Common Cold Virus Attacks Cancer, Study Finds

iStockphoto/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- A virus that causes the common cold can also track and attack tumors, according to a new study that opens the door to novel cancer treatments.

British researchers injected reovirus into the bloodstreams of 10 patients with bowel cancer that had spread to the liver and found the virus set up deadly “reproduction factories” in the tumors but not in healthy tissue.

“It seems that reovirus is even cleverer than we had thought,” study author Dr. Alan Melcher, professor of clinical oncology and biotherapy at Leeds University in the U.K., said in a statement. “By piggybacking on blood cells, the virus is managing to hide from the body’s natural immune response and reach its target intact. This could be hugely significant for the uptake of viral therapies like this in clinical practice.”

The findings, published Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine, suggest cancer-killing viruses can target hard-to-treat tumors after being injected into the bloodstream like standard chemotherapies.

“It would have been a significant barrier to their widespread use if they could only have been injected into the tumor, but the finding that they can hitch a ride on blood cells will potentially make them relevant to a broad range of cancers,” study co-author Dr. Kevin Harrington of the Institute of Cancer Research said in a statement. “We also confirmed that reovirus was specifically targeting cancer cells and leaving normal cells alone, which we hope should mean fewer side effects for patients.”

Other viral cancer therapies, some of which require direct injection into tumors, are currently in phase 3 testing. But this is the first time reovirus has been shown to safely and effectively home in on tumors through the blood.

In an accompanying editorial, John Bell of the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute in Canada said the study provides an “important proof-of-concept” for intravenous viral cancer therapies.

“The authors and, more importantly, the patients who participated in this trial have made crucial contributions to the translation of [oncolytic virus]-based therapies,” he wrote.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Young Cancer Survivors Face Later Health Risks

Hemera/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- While much progress has been made in the field of cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment as whole, these same trends are not evident in cancer among young adults.

The National Cancer Institute reports survival rates in young adults have not improved significantly over the years, and a new study by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that young adult and adolescent cancer survivors are at higher risk for developing chronic diseases, engaging in risky health behaviors such as smoking and having mental health problems.

The study authors analyzed data from the 2009 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, a nationwide, ongoing phone survey that monitors risky behaviors and health problems.

They compared data from 4,054 adolescent and young adult survivors with more than 300,000 people who never had cancer and found that more young cancer survivors smoked, were obese, had chronic medical conditions such as hypertension and asthma and also suffered from more mental health problems.

"I think it illustrates that this population, which is already vulnerable because of their prior cancer, is continuing to engage in behaviors that lead to long-term outcomes, which can lead to problems down the road for them," said Dr. Eric Tai, the study's lead author and a medical officer with CDC's Cancer Prevention and Control division.

There is evidence from other studies, the authors wrote, that certain risky behaviors such as smoking and drinking may be linked to an increased risk of secondary cancers later on.

Significantly more young cancer survivors also reported having heart disease, high blood pressure, asthma and diabetes compared with those with no cancer history. "This is consistent with late effects of cancer treatment, including cardiac and pulmonary complications, among childhood cancer survivors," they said.

Tai added that young survivors struggled much more with their psychological well-being, which suggests they may benefit from counseling and care that revolves around promoting healthy behavior after cancer. They may also benefit from interventions that address their risky behaviors, such as smoking cessation programs.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Community Shows Support for 4-Year-Old with Terminal Cancer

ABC News(DALLAS) -- People across the country are sending in pictures of themselves showing support for Dyrk Burcie, a 4-year-old from Texas with terminal cancer.

Dyrk was diagnosed with stage four liver cancer when he was just 3 years old.

“On March 8, 2011, while Dyrk was getting a bath, we felt a distinct mass on his abdomen,” Dyrk’s mom, Shelley, wrote on the “Fundraiser for Dyrk Burcie” Facebook page. “Both Dameon [Dyrk's dad] and I had a sinking feeling in our gut that this is not good.”

When they took Dyrk to the emergency room the next day, they were given the unimaginable diagnosis.

And so the Burcies began the long process of trying to heal their young son.

Dyrk has already endured nine rounds of chemotherapy, five surgeries and a liver transplant, according to ABC News Dallas affiliate WFAA.

Dyrk’s dad, Dameon Burcie, is a lieutenant with the Dallas Fire Department. His fellow firefighters decided that while doctors worked to heal Burcie’s son physically, they wanted to do something to lift the Burcie family’s spirits.

So the firefighters began taking photographs of themselves to support Dyrk -- holding up posters with words of encouragement and spelling out Dyrk’s name in creative ways.

The support began to spread -- first to other fire departments in the area and, eventually, it became a trend across the country.

Firefighters, sports teams, hospital staff and families have all sent in photos to boost Dyrk’s spirits and help support the Burcie family.

To send in your own picture for Dyrk and his family, please visit the Fundraiser for Dyrk Burcie Facebook page.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

New Cancer Drug Gives Patients with Rare Skin Cancer New Hope

iStockphoto/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- For nearly 50 years, Joe Brindley, 81, has been going to the doctor every few months, getting chunks of cancer removed from the skin all over his body. Doctors removed so much skin from his nose that he needed a skin graft from his forehead to reconstruct it.

"I said at the time, Doc, do you think that will do me any good? I'll have new skin cancer in three years," Brindley said. Sure enough, two years after the painful surgery, the cancer returned.

Stewart Slone, 63, estimates that he's had more than 1,000 skin cancers in his lifetime. Surgeries to remove cancer from the top of his head left it bald and raw. He said people called him lots of names he'd like to forget.

"I've sort of lived as an outcast, all the scars on my face, and no hair and the red color to my head," he said.

Brindley, Sloane and thousands of others have a condition called basal-cell nevus syndrome, or Gorlin syndrome. It's a rare genetic disorder that gives a single person hundreds to thousands of skin cancer tumors during his or her lifetime.

People with the condition usually have surgery every two or three months to remove a cancerous lesion from their skin. They risk losing an ear, an eye or nose, along with having scars and lesions on their faces.

"Surgery was the only treatment, and has been for many years," said Kathlyn Roth, 58, who has had Gorlin syndrome since she was 15. "When you're walking around with a bandage or cotton ball sewn to your face, people look at you very strangely."

However, patients with Gorlin syndrome now have new hope from a drug that treats the disease. The drug, called vismodegib, not only treats patients with Gorlin syndrome but also thousands patients with advanced stages of basal cell carcinoma, the most common form of skin cancer.

Three studies published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine describe the success of the drug against basal cell carcinomas. Dr. David Bickers, chairman of dermatology at Columbia University and an author of one of the studies, said for the 2 million people who develop a few small skin cancers, surgery is still the best option. But for people with advanced forms of the disease, the drug will be a major help.

"These patients instead of having one or two basal cells, often develop dozens, even hundreds of them, requiring hundreds of surgeries," Bickers said. "For those patients, taking this drug and reducing the tumor burden is a major advance."

The quest for a treatment for this type of skin cancer began more than 20 years ago, when scientists discovered a biologic pathway that tells the body's cells when to stop growing. The pathway, called the sonic hedgehog pathway, plays a key role in the growth and development of fertilized eggs, starting and stopping at specifically timed points in development.

"Once you're born, it pretty much shuts off. And that's a good thing," Bickers said.

But the trouble begins when the sonic hedgehog pathway spins out of control.

"When it turns on again in the adult, this drives the cell division that drives the growth of tumors," Bickers said. Decades of research has shown scientists that the pathway is active not only in skin cancer, but also in some childhood cancers, pancreatic cancer and certain types of lung cancer.

In patients with Gorlin syndrome, an error in a gene called PTCH prevents their bodies from putting the brakes on the sonic hedgehog pathway, leading to the unchecked growth of tumors.

Now, nearly 20 years after scientists discovered the role of the pathway in tumor growth, researchers developed vismodegib to target the pathway, basically shutting it off. The drug is manufactured by Genentech.

According to the new results of small clinical trials, the approach works. Researchers studied 104 patients in the most advanced stages of basal cell carcinoma, giving them the drug for a little over a year. Tumors shrank in the majority of the patients, and in some patients, the tumors disappeared completely.

In a study of 41 patients with Gorlin syndrome, the results were similar. In the 26 patients getting the drug, researchers saw only two new tumors develop, compared with 29 new tumors in the 15 patients taking a placebo pill. The size of existing tumors also shrank in patients taking the drug. The drug worked with surprising speed; the researchers wrote that they expected the drug to need at least two months to make noticeable changes, but many patients saw results after about one month on the drug.

"This really is a breakthrough," said Dr. Darrell Rigel, clinical professor of dermatology at NYU-Langone Medical Center, who was not involved in the study. "On a scale of one to 10 in breakthroughs in dermatology, this is probably an eight or a nine."

Rigel has been using vismodegib in his patients with advanced basal cell disease since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved it in January. He said the differences for these patients have been dramatic.

"We really had nothing for these patients before. If someone comes in with 30 or 40 of these tumors, you start running out of places to cut people," he said. "To now have something that works so dramatically is very exciting."

The drug has some tough side effects, such as hair loss, painful muscle cramps, weight loss and loss of taste. The side effects were enough to drive 54 percent of the Gorlin syndrome patients to drop out of the study. In the study of patients with advanced basal cell carcinoma, seven patients died, though it's not clear if their deaths were directly related to the effects of the drug.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

CT Scans in Kids Linked to Leukemia, Brain Cancer Risk

iStockphoto/Thinkstock(BETHESDA, Md.) -- Gina Baker carefully weighed the pros and cons of a CT scan for her 1-year-old son.

"His pediatrician said she wanted to do a scan to make sure everything was OK," said Baker, explaining concerns that "the little guy's" head was growing too quickly. "They told me the risks from the radiation were low, but you definitely struggle with those types of decisions as a parent."

The scan came back normal, giving Baker some peace of mind. But Baker, a 31-year-old nurse and blogger from Brigham City, Utah, said she still worries about the test's long-term effects -- a fear bolstered by a new study linking childhood CT scans to cancer later in life.

"Radiation exposure from CT scans was associated with an increased risk of brain cancer and leukemia, and that risk increased with increasing levels of radiation exposure," said Amy Berrington de González, a radiation epidemiologist at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md., and co-author of the study published Wednesday in The Lancet.

The study, of more than 355,000 children and teens in the U.K., found those exposed to 60 milligrays of radiation -- the cumulative dose of two brain CT scans -- were three times more likely to develop brain tumors. Those exposed to 50 milligrays of radiation were three times more likely to develop leukemia, a cancer of the white blood cells produced in the bone marrow.

Berrington de González stressed that the absolute cancer risk is very small, accounting for one extra cancer case per 30,000 children scanned.

"Providing the scan is clinically justified and performed properly with a child-size dose of radiation, the benefits should easily outweigh the risks," she said.

But for parents like Baker, forced quickly to weigh the immediate benefits with the long-term risks, the decision weighs heavily.

"You want to do what's best for your family," she said. "I did agonize over it."

Radiation has long been known to cause DNA damage that can lead to cancer. But the cancer-causing effects of doses doled out during CT scans were purely theoretical.

"Those estimates drew a lot of controversy because they were based on the cancer risk in atomic bomb survivors," said Dr. David Brenner, director of Columbia University's Center for Radiological Research and lead author of the 2001 study estimating the cancer risk from CT scans. "There was debate about whether the risks were real, and this study shows pretty unequivocally that they are."

But Brenner said the benefits of CT scans, namely their ability to quickly detect life-threatening problems and guide life-saving surgeries, indeed outweigh the risks.

"All medical procedures have risks and benefits," he said. "That said, there are situations where CT scans are being used too much."

Brenner estimates some 20 percent of the country's 80 million CT scans each year are either unnecessary or could be replaced by a radiation-free ultrasound or MRI.

"That's why we need basic guidelines; decision rules that determine when a CT scan is medically appropriate," he said, adding that such guidelines already exist but are not always used.

Dr. Andrew Einstein, director of cardiac CT research at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City and author of an editorial accompanying the study, said he hopes doctors will think twice before ordering CT scans in children, and parents will ask about alternatives.

"I think we need to redouble our efforts to ensure patients are getting appropriate tests with the lowest radiation dose possible," he said. "There are good reasons to use CT scans; it's a lifesaving test for many people. But with every good thing in medicine, there's a potential downside. And for CT scans it's the radiation."

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Ginseng May Banish Cancer Fatigue, Study Finds

iStockphoto/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- Cancer can leave patients feeling run down, worn out and overall fatigued by their disease and the treatments that fight it.  The malaise often lingers even after cancer treatment is over.  But a new study from the Mayo Clinic found that ginseng may be a tool for fighting cancer-related fatigue.

Researchers gave 2,000 milligrams of pure ground American ginseng or a placebo pill to 340 patients being treated for cancer and cancer survivors who had finished their treatment.  After four weeks, patients reported little change in their cancer-related fatigue.  But after eight weeks, the patients taking ginseng reported feeling generally more energized than their sugar pill-popping peers.  The response was particularly strong among patients who were currently undergoing cancer treatment.

The study was presented Monday at a meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Dr. Debra Barton, an associate professor of oncology at the Mayo Clinic and the study’s lead author, said knowing how to combat fatigue, one of the most common side effects reported during and after cancer treatment, is becoming increasingly important.

“We are making progress in cancer treatment, and we do have more survivors than ever before, so we can’t just ignore these quality-of-life factors once the cancer is gone,” she said.

Doctors often caution patients against taking supplements that might interfere with their cancer treatment drugs.  According to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, potential adverse interactions with prescription medications are one of the primary safety concerns with taking herbs and other supplements.  In recent years, patients undergoing cancer treatment have reported adverse reactions after taking ginseng.

Barton said it’s important for patients to tell their doctors about all the supplements they’re taking.  But she said recent research on ginseng is encouraging.

“Ginseng is one of the more studied herbs,” she said.

Some studies have shown that ginseng decreases inflammation and the stress hormone cortisol, both of which may be contributing factors to cancer-related fatigue.  Barton and her team plan to study how ginseng affects these biological factors in the patients in the current trial.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Allergies Linked to Higher Cancer Risk, Study Says

Jupiterimages/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- Can allergies increase your risk of cancer? A new study out of University of Washington Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center suggests this may be the case.

Specifically, the study found that patients with allergies may have a higher risk of developing blood cancers than those who don’t suffer from allergies. The study included more than 64,000 patients who were asked about allergy and asthma symptoms. The patients were then evaluated seven years later to see if they had been diagnosed with a blood cancer.

Those who had allergies — specifically allergies to plants, grass, and trees — had a slightly increased incidence of blood cancers.  Patients with asthma did not have an increased risk of blood cancer.

“As studies like this demonstrate, there may be an increased incidence of certain cancers if you have these types of conditions,” said Dr. Edward Kim, associate professor in the department of thoracic/head and neck medical oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas.

While allergies don’t cause blood cancer, the researchers propose that perhaps the same inflammation that causes allergy symptoms may lead to an overactive immune system — and that this overactivity, in turn, can lead to blood cancers.

Those who suffer from allergies, however, probably need not be alarmed.  The added risk is so small that no new screening guidelines are currently planned. Moreover, the lead author of the study, Dr. Mazyar Shadman of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center at University of Washington, stated there is, “no need for any type of change” at this point.  Rather, Shadman said he hopes that the results of these studies will help researchers uncover the mechanism of blood cancers by studying patients with allergies. But, he added, he doesn’t think there is “any indication for change in terms of treatment and medical follow up” at this point.

So what does this mean for patients with allergies?

“It means one can be more vigilant in seeing their doctor and going to their yearly physicals,” Kim said.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Major Cancer Groups Recommend CT Scans for Lung Cancer

Hemera/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- For the first time, several top cancer organizations are recommending that smokers and former smokers ages 55 to 74 years who have smoked at least one pack of cigarettes a day for at least 30 years get an annual low-dose CT (LDCT)—a three dimensional X-ray—to look for lung cancer.

The recommendations, put forth as a collaborative effort by the American Cancer Society, American College of Chest Physicians, American Society of Clinical Oncology, and National Comprehensive Cancer Network, were released Sunday morning. They appear in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Each year, more Americans die from lung cancer than from breast, colon, and prostate cancers combined. It has held its position for years as the second most common cancer for both sexes in the United States. Only prostate cancer is more common than lung cancer in men. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women.

If detected early enough, lung cancer can be treated and survival chances improved. Despite this, until now there had been no formal recommendations on screening tests for this deadly cancer.

“We now have an important and critical tool to screen for the most common cancer in America, and can reduce the mortality through this screening,” said Dr. John Deeken, assistant professor in the division of hematology/oncology at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

Still, the question of whether every person at high risk for lung cancer should get an annual low-dose CT scan is not so simple. Since the type of CT scan used exposes the patient to radiation, albeit a low-level dose, there is a small health risk posed by this screening.

If doctors detect a questionable cancerous mass through a CT scan, they may have to evaluate it further through a minor surgery called a biopsy. In this procedure, a doctor will take a sample of the tissue for further testing to determine if the mass really is a cancer. While some of these may be cancerous, there are always a certain number which are not—meaning that the detection and subsequent surgery may not have been technically necessary.

The new recommendation also begs the question of who will be paying for the test itself.

“The cost of LDCT is currently not covered as a standard test,” said Dr. Chao Huang, lung cancer specialist at the University of Kansas Cancer Center. “Therefore, it is difficult to recommend this test when patients may be burdened by the cost of this test year after year.”

“The key question is when will more insurance companies, and most importantly Medicare, start paying for these screening tests,” Deeken said.

And then there is the issue of how many Americans will fall under the guidelines—and whether the resources exist to screen all of them.

“We currently do not have the infrastructure to manage the potential number of patients that would qualify for screening,” Huang said.

These issues aside, one thing is clear: screening CTs have been shown to save lives. Dr. Keith Mortman, associate professor of clinical surgery at Georgetown University School of Medicine, explains that a major study in 2010 called the National Lung Screening Trial found a 20 percent reduction in lung cancer deaths in patients who were screened with low-dose CT scans as compared to those who got chest X-rays.

Dr. Herbert Kressel, a radiologist at Harvard Medical School, says that in light of this, the recommendation is a step in the right direction.

“Lung cancer is an important health problem with a poor prognosis when it is discovered at an advanced stage,” Kressel said. “This study is important in further highlighting the importance of low dose CT screening for patients at high risk for lung cancer.”

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Boy, 9, Rejects Further Cancer Treatment

File photo. (Jose Luis Pelaez/Stone)(LOS ANGELES) -- After five years of fighting a rare form of brain cancer, with seven surgeries, four rounds of chemotherapy and two bouts of radiation, 9-year-old Ryan Kennedy told his mother “I’m done with this.”

In February, Ryan’s mother told him about another surgery that doctors said would buy the Clarkston, Mich. native about three more months, but potentially could leave him on a breathing and feeding tube, according to the Oakland Press.

“When I told him about it, he said, ‘No. I told you, Mom, I don’t want to do anything anymore,’” Kimberly Morris-Karp told the Oakland Press. “He literally screamed and cried in hysterics, saying ‘I’m done. I’m done with this.’

“The selfish part of me wanted to say, ‘No, I want you to do this,’ but I said, ‘OK, this is what you want,’” Morris-Karp said. “And we keep asking him over and over again. Once a week, I would ask him the same question: ‘Are you sure you’re OK with this? You don’t want anymore treatment?’ ‘Yup, I’m sure,’” she said Ryan replied.

The decisions to end treatment for children fighting cancers are especially difficult ones to make, said Dr. Lisa Humphrey, director of the pediatric palliative care program at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital in Cleveland, because decisions tend to be based in the instinctual place where parents are never supposed to bury their children, she said.

“For Ryan to have the courage to make such a decision and be able to talk to his family about it speaks volumes about the journey that they went on together,” she said. “We know for a fact that children who have life-threatening illnesses mature very quickly in some ways. They’re able to understand what is at stake, and they often have an exquisite sense of what’s going on in their bodies.”

Often times, children with life-threatening illnesses will ask if they’re dying, Humphrey said. But, in many cases, they won’t ask their parents. Instead, they’ll ask an aunt, a family friend or a nurse.

“They know what’s going on with their bodies and they’re curious and want to check in, but in a way, the child wants to protect the parent a much as a parent wants to protect their child,” Humphrey said.

It’s best for parents to be open and act as a sounding board for their child and gauge how much they understand about their illness and potential prognosis, she said.

Each year, about 50,000 children in the United States die from life-threatening illnesses. A 2004 Swedish study found that, out of 300 families who had children who died from terminal illness, about 35 percent of them discussed the pending deaths with their children. The survey showed that not one family regretted discussing death. Of those who did not discuss death with their children, 27 percent of the families reportedly regretted their decision.

Ryan recently became a trending topic on Twitter when it was thought to be his dying wish. Celebrities, including Britney Spears, offered their support for the child.

“Ryan really wasn’t the one who wanted to trend on Twitter — he’s 9 — he doesn’t have a Twitter account,” Morris-Karp told CNN. “He really didn’t even know what Twitter was.”

Doctors say Ryan will not likely make it to his tenth birthday on May 24.

“[I will] rub his feet, help him with whatever he needs,” his mom told CNN. “I just plan on being there and just loving him through this.”

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

UCSD Sued for Transplanting Cancerous Kidney

Jupiterimages/Thinkstock(SAN DIEGO) -- A California man is suing the University of California-San Diego Medical Center after receiving a cancerous kidney during a transplant operation.  Despite signing a document electing not to accept a kidney from a donor with health problems, Austin Scalf claims UCSD surgeon, Dr. Christopher Barry knowingly gave him a kidney with a cyst.

Watch the full report here:

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio