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Speciality Spotlight
Solid Tumours
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OP Heinonen, D Albanes, J Virtamo, et al (Univ of Helsinki; Natl Cancer Inst, Bethesda, Md; Natl Public Health Inst, Helsinki; et al)
Prostate Cancer and Supplementation with a-tocopherol and b-Carotene: Incidence and Mortality in a Controlled Trial.
J. Natl Cancer Inst 90:440-446, 1998.
Long term a-tocopherol supplementation may markedly decrease the incidence of and mortality from prostate cancer in smokers. Further research is needed to verify these results.
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Chan TA, Morin PJ, Vogelstein B, et al [ Johns Hopkins Univ, Baltimore, Md]
Mechanisms Underlying Nonsteroidal Anti-inflammatory Drug-Mediated Apoptosis
Proc Natl Acad Sci : U.S.A. 95: 681-686, 1998
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug [NSAIDs] have been reported to have limited efficacy as chemopreventative agent. The NSAIDs resulted in increase in prostaglandin precursor arachidonic acid [ AA] which in turn stimulated the conversion of sphingomyelin to ceramide, a substance known to mediate apoptosis. The editor comments that by manipulation of lipids ceramide and AA by dietary or pharmaceutical agent, may be the key to prevention of colorectal tumors.
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Clarke M, and the Early Breast Cancer Trialists’ Collaborative Group [Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, England]
Tamoxifen for Early Breast Cancer: An Overview of the Randomized Trials
Lancet 351: 1451-1467, 1998
Treatment with adjuvant tamoxifen yielded notable improvement in 10-year survival rates in women with ER-positive tumours and in women with tumours of unknown ER status. These women also have proportional reductions in breast cancer recurrence and mortality that seem to be unaffected by other patient characteristics or treatments.
