Cancer drops sparse chemical hints of its presence early on, but unfortunately, many of them are in a class of biochemicals that could not be detected thoroughly, until now.

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have engineered a chemical trap that exhaustively catches what are called glycoproteins, including minuscule traces that have previously escaped detection.
Glycoproteins are protein molecules bonded with sugar molecules, and they're very common in all living things. Glycoproteins come in myriad varieties and sizes and make up important cell structures like cell receptors. They also wander around our bodies in secretions like mucus or hormones.
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But some glycoproteins are very, very rare and can serve as an early signal, or biomarker, indicating there's something wrong in the body - like cancer. Existing methods to reel in glycoproteins for laboratory examination are relatively new and have had big holes in their nets, so many of these molecules, especially those very rare ones produced by cancer, have tended to slip by.
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Sorry, faint cancer cues made of glycoproteins, but you'll have a very hard time dodging the chemical octopus. The parts shaped like a hexagon-pentagon combo are benzoboroxoles, which make great glycoprotein grabbers, and they're stitched together to form highly flexible arms with a long reach. In the middle is a magnetic bead that researchers use as a handle to extract the octopus along with the glycoproteins it nabs.
CREDIT Georgia Tech / Wu / Xiao & NYPL Digital Commons / Brumfield

Parenting concerns contributed significantly to the psychological distress of mothers with late-stage cancer, according to a study by University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers.

Cancer is the leading cause of disease-specific death for parenting-age women in the United States, and women with incurable cancer who have children can have increased rates of depression and anxiety. To better understand how parenting concerns might relate to the quality of life for this group, UNC Lineberger researchers surveyed 224 mothers with advanced cancer. They found that parenting concerns were significantly associated with lower quality of life - almost as much as declines in day-to-day physical functioning. The findings, published in the journal Cancer, point to a need for greater support for mothers with metastatic cancer, researchers say.
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"As part of cancer care, we ask about patients' functional status, and how they are responding to treatment, but we are not systematically asking how cancer impacts our patients as parents, yet we know being a parent is incredibly important to their identity and well-being," said UNC Lineberger's Eliza M. Park, MD, assistant professor in the UNC School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry and Department of Medicine. "Among women with metastatic cancer, their health-related quality of life is powerfully interlinked with their parenting concerns about the impact of their illness on their minor children. It appears to equally contribute to someone's assessment of their quality of life as some of the clinical variables we routinely ask about."

Consuming high amounts of carbohydrates and various forms of sugar during the year prior to treatment for head and neck cancer may increase patients' risks of cancer recurrence and mortality, a new study reports. However, eating moderate amounts of fats and starchy foods such as whole grains, potatoes and legumes after treatment could have protective benefits, reducing patients' risks of disease recurrence and death, said lead author Anna E. Arthur, a professor of food science and human nutrition at the University of Illinois.

In the study, researchers tracked the pre- and post-treatment diets and health outcomes of more than 400 cancer patients. Participants were followed for an average of 26 months after they were first diagnosed and treated for squamous-cell carcinoma of the head or neck; all were patients of the University of Michigan Head and Neck Specialized Program of Research Excellence. The study was published recently in the International Journal of Cancer.

Participants' typical intake of food, beverages and supplements was assessed for the year prior to diagnosis and for one year post-treatment using the Harvard Food Frequency Questionnaire. Patients who consumed the lowest amounts of simple carbohydrates - which included refined grains, desserts and sugar-sweetened beverages - consumed about 1.3 servings daily, compared with about 4.4 servings by patients who were considered high intake.

Patients who consumed the most total carbohydrates and sugars - in the forms of sucrose, fructose, lactose and maltose - in the year preceding cancer treatment were at greater risk of mortality from any cause during the follow-up period, Arthur said.

Among the study population, the most commonly diagnosed cancers were in the oral cavity and the oropharynx, which includes the tonsils, the base of the tongue and surrounding tissues. More than 69 percent of participants were diagnosed when the disease was at stage 3 or stage 4. Patients' average age at diagnosis was about 61.

During the follow-up period, more than 17 percent of patients experienced recurrence of their cancer, and 42 patients died from it. Another 70 participants died from other causes, according to the study.

Survivors of adolescent and young adult cancer often have stronger social networks than their non-cancer peers, according to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital researchers, who hope to translate that support into better lives for the nation's growing population of cancer survivors. The findings appear online today in the journal Cancer.

"Cancer survivors need healthy social connections, and to the best of our knowledge this is the first published study to quantify social networks of adolescent and young adult cancer survivors compared to their peers," said I-Chan Huang, Ph.D., an associate member of the St. Jude Department of Epidemiology and Cancer Control, who led the study. "The study introduces a method we developed and validated for evaluating social networks of these cancer survivors."

The method, called the functional social network index, proved a better predictor of survivors' ability to cope with life's challenges than two traditional methods for measuring social networks, researchers reported. Instead of measuring just the structure of social networks (who knows whom), marital status or membership in church or community groups, the functional social network index also measures social networks as a source of emotional and practical support from friends and relatives, as well as advice about weight management and physical activity. Adolescent and young adult cancer survivors are more likely than their non-cancer peers to be sedentary and overweight or obese.

The study tracked social networks of 102 survivors of adolescent and young adult cancer ages 18 to 30 and a similar group of 102 young adults with no cancer history. Participants were recruited from a commercial national internet survey panel; each of the participants reported detailed social connection information with up to 25 friends and relatives. The survivors were between 15 and 30 years old when their cancer was diagnosed. All were at least five years from completion of therapy.

Compared to those in the non-cancer group, the St. Jude index showed that as a group, cancer survivors had more available resources for emotional and practical support as well as advice on weight and physical activity. "This makes sense," Huang said. "Because of their cancer, survivors often have strong networks of physicians, friends and relatives to provide advice and support."

But the strength of the support network varied by diagnosis. Lymphoma survivors ranked highest on the functional social network index, followed by survivors of leukemia and solid tumors. Survivors of brain and central nervous system malignancies had the weakest social networks, even weaker than their non-cancer peers. A higher social network index was associated with better coping skills, including less denial, less destructive behavior, greater use of emotional and practical support, planning for the future and participating in religious activities.

"Brain tumor survivors may experience more treatment-related neurocognitive problems that make communication and forming social networks more difficult," Huang said.

If you are from a lower income area, your chances of surviving anal cancer are significantly reduced, according to a new study published online in Cancer.

Among the first of its kind, the study shows that both overall survival -- and cancer specific survival -- can be predicted by median household income (MHI) after controlling for additional factors like age, sex, race, and stage of cancer. Investigators found chance of death increased by about 30 percent for those living in areas of poverty.

"Living in a low-income area shouldn't dictate your outcome with cancer and, based on this research, we're seeing that it does," says Daniel Becker, MD, clinical assistant professor in the Department of Medicine and Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology at Perlmutter Cancer Center. "The benefit of this study is that we're identifying higher-risk populations that need additional resources to improve outcomes."

As a relatively rare, but highly treatable disease, squamous cell carcinoma of the anus (SCAA) has been rising in incidence and currently accounts for more than 8,200 cases annually in the United States. This increasing incidence is potentially due to changing trends in sexual behavior and other risk factors like human papilloma virus and smoking.

Future cancer drugs that are activated by light and don't cause the toxic side-effects of current chemotherapy treatments are closer to becoming a reality, thanks to new research by the University of Warwick and Monash University

• Cancer drugs activated by light, minimizing toxic side-effects, are a step closer thanks to new research from University of Warwick and Monash University through the Monash Warwick Alliance
• Platinum-based chemotherapy drug candidate kills cancer cells in specific targeted areas, and totally inactive unless triggered by light - minimises harm towards healthy tissue
• Researchers used infrared spectroscopy, an old spectroscopic technique showing a resurgence in recent years, to discover how the anticancer therapy uniquely functions upon activation with light

Led by Robbin Vernooij, a joint PhD student from the Monash Warwick Alliance, fresh insight has been gained into how a pioneering platinum-based chemotherapy drug candidate functions when activated by light.

The treatment - originally developed by Professor Peter Sadler's research group in the University of Warwick's Department of Chemistry - is an inorganic-metal compound with an unusual mechanism, which kills cancer cells in specific targeted areas, in an effort to minimize toxic side-effects on healthy tissue.
Completely inactive and non-toxic in the dark, the treatment can be inserted into cancerous areas, its functions triggered only when directed light hits it - causing the compound to degrade into active platinum and releasing ligand molecules to attack cancer cells.

Using an old spectroscopic technique - infrared spectroscopy - the researchers observed what happens to the structure of the compound by following the metal as well as molecules released from the compound.
The researchers shone infrared light on the inorganic-metal compound in the laboratory, and measured the vibrations of its molecules as it was activated.
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From this, they discovered the chemical and physical properties of the compound: some of the organic ligands, which are attached to the metal atoms of the compound, become detached and are replaced with water whilst other ligands remain stable around the metal.

This fresh insight into the mechanics of the treatment offers new hope that photoactive chemotherapy drug candidates will progress from the laboratory to future clinical trials.

Dr. Gao and surgeon Dr. Baran Sumer, Associate Professor of Otolaryngology with the Simmons Cancer Center, developed the sensor, and have integrated it with a clinical camera that allows the surgeon to see the fluorescent areas. Their nanosensor not only lights up cancer, but suppresses the signal in normal tissue, leading to a sharp line between cancer and healthy tissue. It is expected to be effective in all solid tumors.
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"This new digital nanosensor-guided surgery has several advantages for patients, including more accurate removal of tumors and greater preservation of normal tissue. These advantages can limit the extent of surgery and improve quality of life and, potentially, patient survival," said Dr. Sumer, who leads the Head and Neck Oncology team at the Simmons Cancer Center.

Chemotherapy for one type of leukaemia could be improved by giving patients a drug currently used to treat an unrelated condition, new research shows. Acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) is an aggressive cancer that stops healthy blood cell production. Chemotherapy is the standard treatment, but improvements are needed as the five-year survival rate in patients older than 60 is only 5-15 per cent.

Now, by studying how leukaemia cells infiltrate bone marrow, where blood cells are created, researchers led by a team from Imperial College London have made a crucial discovery. Studying mice and human samples, they found that certain areas in the bone marrow support blood stem cells, and when these are overtaken by leukaemia cells, these stem cells are lost and production of healthy blood is significantly reduced. This can cause anaemia, infection, and bleeding in patients, and affects the success of chemotherapy.

Crucially, the team also discovered that a drug already approved to treat a condition known as iron overload can protect these important bone marrow areas and allow blood stem cells to survive. Their results are published today in the journal Cell Stem Cell. The study's lead author, Dr Cristina Lo Celso from the Department of Life Sciences at Imperial, said: "Since the drug is already approved for human use for a different condition, we already know that it is safe. "We still need to test it in the context of leukaemia and chemotherapy, but because it is already in use we can progress to clinical trials much quicker than we could with a brand new drug."

A cancer diagnosis disrupts a person's life in many ways, including sexually. A study led by the University of Houston found that more than half of young cancer patients reported problems with sexual function, with the probability of reporting sexual dysfunction increasing over time.

The study, recently published in the American Cancer Society journal Cancer, discovered that two years after their initial cancer diagnosis, nearly 53 percent of young adults 18 to 39 years old still reported some degree of affected sexual function.

While cancer-related sexual dysfunction has been studied among adolescents and young adults with cancer, the study is the first to establish its prevalence and to identify variables that contribute to reporting sexual problems over time.

"We wanted to increase our understanding of what it's like to adjust to cancer as a young adult but also the complexity of it over time," said Chiara Acquati, lead author and assistant professor at the UH Graduate College of Social Work. "Cancer can put a patient's life on hold, especially among young adults who are just starting their careers or families."

The study also found that for women, being in a relationship increased the probability of reporting sexual problems over time; for men, the probability of reporting sexual problems increased regardless of their relationship status.

"We concluded that sexual functioning is experienced differently among males and females. For a young woman, especially, a cancer diagnosis can disrupt her body image, the intimacy with the partner and the ability to engage in sex," Acquati said.

While more than 60 percent of patients with the brain tumors called malignant gliomas enroll in hospice services, almost a quarter of them do so within a week of death, probably too late for patients and family members to benefit from hospice care. A study by research team from the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Cancer Center also finds that certain groups are more likely than others to receive a week or less of hospice services.

"We know from prior research that patients with terminal illnesses, including incurable cancers, derive numerous benefits from hospice services," says Justin Jordan, MD, MPH, clinical director of the Pappas Center for Neuro-Oncology in the MGH Cancer Center, corresponding author of the report published in the journal Neuro-Oncology. "The magnitude of these benefits is notably reduced with late hospice referral. Even though timely hospice enrollment is an important measure of quality oncology care, we found that 37 percent of malignant glioma patients received no hospice at all prior to death."

Malignant gliomas include the aggressive and invariably fatal glioblastomas and other, slower growing but still incurable tumors. The average survival for glioblastoma patients is 15 months, and only 5 percent survive for as long as five years. Since no previous study has investigated either the proportion of glioma patients who enter hospice care or the length of time they receive hospice services, the MGH team analyzed information from a cancer database that included 12,437 patients with malignant gliomas who were treated and died from 2002 through 2012.

Of those patients, 7,849 were enrolled in hospice before their death, while 4,588 were not. The overall proportions of patients receiving hospice care remained fairly stable during the 10-year study period. While the average length of stay in hospice care was 21 days, 23 percent of patients enrolled less than a week before death, and 11 percent, less than three days. While race, education and household income were not associated with hospice length of stay, patients who were younger, male, and resided in rural areas were more likely to have a short hospice stay.