Dreaming - the Breast Cancer Vaccine

I have a dream. Well, I have many dreams, but this one is about an easy, almost painless means of ensuring that no woman ever has to face, fight or survive breast cancer again. A vaccine. Am I just dreaming? Maybe. Maybe not.

Mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV) is a proven cause of breast cancer in field and experimental mice. MMTV was discovered way back in 1936. MMTV-like viral genetic material has been identified in human breast tumors, but it's not known whether it actually causes tumor development. Research has uncovered a human mammary tumor virus, HMTV, which is 95-98% similar to the mouse virus (MMTV), so they are believed to be the same virus.

HMTV has been found in approximately 40 percent of all human breast cancer (bc) specimens examined, in 60 percent of pregnancy-associated bc's, and in 71 percent of inflammatory bc's. Women whose tumors show evidence of the virus have antibodies to it 95 percent of the time, whereas normal, healthy women have antibodies to the virus less than 5 percent of the time.

A research team, led by Vincent Tuohy, PhD, at Cleveland Clinic's Lerner Research Institute, have developed a vaccine that prevents breast cancer tumors from forming in mice, while inhibiting the growth of existing tumors. The vaccine contains the antigen a-lactalbumin. In the latest study, genetically cancer-prone mice were vaccinated - half with a vaccine containing the antigen and half with a vaccine that didn't contain the antigen. None of the mice vaccinated with the antigen developed breast cancer, while all of the other mice did.

Unlike the FDA approved cervical cancer vaccine and liver cancer vaccines, both of which target viruses (human papillomavirus and Hepatitis B viruses), this mouse vaccine targets cancer formation itself. Tuohy explains that the key in developing a human breast cancer vaccine is therefore to find a target within the tumor that isn't typically found in a healthy person. In the case of breast cancer, they are targeting a-lactalbumin, a protein found in the majority of breast cancers but not in healthy women, except during lactation. The vaccine is expected to stimulate a woman's immune system to target a-lactalbumin, stopping tumor formation without damaging healthy breast tissue.

The hoped for strategy would be to vaccinate women over 40, when breast cancer risk begins to increase and pregnancy becomes less likely. The vaccine would also be an alternative option for younger women with a heightened risk of breast cancer, instead of prophylactic mastectomies.

While there is still controversy over just how many breast cancers contain a-lactalbumin, Tuohy is hopeful that his findings might lead to vaccines for other types of cancer, and so am I. His vaccine is ready to be tested for safety in humans, but guess what. Komen has turned him down for funding 3 times and Avon has refused to even consider it. Hmmmm.... Maybe Mr. Tuohy scared the queens of pinkwashing when he said, ""If it works in humans the way it works in mice, this will be monumental. We could eliminate breast cancer."

I first heard about the possibility of one or more breast cancer viruses from Dr. Kathleen Ruddy, founder of The Breast Health and Healing Foundation. Talk About Health hosted a question/answer session with Dr. Ruddy, which is a great place to start if you're interested in learning more about this topic.

Susan Beausang, 4Women.com

Susan Beausang is President of 4Women.com, Inc. and designer of the patented BeauBeauR head scarf, a fashionable scarf specifically designed for women and girls. The Beaubeau unites the worlds of fashion and medical hair loss. 4Women.com's mission is to help women and girls cope with the emotional upheaval of medical hair loss with dignity and confidence and to advocate for greater understanding of the emotional impacts of hair loss. An Alopecian and a Previvor, Susan is bald but cancer-free. She strives to be a source of strength and hope for women and girls with medical hair loss. Learn more at http://www.4women.com/.

Original article

Recognize Breast Cancer Symptoms Early To Kill Them

Most of us know that the most important creature of the world women are at life-time risk of developing breast cancer due to various factors among them some are in control, but others are not in control and play a vital role to affect the life of women by causing some of the symptoms that don't appear at initial stage.

In most of the cases these symptoms remain passive and appear at later stage when they can't be managed easily with number of treatment options. It is essential to be in touch with breasts for women to catch these symptoms earlier.

How to Recognize Breast Cancer Symptoms?

There are different ways to catch the breast cancer symptoms at initial stage such as self-examination, clinical examination, breast cancer screening etc. Each type has the advantages and the basic purpose of all these methods is the same and that is to detect the cancer as soon as possible after it attacks a woman.

The emphasis on early detection is due to the fact that it is the only way to treat cancer successfully and to raise the survival rate. Self-examination is the most convenient and easy to do method for getting information about the most delicate and important body part breast.

Women can get adequate information about breast by performing regular self-examination at least once a month as information about breasts will be useful not only to detect the symptoms of breast cancer, but also to catch the other abnormalities that can lead to develop breast cancer.

Self-examination can be performed in the privacy of room without seeking the help of any body. The only thing that is required to perform effective self-examination is the women must be keen observer so that they can distinguish normal and abnormal changes. Another benefit of self-examination is that women have clear idea of how her breasts look and feel normally and it is one of the most important things for women to recognize the breast cancer symptoms.

Breast Cancer Symptoms

These symptoms are observed by most of the women during self-examination

· Skin changes such as appearance of wrinkles and puckers on breast skin.

· Changes of size and shape in some cases it is natural for one breast to be larger than the other one, but in case of sudden change it is essential to know the reason.

· Pain in breast that is persistent and does not go away after some medication as well.

· Nipple changes such as inversion or ulceration.

· Fluid discharge from nipple

· Lump formation in the armpit or any area of breast

· Swelling in any part of breast or in the armpit

James is a blogger and writer. He usually writes about breast cancer, breast awareness and breast examination. You can contact him directly at james@breastlight.com.

Original article

Breast Cancer Survival Rates - Dare To Know Your Chances

With the technological and laboratory advancement done in the field of oncology, the breast cancer survival rates of women have been improving in the last two decades, but still, more studies are needed to be done.

Recent reports about cancer of the breast reveal that there is a significant improvement in breast cancer survival rates amongst patients who were treated with the newest treatment regimen.

The following are the breast cancer survival rates in patients who were diagnosed with the cancer in specific time period, showing the significant increase in the percentage of survival amongst old and new patients:
• 10% for patients from 1974 to 1979
• 14% for patients from 1980 to 1984
• 22% for patients from 1985 to 1989
• 29% for patients from 1990 to 1994
• 44% for patients from 1995 to 2000

The more recent the group of patients, the better the prognostic variables and the longer period of living. The main reason of behind this great change is the advances in drugs and treatments. The most favorable variables include:
• A smaller tumor size
• A lower level of disease status
• Fewer lymph nodes involved
• Disease-free interval longer
• Tumors with positive estrogen receptors (these are tumors that use estrogen to grow).
• Tumors that do not involve major organs

It is estimated that the risk reduction has started 1% to 2% per year but is steadily increasing, although the change was not highly significant statistically. This statistic is consistent with data SEET (database of the results found by the National Cancer Institute Surveillance, Epidemilogy and End Results)

Current statistics indicate breast cancer?
In 2004, approximately 217,440 new cases of breast cancer were diagnosed in the United States, and 40.580 women are expected to die from metastasis, this in accordance with the report of the American Cancer Society.

However, improvements in radiographic techniques and more precise imaging techniques can change the distribution of the phases. Small metastases that might have been detected with modern imaging techniques of the 90's could have passed without notice in the 70's.

What could be responsible for the increase in breast cancer survival rates?
The marked increase was a result of longer research period and the number of drugs available for treating cancer. One of the largest increases took place in the 90's with drugs such as taxanes, vinorelbine, capecitabine, Herceptin, aromatase inhibitors and pamidronate.

Regardless of the progress, the improvements in survival rates in patients, especially at the metastatic stage, have been difficult to establish.

Mortality from breast cancer has been in decline, however. From 1995 to 1999, rates of breast cancer have declined for about 3.2% a year. But it still remains not clear whether the decline is due to a higher proportion of patients diagnosed with early stages of the disease or improvements in treatment.

Wanna know more about Breast Cancer Survival Rates? Join the growing number of people getting more information from Cancer Survival Rates.

Original article