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Breast Cancer News, April 2008

Pursuant to the SPA, this Phase III trial will be a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of IMC-1121B plus docetaxel in women with unresectable locally-recurrent or metastatic breast cancer who have not received prior chemotherapy in the locally-recurrent or metastatic setting. The trial, which will be conducted under the auspices of the Cancer International Research Group, doing business as Translational Research in Oncology (TRIO), is expected to enroll approximately 1,100 patients who will be randomized (2:1) to receive either IMC-1121B plus docetaxel or placebo plus docetaxel. The primary endpoint of the trial will be progression-free survival. The trial will be conducted at more than 200 sites throughout the world. Patient enrollment is expected to begin in the third quarter of 2008. 11

This year, as an effort to raise awareness and funding for breast cancer research, 15,337 men, women and children participated in the 10th annual Komen Ozark Race For The Cure’, according to the Web site.� UA students also did their part to help. Residents’ Interhall Congress and Gamma Eta are two of the UA organizations that formed teams to raised money for the cause. 19

This means that women at high risk could be given aggressive treatment, while those at low risk could be spared unnecessary surgery and drugs. Moreover, the team thinks they have identified the hallmarks of basal-like tumors � the most aggressive form of breast cancer women can get. 14

Extensive studies have shown that such a link exists. In 2002, an essay published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine claimed that women were less likely to die from breast cancer if they were exposed to the sun on a regular basis. In 2006, Anticancer Research published a paper reporting that women with elevated levels of vitamin D are 50-70 percent less likely to develop breast cancer. 3

Yet just this month, Danish researchers reported more evidence linking alcohol consumption to greater risk of breast cancer in women. These new results offer a cautionary note for younger women and underscore that it’s never too soon to go easy on alcohol. 1

According to the campaign statement, research has shown that vitamin D can play a role in preventing or slowing the growth of multiple types of cancer. Since breast cancer is the number one cause of cancer death in women of North America, it seemed appropriate to formulate this campaign around breast cancer opposed to another form of cancer. Studies predict that in 2008, 45,000 women from the United States and Canada will die from breast cancer - approximately 45 times more than the number who will die due to non-melanoma skin cancer. 3

Not, of course, without reason. Breast cancer afflicts far more women than men - claiming thousands of female lives per year compared with just under 100 men. 15

More alcohol equals more risk. "Some studies suggest that two or more drinks per day are associated with about a 30 to 40 percent increase in the risk of breast cancer," says JoAnn Manson, chief of preventive medicine at Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital. For women who have other risk factors — a mother or sister with breast cancer, for example — "that can be a substantial risk," Manson notes. 1

Just how alcohol raises breast cancer risk is still unknown. Alcohol boosts estrogen and other hormones, which are linked to breast cancer. Mixing alcohol with hormone replacement therapy can be particularly risky, Manson says, since alcohol and estrogen seem to augment each other. "That combination is something to avoid," she adds. 1

Women with high levels of p16 or COX-2 expression had a very high probability of going on to develop aggressive breast cancer, but only if the tissue also had high levels of ki67. If ki67 was absent, high levels of p16 and COX-2 indicated that the woman was at very low risk of developing future breast cancer. The results were presented at a meeting of the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) in San Diego earlier this week. 14

So could diets high in folate offer breast cancer protection? In 1998 researchers studied nearly 3,500 women with breast cancer and found no link between folate intake and breast cancer risk. 1

Only around half of the tissue samples studied by Tlsty’s team expressed these markers, meaning that the test cannot be used in all women. However, it turns out that the expression profile identified by Tlsty is a hallmark of a particularly aggressive type of breast cancer called basal-like tumors. 14

In March, Manson and her colleagues published a report of a 10-year study of multivitamin use and breast cancer risk in about 40,000 women. Multivitamins did not protect against breast cancer — except in women who consumed at least one drink daily. Those results "suggest that multivitamin use might help to counteract the elevated risk of breast cancer for women consuming alcohol," Manson says. 1

Basal-like tumours are relatively common in young African-American women, accounting for around 40% of cases, compared to just 15% of cases in Caucasian women. The test could therefore be particularly useful in African-American women, who are also at more risk from breast cancer in the first place. 14

About one in eight Australian women will be diagnosed with breast cancer by the time they are aged 85. There will also be a small number of men. 10

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