New study confirms that breast and brain cancer cells easily migrate to body's 'sweet spots'

Cancer cells do extremely well in body's so-called sweet spots, new research shows.

According to a recent story by Lee Bullen of Zenger News in Newsweek magazine, a group of researchers led by the University of Minnesota Twin Cities have "shed new light on how cancer thrives."

Previous studies, the article says, showed that cancer cells — which can "sense the stiffness of the environment they are in, from hard bone and tough muscle to soft, fatty tissue" — have a sweet spot "of stiffness…where they can move faster."

The latest study, published in the scientific journal "Nature Materials," indicates that the sweet spot is "a just-right Goldilocks spot somewhere in the middle."

David Odds, PhD

Bullen's story quotes David Odde, PhD and professor at the university's Department of Bio-medical Engineering, as saying that "this discovery challenges the current thinking in the field, which is that cells only move toward stiffer environments. I think that this finding will change how people think about this phenomenon."

He added, "We're basically decoding how cancer cells invade tissue, they don't just move randomly. They actually have particular ways in which they like to move, and if we can understand the, we may be better able to trip them up."

The researchers had analyzed both breast and brain cancer.

More research information is available in "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer," a VitalityPress book that I, Woody Weingarten, aimed at male caregivers.

2 experimental drugs might extend patients' lives

Renewed hope is possible for women with aggressive breast cancer, new study indicates

Two experimental drugs might help women with an aggressive form of breast cancer, results of a new study show.

According to a recent Associated Press story by Marilynn Marchione that cites reports in the New England Journal of Medicine and at a San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium that the cancers "had spread widely and and resisted many previous treatments," one drug "showed particular ability to reach tumors in the brain, which are notoriously tough to treat."

The other combines "a sort of homing device for cancer cells with a payload of chemotherapy that's released when it reaches its target."

Dr. Ian Krop in his office.

Marchione's article quotes the study's leader, Dr. Ian Krop of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, to the effect that infusions of T-DXd, the second drug, become "a guided missile…able to bring the chemotherapy directly to the cancer cell."

That study — focusing on often-fatal HER2-positive cancers, which have a protein on their cell surfaces driven by an overactive gene that promotes tumor growth — tested TDXd on 253 women. 

Most of the them, who had, on average, tried six other treatments before the experimental drug, saw their tumors shrink — and 6 percent of them found zero signs of cancer in at least two followup scans.

The positive response rate, the AP story again quotes Krop, "is three to four times better than what's usually seen in this situation." 

To see results showing a median time of 16 months until cancer worsened "is exciting," he added.

All involved, however, noted that side effects — including lung inflammation, low blood counts, nausea, anemia or fatigue — were substantial.

But anti-inflammatory meds can alleviate some of those issues, it's believed.

The study was sponsored by the drug's developers, Daiichi Sankyo Inc. and AstraZeneca, who are seeking approval in the United States, Europe and Japan.

Study of the other drug — tucatinib, from Seattle Genetics — was done on 612 patients. Its side effects included diarrhea, fatigue, nausea and some liver issues, but 45 percent of those on the drug were alive two years after being given it (along with the usual treatments, Herceptin and the chemo drug Xeloda) as opposed to 27 percent who weren't.

More information on experimental drugs can be found in "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer," a VitalityPress book that I, Woody Weingarten, aimed at male caregivers.

Earpieces, texting can quash disease fears

Anxieties about cellphones causing brain cancer are still unfounded, new studies show

Worried about getting cancer from cellphones?

New studies indicate there's no need to hang up — still.

According to a recent Associated Press story by Seth Borenstein and Lauren Neergaard, although "two government studies that bombarded rats and mice with cellphone radiation found a weak link to some heart tumors," federal regulars and some scientists continue to say it's safe to use your device.

Previous studies had shown little reason for anxiety.

"In particular, scientists could not find hard evidence for concern about brain tumors," the story says.

Dr. John Bucher

It goes on to assert that Dr. John Bucher of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the lead author of the research, isn't changing his cellphone use "or advising his family to," and that Dr. Otis Brawley, the American Cancer Society's chief medical officer, noted in an interview after reading the studies, "I am actually holding my cellphone up to my ear."

Even though the new studies that involved super-high doses of radiation showed a rare connection to some nerve-tissue tumors in male rats, Brawley's quoted as saying, "the evidence for an association between cellphones and cancer is weak. And so far we have not seen a higher chance risk in people."

If, however, you're still concerned, "wear an earpiece," he urges.

Bucher suggests, moreover, that the rat tumors "do not translate directly into  concern for humans."

According to the AP piece, Bucher's agency "conducted the $25 million study at the behest of the Food and Drug Administration, which quickly said cellphones are safe."

Dr. Jeffrey Shuren

The article also quoted a statement by FDA radiation health chief Dr. Jeffrey Shuren to the effect that the "current safety limits for cellphones are acceptable for protecting the public health."

Bucher, in a news conference, had insisted that the experiment with rats and mice, in which they were bombarded for one hours a day for up to two years, incorporated "a radiation level so high that humans would only experience it briefly, such as when a phone with a weak signal expends more energy searching for as stronger one."

A 2010 analysis in 13 countries had "found little or no risk of brain tumors," and an earlier Danish study that linked phone bills to a cancer registry had found no risk even from more than 13 years of cellphone use.

In December 2017, the state of California issued guidelines saying that if people were still worried, they should reduce exposure by using earphones or texting.

More information about potential links of technological devices to the disease can be extracted from "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer," a VitalityPress book I, Woody Weingarten, aimed at male caregivers.

Sharing the ultra-personal, autobiographical

Heartbreaking video game about 5-year-old's fatal brain cancer depicts real-life tragedy

Interactive video games people play now, rather than emphasizing violence, have become ultra-personal.

Autobiographical, in fact.

Joel Green as depicted in video game

Like one created over an 18-month period by Ryan and Amy Green, who share the heartbreaking real-life tale of their son, Joel, who was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer at 12 months and died four years later in 2014.

Their game is called "That Dragon, Cancer."

Players, according to a feature story this week in The New York Times, "are inspired to intimately share their own stories of battling illness and coping with loss."

The Times piece detailed the Green's story along with those of two other video developers, Matt Gilgenbach ("Neverending Nightmares," about obsessive-compulsive disorder and depression) and Anna Anthropy ("Dys4ia," about the transgender experiences and hormone replacement therapy).

The aim of new games like "That Dragon, Cancer" is not to win, the story indicates, "but to share personal experiences from the creator's life as a work of creative, interactive nonfiction."

Not everyone loves the concept, however.

Among the comments on the Times website is one from Dan Stackhouse, who says his reason "for playing is as an escape from the annoyances and mundanities of life…My mom just passed away from cancer, and it was a depressing and painful time, I'm still getting over it. Why on earth would I want to immerse myself in the experience of having a child die of cancer? I'm fully aware of how agonizing and bleak it is, no need to go through it again with a game."

In contrast, successful real-life experiences battling cancer can be found in "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer," a VitalityPress book I, Woody Weingarten, aimed at male caregivers.