BreakThrough Digest Medical News |
| Accelerated radiation treatment effective for noninvasive breast cancer Posted: 28 Jun 2012 09:00 PM PDT
Accelerated whole breast irradiation after lumpectomy is an effective treatment for ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), a very common early stage and noninvasive form of breast cancer, meaning many more breast cancer patients could see their treatment times reduced by half, according to a study in the June issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology?Biology?Physics, the official scientific journal of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).
The widespread use of mammography beginning in the early 1980s has led to a dramatic increase in the number of DCIS instances detected, making this one of the most common forms of breast cancer. Multiple studies have proven that lumpectomy plus radiation significantly reduces the risk of recurrence in both noninvasive and invasive breast cancers and for DCIS, the current standard of treatment is lumpectomy followed by five to six weeks of whole breast radiation. However, for invasive cancers, the use of an accelerated form of radiation that increases the strength of the dose per treatment and uses fewer treatment sessions overall has been well-established as effective, providing patients with a shorter treatment time with similar positive results. The effectiveness of an accelerated treatment time has not been established for DCIS. Researchers in the study followed 145 DCIS patients who were treated with lumpectomy and accelerated whole breast irradiation or lumpectomy with accelerated whole breast irradiation plus an additional daily boost. At five years post-treatment, only 4.1 percent of patients experienced a recurrence, which is comparable to the five to 10 percent recurrence rate demonstrated in randomized trials for patients receiving standard radiation. “The results of our study suggest that DCIS patients can be safely treated with a shorter regimen of radiotherapy,” Silvia Formenti, MD, senior author of the study and a radiation oncologist at New York University School of Medicine, said. “This is good news for many breast cancer patients who would prefer to receive their treatments in a shorter period of time, but also want the peace of mind that they are receiving the most effective treatment available.” ### ASTRO is the largest radiation oncology society in the world, with more than 10,000 members who specialize in treating patients with radiation therapies. As the leading organization in radiation oncology, biology and physics, the Society is dedicated to improving patient care through education, clinical practice, advancement of science and advocacy. For more information on radiation therapy, visit www.rtanswers.org. To learn more about ASTRO, visit www.astro.org. Contact: Nicole Napoli |
| BUSM researchers identify role of FOXO1 gene in Parkinson’s disease Posted: 27 Jun 2012 09:00 PM PDT A recent study led by researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) revealed that the FOXO1 gene may play an important role in the pathological mechanisms of Parkinson’s disease. These findings are published online in PLoS Genetics, a peer-reviewed open-access journal published by the Public Library of Science.
The study was led by Alexandra Dumitriu, PhD, a postdoctoral associate in the department of neurology at BUSM. Richard Myers, PhD, professor of neurology at BUSM, is the study’s senior author. According to the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation, 60,000 Americans are diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease each year and approximately one million Americans are currently living with the disease. Parkinson’s disease is a complex neurodegenerative disorder characterized by a buildup of proteins in nerve cells that lead to their inability to communicate with one another, causing motor function issues, including tremors and slowness in movement, as well as dementia. The substantia nigra is an area of the midbrain that helps control movement, and previous research has shown that this area of the brain loses neurons as Parkinson’s disease progresses. The researchers analyzed gene expression differences in brain tissue between 27 samples with known Parkinson’s disease and 26 samples from neurologically healthy controls. This data set represents the largest number of brain samples used in a whole-genome expression study of Parkinson’s disease to date. The novel aspect of this study is represented by the researchers’ emphasis on removing possible sources of variation by minimizing the differences among samples. They used only male brain tissue samples that showed no significant marks of Alzheimer’s disease pathology, one of the frequently co-occurring neurological diseases in Parkinson’s disease patients. The samples also had similar tissue quality and were from the brain’s prefrontal cortex, one of the less studied areas for the disease. The prefrontal cortex does not show neuronal death to the same extent as the substantia nigra, although it displays molecular and pathological modifications during the disease process, while also being responsible for the dementia present in a large proportion of Parkinson’s disease patients. Results of the expression experiment showed that the gene FOXO1 had increased expression in the brain tissue samples with known Parkinson’s disease. FOXO1 is a transcriptional regulator that can modify the expression of other genes. Further examination of the FOXO1 gene showed that two single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), or DNA sequence variations, were significantly associated with age at onset of Parkinson’s disease. “Our hypothesis is that FOXO1 acts in a protective manner by activating genes and pathways that fight the neurodegeneration processes,” said Dumitriu. “If this is correct, there could be potential to explore FOXO1 as a therapeutic drug target for Parkinson’s disease.” ### Research reported in this publication was supported in part by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke under award number 1R01NS076843-01, the Cogan Family Foundation, the Robert P. & Judith N. Goldberg Foundation and the William N. and Bernice E. Bumpus Foundation. Contact: Jenny Eriksen Leary |
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