Among the highlights in the June 1998 Cancer Watch issue are: Protective Effect of Smoking on Breast Cancer, An Aspirin a Day May not Prevent Colon Cancer, Cachexia, a Mojor Problem in Cancer Patients, Improvement of Pap Test by Automation, Reviewer's Affiliation and Interpretation of Passive Smoking Effect, Caspases, Proteolysis and Cellular Signalling, Why is Alternative Medicine Becoming Popular?, Report from American Society of Clinical Oncology, Oral Capecitabine: Palliation in Metastatic Breast Cancer, Benefits in Advanced Colorectal Cancer: Oxaliplatin/5FU/Leucovorin, Estrogen Stimulates Androgen-targeted Gene Expression, Papillomavirus and p53 in Cervical Cancer and An Indirect Way to Induce E-Cadherin-mediated Cell Adhesion.

News in Brief

• Protective Effect of Smoking on Breast Cancer
• An Aspirin a Day May not Prevent Colon Cancer
• Cachexia, a Mojor Problem in Cancer Patients
• Improvement of Pap Test by Automation
• Reviewer's Affiliation and Interpretation of Passive Smoking Effect

• With the unavoidable delay which occurs between experimental studies, their submission and finally, publication - the majority of available data becomes stale and obsolete very fast. Reports from conferences used to be more up-to-date, but with the requirements of abstract submissions many months in advance, this advantage is dwindling. If a little crystal ball gazing is permitted, electronic publishing and the web may become an ideal solution for fast communication, but competition for promotions, grants and other support can have a negative effect on how fast results become available. Claims for priority may become endangered. It is under these conditions that a mini-review of a "hot" topic becomes more and more difficult to deliver in a timely fashion; since many authors have an unfortunate propensity to camouflage their topic in titles too verbose and complex, computerised search mechanisms by keyword do not pick up all the right papers. Furthermore, many disciplines encroach into remote fields or simply sit on a fence, between various branches of chemistry and others of life sciences. In short, a report on the state of the art in a very active field is increasingly incomplete and ages rapidly.. My apologies if this also applies to the following... In the framework of our present pre-occupation with apoptosis (or in cancer, the apparent lack of it), caspases are very much in the forefront since their activity does precede apoptosis, but not necrosis. Inhibition of caspases may result in resistance to cell death, which at times (but not always) is linked to drug resistance in cancer. Since caspases are many and fulfil a variety of interdependent and even pharmacological functions, there is no dearth of reports and papers on this subject.

• Survey suggests that up to 40% of individuals in a given year visit some form of alternative treatment center for a wide range of health problems. However, most of them are not dissatisfied or distrustful of the conventional medicine; they use alternative modalities in conjunction or as a supplement to them.

• A new drug, a monoclonal antibody, binds to breast cancer cells and helps stop cancer spread and shrinks the tumor. The drug, called Herceptin, is one of the first biotherapeutic agents to show actual efficacy in patients. Along with chemotherapeutic agents this drug shows significant bebefit to some breast cancer patients. In another study hormonal therapies are found to be effective alternatives to chemotherapy for older breast cancer patients, especially those with comorbid conditions and those who refuse to take chemotherapy.

• Effective palliative drugs are needed for heavily pre-treated cancer patients Capecitabine (Xeloda, Roche), an agent recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for refractory metastatic breast cancer, offers effective palliation through oral therapy, according to a presentation at the 34th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
  

• Treatment for colorectal cancer which is one of the leading cause of cancer death in the western world, is surgery and chemotherapy. A new study suggests that higher dose, longer infusion and addition of oxaliplatin to the standard regimen may be a better strategy for treating this cancer.

• One of the estrogens, 17beta-estradiol can stimulate androgen-target genes by interacting with androgen receptors in complex with a coactivator ARA70. This suggests that male hormone testosterone may not be the only natural ligand for the androgen receptor. Drugs could be designed to block formation of androgen receptor-coactivator complex in prostate to treat and even to prevent cancer.

• The oncoprotein E6 produced by tumor-causing human papillomavirus binds to cellular tumor-suppressor protein p53 and degrades it. Position 72 in p53 protein in humans can have either arginine or proline. It is observed that arginine form of p53 is more susceptible to degradation by E6 than the proline form and papillomavirus-associated cervical cancer patients are more likely to have the arginine form of p53.

• Overexpression of a mucin, MUC1, suppresses the function of E-cadherin, an essential cell adhesion protein. Reduced function of E-cadherin is known to be associated with invasion and metastasis of solid tumors. Regulation of MUC1, therefore might be a new way to treat cancer.

Glossary

• A glossary of unfamiliar words and jargons in Cancer Watch, January-June 1998.