Researchers are reporting that a new vaccine designed to treat breast cancer appears to be safe in women with advanced disease. It showed signs of slowing down tumor growth too.

The Neuvenge vaccine, made by Dendreon Corporation -- maker of the Provenge prostate cancer vaccine -- targets the aggressive Her-2 positive form of breast cancer, which affects 20 to 30 percent of breast cancer patients. Using immune cells from a cancer patient's own body, Neuvenge is a tailor-made therapy.

Reports about Neuvenge, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, indicate the vaccine did not cause any serious side effects and of the 18 women who participated in the Phase I study, there was a reduction in the size of a tumor in one patient. In three other women, the disease seemed to stabilize for as long as a year.

A generic drug is exactly the same dosage, safety, strength and quality as a brand named drug. Generic drugs also do not take longer to work in the body, again, its the same ingredients as the name you are more familiar.

The reason generic drugs are cheaper is because the makers of these drugs don't have the costs of the original developer of the drug. When the patent on the developer expires, 20 years, other manufactures can introduce competitive generic versions to the FDA for approval. This also creates greater competition in the industry once generic drugs are approved and keeps costs lower.

A great place to go is here for more information on your generic drugs.

Femara (letrozole) provides both anticancer responses and disease stabilization in a significant number of patients with recurrent, estrogen receptor positive ovarian cancer. The results of the study were published in Clinical Cancer Research.

Femara blocks levels of estrogen in the body, ultimately reducing or preventing growth of estrogen positive cancer cells. Femara has been demonstrated to be effective for estrogen positive breast cancer, but has not yet had a clear influence in women with ovarian cancer.

Forty two patients were part of a clinical trial to evaluate the effectiveness of Femara. At three months, 42 percent of patients achieved disease stabilization and 9 percent achieved a regression of their disease. At over six months, 26 percent of patients still did not have progression of their disease measured by CA125 levels in the blood.

The researchers concluded that Femara may provide an effective and well tolerated treatment alternative for patients with recurrent, estrogen positive ovarian cancer.

A new website assesses the effectiveness and safety of almost 800 sunscreens. The suncreen screening site was put together by the Environmental Working Group and gives detailed information about many sunscreen products. It also groups them by the types of harmful rays they're meant to protect against.

SPF numbers on sunscreens only cover UVB, the type of rays most responsible for burns. UVA is far less responsible for burning, but still can raise skin cancer risk. Only one sunscreen in five has effective UVA protection. There are ingredients that protect well against UVA, but sunlight can break down and make them ineffective if they are not formulated well.

Watch out for the commonly misleading claims -- all day protection, waterproof or chemical free products. You can check the website for sunscreens that are recommended and ones to be avoided.

I've always heard the use of herbs and supplements and alternative therapies can be a potentially dangerous pursuit when combined with cancer treatment. But this may not be entirely true.

Think about this:

Using Chinese herbs alone or in conjunction with chemotherapy may help protect a breast cancer patient's bone marrow and immune system. It may also improve the overall quality of life for women, say researchers at the Chinese Cochrane Centre in Chengdu, China.

It is well known that women receiving chemotherapy for breast cancer experience significant short term side effects such as nausea, vomiting, fatigue, inflammation of the gut lining, decreased numbers of red and white blood cells, and decreased numbers of blood platelets. Those is search of some relief may wish to give Chinese medicinal herbs a try.

Researchers say there is conventional evidence indicating that these medicines are safe and effective. Still, "further trials are needed before the effects of traditional Chinese medicines for people with breast cancer can be evaluated with any real confidence," says one professor involved in this area of study.

Early trials show a breath test for lung cancer detection may surface in the not-too-distant future. And it could be simple, inexpensive, non-invasive, and effective too.

The tests needs a good amount of work still, but if we keep our fingers crossed and medical researchers stay hot on the trail of this test, it just might be possible to one day spot lung cancer by simply breathing into a device for a few minutes.

The lung cancer breath test measures chemicals called volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the breath. There's a certain pattern of VOCs associated with lung cancer, and they show up as colored dots across a quarter-sized panel.

The theory behind this test is great. The test itself is not perfect yet, however.

It's promising, though, says The Cleveland Clinic's Peter Mazzone, MD, MPH and colleagues who describe the test in the Online First edition of the journal Thorax and reveal the test correctly identified in studies three out of four people with lung cancer and detected lung cancer almost as frequently.

If the experimental breast cancer drug Tykerb continues to prove successful in study participants, it could be headed for FDA approval.

Tykerb, now in international study, showed in early studies to be even more effective and to have fewer side effects than similar breast cancer drug Herceptin. Both drugs are part of a cluster of targeted therapies that attack cancer cells while sparing healthy cells. Designed for use on women whose breast cancer is HER2 positive -- meaning it contains too much of an aggressive protein -- Tykerb may be a wonder drug, with the capability of effectively keeping breast cancer at bay.

Dr. Paul Goss of MA General Hospital says, "We're seeing Tykerb, which is a pill, which is easier to take, has a broader attack and gets inside cells. It's like an electrical circuit that's turned on, and Tykerb can pull the lever, the circuit breaker, and switch it off."

Tomato and broccoli are known for their cancer fighting qualities. In a study published in the January 15th issue of Cancer Research, it showed that the tomato/broccoli combination outperformed all other diets in shrinking prostate tumors in animals.

The research suggested that older men with slow-growing prostate cancer who have chosen the watchful waiting over chemotherapy and radiation should seriously consider altering their diets to include more tomatoes and broccoli.

To get the desired effects a 55 year old man concerned about prostate health should consume daily:

• 1.4 cups of raw broccoli and 2.5 cups of fresh tomato
• or 1 cup of tomato sauce
• or 1/2 cup of tomato paste

The researchers also said that eating the whole tomatoes is always better than taking a lycopene supplement and cooked tomatoes may be better than raw tomatoes.

I don't think any of us can go wrong by adding more tomatoes and broccoli to our diets!

The standard dose of some medications are too high and dangerous for the patients, where some patients respond the exact opposite and show that the standard dose is too low to produce beneficial effects. It would seem to be a simple case of age, gender, or genetic differences to explain the individual variability in response to the drugs.

A study at the University of Kansas is reporting that variations in the body's production of hydrogen peroxide, which is believed to serve as a signaling molecule at low levels, can affect the accumulation of drugs inside our cells.

Oxidative stress, an increase in hydrogen peroxide levels, may have an increased response to a given dosage of a drug. This seems to show that it is in our best interest for physicians to provide more individualized dosing of drugs.

Hydrogen peroxide effects could be especially important in therapeutic drugs such as aminophylline, carbamazepine, lithium, carbonate, phenytoin, theophylline and warfarin. The researchers think that small changes in the doses of these drugs could cause either subtherapeutic or toxic results.

Fifteen years follow up after studying 223 patients with localized prostate cancer showed that radioactive seed implants are a highly effective treatment in combination with conventional external beam radiation.

Seed implants, also called brachytherapy, are small radioactive pellets about the size of a grain of rice. The pellets are implanted into the prostate; they deliver radiation to the prostate cancer from the inside.

Most good-prognosis patients who choose seed implants do not receive other treatments. Patients with more aggressive tumors may get seed implants plus external beam radiation.

Three out of four patients in the study remained disease free at least 15 years after treatment ended. It is not clear from the study if the patients would have fared equally well with either the seed implants or external-bean radiation therapy alone, however they are confident the combined therapy is very effective in treating prostate cancer.

The term vitamin E refers to a family of eight related, antioxidant compounds widely distributed in plants. Pro-vitamin E or alpha-tocopheryl succinate (Alpha-TOS) is found in the green parts of a plant. The best sources of vitamin E are the vegetable and seed or nut oils. It was first isolated from wheat germ oil, which is still a commonly used, rich source of vitamin E.

Researchers at Griffith University's School of Medical Science have shown that pro-vitamin E can reduce tumor volume on animals with high levels of HER2. The researchers think it has potential to be an inexpensive, safe and selective therapy for hard to treat breast cancers.

Jiri Neuzil, chief investigator and Associate Professor, said "Alpha-TOS has already shown promise as a potent anticancer agent in diseases such as colon cancer and mesothelioma. It induces controlled cell death or apoptosis in tumor cells".

Touch imprint cytology (TIC) lymph node assessment during breast cancer surgery could prove to have advantages over the current standard lymph node assessment. TIC can be important to the breast cancer patient because usually the results from the lymph node dissection can take up to a week. It causes a lot of anxiety and stress waiting to find out if the breast cancer has metastasized to the lymph nodes. TIC would provide immediate results during the sentinel node extraction.

An economic assessment that was published in the November 15, 2006 issue of Cancer says TIC is less costly than standard lymph node assessment. They studied the cost effectiveness of the two techniques and found that especially in larger tumors TIC is more effective.

Every cancer patient should receive state-of-the-art medical care, says Dr. Jeremy Geffen in his book The Journey Through Cancer: Healing and Transforming the Whole Person. This medical care -- the foundation of every cancer treatment program -- should be administered by highly trained and qualified caregivers, under the meticulous supervision of an experienced oncologist.

Some don't believe this is the necessary foundation and consider the triad of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation both poisonous and barbaric. There is no doubt that people encounter pain, frustration, and toxicity with these therapies, according to Dr. Geffen. But he believes it's almost always a serious mistake to forgo these remedies in exchange for unproven alternative therapies.

There are demonstrated benefits of conventional medicine. And it is clear that with each day, treatments become safer, less toxic, and more effective than ever before. Some cancers -- like Hodgkin's disease, testicular cancer, and childhood leukemia -- were once considered deadly. Now, they can be cured. The anatomy and function of the eye, breast, larynx, esophagus, anus, rectum, and prostate can now be preserved, despite surgery and treatment. Advances in pain control have delivered considerable relief to patients experiencing discomfort with treatment. And there is reason to believe future progress against cancer will be even more dramatic -- with the advent of molecular and genetic technology, immunotherapy, targeted therapies, better diagnostic technologies, and more effective control of side effects.

Dr. Geffen stresses this -- conventional medicine is a must in the fight against cancer. But alternative and complementary therapies also have a place. And throughout his book, he details the Seven Levels of Healing that encompass both approaches.

He begins with Level One -- Education and Information. The starting place. The place common to all of us who receive diagnoses that are troubling and confusing and require a little investigation, a little research, a little explanation. The place I will describe in my next Journey Through Cancer post.

To read previous posts on the same topic, visit:
The Journey Through Cancer: Beverly Is Every One of Us
The Journey Through Cancer: What Is The Purpose Of Medicine
The Journey Through Cancer: Introduction
Sunday Seven: Seven Levels of Healing on Cancer Journey

Stay tuned for:
The Journey Through Cancer: Level One -- Education and Information

The lung cancer drug Gefitinib has been taken off shelves in the United States due to ineffectiveness. But it remains effective in some Taiwanese lung cancer patients, according to a study published in the journal Lung Cancer.

The study, conducted by the National Health Research Institutes, involved 65 non-small-cell lung cancer patients and found that more than 50 percent of participants responded to the drug therapy -- while only 10 percent respond in Western studies.

A genetic mutation of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) was found in most patients who responded to Gefitinib. The mutation is rare in Western countries but much more common in East Asian countries where the mutation increases the likelihood of developing adenocarcinoma.

About 6,800 Taiwanese patients develop non-small-cell lung cancer every year. Of these, 65 percent of cases are adenocarcinoma. Of this group, 57 percent will have the genetic mutation. And roughly half will respond to Gefitinib.

Lymphedema is a chronic condition that causes excess fluid to collect in tissue and produce swelling. In breast cancer survivors the swelling can occur in the arm or hand because the lymphatic system has been compromised by surgery or radiation. Its an unattractive and painful reminder of having breast cancer that never goes away.

Robin Miller, 23, and Rachel Levin, 36, are young breast cancer survivors that developed lymphedema after their breast cancer treatment. They were required to wear an uncomfortable, beige orthopedic-looking sleeve. They decided that there had to be a better solution for the look and feel of the sleeves they would have to wear. They approached Kristin Dudley, a Drexel fashion design graduate, with the idea of creating fashionable compression garments that would bring together form and function.

These three friends have made it their mission to help breast cancer survivors manage their lymphedema in a fashionable way, and inspire them to feel confident and attractive with their company called LympheDIVAs. The armsleeves are made of high-tech fibers and come in fashionable colors and designs.

"The look and style of the sleeves has remained the same for over 30 years" said Rachel Levin. "There is absolutely no reason it can't look stylish and still be an effective medical device"