A set of genes has been identified that appear to predict which tumors can evade detection by the body’s immune system, a step that may enable them to eventually target only the patients most likely to respond best to a new class of treatment. A team says it has identified genes that have been repressed through so-called epigenetic changes — modifications that alter the way genes function without changing their DNA sequence — which help the cells to evade the immune system. The researchers were able to reverse these epigenetic changes with the use of an FDA-approved drug, forcing the cancer cells out of hiding and potentially making them better targets for the same immune therapy that in the past may have failed.

New research suggests that screening for breast cancer results in increased diagnoses of early stage cancer -- but without a similarly sized decrease in the more serious and aggressive cases. "The idea of screening is that the cancer should be detected as early as possible so that the woman can be treated and cured. So when you introduce screening women should be transferred from having cancer in advanced stages to having cancer in an early stage. That is, if the screening works according to plan," says the lead author.

The biologic mechanisms that individual cancer cells use to metastasize to the brain have been revealed by recent research. Metastasis, the process that allows some cancer cells to break off from their tumor of origin and take root in a different tissue, is the most common reason people die from cancer. Metastatic brain tumors are ten times more common than primary brain cancers. Yet most tumor cells die before they can take root in the brain, which is better protected than most organs against colonization by circulating tumor cells. To seed in the brain, a cancer cell must dislodge from its tumor of origin, enter the bloodstream, and cross densely packed blood vessels called the blood-brain barrier. Until now, little research has been done into how metastatic brain tumors develop.

New research suggests that a protein only recently linked to cancer has a significant effect on the risk that breast cancer will spread, and that lowering the protein’s level in cell cultures and mice reduces chances for the disease to extend beyond the initial tumor. The research suggests that reducing production of the protein, called myoferlin, affects cancer cells in two primary ways: by changing the activation of many genes involved in metastasis in favor of normal cell behavior, and by altering mechanical properties of cancer cells -- including their shape and ability to invade -- so they are more likely to remain nested together rather than breaking away to travel to other tissues.

Older women who have overcome breast cancer are likely to struggle with heart disease, osteoporosis and hypertension further on in their lives. Whether these conditions occur or not is influenced by the treatment that patients received to fight cancer, their overall weight and their age. Breast cancer survivors therefore should watch their weight and get regular exercise so that they can enjoy a high quality of life.

The second-most common type of breast cancer is a very different disease than the most common and appears to be a good candidate for a personalized approach to treatment. Invasive lobular carcinoma, characterized by a unique growth pattern in breast tissue that fails to form a lump, has distinct genetic markers that indicate there may be benefits from drug therapies beyond those typically prescribed for the more common invasive ductal carcinoma.

Women with BRCA1 mutations should have preventive ovarian surgery (prophylactic oophorectomy) by age 35, as waiting until a later age appears to increase the risk of ovarian cancer before or at the time of the preventive surgery. These are the findings of a large international prospective study. Women with a BRCA2 mutation, however, do not appear to be at an increased risk by age 35, suggesting they may delay this procedure until later. Moreover, women with BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations who had this surgery experienced a 77 percent reduction in their overall risk of death by age 70.

Screening men with a family history of prostate cancer for a range of gene mutations can identify those who are at high risk of aggressive forms of the disease and in need of lifelong monitoring, a new study has shown. The findings are important because they demonstrate not only that some men have a genetic profile that puts them at higher risk of prostate cancer, but that particular genetic profiles match to a higher risk of advanced, invasive disease. A big challenge facing prostate cancer researchers is to find ways of predicting which men will have life-threatening forms of the disease, to allow treatment to be tailored more effectively.

Breast cancer patients receiving radiotherapy showed decreased fatigue as a result of cognitive behavioral therapy plus hypnosis, according to a study. The average patient in a treatment group had less fatigue than 79 percent of patients in a control group at the end of radiotherapy. Six months after the end of radiotherapy, the average patient in a treatment group had less fatigue than 95 percent of patients in a control group.

Certain fragments of DNA shed by tumors into the bloodstream can potentially be used to non-invasively screen for early-stage cancers, monitor responses to treatment and help explain why some cancers are resistant to therapies, according to results of an international study. Analyzing blood samples from 640 patients with various cancers, the researchers used digital polymerase chain reaction-based technology to evaluate how well the DNA fragments predicted the presence of tumors in the patients. Investigators say the work provides strong evidence that ctDNA could be used as a “personalized biomarker” test and cancer screening tool.