Among the highlights in the September 1999 Cancer Watch issue are: Chemoprevention of Urological Cancer, Radiotherapy in Rectal Cancer, Epstein-Barr virus in Invasive Breast Cancer, Tumor Targeting: Inhibition of Extracellular Matrix-Degrading Enzymes, Prophylactic Brain Irradiation To Prevent Metastasis, Orange Juice Reduces Colon Cancer in Animals, Liver Metastasis from Colon Cancer Potentially Curable with Surgery, New Surgical Procedure for Prostate Cancer, Photoimmunotherapy may Improve Ovarian Cancer Treatment, Infertilty and Ovarian Cancer , Removal of the Ovaries May Reduce Breast Cancer Risk in Women with BRCA1 Mutations, BRCA1 and DNA Damage Response, A Potential New Drug for Advanced Breast Cancer, Metastatic Breast Cancer Patients: Less Toxicity with New Drug, Growing Role in Breast Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment for Primary Care Physicians, Does Raloxifene Decrease the Risk of Postmenopausal Breast Cancer?, Turning off p53 Function may Produce Safer Cancer Therapy, Cancer Cells Make New Type of Blood Vessels, Drug Discovery - Into the Next Millennium.

• Cancer Dormancy: obstacle or opportunity to successful treatment?
• Chemoprevention of urological cancer
• Effects of preoperative radiotherapy in rectal cancer
• Detection of Epstein-Barr virus in invasive breast cancer

• A synthetic cyclic decapeptide has been identified that inhibits growth and spread of cancerous tumors in animal models. This peptide is a potent inhibitor of specific class of enzyme, gelatinase in the matrix metalloproteinase group of enzymes. Gelatinases are found to be overexpressed in tumor cells and are associated with poor prognosis.

• Prophylactic brain irradiation is found to improve both overall and disease-free survival of patients with small-cell lung cancer in complete remission.

• Orange juice from super market, and not purified chemicals from citrus fruit, has been used to demonstrate its inhibitory effect on chemically induced colon cancer growth in animals.

• The liver is the most common site for colorectal cancer metastasis. Chemotherapy as well as surgery has not been very successful in treating such spread to liver. In recent years advancement in technology and better understanding of liver anatomy and physiology have improved the surgical procedure. Among properly selected group of patients, aggressive liver resection is a potentially curative treatment for liver metastases.

• After radical prostate surgery that removes a vital nerve, causing impotence, a nerve-grafting can ameliorate the situation. In some prostate cancer patients this surgery can preserve erectile function without the aid of Viagra.

• Studies with human ovarian cancer cell line suggest that a combination therapy containing standard anticancer agent such as cisplatin and light-sensitive chemicals targeted to cancer cells by specifically binding it to cell surface antigen, can be very effective in killing these cells.

• A common genetic abnormality is suspected for the increased risk of ovarian cancer among a subgroup of infertile women who failed to conceive despite treatment.

• Women prone to breast cancer because of mutations in BRCA1 gene may have that risk reduced substantially by prophylactic removal of their ovaries. The adverse side effect of this surgery is premature menopause that carries some risk of osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease.

• BRCA1, a tumor-suppressor gene, interacts with several proteins forming a complex that participates in the repair of DNA double-strand breaks which is a normal physiological event during cell division. In response to DNA-damaging effect by ionizing radiation, this complex localizes in the nucleus in contrast to the complex with truncated BRCA1.

• Early report from an international clinical trial which compared the effects of antiestrogen tamoxifen and the aromatase inhibitor Airmidex, in treating advance breast cancer in postmenopausal women, indicates that Airmidex may be more effective.

• By temporarily deactivating one of the body’s key cancer-protection shields, researchers have demonstrated in animal model that adverse side effects of chemotherapy and radiotherapy can be reduced.

• Adaptable cancer cells turn on genes that produce blood vessels to supply nutrition for their growth so that they can bypass the normal process of stimulating existing system to produce new blood vessels. This autonomy may make them more aggressive.

• The upcoming turn of the century incites many to gaze into crystal balls. At best, we can rationalize and extrapolate from existing trends and one assumes that developments will accelerate even more. In the drug industry, the leap from hand-manufactured, non-standard and generally unscientific drugs to contemporary,, highly industrialized and tightly controlled pharmaceutical production is enormous. The need for high capital investment necessary to discover, test and market new drugs has led to mergers, centralization of research and the emergence of pharmaceutical giants. Apart from serendipitous discoveries by small groups or university departments, major advances are the result of large-scale programs with large bodies of scientists, in a successful marriage of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Such integrated, goal-directed efforts, undoubtedly driven by promising monetary rewards, have been very successful; recent statistics, indicating a significant decline in deaths from cardiovascular diseases in the USA as a result from novel medications are very convincing. However - and there is always a however - since eventually we all must die, a decline of mortality from one major cause must shift the cause of death to another group of diseases. It is easy to predict that malignant disease will exceed heart and stroke fatalities in the next century.

• A glossary of the unfamiliar terms and jargons in the September 99 issue of CW.