Among the highlights in the February 1998 Cancer Watch issue are: Prognostic Factors in Node-Negative Breast Cancer with Unfavorable Outcome, Diet, Body Size, Physical Activity and the risk of Endometrial Cancer, Halting Angiogenesis Suppresses Cancer Cell Invasion, Possible Protection Against Ovarian Cancer from the Use of Analgesics, Enzyme Inhibits Kaposi's Sarcome, Cancer of the Thyroid: Treatment, A New Biomarker for Prostate Cancer Risk, Stress, Immune Cell Function and Cancer, Quality of Life - Often Neglected, Always Important, On the Mechanism of Cancer Drugs: Inhibition of DNA Methylation by Aza Compounds, Rapid Telomere Shortening in Bone Marrow Recipients, Technology Update: The Comet Assay to Test Heterogeneity in Tumors, The Role of Isoprenoids in Cancer, 12-Lipoxygenase in Cancer: an Update and American Society of Hematology Meeting Report.

• Prognostic Factors in Node-Negative Breast Cancer with Unfavorable Outcome
• Diet, Body Size, Physical Activity and the Risk of Endometrial Cancer
• Halting Angiogenesis Suppresses Cancer Cell Invasion
• Possible Protection Against Ovarian Cancer from the Use of Analgesics
• Enzyme Inhibits Kaposi's Sarcoma

• Treatment of thyroid cancer is highly successful. Surgery is the primary treatment; the aggressiveness of the disease and the decision of the clinician determine the type of surgery to be performed, that is, whether total, near-total, or lobectomy. However, because of the high long-term survival of most of the patients with well-differentiated thyroid cancers, other treatment options are also needed.

• Prostate specific antigen (PSA) is a biomarker for prostate cancer already in progress. A new marker, insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), may predict the risk of developing this cancer. A high level of this factor is detected in patients long before their cancer was diagnosed by PSA test.

• Stress of being diagnosed with breast cancer is found to suppress immune reactions as indicated by depressed activity of natural killer cells and other lymphocytes.

• Skimming through the endless flow of trial reports, we can usually find hard data on outcome and survival as end-point (hopefully, based on valid statistics). We rarely find information whether one or the other newer treatment modality improved the quality of life of the patients in a measurable way.

• In addition to its cytotoxic effect, 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine, an analogue of cytidine, has inhibitory effect on DNA methylation that inactivates functional growth-regulatory genes.

• Extensive proliferation of stem cells obtained from bone-marrow is needed prior to transplantation. This stress may accelerate the "aging" of the transplanted blood cells by shortening the chromosome telomere. Telomere shortening is reported to be associated with chromosomal instability and mutation leading to abnormality including cancer.

• The electrophoretic technique known as "comet" assay allows us to visualize DNA damage in a single cell. It therefore, is a great tool to detect presence of cells with different characteristics in a tumor. Tumor heterogeneity is a major obstacle in cancer treatment.

• Lipid metabolism in oncology is not a terribly active research field. Superspecialization in science leads to growing gaps of understanding between disciplines; biochemists and enzymologists in particular have been far advanced in their understanding of lipid polyprenol metabolism - information which has only recently been picked up and integrated by experimental oncologists. Finally, a rather intriguing bridge is being built between some isoprenoids, apoptosis and multidrug resistance. The number of references published on this topic is still very small; this brief note tries to outline the role of dolichol and dolichyl phosphate in cancer.

• Carcinogenesis and tumor proliferation require a series of interdependent molecular events; to maintain this complex machinery "well-oiled", arachidonate metabolites play a controlling role at several levels. In particular, 12(S)-hydroxyeicosatetranoate [12(S)HETE] is known to elicit various prometastatic effects in tumor cells; this metabolite is generated by the enzymatic effect of 12-lipoxygenase (a member of the numerous lipoxygenase family, a group of ubiquitous, non-heme iron-containing dioxygenases). Various human tumors express 12-lipoxygenase or respond to metabolites resulting from its action.

• In the 39th annual meeting of the society nearly 2700 papers were delivered, including such highlights as: a new herpes virus linked to multiple myeloma; a multiple myeloma trial that is targeting drug resistance; a new sensitive laboratory technique to detect residual leukemia cells; a way to improve leukemia survival by adding retinoic acid to chemotherapy; the survival benefits for chronic myelogenous leukemia patients not waiting to see the results of interferon therapy before having a bone marrow transplant; the promise of a multidrug resistance modulator as frontline therapy in elderly leukemia patients; and the cost-benefits of outpatient bone marrow transplant.

Glossary

• A glossary of unfamiliar words and jargons in Cancer Watch, February 1998.