IMMUNE BOOSTER
By Jack Taylor
Agence France-Presse
New cancer treatment based on GnRH analogues hailed as breakthrough
SYDNEY
A new cancer treatment pioneered in Australia is to undergo trial by six top hospitals in Europe and the United States after being hailed a major breakthrough by a Washington conference.
The therapy has already shown outstanding results in tests on prostate cancer and leukemia sufferers. It has minimal side effects and could be available within two years, its developers said.
It fights cancer and, potentially, HIV/AIDS by boosting the body's immune system to make it produce more of the vital T-cells that produce thymus, the gland that shrinks naturally after puberty.
The therapy is based on an existing class of drugs called GnRH analogues, which are used to block the production of sex hormones in people with prostate cancer, breast cancer, and endometriosis.
It was developed by researchers at Melbourne's Monash University who discovered that GnRH analogues also acted to kick-start the T-cells.
Melbourne-based biotechnology group Norwood Abbey backed the project with a US$4-million investment and now plans to join forces with a global partner to produce the treatment.
Subject to successful human trials, a treatment should be available within two years, Norwood Abbey said.
"This is a world breakthrough for cancer treatment," said Steve Bracks, premier of the Australian state of Victoria, at its unveiling at the US Bio2003 world biotechnology conference in Washington in mid-June.
Four hospitals in the US, one in Britain, and another in Switzerland have agreed to test it on selected groups of cancer patients next year, while Swiss hospitals will test it with HIV/AIDS patients in conjunction with the US National Institutes of Health.
The six hospitals taking part in the research are Boston's Dana-Farber Hospital, New York's Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Houston's M.D. Anderson Hospital, the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, London's Royal Free Hospital, and the University Hospital in Basel.
Prof. Manual Battegay of Basel's University Hospital, also one of the Swiss hospitals undertaking the HIV/AIDS trials, said if the therapy could be translated to AIDS patients, it promised to overcome one of the most important hurdles in treating the virus.
"This new therapy is a huge achievement for biotech in this state and it does cement our reputation in medical research," Victoria's acting premier John Thwaites said.
It is the second Australian cancer treatment unveiled at Bio2003 by Australian political leaders. Queensland's state premier Peter Beattie announced a vaccine that has tested successfully to treat melanoma.
Norwood Abbey executive chair Peter Hansen said his company was "very, very close," subject to successful trials, to marketing the therapy. It involves a world first in reviving the immune system by rejuvenating the thymus and has minimal side effects beyond skin irritations and hot flushes, Hansen said.
The rejuvenation process increases the body's output of T cells, which are the primary defense against cancer and viral infections.
"Too often in the past remarkable Australian research has been lost abroad, along with most of the rewards," he said. "We have worked hard to change this so cancer patients and others with life-threatening diseases throughout the world may benefit from future treatment."
HRT Hikes Breast Cancer Risk
PARIS
Hormone replacement therapies place women at increased risk of developing breast cancer, according to a study involving more than a million women and published August in The Lancet. The comprehensive study bears out previous suspicions of a link between combination (progestagen-oestrogen) hormone replacement therapies (HRTs) and the development of breast cancer.
The use of HRT by British women aged between 50 and 64 has caused an estimated 20,000 extra breast cancers over the past decade, 15,000 of which are likely to be associated with combination HRT therapies, the study found. The study is also the first to report that HRT increases the risk of dying from breast cancer.
The Million Women Study led by Valerie Beral from Cancer Research UK's Epidemiology Unit in Oxford, southern England, focused on the effects of specific types of HRT on breast cancer.
From 1996 to 2001, Beral monitored 1,084,110 British women aged between 50 to 64, half of whom had followed HRT at some point in their lives. Of the women surveyed, 9,364 developed breast cancer after an average 2.6 years, with 637 women dying of the disease after an average of 4.1 years.
Current users of all types of HRT were at an increased risk of developing breast cancer, and faced a 22-percent increased risk of dying from the disease.
Use of combination HRT caused a four-fold increase in the risk of developing the disease compared to estrogen-only HRT, the study shows.
The study found that the risk of breast cancer rose in proportion to the length of the HRT use, but that the increased risk appeared to wear off a few years after discontinuing the therapy.
Commenting in The Lancet, Beral said: "Combined HRT is usually prescribed for women who still have a uterus, to avoid the increased risk of cancer of the uterus caused by estrogen only therapy."
"Since our results show a substantially greater increase in breast cancer with combined HRT, women need to weigh the increased risk of breast cancer caused by progestogen against the lower risk of uterine cancer."
"Comparing the risks is by no means simple," Beral added, "and women may well want to discuss their options with their doctor."
The implications for medical practitioners are discussed in a commentary by a Dutch scientist published alongside Beral's article.
To Chris van Wheel from the University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands, the problem lies with women who are already taking HRT-an estimated 20 to 50 percent of all Western women aged between 45 and 70.
Van Wheel recommended that this group discontinue HRT use as soon as possible, although practitioners should introduce the issue in a positive, supportive way in order to avoid panic reactions.
The Dutch scientist also sees "a great need for a public information campaign," with the medical profession in the lead, with current evidence of increased risks stated "in clear but unsensational wording."
AFP
But Miso Soup Halves It
The risk of developing breast cancer was nearly halved among Japanese women who had miso soup at least three times a day compared with those who had one or less bowl of the traditional soya-based dish per day.
A team of Japanese researchers concluded in a study published in the US Journal of the National Cancer Institute that "frequent miso soup and isoflavone consumption was associated with a reduced risk of breast cancer."
Miso is pureed steamed soybeans, mixed with salt and other fermenting agents.
The research team, headed by Shoichiro Tsugane of Japan's National Cancer Center, tracked 21,852 Japanese women, aged 40 to 59 years old, across Japan over 10 years from 1990 and studied their consumption of soyabean products, such as miso soup and tofu.
On average, 0.098 percent of those who had one or less bowl of miso soup developed breast cancer every year, while the incidence was reduced to 0.057 percent among those who had at least three bowls per day, the study found.
"Consumption of miso soup and isoflavones ... was inversely associated with the risk of breast cancer," said Seiichiro Yamamoto, a researcher at the Japanese institute and lead author of the study.
Laboratory studies have already shown that isoflavones, a group of compounds that the soyabean contains in abundance, inhibit breast cancer. Until now, however, various epidemiological studies had shown inconsistent associations between the breast cancer risk and consumption of soyabean and isoflavones, Yamamoto said.
The study could not show statistically significant evidence that other soyabean products are associated with reduced breast cancer risk, Yamamoto said. "The tendency for lowered breast cancer risk (associated with other soyabean products) was observed but we need to do further studies to confirm it," he said.
Researchers also believe frequent miso soup consumption may reduce the risk of prostate cancer among men, Yamamoto said.
But Yamamoto cautioned that miso is no miracle food, as it contains a lot of salt, which can cause stomach cancer and high blood pressure, among other diseases. He added, though, a balanced diet containing a lot of soyabeans "is healthy overall" and was believed to reduce the risk of developing cancer.
"Very generally speaking there is a perception that the traditional Japanese diet is healthy. We will study what part of it had what kind of effect on people. Some were good, some were bad," Yamamoto said.
Hiroshi Hiyama, AFP
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