Smoking's Effects on Genes May Play a Role in Lung Cancer Development and Survival Smoking plays a role in lung cancer development and now scientists have shown that smoking also affects the way genes are expressed, leading to alterations in cell division and regulation of immune View details of this news
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Anemia drug can kill cancer patients Treating cancer patients with anemia drugs increases their risk of blood clots and death, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday, confirming concerns about these widely used drugs. View details of this news Full Story [http://www.msnbc.msn.com] Men learn about prostate cancer online [ http://www.newsdaily.com/]
Men who view online presentations about prostate cancer are more likely to understand the disease than those visiting health Web sites, a U.S. study said.In the study, 611 healthy men ages 50 were assigned to visit public prostate-cancer Web sites or view online presentations designed to help them make decisions.Those who watched the online presentations scored higher on tests about prostate knowledge than those who visited the public Web sites, the study found.The study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, found that after the study, 9 percent of the men were less likely to want to undergo a prostate-specific antigen, or PSA, test than those who only visited Web sites, who were about 3 percent less likely to undergo the test.At the beginning of the study, 96 percent of the men expressed interest in a PSA test.Some doctors support routinely giving the PSA test to healthy men, while others question its value, lead study author Dominick Frosch of the University of California at Los Angeles said."We don't have any evidence that would tell us that screening for prostate cancer in men without symptoms would help them live longer," Frosch said in a statement.
Family Of Liver Cancer Genes Discovered [ http://www.newsdaily.com/]
A family of genes linked to the development of liver cancer have been identified. Researchers discovered in a mouse model that the loss of one specific gene (Iqgap2) in this family causes ... > full story
Symptoms may not show up in the body until between 20 - 50 years after exposure, which is why so many new cases of this form of cancer are being diagnosed in recent years. All though the dangers of asbestos cancer were realized many decades ago and precautions have been taken to reduce the risk of the disease, it can take very little exposure to cause the cancer.
As with many forms of cancer, the asbestos cancer tumor can spread in the body rapidly, often infecting the opposite pleura and continuing on to other internal organs. The symptoms of Asbestos cancer are listed below.
Pleural Mesothelioma:
* Shortness of breath
* Chest pain in the chest (caused by fluid accumulation in the pleura)
Peritoneal Mesothelioma
* Weight loss
* Abdominal pain
* Abdominal swelling (caused by fluid build-up in the abdomen)
* Bowel obstruction
* Blood clotting abnormalities
* Anemia * Fever
If the asbestos cancer has spread beyond the mesothelium to other parts of the body, additional symptoms may include:
* Pain
* Trouble swallowing
* Swelling of the neck or face areas
If you are experiencing these or similar medical problem, please consult your doctor.
Cancer develops when cells in a part of the body begin to grow out of control. Although there are many kinds of cancer, they all start because of out-of-control growth of abnormal cells.
Normal body cells grow, divide, and die in an orderly fashion. During the early years of a person's life, normal cells divide more rapidly until the person becomes an adult. After that, cells in most parts of the body divide only to replace worn-out or dying cells and to repair injuries. Because cancer cells continue to grow and divide, they are different from normal cells. Instead of dying, they outlive normal cells and continue to form new abnormal cells.
Cancer cells develop because of damage to DNA. This substance is in every cell and directs all activities. Most of the time when DNA becomes damaged the body is able to repair it. In cancer cells, the damaged DNA is not repaired. People can inherit damaged DNA, which accounts for inherited cancers. More often, though, a person's DNA becomes damaged by exposure to something in the environment, like smoking.
Cancer usually forms as a tumor. Some cancers, like leukemia, do not form tumors. Instead, these cancer cells involve the blood and blood-forming organs and circulate through other tissues where they grow.
Often, cancer cells travel to other parts of the body where they begin to grow and replace normal tissue. This process is called metastasis. Regardless of where a cancer may spread, however, it is always named for the place it began. For instance, breast cancer that spreads to the liver is still called breast cancer, not liver cancer.
Not all tumors are cancerous. Benign (noncancerous) tumors do not spread (metastasize) to other parts of the body and, with very rare exceptions, are not life threatening.
Different types of cancer can behave very differently. For example, lung cancer and breast cancer are very different diseases. They grow at different rates and respond to different treatments. That is why people with cancer need treatment that is aimed at their particular kind of cancer.
Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States. Half of all men and one third of all women in the United States will develop cancer during their lifetimes. Today, millions of people are living with cancer or have had cancer. The risk of developing most types of cancer can be reduced by changes in a person's lifestyle, for example, by quitting smoking and eating a better diet. The sooner a cancer is found and treatment begins, the better are the chances for living for many years.
Mesothelioma is fairly rare. There are an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 new cases of mesothelioma each year in the United States. The incidence of mesotheliomas in the United States increased from 1970 to 1990 and then stabilized. It may now be decreasing. Most of the past increase in cases, as well as the recent decrease in cases, has been in men. The rate, although lower, has been fairly steady for women. In European countries, the rate of mesotheliomas is still increasing.
Mesothelioma is rare in people under age 55. Its incidence increases with age. Three-fourths of people with mesothelioma are over 65 years old. The disease affects men 5 times more often than women. Mesothelioma is less common in African Americans than in white Americans.
Mesothelioma is a serious disease. By the time the symptoms appear and cancer is diagnosed, the disease is often advanced. The average survival time is about 1 year. The 5-year relative survival rate is around 10%, but this rate has been slowly improving.
The 5-year survival rate refers to the percentage of patients who live at least 5 years after their cancer is diagnosed. Many of these patients live much longer than 5 years after diagnosis, and 5-year rates are used to produce a standard way of discussing prognosis. Five-year relative survival rates do not include patients dying of other diseases and are considered to be a more accurate way to describe the prognosis for patients with a particular type and stage of cancer. That means that relative survival only talks about deaths from mesothelioma. Of course, 5-year survival rates are based on patients diagnosed and initially treated more than 5 years ago. They may no longer be accurate. Improvements in treatment result in a more favorable outlook for recently diagnosed patients.
Malignant mesotheliomas are divided into three main types:
- Epithelioid (50% to 70% are of this type)
- Sarcomatoid (7% to 20% are of this type)
- Mixed/biphasic (20% to 35% are of this type)
While a rare disorder in the general population, mesothelioma is not rare among individuals exposed to asbestos. There are two to three thousand new diagnoses of mesothelioma every year. Exposure to asbestos is the only confirmed cause of mesothelioma. Most mesothelioma victims were exposed to asbestos in the workplace and were never told of its dangers or given proper protective gear. Others were exposed through family members who brought asbestos home on their clothes or through home renovation projects. Unlike many other predominantly pulmonary-related cancers, cigarette smoking has no known causative effect on mesothelioma incidence, although asbestos workers who smoke do have a much greater likelihood to develop lung cancer — even more so than regular smokers who don’t work with asbestos. One of the most difficult aspects of mesothelioma to come to terms with is its long latency period, which is the period of time between first exposure to asbestos and the onset of the disease. Mesothelioma can develop anywhere between 10 to 70 years after the initial exposure.
A layer of specialized cells called mesothelial cells lines the chest cavity, abdominal cavity, and the cavity around your heart. These cells also cover the outer surface of most of your internal organs. The tissue formed by these cells is called mesothelium. The mesothelium helps protect your organs by producing a special lubricating fluid that allows organs to move around. This fluid makes it easier for the lungs to move inside the chest during breathing. The mesothelium of the chest is called the pleura and the mesothelium of the abdomen is known as the peritoneum. The mesothelium of the "sac-like" space around the heart (pericardial cavity) is called the pericardium. Tumors of the mesothelium can be non-cancerous (benign) or cancerous (malignant). A malignant tumor of the mesothelium is called a malignant mesothelioma; however, malignant mesothelioma is often simply called mesothelioma.
Country/Region Extrapolated Incidence Population Estimated Used
Afghanistan 267 28,513,6772
Bangladesh 1,326 141,340,4762
Bhutan 20 2,185,5692
India 9,993 1,065,070,6072
Pakistan 1,493 159,196,3362
Sri Lanka 186 19,905,1652
Mesothelioma is fairly rare. There are an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 new cases of mesothelioma each year in the United States. The incidence of mesotheliomas in the United States increased from 1970 to 1990 and then stabilized. It may now be decreasing. Most of the past increase in cases, as well as the recent decrease in cases, has been in men. The rate, although lower, has been fairly steady for women. In European countries and world wide, the rate of mesotheliomas is still increasing.
Mesothelioma is rare in people under age 55. Its incidence increases with age. Three-fourths of people with mesothelioma are over 65 years old. The disease affects men 5 times more often than women. Mesothelioma is less common in African Americans than in white Americans.
Mesothelioma is a serious disease. The only known cause of mesothelioma is asbestos. By the time the symptoms appear and cancer is diagnosed, the disease is often advanced. The average survival time is about 1 year.
The 5-year relative survival rate is around 10%, but this rate has been slowly improving. The 5-year survival rate refers to the percentage of patients who live at least 5 years after their cancer is diagnosed. Many of these patients live much longer than 5 years after diagnosis, and 5-year rates are used to produce a standard way of discussing prognosis. Five-year relative survival rates do not include patients dying of other diseases and are considered to be a more accurate way to describe the prognosis for patients with a particular type and stage of cancer. That means that relative survival only talks about deaths from mesothelioma. Of course, 5-year survival rates are based on patients diagnosed and initially treated more than 5 years ago. They may no longer be accurate. Improvements in treatment result in a more favorable outlook for recently diagnosed patients.
Each year 2,500 to 4,000 patients in the U.S. are diagnosed with mesothelioma and asbestos-related diseases.
Mesothelioma has a long latency (inactive) period of anywhere between 15 – 50 years.
Experts predict that mesothelioma diagnoses will continue to increase in the United States for at least another 10 to 20 years.
While many countries have banned certain forms of asbestos, an estimated 5,000 asbestos-containing products exist today.
As many as 8 million people in the U.S. have already been exposed to asbestos and it continues to pose a serious threat to workers in certain occupations.
One study of asbestos insulation workers reported a mesothelioma death rate up to 344 times higher than the general population.
Most mesothelioma victims die within 18 months of diagnosis. Mortality is swift not because the cancer is fast-growing but because it usually is far advanced by the time it is detected.
Poor prognostic variables include: nonepithelial histology, older age (greater than 75 years), pleural primary, chest pain at presentation, poor performance status, and elevated platelet count (greater than 400,000/mcL).
By the year 2030 there are estimates that asbestos will have caused 60,000 instances of mesothelioma and around 250,000 other cancers that result in death.
Over half a million asbestos and mesothelioma injury claims have been filed to date. Over 50,000 were filed in 1998 alone.
Every year, more than 10,000 people worldwide (3,000 in the U.S. alone) are diagnosed with mesothelioma or other asbestos-related conditions.
More than 500,000 asbestos or mesothelioma lawsuits have been filed.
More than 110,000 schools in the U.S. still contain some form of asbestos. 8 million Americans have been exposed to dangerous levels of asbestos.
Asbestos insulation workers have a mesothelioma death rate 344 times higher than that of the general population. More than 7,500 Americans died from mesothelioma between 1999 and 2001.
The industries with the highest mesothelioma mortality rates are ship building and ship repairing.
People working around industrial chemicals had the second-highest rate, and those in the construction industry were third.
85% of mesothelioma deaths are male; this has more to do with asbestos exposure than with gender. There is also a high rate of mesothelioma deaths among schoolteachers, many of whom are female.
The average age of people diagnosed with mesothelioma is between 50 and 70, but the number of people diagnosed with mesothelioma between the ages of 30 and 40 is increasing. Asbestos is used to make more than 5,000 products worldwide.
Even when mesothelioma treatment is possible, it is very expensive, sometimes costing between $400,000 and $800,000 for oxygen, drugs, pain medicine and other forms of treatment .
Research is being conducted at various cancer centers all over the United States as well as by pharmaceutical companies. To find more about these studies, click on
Clinical Trials.. A recent study of Alimta showed patients living much longer with Alitma than other chemotherapy drugs.
Most people with malignant mesothelioma have worked on jobs where they breathed asbestos. Others have been exposed to asbestos in a household environment, often without knowing it. More about the different ways in which people have been exposed to asbestos.
Peritoneal mesothelioma is a cancer of the lining of the abdominal cavity. This form of cancer makes up approximately one-fifth to one-third of the total number of mesothelioma cases diagnosed.
Although life expectancy with this disease is typically limited, there are notable survivors. In July 1982, Stephen Jay Gould was diagnosed with peritoneal mesothelioma. After his diagnosis, Gould wrote the "The Median Isn't the Message" for Discover magazine, in which he argued that statistics such as median survival are just useful abstractions, not destiny. Gould lived for another twenty years eventually succumbing to metastatic adenocarcinoma of the lung, not mesothelioma.Author Paul Kraus was diagnosed with mesothelioma in June 1997 following an umbilical hernia operation. His prognosis was "a few months." He continues to survive using a variety of integrative and complimentary modalities and has written a book about his experience.
Mesothelioma, though rare, has had a number of notable patients. Australian anti-racism activist Bob Bellear died in 2005. British science fiction writer Michael G. Coney, responsible for nearly 100 works also died in 2005. American film and television actor Paul Gleason, perhaps best known for his portrayal of Principal Richard Vernon in the 1985 film The Breakfast Club, died in 2006. Mickie Most, an English record producer, died of mesothelioma in 2003. Paul Rudolph, an American architect known for his cubist building designs, died in 1997.Bernie Banton was an Australian workers' rights activist, who fought a long battle for compensation from James Hardie after he contracted mesothelioma after working for that company. He claimed James Hardie knew of the dangers of asbestos before he began work with the substance making insulation for power stations. Mesothelioma eventually took his life along with his brothers and hundreds of James Hardie workers. James Hardie made an undisclosed settlement with Mr Banton only when his mesothelioma had reached its final stages and he was expected to have no more than 48hrs to live. Australian Prime Minister-elect Kevin Rudd mentioned Mr Banton's extended struggle in his acceptance speech after winning the 2007 Australian Federal Election.Steve McQueen was diagnosed with peritoneal mesothelioma on December 22, 1979. He was not offered surgery or chemotherapy because doctors felt the cancer was too advanced. McQueen sought alternative treatments from clinics in Mexico. He died of a heart attack on November 7, 1980, in Juárez, Mexico, following cancer surgery. He may have been exposed to asbestos while serving with the US Marines as a young adult—asbestos was then commonly used to insulate ships' piping—or because of its use as an insulating material in car racing suits.[9] (It is also reported that he worked in a shipyard during World War II, where he might have been exposed to asbestos.[citation needed]United States Congressman Bruce Vento died of mesothelioma in 2000. The Bruce Vento Hopebuilder is awarded yearly by his wife at the MARF Symposium to persons or organizations who have done the most to support mesothelioma research and advocacy.After a long period of untreated illness and pain, rock and roll musician and songwriter Warren Zevon was diagnosed with inoperable mesothelioma in the fall of 2002. Refusing treatments he believed might incapacitate him, Zevon focused his energies on recording his final album The Wind including the song "Keep Me in Your Heart," which speaks of his failing breath. Zevon died at his home in Los Angeles, California, on September 7, 2003.Christie Hennessy, the influential Irish singer-songwriter, died of mesothelioma in 2007, and had stridently refused to accept the prognosis in the weeks before his death.[10] His mesothelioma has been attributed to his younger years spent working on building sites in London.[11][12]Bob Miner, one of the founders of Software Development Labs, the forerunner of Oracle Corporation died of mesothelioma in 1994.
Mesothelioma is described as localized if the cancer is found only on the membrane surface where it originated. It is classified as advanced if it has spread beyond the original membrane surface to other parts of the body, such as the lymph nodes, lungs, chest wall, or abdominal organs.
Symptoms of mesothelioma may not appear until 20 to 50 years after exposure to asbestos. Shortness of breath, cough, and pain in the chest due to an accumulation of fluid in the pleural space are often symptoms of pleural mesothelioma.Symptoms of peritoneal mesothelioma include weight loss and cachexia, abdominal swelling and pain due to ascites (a buildup of fluid in the abdominal cavity). Other symptoms of peritoneal mesothelioma may include bowel obstruction, blood clotting abnormalities, anemia, and fever. If the cancer has spread beyond the mesothelium to other parts of the body, symptoms may include pain, trouble swallowing, or swelling of the neck or face.These symptoms may be caused by mesothelioma or by other, less serious conditions.Mesothelioma that affects the pleura can cause these signs and symptoms:chest wall pain pleural effusion, or fluid surrounding the lung shortness of breath fatigue or anemia wheezing, hoarseness, or cough blood in the sputum (fluid) coughed up In severe cases, the person may have many tumor masses. The individual may develop a pneumothorax, or collapse of the lung. The disease may metastasize, or spread, to other parts of the body.Tumors that affect the abdominal cavity often do not cause symptoms until they are at a late stage. Symptoms include:abdominal pain ascites, or an abnormal buildup of fluid in the abdomen a mass in the abdomen problems with bowel function weight loss In severe cases of the disease, the following signs and symptoms may be present:blood clots in the veins, which may cause thrombophlebitis disseminated intravascular coagulation, a disorder causing severe bleeding in many body organs jaundice, or yellowing of the eyes and skin low blood sugar level pleural effusion pulmonary emboli, or blood clots in the arteries of the lungs severe ascites A mesothelioma does not usually spread to the bone, brain, or adrenal glands. Pleural tumors are usually found only on one side of the lungs.
Mesothelioma is a form of cancer that is almost always caused by previous exposure to asbestos. In this disease, malignant cells develop in the mesothelium, a protective lining that covers most of the body's internal organs. Its most common site is the pleura (outer lining of the lungs and chest cavity), but it may also occur in the peritoneum (the lining of the abdominal cavity) or the pericardium (a sac that surrounds the heart).Most people who develop mesothelioma have worked on jobs where they inhaled asbestos particles, or have been exposed to asbestos dust and fibre in other ways, such as by washing the clothes of a family member who worked with asbestos, or by home renovation using asbestos cement products. Unlike lung cancer, there is no association between mesothelioma and smoking.
