From the archive, originally posted by: [ spectre ]

SEE ALSO – DOGS SMELL CANCER
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/01/0112_060112_dog_cancer.html

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http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-11/aafc-gor110806.php

Genes offer researchers a ‘crystal ball’ to help them prevent, diagnose
and treat cancer

Contact: Warren Froelich
froelich [at] aacr [dot] org
215-440-9300
American Association for Cancer Research

BOSTON — The science of cancer prevention has advanced to the point
where researchers now say they can detect “cancer genes” in the breath
of smokers, and can test the presence of two proteins in men they say
will predict development of prostate cancer a decade in advance. All of
these novel findings need much more examination, of course, but
scientists at the American Association for Cancer Research’s Frontiers
in Cancer Prevention Research meeting, say these examples illustrate
how it is becoming increasingly possible to use genes and their protein
products to help predict and diagnose cancer, as well as choose therapy
that offers the most potential for a good result. These researchers
will also discuss a test that can pick out patients who have pancreatic
cancer – an advance that offers hope the disease can be treated at
earlier stages than it is now – and how several unique genes can
predict which prostate cancer or lung cancer patients will develop
aggressive tumors that need additional treatment. Cancer is a disease
of genes, they say, so genes can be employed as a crystal ball to
thwart the disease.

Lung carcinogenesis tracked by DNA methylation mapping in exhaled
breath

For the first time, researchers have demonstrated that it is possible
to detect DNA methylation in the breath of smokers and lung cancer
patients, suggesting that, in theory, it may be possible to use this
technique to identify people who have undiagnosed lung cancer or are at
high risk of developing the disease.

Investigators at the Wadsworth Center, the public health laboratory of
the New York State Department of Health, have been able to develop an
assay that simultaneously detects the presence of methylation in six
tumor suppressor genes – a process by which a gene is chemically
silenced. The assay examines the promoter region of a gene, where
certain cytosine nucleotide bases may be methylated, preventing the
gene from being expressed.

The seven participants tested so far breathe for ten minutes into a
commercially available handheld device, which cools the air, forming a
condensed vapor, to which the methylation assay is applied.
Investigators found it could detect the presence of the methylated form
in all six tumor suppressor genes. For RASSF1A, the test was negative
in non-smokers, and positive in both current and ex-smokers. For DAPK,
methylation was more variable, given smoking status. The four other
tested genes (p16, MGMT, PAX5B,CDH1) known to be methylated in various
stages of lung cancer development, were minimally or not methylated, in
this pilot study of predominantly cancer-free smokers.

“Dr. Weiguo Han and I have shown that this approach is technically
feasible, and if further research demonstrates the assay can measure
DNA in such a way that it diagnoses or predicts lung cancer, this could
be important for non-invasive lung cancer testing,” said the study’s
lead author, Simon D. Spivack, M.D., M.P.H., a research physician at
the Wadsworth Center, and a specialist in lung diseases. “But we are a
long way from that point.” Han, a post-doctoral fellow in Spivacks’
laboratory and the study’s first author, will be presenting the
findings.

Spivack said his study was only the third to date that proved DNA could
be tested in condensed breath – German researchers reported the first
such result in 2003, followed by an Italian group in 2005 – and the
first to find methylation-silenced tumor suppressor genes in the breath
of patients at risk or harboring lung cancer.

“The concept of testing exhaled breath is not new – that’s what
breathalyzers do when they measure small volatile molecules such as
alcohol, as well as inflammation molecules that are currently being
assayed to test the activity of asthma and other lung diseases,” said
Spivack. “But what is rather remarkable here is that DNA can be tested
in the air that comes from the lungs and airways, and that it might be
possible to use this in diagnosis of lung cancer in particular, and
gene-dysregulation disorders of the lung, in general.”

The DNA is believed to be released when cells turn over, or are
damaged, in the lungs and airways, he said. “Although it is not
possible to say at this point the precise anatomic origin of the
airway-derived DNA being tested, it may be that different patterns of
gene methylation will themselves actually map the origin of this DNA to
particular regions of the airway,” Spivack said.

“Our goal is early detection of lung cancer and risk stratification,”
he said. “If all we can do is confirm that a smoker is smoking, or that
a lung cancer patient has cancer, then this test will be meaningless.
But we now know it is technically feasible to measure DNA methylation
in breath.”

Multiplexed serum markers screening for detection of pancreatic cancer

A panel of 10 blood biomarkers performed almost perfectly in picking
out people who had pancreatic cancer from those who didn’t, according
to researchers at the University of Pittsburgh. The advance raises
hopes that a test can be developed to screen for the aggressive cancer
in time to treat it, they say.

“Early detection of pancreatic cancer is crucial to survival, but there
has been no way to diagnose it early before symptoms occur,” said the
lead investigator, Anna E. Lokshin, Ph.D., an associate professor of
medicine and pathology at the University of Pittsburgh School of
Medicine. “This assay represents a new way to screen for disease that
appears to be applicable to pancreatic cancer, and potentially, to
other cancer types.”

The assay contains the largest panel of blood-based biomarkers to be
examined simultaneously in pancreatic cancer. It consists of proteins
known to be secreted by pancreatic tumors as well as proteins that
represent the body’s response to that tumor growth, Lokshin said.

“Tumors are located in the context of certain tissues, and those
tissues react in their own individual ways to the cancer,” she said.
“For example, tissue-specific proteins try to fight the cancer, and
each tumor type grows blood vessels in tissue uniquely, so we believe
the body responds differently to each kind of cancer.”

The researchers initially evaluated a panel of 44 protein biomarkers,
including cytokines, chemokines, adhesion molecules and hormones, and
used blood from 100 pancreatic cancer patients and a control group of
400 healthy people to find those associated with the cancer. They used
a microbead array, which can sample up to 100 different proteins
simultaneously, and found 10 biomarkers that offered the highest
diagnostic power, Lokshin said. Two of those biomarkers are CA125,
which can detect a number of cancers but which is not very specific,
and CA19-9, which has been known to correlate weakly with pancreatic
cancer.

They found that this panel of markers correctly identified pancreatic
cancers 97 percent of the time, with a sensitivity of 95 percent
(meaning it could correctly identify cancerous lesions) and with a 98
percent specificity (the ability to detect truly negative cases).

The researchers are continuing to study, validate, and perfect the
assay, and test its ability to identify pancreatic cancer at early,
treatable stages. Although pancreatic cancer is relatively rare,
survival is poor compared to most other forms of cancer – it is the
fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths in males and the
fifth-leading cause of cancer-related deaths in females.

A diagnostic screen for pancreatic cancer would likely first be used in
smokers, because use of tobacco is a known risk factor for developing
pancreatic cancer, Lokshin said.

The researchers also are developing similar assays for ovarian, breast,
lung, endometrial, head and neck, and esophageal cancers. “So far,
every panel is different for each cancer to the point where we can say
with greater than 97 percent certainty which cancer it is,” she said.

“Surprisingly, although in theory body response could be similar for
several cancers, in practice it is very different.”

TMPRSS2-ERG fusion prostate cancer: an early molecular event associated
with invasion

The presence of a gene fusion in prostate tumors is significantly
associated with aggressive cancer, metastatic spread, and an increased
probability of death, a team of researchers is reporting.

They say that the new gene, formed by the fusion of TMPRSS2 and ERG,
may serve as a biomarker to separate patients who might benefit from
radical prostate cancer therapy from those who potentially need little,
if any, treatment.

“We believe this gene has the potential to be used as a diagnostic and
prognostic test, which could offer thousands of patients peace of mind
and spare them from unnecessary surgery and therapy,” said the study’s
lead author, Sven Perner, M.D.,, a postdoctoral fellow in the
Department of Pathology at Harvard University’s Brigham and Women’s
Hospital in Boston. He worked with researchers from the Universities of
California and Michigan, Johns Hopkins University and McGill University
in Montreal.

Perner and his colleagues reported the discovery of the fused gene last
year and they now say that TMPRSS2-ERG occurs in about 50 percent of
prostate cancers – making it the most common genetic aberration in
human cancer, and the first one found in a common solid cancer. Fused
genes and chromosomal rearrangements have been found in several blood
cancers, such as chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) and in soft tissue
tumors, such as Ewing’s sarcoma, but these diseases are rare compared
to prostate cancer, which is one of the leading cancers among American
men.

In this study, the researchers sought to learn whether TMPRSS2-ERG is
associated with a particular prostate cancer stage, and how it might be
contributing to development of the cancer. They gathered 406 prostate
tissue samples, representing a range of benign, precursor, and
malignant prostate lesions, and used a FISH analysis to look for
TMPRSS2-ERG. They didn’t find any evidence of the fused gene in
non-cancerous samples, but found it was present in 48.5 percent of
localized prostate cancer tumors, 30 percent of hormone-naïve
metastases, and in 33 percent of hormone refractory metastasis, as well
as in about 20 percent of prostatic intraepithelial neoplasias, a
lesion believed to be precursor of invasive prostate cancer.

The investigators also discovered that the gene fusion could occur in
two different ways. The genes, TMPRSS2, which is regulated by the male
sex-hormone androgen, and ERG, which is a potential oncogene, are
located close to one another on chromosome 21. When fused, TMPRSS2
drives over-expression of the ERG gene. According to Perner, fusion can
occur when the piece of DNA separating the genes breaks off and the
genes merge (a process described as “fusion through deletion”), or if
parts of each gene break off and switch positions (“translocation”).

They found that TMPRSS2-ERG fusion through deletion was more common in
the tumor samples as compared to TMPRSS2-ERG fusion through
translocation. More recent work has found a significant association
between TMPRSS2-ERG fusion and death from prostate cancer, although the
researchers have not yet been able to determine which fusion form
predicted the highest risk of death.

Perner says investigators are hoping to find a small molecule to
inhibit the TMPRSS2-ERG fusion protein in the same way that the drug
Gleevec has revolutionized care of CML.

Prediagnostic interleukin-6, C-reactive protein and prostate cancer
incidence and mortality

Increased levels of two markers of inflammation, interleukin-6 (IL-6)
and C-reactive protein (CRP), are significantly associated with
prostate cancer incidence and mortality almost a decade prior to
diagnosis, say researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health.

They also found that elevated CRP in these men was associated with a
two-fold increased risk of developing fatal prostate cancer, compared
to men with the lowest levels of the protein.

“The results of this study provide further evidence that inflammation
is involved in development and progression of prostate cancer,” said
the study’s lead author, Jennifer Rider Stark, a graduate student in
epidemiology.

Stark said that IL-6 and CRP were more strongly associated with
prostate cancer risk and death from prostate cancer in normal weight
men. Because IL-6 is secreted from adipose (fat) tissue, levels of the
cytokine are naturally higher in overweight or obese men. “It is
possible that high levels of IL-6 and CRP in men with a healthy body
weight may be more indicative of a pro-inflammatory environment in the
prostate,” she said.

Some studies have already shown that high levels of IL-6 and CRP can be
associated with a poor prognosis in prostate cancer patients, but this
is one of only a few studies to examine whether these markers can
predict risk before symptoms develop and cancer is diagnosed.

The findings come from a prospective study nested within the
Physician’s Health Study, and included 516 men who later developed
prostate cancer and 516 matched controls who did not. The researchers
examined blood taken from each participant early in the study – a
median of 9.4 years before prostate cancer was diagnosed in the cases.
Levels of IL-6 and CRP were compared among men who did and did not go
on to develop cancer. Long-term follow-up of the cases also allowed the
researchers to assess the effect of these markers on prostate cancer
mortality.

They found that high levels of CRP in the blood was associated with a
higher incidence of prostate cancer development among all patients and
associated with a two-fold increased risk of developing lethal prostate
cancer. IL-6 levels were not associated with prostate cancer risk
overall. But when they separated out men by body mass index, those who
had a healthy weight and high IL-6 in their blood had a 40 percent
higher risk of developing prostate cancer.

Researchers suspect that abnormal amounts of IL-6 and CRP are markers
of biological processes involved in development of a number of
diseases, including cancer. IL-6 is secreted by immune cells in
response to infection or trauma, and it, in turn, stimulates synthesis
of CRP in the liver, which is believed to play a role in response to
infections and cellular damage control. CRP has been found to be a
marker of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and colon cancer, but its
use as a cardiology screening test has been controversial.

Stark noted that the predictive power of these two markers for
determining prostate cancer risk and mortality needs to be confirmed in
other prospective studies. She added, “Understanding the role of
inflammation in prostate cancer is important because inflammatory
pathways could potentially be targeted for prevention and treatment.”

Characteristics of long-term lung cancer survivors

In preliminary findings from an ongoing study, researchers at Mayo
Clinic have identified four different factors they say predicts
long-term survival in patients diagnosed with lung cancer, and one of
the strongest is inheritance of a gene variant, GSTM1 positive, which
is more efficient than another allele type of the GSTM1 gene at
detoxifying carcinogens.

They found that patients with a null type at this gene were four times
more likely to die within two years as were matched patients who had
the positive variant.

The researchers also found that patients who had surgery, who were
active, and whose cancer did not come back or progress were much more
likely to survive five years or longer.

“Outcome varies among lung cancer patients, even within groups that
have the same stage at the time of diagnosis, and so it is difficult to
know how aggressively to treat and provide follow-up care for
individual patients,” said the study’s lead investigator, Ping Yang,
M.D., Ph.D., a clinical and genetic epidemiologist at Mayo Clinic.

“In order to enhance both survival and quality of life, we are trying
to establish a model that will identify patients who would benefit from
additional clinical intervention, and the data we have accumulated to
date could be enormously helpful,” she said.

To derive these predictive factors, the researchers aim to compare 400
lung-cancer patients treated at Mayo Clinic and who have survived five
or more years, with 400 patients who lived less than two years after
treatment. The researchers match the groups by age at diagnosis,
gender, tumor cell type, cancer stage and the number of primary lung
cancers, and they examine blood samples and follow the progress of the
patients’ disease as well as their quality of life.

In an interim analysis of data on 150 patients in each group, the
researchers specifically found that patients who experienced any
progression or recurrence of their cancer were almost three times more
likely to die within two years, compared to patients of the same cancer
stage whose disease did not progress or return.

They also concluded that lung cancer patients who had surgery were
three times as likely to have longer survival as matched patients who
did not have surgery. “This can be very useful information for patients
who are undecided about whether they should risk having surgery,” she
said.

Patients who reported being “unable to do work or could only do light
work” were at a 2.7-5.8 fold higher probability of dying within two
years than were patients who were active, the researchers also
discovered. “The clinical care of these patients is a long- term
process,” Yang said. “If, through follow-up and monitoring, we find a
patient is physically inactive, we may recommend exercise and
rehabilitation as appropriate to keep them stronger.”

Knowing the contribution of inheriting a GSTM1 gene form to outcome is
also important, she said. “If our model tells us that a patient’s
cancer has a higher chance of recurring or progressing because of
innate genetics in metabolism, we can watch them more closely, and
consider treating them aggressively and promoting preventive measures,”
Yang said.

The GSTM1 gene is just one of many candidate genes the investigators
are studying in these patients.

###

The mission of the American Association for Cancer Research is to
prevent and cure cancer. Founded in 1907, AACR is the world’s oldest
and largest professional organization dedicated to advancing cancer
research. The membership includes more than 24,000 basic,
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