Breast Cancer

The number of younger women (aged under 50) being diagnosed with breast cancer has topped 10,000 in one
year for the first time in the United Kingdom, says Cancer Research UK, a charity.

Today in the UK, out of every five women who are diagnosed with breast cancer, one is aged under 50 years. Each year
nearly 50,000 breast cancer diagnoses are made.

Even though more younger women are being diagnosed with breast cancer, mortality (death rate) in that age group has
dropped considerably, thanks to new treatments.Cancer Research UK added that these new treatments are the result of
research.

In 1995, approximately 7,700 women under the age of 50 were diagnosed with breast cancer. By 2010, the number had
risen by 11% (more than 10,000 cases). Breast cancer incidence among females of all ages grew by 18% during the
same period.

An article published in JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) reported that slightly more younger American
women today are being diagnosed with advanced stage breast cancer. The authors of the report, from the Institut Jules
Bordet, in Brussels, Belgium, defined younger women as those aged from 25 to 39 years.

Why are more younger women getting breast cancer?

Experts are not sure why breast cancer incidence is increasing among younger females. Cancer Research UK
believes hormonal factors, such as having children later in life and having fewer of them, as well as increasing alcohol
consumption are probably the main contributory factors. The contraceptive pill might also be playing a role.

Cancer Research UK's director of health information, Sara Hiom, , said:

"Breast cancer is more common in older women but these figures show that younger women are also at risk of developing
the disease
.
Women of all ages who notice anything different about their breasts, including changes in size, shape or feel, a lump or
thickening, nipple discharge or rash, dimpling, puckering or redness of the skin, should see their GP straight away, even if
they have attended breast cancer screening. It's more likely not to be cancer but if it is, detecting it early gives the best
chance of successful treatment."

More breast cancers but fewer deaths among younger women

Even though more women under 50 are being diagnosed with breast cancer than in the past, the rate at which these
women die from the disease has declined by 40% since the beginning of the 1990s:

· In the early 1990s, 9 per 100,000 younger women died from breast cancer

· By 2010, five per 100,000 younger women died from the disease

· Over 80% of all women diagnosed today with breast cancer before they are 50 years old survive for at least five years

Hiom said:

"The number of cases in women under 50 diagnosed with breast cancer is increasing slowly, but thanks to research,
awareness and improved care more women than ever before are surviving the disease. Cancer Research UK's crucial
work in the laboratory is behind many important drugs, such as tamoxifen and herceptin, and our trials of drugs called
aromatase inhibitors paved the way for the development of anastrozole - all of this is helping to give women with breast
cancer more treatment options."
Ann Partridge, MD, MPH, who founder of the Program for Young Women with Breast Cancer at Dana-Farber Cancer
Institute, said in September 2008 "In addition to being at higher risk of dying from breast cancer than older women, young
women with breast cancer are at increased risk of psychosocial distress at diagnosis and in follow-up when compared
with older women. Young women with breast cancer face a variety of unique medical and psychosocial concerns as a
result of their diagnosis and subsequent treatment. In particular, fertility and family planning, menopausal symptoms, and
sexual functioning are of great concern to this patient population."

Christian Nordqvist
View drug information on Herceptin.
Prostate Cancer
New research from the US suggests men with prostate cancer who took or started taking statins before
their diagnosis, may reduce their risk of dying from the disease. Statins are a class of drugs prescribed for
lowering cholesterol.

Lead researcher Janet L. Stanford, of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC) in Seattle, Washington,
and colleagues. write about their findings in a paper published online this week in the The Prostate journal.

The researchers believe if their results are confirmed, the next step should be a clinical trial of statins in prostate
cancer patients.

First author Milan S. Geybels, who used to work in Stanford's group at FHCRC and is now at Maastricht University
in The Netherlands, says in a statement:

"While statin drugs are relatively well tolerated with a low frequency of serious side effects, they cannot be
recommended for the prevention of prostate cancer-related death until a preventive effect on mortality from prostate
cancer has been demonstrated in a large, randomized, placebo- controlled clinical trial."

Study Finds Significant Reduction In Risk of Dying from Prostate Cancer Linked to
Statin Use

For their study, Geybels, Stanford and colleagues followed about 1,000 prostate cancer patients based in the
Seattle area who were diagnosed between 2002 and 2005.

At time of diagnosis, around 30% of the participants were current or former users of statins to control cholesterol.
This was assessed in a detailed face-to-face interview.

Over the follow-up, researchers monitored how the cancer progressed in the participants, whether there were any
recurrences and deaths. This was done by surveys and also consulting a national cancer registry, SEER.

After an average follow-up of nearly 8 years, they found that the risk of dying from prostate cancer among
men who used statins was 1%, compared with 5% for those who did not.

There was no link between statin use and cancer recurrence or progression.

Stanford, who is co-director of FHCRC's Prostate Cancer Research Program and a member of the Center's Public
Health Sciences Division, says in a statement:

"If the results of our study are validated in other patient cohorts with extended follow-up for cause-specific death, an
intervention trial of statin drugs in prostate cancer patients may be justified."

First Study to Look at Statins and Prostate Cancer Deaths

While there have been previous studies on the effect of statins in prostate cancer, these have measured changes in
PSA, a biochemical marker, and not deaths.

This is the first study to look at the link between statin use and deaths in prostate cancer patients.

"Very few studies of statin use in relation to death from prostate cancer have been conducted, possibly because
such analyses require much longer follow-up for the assessment of this prostate cancer outcome," explains
Geybels.
What Might Explain the Effect of Statins on Prostate Cancer Survival?
While they did not investigate them in the study, the researchers suggests two possible mechanisms for the link
between statin use and lower risk of death from prostate cancer.

One way could be that when cholesterol is incorporated into cell membranes, it helps prostate cancer cells survive.
Taking statins reduces cholesterol which in turn reduces this effect.

Another way is that statins inhibit a compound called mevalonate that helps produce cholesterol.

Geybels says any compound that stops or slows the progression of prostate cancer would be beneficial.

"Prostate cancer is an interesting disease for which secondary prevention, or preventing poor long-term patient
outcomes, should be considered because it is the most common cancer among men in developed countries and the
second leading cause of cancer-related deaths," says Geybels.

Funds from the National Cancer Institute in the US, the Dutch Cancer Society, the Prostate Cancer Foundation and
FHCRC financed the study.

Another area of research that is finding promising avenues to pursue for cancer treatments is "oncolytic viruses", or
viruses that target cancer cells. An interesting example of this was published in the April 2013 issue of the Journal of
Virology, where a team of veterinary scientists suggested that a modified disease virus that targets and kills all types
of prostate cancer cells and leaves normal cells untouched shows promise as a cancer treatment.