg if a person was put in the medicine news
conducive situation: 8 percent
were at low risk; 35 percent, moderate risk; 33 percent, high risk; and 24
percent, very high risk,” he said.

People with a high or very high risk are most likely to develop blood
clots that can travel to the heart and lungs.

“By educating people about their potential risk, we empower them to
impart this information to their physician who can then medicine news
certain
prophylactic measures to prevent potential death and serious disability,”
McLafferty said.

More information

The Society of Interventional Radiology has more about vascular diseases.