A report published earlier this month in the Journal of Clinical Oncology describes the clinical trial of a 79-year-old woman with multiple melanoma tumors in her abdomen, carrying a gene abnormality called KIT, showing a dramatic reduction in tumor size after receiving treatment using Gleevec (Imatinib), a drug know to target that gene.

Four weeks after the therapy began, imaging exams showed dramatic reductions in tumor sizes. Two of the melanoma tumor masses had disappeared, and others were considerably smaller. Now, nine months later, she is still receiving the treatment and her condition remains stable.

Although this report only involved one patient, it still provides confidence in the fight against melanoma, a disease that research has failed to find any genetic way of shutting down cell growth. Because this trial targeted the KIT mutation, that only occurs in a small percent of melanomas, this is not a potential universal treatment.

Imatinib's effectiveness against tumors with KIT mutations was first demonstrated in gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs), a relatively rare malignancy occurring in the digestive tract. An estimated 75-80 percent of GISTs have KIT mutations, and Imatinib has caused such tumors to stabilize or retreat in 75-90 percent of patients receiving it. In most of these patients, however, tumors eventually begin growing again as they become resistant to the drug.

Although some drugs used to treat breast cancer may cause women to develop symptoms of menopause, including sever hot flashes, a new study on dealing with hot flashes brought on by chemotherapy, has shown that relaxation training may help to bring some relief from these hot flashes.

The idea behind the study was to affect nervous system activity and the release of the stress hormone norepinephrine. The study published in the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, recruited 150 women who had been treated for breast cancer and were suffering from hot flashes.

Participants were assigned to two groups. One that underwent relaxation training, and one that discussed managing hot flashes with a nurse, but received no specific therapy.

After the first month, it was found that women in the relaxation group reported fewer and less severe hot flashes. In addition, the women in the relaxation group also reported lower levels of distress.

A Reuters article in Scientific American discusses the possibility that tests showing cell damage to the lining of the mouth may be able to predict lung cancer in smokers.

The hope of researchers is that at some point in the future, it may be possible to swab the mouths of smokers to predict who is developing lung cancer; preventing the need to perform painful and dangerous biopsies of the lung.

In a statement, Dr. Li Mao, a head, neck and lung cancer expert at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston stated, "Our study opens the door to enhancing our ability to predict who has higher probability of getting tobacco-related cancers." Mao continued, "Not only lung cancer, but pancreatic, bladder and head and neck cancers, which also are associated with tobacco use."

Mao hopes that this process may also lead to tests that predict other types of cancer.

An ABC News article reports that according to some dermatologists, the translucent sheen in non-SPF lip gloss may help ultraviolet rays penetrate the skin of the lips, thereby increasing your risk of developing cancer. According to some top experts in the field, these dermatologists may be on to something.

One Harvard cancer specialist made the cautious analogy between wearing non-SPF lip gloss and using baby oil to promote tanning. "You might be able to infer that they both enhance UV exposure," said Dr. Jessica Fewkes a face and neck skin cancer specialist.

Dr. Kevin Cooper, the chairman of the dermatology department at Case Western Reserve in Cleveland, explains that any increased penetration of ultraviolet rays would be the result of "enhanced optical passage" of the dangerous rays. However, Cooper qualified that the increases would be small.

Although this idea has supporters, there have been no large, targeted studies that either prove, or disprove this theory.

An article on Telegraph.co.uk has indicated that trials on a new alternative treatment to chemotherapy may begin within the next two years.

The treatment relies on attaching tiny iron-oxide particles, which are safe and easy to use in the human body, to special proteins that are designed to only stick to cancer cells. After the cancer cells have been detected, an invisible infra red light is used to heat them up, killing the cancer cells.

Professor Quentin Pankhurst, who is pioneering the research at the Royal Institution's new £3.5 million laboratory, said it will be used to treat dozens of different types of cancer - with the first trials to target head and neck cancer.

An article in The Age reports that Australian researchers are looking at the potential of a protein that can be produced in sunflower seeds as a potential new therapy to stop aggressive prostate tumors from spreading to the bone.

The spread of prostate cancer is cause largely by enzymes called proteases which break down the connective tissue around tumors allowing cancer cells to migrate to other areas of the body.

In test tube trials, the sunflower protein, known as the protease inhibitor was able to block these enzymes.

Researchers are now looking to carry out trials using this new information.

May 4th - 11th marks the 10th anniversary of Naturopathic Medicine Week in Canada.

During this week, naturopathic doctors across Canada will provide open house clinics to promote naturopathic health initiatives. In addition, public workshops and lectures will take place on topics including healthy eating, proper sleep habits and stress management.

According to Cancer Treatment Centers of America, naturopathic medicine is a distinct system of primary health care, with a central goal of using the healing power of nature to maintain and restore health.

Across Canada there are 1,387 registered naturopathic doctors. Two schools in Canada focus solely on naturopathic medicine: Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine (Toronto) and Boucher Institute of Naturopathic Medicine (Vancouver).

If you live in Canada and are interested in finding more information about Naturopathic Medicine Week, visit the Canadian Association of Naturopathic Doctors website.

A new study published online in Breast Cancer Research, suggests that it may be possible for women to reduce their chances of developing breast cancer by taking aspirin daily. However, researchers are not making any recommendations just yet. 

"I think that there's still additional work that needs to be done before recommending daily aspirin use for breast cancer prevention," researcher Gretchen Gierach, PhD, tells WebMD.

"If aspirin is truly a risk-reducing approach, it would be very exciting since we have few ways to prevent breast cancer, but we need additional studies," says Gierach, a cancer prevention fellow at the National Cancer Institute.

Gierach's study, is based on data from more than 127,000 U.S. women. Started in 1996-1997, the women included in the study were between the ages of 50-71 years old and had no history of cancer. These women were asked how often they used aspirin or other over-the-counter nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). From the initial question, these women were followed through December of 2003. During that time, 4,501 of the women were diagnosed with breast cancer.

In Gierach's study, women who reported taking daily aspirin were 16% less likely to develop estrogen-receptor positive breast cancer.

Those tumors are fueled by estrogen; most breast cancers are estrogen-receptor positive.

Although this study shows potential, nothing has been confirmed, and women considering daily use of aspirin need to consider the potential risks, which include gastrointestinal bleeding.

Although cancer survivors who eat better, exercise regularly and avoid tobacco often have a higher quality of life than those that don't, many cancer survivors don't follow through with these recommendations.

"We all know that living a healthy lifestyle, eating well, being physically active and not smoking reduces the risk of physical problems and improves overall physical health," said Kevin Stein, director of Quality of Life Research at the American Cancer Society's Behavioral Research Center. The senior author of a study detailing the findings, published in the May issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology goes on to say, "Here we have additional evidence that it not only reduces disease burden but also improves emotional health and quality of life and, moreover, the effect appears to be cumulative. The more you comply, the better your quality of life."

Unfortunately, the message does not seem to be sticking.

Of the over 9,000 participants, less than 20% of the survivors were getting the recommended five-a-day fruits and vegetables and only 30% to 50% were meeting the physical activity recommendation.

In all, only 5% of the participants were meeting all of the lifestyle recommendations, while up to 12.5% weren't complying with any of the recommendations.

The results of a long-term clinical trial on MAGE-A3 AASCI (Antigen-Specific Cancer Immunotherapeutic) presented at the 1st European Lung Cancer Conference, on behalf of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) and the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), showed that this immune-boosting treatment for lung cancer patients reduces the risk of relapse after surgery, to the same extent as chemotherapy.

The article, available at the European Society for Medical Oncology describes the results of a 44 month follow up from a double-blind placebo-controlled trial of 182 cancer patients with non-small cell lung cancer.

The trial randomly selected lung cancer patients, after complete surgical resection of the tumor, to receive either placebo injections or injections of MAGE-A3 ASCI administered over the course of 27 months. 44 months later, 69 of the 182 patients included in the trial experienced a recurrence of their cancer. The lung cancer patients that were given the MAGE-A3 AASCI injections were less likely to have recurrences, had more time before their lung cancer recurred, and were less likely to die.

According to the ESMO, Phase III of the therapy trial, named MAGRIT, has begun.