These are some of the topics that have cropped up in the news, in the journals, and on our helpline recently. You can link to the article or abstract and read our summary. You can also link to relevant information we already have on the subject elsewhere on our website. The articles will be updated every couple of weeks and stored in the Hot topics archives.

We have mostly provided links to the article abstracts, which are often free to view although you may have to register. If you would like to read the full article and are unable to get to it by following the links provided, your local medical or academic library may be subscribed to the relevant journals or be able to get you a copy.

It is believed that oxidative stress may cause bowel cancer but the theory that antioxidants can help is still controversial. A systematic review has tried to answer the question about whether antioxidants can actually help to reduce the risk of bowel cancer.

The researchers identified 20 randomised trials comparing antioxidant supplements to either placebo or no intervention. The outcome measures from the trials were gastrointestinal cancers, overall mortality and adverse effects. The trials involved over 210,000 participants. A variety of supplements were used – beta carotene, vitamins A, C or E, or selenium.

The authors couldn’t find any convincing evidence that antioxidant supplements help to reduce the risk of gastrointestinal cancer. There was some evidence that selenium may be beneficial, but it needs to be tested in further randomised trials. Alarmingly the authors found that antioxidant supplements increased overall mortality. Adverse effects were mild.

Antioxidant supplements for preventing gastrointestinal cancers
Bjelakovic G et al. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2008 Jul 16;(3):CD004183.
Read the abstract

Cancerbackup resources
Cancer of the large bowel information centre
Antioxidant Q&As

A study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine in October, has shown no link between the intake of caffeine and an overall increase in breast cancer.

The study involved 38,000 women aged 45 or over. Detailed dietary information was recorded for all the women, who were then followed-up for an average of 10 years. The researchers identified 1100 cases of invasive breast cancer among the women.

Consumption of caffeine was found not to be associated with an increased risk of breast cancer. However, women who had previous benign breast disease, and who consumed a large amount of caffeine, had a borderline significantly increased risk. The researchers also found that caffeine consumption was linked to the risk of developing larger breast tumours and tumours that were oestrogen and progesterone receptor-negative.

In conclusion the researchers state that they found no overall association. They suggest that caffeine may influence development of breast cancer, but independently of the oestrogen pathway, and that high caffeine consumption may increase the risk of breast cancer in women with benign breast disease. However, further study is needed.

Caffeine consumption and the risk of breast cancer in a large prospective cohort of women
Ishitani K et al. Arch Intern Med. 2008 Oct 13;168(18):2022-31.
Read the abstract 

Cancerbackup resources
Breast cancer information centre

A recent news article about the growth in sales of targeted therapies, published by Medscape News, makes interesting reading. A group of established and emerging targeted therapies have seen continued growth in sales recently and sales have increased by 33% in the last year alone.

The top five products all sell at least $1billion each and another eight therapies are set to achieve a similar level of sales. The top five are:

• rituximab (Rituxan®)
• trastuzumab (Herceptin®)
• bevacizumab (Avastin®)
• cetuximab (Erbitux®)
• imatinib (Gleevec®).

The eight therapies that are increasing in sales are:

• erlotinib (Tarceva®) 
• bortezomib (Velcade®) 
• sunitinib (Sutent®) 
• lenalidomide (Revlimid®) 
• panitumumab (Vectibix®) 
• sorafenib (Nexavar®) 
• lapatinib (Tykerb®) 
• nilotinib (Tasigna®).

Combined sales of the targeted therapies from the USA, UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Japan topped $17.3 billion in 2007, compared to $10.2 billion in sales of branded cytotoxic chemotherapy.

The article discusses how the high price of many of these targeted therapies has hindered their acceptance into national healthcare systems. In the UK, NICE have recommended against the use of a few of the new drugs because of low-cost effectiveness.

More Targeted Cancer Therapies Set to Become "Blockbusters"
Chustecka Z. Medscape Medical News 10 Oct 2008.
Read the article

Cancerbackup resources
Alphabetical list of biological therapies

A factsheet about nilotinib is currently in production.

These summaries are for information only and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cancerbackup.