Can A Woman With Cancer Pass It On To Her Fetus?

Another great question on cancer!

Inheriting cancer in vitro is extremely rare. It appears that only 30 documented cases show the infant received cancer from the mother before birth. There was previously no genetic evidence to explain why a child’s immune system would not recognize and destroy any invasive cancer cells that were of maternal — and therefore, foreign — origin.

The new study, led by Mel Greaves, of the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), and published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, used advanced genetic fingerprinting to prove that an infant’s leukemic cells were unquestionably of maternal origin.

The case, involving a Japanese mother aged 28 and her daughter, revealed that both patients’ leukemic cells carried the identical mutated cancer gene BCR-ABL1 even though the infant had not inherited this gene.

This meant that the child, who had cancer diagnosed at 11 months old, could not have developed this type of leukemia in isolation.

Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article6871768.ece

Is there such a thing as heart cancer?

Heart cancer is extremely rare and is referred to as cardiac sarcoma (cancer of a soft tissue). The number of people dying of heart cancer is combined with those dying of all soft tissue cancer and is estimated to be 4,000 people in 2010.

Many people diagnosed with heart cancer had a primary cancer close to the heart like melanoma and then it went on to invade the heart cells too. Tumors found in the heart are usually benign and can be removed.



Source:http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/heart-cancer/AN01288

Cyclin Was Discovered 30 years ago - what is it being used for today?

It looks like research articles on cyclin have been published regularly over the past twenty years. In fact the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded for the discovery of CDKs and cyclins and the complete description of cyclin and cyclin-dependent kinase mechanisms.

You remember from our textbook that when cyclin is injected into a non-dividing cell it begins to form spindles and goes into cell division. A research article published in 2008 found that cyclin d1 is over-expressed in human breast cancer. These findings may explain how cyclin d1 contributes to breast tumor growth, and provides the rationale for targeted therapies in humans.

In April 2010, over 50 abstracts were presented at the American Association of Cancer Research meeting dealing with cyclins and ways to inhibit the cyclin dependent kinase. It looks like a very promising area of cancer study.




Sources: ErbB2 Induces Notch1 Activity and Function in Breast Cancer Cells Clinical
and Translational Science Volume 1, Issue 2, pages 107–115, September 2008

http://seekingalpha.com/article/199229-cyclin-dependent-cancer-confab-
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What's New in Cancer Research?

Studying about cell division always brings up great questions about cancer.

One very recent discovery is the develop of blood vessels in tumors which serves as a pipeline for nourishment. It appears that tumors have hormone receptors that allows a hormone called FSH (follicle stimulating hormone) to bind and start forming new blood vessels. This receptor was found in 11 different types of tumors and the race is on to see if compounds can be used to block the receptor or inhibit the protein.

Source: A. Radu et al. Expression of follicle-stimulating hormone receptor in tumor blood vessels. New England Journal of Medicine, Vol 363, Oct 21, 2010, p.1621.

How Does A Cell Become Cancerous?

Cells growth and division is controlled by genes. One part of the gene stimulates and growth and another part of the gene restrains it. Those two pieces need to work in perfect harmony in order to have a normal rate of cell division. When cells divide much faster than usual they form a tumor. All cancers develop from a primary tumor.If the tumor sheds cells in the blood or lymph they will go on to form a secondary tumor elsewhere in the body.

Is Cancer Contagious? GUEST BLOG

Today's blog is written by Alex.

Cancer is one of the deadliest diseases in the world, but you don't get cancer the same way that you get a disease like Chicken Pox. Inside your body, new cells are being created and destroyed constantly in order to maintain a balance. In cancer, this balance is thrown off because cells are being made in large quantities and never being killed. The cells that don't die constantly reproduce and create a large mass of cells called a tumor. The only reason this occurs is that the gene that controls the rate of the creation and deceasing of cells is damaged. This can just happen, be due to chemicals, radiation or because there was an error passed on from your parents. The damaged gene is called a mutation. Some cancers are linked with viruses, like the Human Papilloma Virus can cause cervical cancer. A type of lymphoma called Burkitt's lymphoma which is quite common in Africa is linked with the Ebstein Barr virus. You can catch the virus, but you can't catch cancer.

Cancer is hereditary. The damaged genes can be reproduced and sent down through generations to come, and though you can get cancer from various viruses, you can't catch cancer from people with cancer.

Source:www.cancer.org