"Treatment Brings Hope for Ovarian Cancer"...Some GOOD news for a change.

[in_cog_ni_to]

Treatment Brings Hope for Ovarian Cancer
By LINDA A. JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer
2 hours ago

Pumping heavy doses of chemotherapy drugs right into the abdomen boosted survival of women with advanced ovarian cancer by 16 months in what experts call the first big advance in more than a decade against one of the most lethal cancers in women.

There's a high price, though: The treatment is so tough that nearly 6 in 10 women in a study could not endure it and switched to standard intravenous chemotherapy. Side effects included abdominal pain from bloating and problems with the catheter used to infuse the drugs.

Still, the National Cancer Institute is urging doctors to begin using the procedure, its first endorsement of any cancer treatment since 1999. Six medical groups focused on ovarian cancer joined in the recommendation.

The study was reported in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.

http://www.comcast.net/news/health/index.jsp?cat=HEALTHWELLNESS&fn=/2006/01/05/297345.html

[HysteryDiagnosis]

1. You will see the reference to I3C in here.... which is short for

Indole Three Carbinol.... anti-estrogen therapy is advised.... I3C a derivative (purified) of cabbage is/has been available for at least 10 years primarily as a preventive for good reason.

1: Anticancer Res. 2004 Sep-Oct;24(5A):2649-56. Related Articles, Links


Apoptosis in cervical cancer cells: implications for adjunct anti-estrogen therapy for cervical cancer.

Chen D, Carter TH, Auborn KJ.

North Shore-Long Island Jewish Research Institute, 350 Community Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030, USA.

BACKGROUND: Many tumors show dependence on estrogen for growth and establishment of drug resistance. We examined the effects of estrogen on cervical cancer cells exposed to apoptotic agents including drugs used for treatment.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: We tested the effect of estradiol on apoptosis in three cervical cancer cell lines. Apoptosis was measured by endonucleolytic degradation of DNA. Bcl-2 was measured by Western analysis.

RESULTS: Estradiol reduced the percentage of cells undergoing apoptosis after exposure to the DNA-damaging agents UVB, mitomycin-C and cisplatin. Protection against taxol-induced apoptosis was marginal.

Protection was independent of HPV gene expression, and not specific to apoptosis induced by DNA damage, since estradiol significantly reduced the number of apoptotic cells produced after exposure to indole-3-carbinol (I3C), a non-genotoxic phytochemical effective in preventing HPV-induced tumors.

Higher concentrations of I3C overcame the anti-apoptotic effect of estradiol. Treatment with I3C resulted in loss of the survival protein Bcl-2, and estradiol partially reversed this effect.

CONCLUSION: Estrogen protects cervical cancer cells treated with DNA-damaging agents; UVB, mitomycin-C and cisplatin, from apoptotic death. For I3C, which induces apoptosis and is anti-estrogenic, the amount of apoptosis versus survival and the level of Bcl-2 depend on the I3C/estradiol ratio.

PMID: 15517869