Gene Variation Linked to Neuroblastoma, a Childhood Cancer
May 9, 2008
May 7 — For the first time, a gene linked to the often fatal childhood cancer neuroblastoma has been identified, researchers report.
“This is the first paper that helps us understand what causes this childhood cancer,” said lead researcher Dr. John M. Maris, director of the Center for Childhood Cancer Research at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “We expected for decades that this cancer was a genetic disease, but we have had a hard time understanding what abnormalities in our genetic makeup lead to this cancer.”
Neuroblastoma, a cancer of the peripheral nervous system that usually appears as a solid tumor in the chest or abdomen, is the most common solid tumor malignancy seen in early childhood. Among infants, it can disappear with minimal treatment, but in older children, it can be an aggressive cancer spreading throughout the body. Neuroblastoma accounts for 7 percent of all childhood cancers but causes 15 percent of all childhood cancer deaths. There are about 700 new cases diagnosed each year in the United States, the researchers said.
Maris’ team found a common genetic variation of the gene 6p22 on chromosome 6, which doubles the risk of getting this disease. “This finding supports our assumption that there are a number of minor variations that work together — in sort of a perfect storm — to give a child this disease,” he said. “This finding is the discovery of the first of these genetic variants.”
Maris noted that this is the first time a childhood cancer has been found to be influenced by rather common genetic changes “that can be in you or me or anyone.”
In addition, Maris said that having this particular genetic variation not only increases the risk of developing neuroblastoma, but also increases the risk of developing the more aggressive form of the disease. “This leads us to believe that the disease we call high-risk or low-risk neuroblastoma are really different diseases,” he said.
The findings were published in the May 7 online edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.
For the study, Maris’ team analyzed blood samples from 1,032 children with neuroblastoma and 2,043 children without the disease. The researchers honed in on three single nucleotide polymorphisms — which are variations in DNA — that were more common in patients with neuroblastoma than in patients without the disease. The three SNPs were clustered in the 6p22 region of chromosome 6. There are two genes in this region, but exactly what they do is unknown, the researchers said.
To confirm their findings, Maris’ group analyzed blood samples from additional neuroblastoma patients and children without the disease. Among these additional patients, the researchers also found that variants in the 6p22 region were associated with increased risk for neuroblastoma.
“This finding gives us the motivation to continue this line of research to discover all of the different genetic variations that work together,” Maris said. “We have already discovered additional variations.”
Knowing the complete genetic influences on neuroblastoma may eventually lead to new treatments, he said.
Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, said that the new findings could one day lead to better diagnosis and treatment of the malignancy. “We still need to understand what these genes do, because little is known about these genes,” he said.
Lichtenfeld added that, while the new research is important, it’s still very preliminary. “Ultimately, what you want to do is to analyze the cancer and gain clues as to what the prognosis may be and what the appropriate treatment may be,” he said. “This does not get us there, but it is one step along that pathway.”
SOURCES: John M. Maris, M.D., director of the Center for Childhood Cancer Research, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia; Len Lichtenfeld, M.D., deputy chief medical officer, American Cancer Society, Atlanta; May 7, 2008, New England Journal of Medicine, online
BRCA Mutations Don’t Spot All High-Risk Women
May 9, 2008
May 5 — In women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer, having a known mutation in the BRCA 1 or 2 genes raises the risk of a second cancer, and many of these women choose to have their second breast removed before that has a chance to happen.
However, new research suggests that women who don’t have these genetic mutations may still face an increased risk of a second cancer, especially if they have a family history of breast cancer or atypical breast cells.
The study involved women with a family history of breast cancer, although only some had a BRCA mutation. The researchers found that the risk of cancer in the second breast was about 10 percent, regardless of whether the woman carried a BRCA mutation or not.
The findings were slated to be presented Sunday at the American Society of Breast Surgeons’ annual meeting, in New York City.
The study suggests that “we may not have identified all of the genes associated with breast cancer,” according to study author Dr. Shawna Willey, director of the Betty Lou Ourisman Breast Health Center at the Lombardi Cancer Center at Georgetown University in Washington D.C.
Many high-risk women may not be advised to have a prophylactic mastectomy even though it could be potentially lifesaving, she added.
“Having a prophylactic mastectomy should not be a knee-jerk reaction to a diagnosis of breast cancer. Women need to consider this data, as well as other data, and decide whether or not this is a measure they want to take,” advised Willey. She said the findings may also add to the debate about which breast cancer patients should have sentinel lymph node biopsies.
“Prevention of secondary breast cancer is becoming increasingly important,” said Dr. Julia Smith, director of the Lynne Cohen Breast Cancer Preventative Care Program at the New York University Cancer Institute in New York City. “Because of advances in treatment, it’s possible that many younger women with breast cancer may live for decades, so we have to focus on what we can do to prevent a further problem.”
And, she said, many of the effective chemotherapy drugs can’t be used a second time because they may be too toxic to healthy cells if given repeatedly, and cancer cells can become resistant to some forms of chemotherapy.
“We use our best treatment at the time to try to ensure long-term survival, but if another breast cancer comes along, we may be limited,” she said.
While women with BRCA mutations are known to have a higher risk of developing an additional cancer, Willey and her colleagues wanted to learn if women with a family history but no known BRCA mutations carried a similar risk.
The analysis included 119 women who were part of the Familial Cancer Registry. All of the women had been diagnosed with an initial breast cancer, and had decided to prophylactically remove the second breast.
When the researchers analyzed the breast tissue from the second breast, they found cancer about 10 percent of the time, regardless of whether or not a woman had a BRCA mutation.
If the normal breast cancer cells were atypical — meaning they showed precancerous changes — the risk of breast cancer jumped to about 50 percent over a lifetime for a woman with a family history of the disease, according to Willey.
“Not having a BRCA mutation doesn’t let you off the hook,” Smith noted.
“There’s no question that family history is extremely important. Even without a BRCA mutation, we counsel women to consider prophylactic mastectomy if they have a strong family history,” she added.
Sources: Shawna Willey, M.D., director, Betty Lou Ourisman Breast Health Center, Lombardi Cancer Center, Georgetown University Hospital, Washington D.C.; Julia Smith, M.D., director, Lynne Cohen Breast Cancer Preventative Care Program, and director, Breast Cancer Screening and Prevention Program, New York University Cancer Institute and Bellevue Hospital, New York City; May 4, 2008, presentation, American Society of Breast Surgeons’ annual meeting, New York City
Researchers Identify New Genetic Links to Psoriasis
May 9, 2008
April 11 — Researchers have discovered seven common DNA variations that increase the risk of a person developing psoriasis, one of which links the skin condition and psoriatic arthritis to other autoimmune disorders.
The findings, published April 4 in the open-access journal PLoS Genetics, may help define some of biological pathways that cause psoriasis and aid in the development of treatments that target these specific avenues.
“Common diseases like psoriasis are incredibly complex at the genetic level,” lead investigator Anne Bowcock, a professor of genetics at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, said in a prepared statement. “Our research shows that small but common DNA differences are important in the development of psoriasis. Although each variation makes only a small contribution to the disease, patients usually have a number of different genetic variations that increases their risk of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis.”
Psoriasis, in which the body’s immune cells mistakenly attack the skin, is characterized by red, scaly patches that can be itchy, painful or both. The autoimmune disease affects an estimated 7 million Americans. Up to 30 percent of sufferers may also develop psoriatic arthritis, an often excruciatingly painful and debilitating condition.
For the study, the researchers looked at common variations in the DNA genome called single nucleotide polymorphisms . About 10 million SNPs affect the genome to make each individual unique. Some SNPs also affects a person’s predisposition to disease or good health.
The investigators scanned more than 300,000 SNPs in the genomes of 223 psoriasis patients, including 91 who had psoriatic arthritis, and compared them to those found in 519 healthy control patients.
Researchers found seven unique DNA variations linked to psoriasis. Several found on chromosome 4 were strongly linked to psoriatic arthritis. These same variations were also associated with psoriasis and had been previously linked to type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, Grave’s disease and celiac disease .
A larger genome-wide association study of psoriasis patients is under way, and Bowcock said she expects it to find more genetic variations linked to the condition.
SOURCE: Public Library of Science, news release, April 3, 2008
Corticosteroids of Little Use Against Childhood Meningitis
May 7, 2008
May 6 — Corticosteroids are increasingly used to help treat children with bacterial meningitis, but a new study finds that adding the drugs to antibiotic treatment may not reduce death rates or the length of hospital stays.
But the study — which involved 2,780 children treated for this potentially lethal infection of tissues lining the brain — isn’t the last word on the issue, said senior researcher Dr. Samir S. Shah, an infectious diseases specialist at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
One reason is that the death rate from the infection in children is so low that a real difference is statistically hard to demonstrate, Shah said. Mortality among adults with bacterial meningitis runs as high as 30 percent, while in children “it is quite low, in the 4 to 5 percent range,” he said.
So the study results didn’t exclude the possibility that a benefit from corticosteroids could exist, Shah said, but “if it does, it is very small.”
His team published its findings in the May 7 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
In the study, just 248 of the nearly 2,800 children treated at 27 U.S. pediatric hospitals received corticosteroids, about 9 percent of the total. However, steroid use among youngsters with the illness doubled during the study period — from under 6 percent in 2001 to 12 percent in 2007.
The overall death rate for children getting corticosteroids was 6 percent, compared to 4 percent among those not getting them. Hospital stays averaged 12 days for children getting corticosteroids and 10 days for those not receiving them. Neither difference was statistically significant, meaning this outcome could have happened by chance.
Shah himself pointed out what he saw as a flaw of the study: It did not consider the neurological damage done by meningitis, such as hearing loss. Some studies have indicated that corticosteroid treatment might reduce such damage, he said.
“The way I would want people to use our study is not to say there does not seem to be a benefit, or that [corticosteroids] should be used routinely, but to regard it as an impetus for a large, randomized trial,” Shah said. “At this point, it would seem that the benefits do not outweigh the risks of using corticosteroids in children, but we need a large-scale clinical trial looking at neurological damage before deciding yes or no.”
The study had another flaw, said Dr. Robert W. Frenck, a professor of pediatrics in the division of infectious diseases at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center: It did not include information on when in the course of the infection corticosteroids were given.
“A number of studies with animals and humans have shown that using corticosteroids before the first dose of antibiotics has the most benefit,” Frenck said. “It reduces the inflammatory response that results when the immune system kills the bacteria.”
Physicians who treat meningitis are likely to say that the study supports whatever they are now doing, he said. “If people are in the camp where corticosteroids are not regarded as helpful, they will say this shows that they don’t help,” Frenck said. “If they are in the camp where they are seen as beneficial, they will say that the study does not disprove it.”
The large-scale trial proposed by Shah is not likely to happen, Frenck said, and for a cheerful reason — the very low incidence of bacterial meningitis among American children. Vaccines against the bacteria that cause meningitis, such as Hemophilus influenzae type B, have successfully reduced the incidence of the disease, Frenck said. For that reason, bacterial meningitis now occurs in about eight in every 100,000 American children.
“The vaccines have had a tremendous effect,” Frenck said. “What you want to do is prevent it.”
SOURCES: Samir S. Shah, M.D., infectious disease specialist, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia; Robert W. Frenck, M.D., professor, pediatrics, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center; May 7, 2008, Journal of the American Medical Association
Sleep Troubles Vary Between Alzheimer’s Patients, Caregivers
May 6, 2008
May 2 — There’s a significant difference in sleep disturbances experienced by Alzheimer’s disease patients and the sleep woes of their caregivers, new research shows.
A team from the University of Washington, in Seattle, found that poor sleep in either a patient or caregiver aren’t always connected.
The researchers studied 44 older adults, aged 63 to 93, with probable or possible Alzheimer’s disease and their adult family caregivers, aged 21 to 87. One week of sleep-wake activity for the patients and caregivers was measured using a wrist-movement recorder.
Total minutes of nighttime sleep, percentage of time spent asleep, number of awakenings, duration of time awake at night, total daytime sleep, and circadian rest-activity variables were among the areas analyzed by the researchers. They also evaluated the participants for mood, physical function, medication use, caregiver behavior management style and patient cognitive status.
Among patients, the most stable aspect of sleep was time of night they went to bed, while the least stable aspect was total hours of sleep per night. For caregivers, the greatest stability was total wake time at night, while the least stable aspect was time in bed.
The study also found there was a sizable number of patient-caregiver duos on any given night where one person slept well while the other slept poorly. In some cases, the poor sleeper was the caregiver.
Instances where both the patient and caregiver slept poorly over seven nights were more likely to involve patients who had a lower level of physical function, more severe dementia, and required more sleep medications.
“Factors that we might expect would explain much of the relationship between patient and caregiver sleep, such as sharing a room at night, were not significant predictors of outcome,” study author Susan M. McCurry said in a prepared statement. “Understanding the complex inter-relationship of sleep in Alzheimer’s disease patients and caregivers is an important first step towards the development of individualized and effective treatment strategies.”
The study is published in the May 1 issue of Sleep.
SOURCE: American Academy of Sleep Medicine, news release, May 1, 2008
Protein May Trigger Colon Cancer
May 6, 2008
May 5 — The overproduction of a protein may be what starts harmless colon polyps on their journey to becoming malignant tumors, Finnish researchers report.
The University of Helsinki research, published online in Cancer Cell, reveals that PROX1, a protein that controls formation of normal organs in embryos, is produced in excess during the early stages of cancer development. PROX1 even encourages tumor cell growth without additional signals from surrounding normal tissues.
The removal of PROX1 from cancer cells appears to reverse their malignant behavior, suggesting that future research may focus on the protein’s use in colon cancer therapies.
Men and women face a lifetime risk of nearly 6 percent for the development of invasive colorectal cancer, making it one of the most common malignancies in the Western world. Past epidemiologic studies have cited obesity and several dietary factors — including fat, red meat and a lack of vegetables and fiber — as increasing the risk of the disease.
SOURCE: University of Helsinki, news release, May 5, 2008
10% of U.S. Kids Using Cough Medicine Every Week
May 5, 2008
May 3 — Approximately one in 10 U.S. children uses one or more cough and cold medications during a given week, according to new research from Boston University.
While cough and cold medications for children are widely marketed in the United States, how frequently they are used had not been scientifically studied. This new finding, from researchers at Boston University’s Slone Epidemiology Center, gives increased weight to recent revelations that cough and cold medication use can lead to serious adverse effects, including death.
“Given concerns about potential harmful effects and lack of evidence proving that these medications are effective in young children, the fact that 1-in-10 U.S. children is using one of these medications is striking,” study author Dr. Louis Vernacchio, an assistant professor of epidemiology and pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine, said in a prepared statement.
Yet, the researchers also reported positive news in children’s use of cough syrup and other drugs. The overall use of cough and cold medications declined from 12.3 percent in 1999-2000 to 8.4 percent in 2007-2007, they found.
The findings were scheduled to be presented Saturday at the Pediatric Academic Societies meeting in Honolulu.
Researchers analyzed data gathered between 1999 and 2007 through a national telephone survey and considered all oral medicines approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat children’s coughs and colds.
In any given week, 10.1 percent of U.S. children took at least one cough and cold medication, the researchers found. In terms of active ingredients, most used were decongestants and antihistamines , followed by anti-cough medicines and expectorants .
Children aged 2 to 5 used the medications most often, but the rate was also high among those younger than 2.
SOURCE: Boston University, news release, May 3, 2008
Measles Outbreak Rises to 64 Cases, Most Since 2001
May 5, 2008
May 1 — There were 64 confirmed cases of measles in the United States from January through April 25, the highest number of cases in that time period since 2001, U.S. health officials said Thursday.
Cases have been reported in nine states, and measles outbreaks are continuing in Arizona, Michigan, New York and Wisconsin. Another eight cases have been reported in Washington state since April 25, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Many people have forgotten about measles, but it causes about 20 million infections around the world every year,” Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said during a teleconference.
“Measles have been increasing in the United States, mostly due to importation from Europe and Israel,” Schuchat added. Belgium, China, Japan, India and Italy are also sources of the measles virus, she said.
“These cases of measles are coming particularly from outbreaks that are occurring in Switzerland and Israel,” she said. “In Switzerland, there have already been more than 2,000 cases and in Israel more than 1,000.”
The U.S. outbreaks have primarily affected people not vaccinated against the disease. Recently, some parents have been concerned that vaccines — such as the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine — can cause autism or other diseases, and have decided against vaccination for their children. This trend has left children vulnerable to diseases that had virtually disappeared in the United States, Schuchat said.
“In the U.S. outbreaks this year, two-thirds of children who are old enough to be immunized but are not turned out not to be immunized because of personal belief or religious exception,” Schuchat said. “This is a new trend, and I am concerned these communities may be growing,” she said.
There have been 15 reported measles cases in Arizona, 12 in California, three in Hawaii, one in Illinois, four in Michigan, 22 in New York City and one in New York state. There’s also been one case in Pennsylvania, one in Virginia and four in Wisconsin, Schuchat said.
She noted that even states not on this list should be alert to the possibility of measles cases.
The best protection against measles is vaccination, which is 99 percent effective, Schuchat said. “In the United States, about 97 percent of kindergartners have gotten their measles immunization,” she said.
That doesn’t mean there aren’t pockets of unimmunized children and adults around the country, Schuchat said.
The 64 people with measles ranged in age from five months to 71 years. Fifty-nine were U.S. residents and 54 cases were linked to measles brought from other countries. Sixty-three of the patients were not vaccinated or their vaccination status was not known. One patient had had two doses of the vaccine, the CDC reports.
Schuchat noted that the 64 cases are only those that have been confirmed. She believes that there may be many more cases that have not been reported and more cases yet to come.
The 64 cases reported from January to April 25 of this year compare with 55 cases reported in all of 2007 and 66 cases reported in all of 2007, Schuchat said. “This year does appear to have more simultaneous ongoing outbreaks from different places among children who have not been immunized,” she said. “I am really concerned that we have not seen the end of this.”
Among the unvaccinated patients, 13 were under one year of age and thus too young to be vaccinated. “At least one of these children acquired the disease in a doctor’s waiting room,” Schuchat said. “Other cases have been acquired in hospital emergency rooms from health-care workers.”
Seven of the infected children were 12 to 15 months old, but not yet vaccinated. Twenty-one others were 16 months to 19 years old, and 14 of those children had not been vaccinated due to religious or personal beliefs or had missed their vaccinations, Schuchat said.
For those measles patients older than 20 years of age, 14 had undocumented vaccination status and two had gotten the disease in Europe.
Among the 64 patients, 14 were hospitalized and none have died, according to the CDC.
Schuchat said it’s especially important to be sure that your measles immunization is up to date if you are traveling outside the United States. “Measles is an ongoing risk,” she said.
According to the CDC, measles is an infectious viral disease that occurs most often in late winter and spring. It begins with a fever that lasts for a couple of days, followed by a cough, runny nose, and conjunctivitis . A rash starts on the face and upper neck, spreads down the back and trunk, then extends to the arms and hands, as well as the legs and feet. After about five days, the rash fades in the same order it appeared.
While measles itself can be unpleasant, the complications are potentially dangerous. Six percent to 20 percent of people who get the disease will get an ear infection, diarrhea, or even pneumonia. One of every 1,000 people with measles will develop inflammation of the brain, and about one out of 1,000 will die, the CDC said.
SOURCES: May 1, 2008, teleconference with Anne Schuchat, M.D., director, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta; May 2, 2008, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, CDC
Many Moms Unwilling to Have Younger Daughters Get HPV Vaccine
May 5, 2008
May 4 — New research shows that only half of American mothers intend to have their teenaged daughters vaccinated against human papillomavirus if the girls are under the age of 13, despite government guidelines that suggest the opposite.
HPV, which is sexually transmitted, is the primary cause of cervical cancer. The first vaccine against the virus, Gardasil, was approved in 2007. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently recommends that 11- and 12-year-old girls be targeted for this vaccine, as most girls of this age are not yet sexually active, have not yet been exposed to HPV, and will therefore achieve maximum protection.
However, this study suggests that many mothers aren’t willing to follow those recommendations.
“Mothers had a lower intention to vaccinate [younger] daughters,” said study author Dr. Jessica Kahn, an associate professor of pediatrics at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. “This presents a challenge, and provides us with an opportunity to educate mothers about the importance of vaccinating girls under 13 years of age because the vaccine will have a greater health impact if given before 13.”
Kahn will present the findings Sunday at the Pediatric Academic Societies’ annual meeting in Honolulu.
About 10,000 new cases of cervical cancer are diagnosed in the United States each year, with about 4,000 women dying of the disease annually.
Three-quarters of U.S. women will be exposed to HPV at some point in their lifetime and, at any one time, one-quarter have been infected.
According to one estimate, giving the vaccine universally would eliminate about 70 percent of cervical cancer cases. Gardasil protects against most, but not all, types of HPV that cause cervical cancer.
This study is the first national survey of its kind and also the first to measure attitudes towards the vaccine since it was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2007.
Forty-nine percent of almost 10,000 respondents intended to vaccinate a daughter if she were 9 to 12 years old; 68 percent intended to vaccinate if the daughter was 13 to 15 years old; and 86 percent said they would vaccinate if the daughter was 16 to 18 years of age.
Specific beliefs about HPV vaccine were the most powerful predictor of one’s intention to vaccinate one’s 9-to-12-year-old daughter.
The belief that really stood out was that the vaccine would protect the daughter against cervical cancer. “That was not at all surprising to me,” Kahn said. “[Other] studies have shown that the most powerful factor driving mothers’ decisions is the desire to protect a child from harm.”
The next most powerful predictor were beliefs that the vaccinations would not cause a child to engage in riskier sexual behaviors.
“That implies we need some studies to prove or disprove this concern,” Kahn said. “It also is going to be important for clinicians to address that head on with parents.”
If a clinician recommended the vaccine, the mom was more likely to decide to vaccinate her daughter.
Mothers were also more likely to go for the vaccine if they thought their daughter was at risk for HPV.
All of these factors could be incorporated into messages, including those seen in brochures and posters about HPV and the vaccine, Kahn said. She was also lead author of a paper appearing in the May issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology that found that interventions which address personal beliefs about the HPV vaccine as well as system-wide barriers to vaccination could lead to higher vaccination rates.
“This shows that there’s a difficulty in having mothers recognize that their children will become sexually active at a relatively young age,” said Dr. Jay Brooks, chairman of hematology/oncology at Ochsner Health System in Baton Rouge, La. “It’s a process and it’s an attitudinal change that has to occur.”
SOURCES: Jessica Kahn, M.D., MPH, associate professor, pediatrics, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center; Jay Brooks, M.D., chairman, hematology/oncology, Ochsner Health System, Baton Rouge; May 4, 2008, presentation, Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting, Honolulu; May 2008 Obstetrics & Gynecology
Biomarker Spots Which Lesions Likely to Progress to Prostate Cancer
May 5, 2008
May 2 — Spanish researchers report they may have found a way to tell which suspicious prostate lesions are likely to develop into cancer.
The findings, published in the May 1 issue of Clinical Cancer Research, show a link between high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia lesions and the PTOV1 gene. The more PTOV1 the lesion expresses, the more likely cancer will develop. The report also backs the reverse — that the lack of PTOV1 means a reduced risk of prostate cancer.
PTOV1 is a protein that researchers don’t fully understand the function of, but they have previously found too much of it appears to promote the spread of cancer cells.
If subsequent studies confirm PTOV1 as a biomarker for prostate cancer, it could help men with the lesions avoid repeated needle biopsies.
“Those patients with a high PTOV1 score should undergo an immediate repeat biopsy,” study author Rosanna Paciucci, a researcher at the Vall d’Hebron Hospital Research Institute in Barcelona, said in a prepared statement. But those with low PTOVI may not need to receive future “annoying and useless” biopsies, she said. “We estimate that we can save 40 percent of unnecessary biopsies — those that are repetitively negative and contain HG-PIN lesions that do not develop into cancer.”
HG-PIN, while present in most cancerous prostates, is a pre-malignant lesion and, given its association with other cancers, it is often repeatedly biopsied when found. Past studies have put the average risk of cancer being diagnosed in a HG-PIN biopsy at between 20 percent and 30 percent, the researchers said. However, none of these studies were to tell which lesions would progress to cancer, the researchers say.
Paciucci cautioned that her team’s results need to be confirmed through a larger study group. “From this validation, we can expect to improve the current rate of early detection of cancer,” she said.
SOURCE: American Association for Cancer Research, news release, May 1, 2008
