Cancer Doesn’t Care it’s Christmas

 Cancer Doesn’t Care it’s Christmas

https://tinyurl.com/y6vjvkgt

 

         Data from YouGov a UK government website show that at Christmas this year, 24% of the population will be directly affected by cancer; either themselves or someone in their family will be coping with active cancer and it’s treatment.

         The COVID-19 pandemic has added to the normal difficulties with 40% having experienced delays in treatment or diagnosis.  It is important to remember the special needs for cancer patients at this time.

         An English charity has produced a series of videos seeking to raise awareness and increase donations. One of these features Alexandria Mitchell an ovarian cancer survivor. She talks about Christmas, what it means to her and how we could all make Christmas better for women facing the disease and the side effects of treatment. Worth a look….

 

Gene shears give hope

CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing using targeted lipid nanoparticles for cancer therapy

https://tinyurl.com/y9z5gbq3

 

         One of the more hopeful prospects for cure of ovarian cancer is the relatively new technique of “Gene Shears”. First described in 2017 this employs a natural body defense against infection and tumour called CRISPR editing. CRISPR is an abbreviation of “clusters of regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats”.

         The CRISPR location on chromosomal DNA of cancer cells is vulnerable to attack by a protein enzyme, in this case Cas9. After the attack or gene shear the cell is damaged and cell death occurs. A problem with this is the delivery of the enzyme to the right target.

         This report shows treatment with gene shears for two tumours in mice; brain and ovarian tumours. Both respond to the enzyme, which was delivered as micro RNA in lipid nanoparticles, similar to new COVID-19 vaccine technology. Early results are encouraging and will probably lead to clinical trials for human patients.

Diet does not make a difference

Pre- and Post-Diagnosis Diet Quality and Ovarian Cancer Survival

 

https://tinyurl.com/y5mrnmto

 

         A popular misconception is that diet manipulation can improve outcomes for patients with cancer. Advocates for diet change have profited from this unproven speculation, with best-selling books and multi-media presentations.

         This prospective study from Brisbane, Australia, looked at dietary habits for ovarian cancer patients before and following diagnosis with a record of survival. 650 completed surveys were obtained at the time of diagnosis, and a further 503 twelve month’s later.

         Results showed no survival advantage for those patients who had a good diet quality prior to diagnosis or for those women who changed their diet in response to the onset of ovarian cancer

MS & ovarian cancer

Cancer incidence and mortality rates in multiple sclerosis: A matched cohort study

https://tinyurl.com/y63oh8uw

 

         Previous reviews of patients with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) showed an increased risk of breast and colon cancer. One of the recently developed drugs used in the treatment of MS, (Ocrevus) has been shown in clinical trials to increase the risk of breast cancer.

         This large population based survey compares cancer risks in a group of 54,000 MS patients with a control group of 264,000 people without MS. Retrospective search of the Canadian cancer registry shows no increased risk for breast or colon cancer.

         Risk of bladder and ovarian cancer is increased for MS patients. Possible reasons for this are the nature of the disease, with altered immune state and effects of treatment. Bladder cancer may be related to in-dwelling catheter placement.

         Ovarian cancer is approximately 50% more likely in patients with MS, meaning an increase in incidence from the normal 10 cases per 100,000 per annum, to about 15. The authors recommend active surveillance of MS patients, looking to detect ovarian cancer at an earlier stage.