National Cancer Institute

Seeing a chance to stop one of the most deadly kinds of cancer before it forms, doctors at Johns Hopkins and at other hospitals around the nation are focusing on the common pancreatic cyst. Up to 20 percent of pancreatic cancer begins as one of these small, fluid-filled brown lesions. And left to grow unabated, pancreatic cancer kills 95 percent of sufferers within five years. "We have a wonderful opportunity to intervene at an early stage," Dr. Anne Marie Lennon , an assistant professor and director of a new Hopkins Multidisciplinary Pancreatic Cyst Program.

Description: Two Johns Hopkins University scientists were awarded one of the National Cancer Institute's first grants intended to answer what it calls "provocative questions" in cancer research. They will receive more than $500,000 over a year as they study how and why infections can cause certain types of cancer and how cancer spreads. Other "provocative questions" focus on how obesity contributes to cancer risk, why some cancers can be cured by chemotherapy alone, and why some tumors become malignant after years of being benign.

Rural Somerset County is full of folks like Joe Reading, who used to dip his bare hands in DDT, still uses other chemicals on his farm and bathes his dinner greens in bacon grease. And Lewis W. Jones, a medical clinic director who smoked two packs of cigarettes a day until recently. And Weltonia Engram, who avoided getting Pap smears because she was afraid she might learn she had cancer.Smoking, diets loaded with fat and salt, exposure to cancer-causing chemicals and poor access to health care may be clues to why one in 321 Somerset residents dies of cancer every year.

Two new government studies show young people are still putting themselves at risk for skin cancer by getting sunburned and going to indoor tanning beds. One study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that half of those aged 18 to 29 had at least one sunburn it the past year, though they were increasingly using sunscreen, seeking shade and wearing protective clothing. The other study by the National Cancer Institute found 32 percent of those 18 to 21 were going to indoor tanning salons and 30 percent of those 22 to 25 were.

The National Cancer Institute reports that an 800 telephone number listed in an article Thursday in The Sun on a prostate cancer study may disconnect callers at times because of an overload in use. Maryland residents seeking to take part in the study should be aware that no Maryland centers are involved, a spokeswoman for the institute said, although it is possible to travel to other states if chosen.

Yetso helping develop anti-cancer agenda Brock Yetso of the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults was one of 25 experts selected to travel to Austin, Texas, last week to help develop a national agenda to address cancers that affect adolescents and young adults. The National Cancer Institute, in collaboration with the Lance Armstrong Foundation, has established an Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology Progress Review Group to develop the agenda. The group will examine the National Cancer Institute's research on these cancers and identify scientific priorities and resources needed to make progress toward their management and cure.

Ovarian-cancer survival may be predicted by the levels of two proteins in the body, a new study shows, while other recent research suggests that more women's lives might be saved by using existing tests to diagnose persistent symptoms that might indicate the presence of the so-called "silent killer." Scientists at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston said in a report this week that low levels of both atypical protein kinase C iota and Cyclin E corresponded to a better chance of long-term survival for patients.

LOS ANGELES -- A drug used to prevent osteoporosis in older women reduces the risk of breast cancer by as much as 70 percent without any serious side effects, researchers said yesterday at a meeting of the American Society for Clinical Oncology in Los Angeles.The risk reduction produced by the drug, called raloxifene, is about the same as that reported earlier this year for tamoxifen, but the latter drug can increase the risk of endometrial cancer and blood clots."Coming on the heels of the recent tamoxifen study, this is very exciting news," said Dr. Derek Raghavan of the University of Southern California's Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Americans' risks of getting cancer and dying from it are continuing to decline as a result of better detection, prevention and treatment, according to the latest annual report by several cancer organizations. And for the first time in decades, the number of new cases of lung cancer among women has dropped, and the death rate has leveled off as women reduce their tobacco use. The decline comes decades after a similar effect was observed in men. Overall, the number of new cancer cases dropped an average of 0.5 percent per year between 1991 and 2001, while death rates dropped 1.1 percent per year from 1993 to 2001, according to the report, which will be published online today.

Rockville-based EntreMed Inc. said yesterday that it has transferred its rights to the controversial drug thalidomide, a potential treatment for cancer, to Celgene Corp. of Warren, N.J.The agreement also calls for Celgene to take on the responsibility and cost of human clinical trials of thalidomide.The drug has shown promise in preventing tumors from developing blood vessels needed for growth.Under the agreement, Celgene will immediately begin paying EntreMed an undisclosed percentage of royalties on sales of the drug.

Ryan Hanley spent the summer before he turned 18 thinking about organizing a transcontinental bike ride to raise money for cancer. When he entered the Johns Hopkins University, he set about selling the idea and recruiting classmates and friends to ride 4,000 miles. The maiden effort that he had dubbed 4K for Cancer — which raised $80,000 in 2002 in memory of Hanley's father, who had died of cancer when Hanley was 13 — operated under the university's auspices for five years before becoming an independent nonprofit organization.

The most comprehensive study ever on the link between organ donations and cancer is arming physicians with new data that could help make the procedures safer. Organ transplant patients get new kidneys, livers and lungs that save their lives, but they face a heightened risk of cancer because drugs that prevent the rejection of new organs also weaken the immune system. Most patients, like Jessica Protasio of Columbia, go through with transplants because the immediate risk of dying from failing organs outweighs the long-term risk of cancer.

Ron Smith went on WBAL radio Thursday, just as he has for the past 27 years. But the conservative talk-show host, who was recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, opened his show telling listeners — with characteristic bluntness — that he was abandoning his chemotherapy treatments. Instead, Smith will remain on the air while undergoing palliative care designed to make what time he has left as comfortable as possible. And then he simply went on with the show. "That's the way I've conducted my career," Smith, 69, said Thursday from his home in southern York County, Pa., where he's been doing most of his broadcasting work since announcing his inoperable Stage 4 cancer diagnosis on Oct. 17. "I have never been one to hide anything.

Gliknik Inc., a biopharmaceutical company based at the University of Maryland's BioPark in downtown Baltimore, said Monday it had won a $1.5 million contract from the National Cancer Institute to continue development of its cancer-fighting technology. The grant places the company on a path that could lead to clinical trials in two years, said David S. Block, Gliknik's chief executive. Since its formation in 2007, Gliknik has raised $10 million from investors, largely with the help of Maryland's biotechnology tax credit.

Seeing a chance to stop one of the most deadly kinds of cancer before it forms, doctors at Johns Hopkins and at other hospitals around the nation are focusing on the common pancreatic cyst. Up to 20 percent of pancreatic cancer begins as one of these small, fluid-filled brown lesions. And left to grow unabated, pancreatic cancer kills 95 percent of sufferers within five years. "We have a wonderful opportunity to intervene at an early stage," Dr. Anne Marie Lennon , an assistant professor and director of a new Hopkins Multidisciplinary Pancreatic Cyst Program.

CT scans can reduce deaths by 20 percent in older, heavy smokers by detecting tumors earlier, according to results released Thursday from an eight-year-long national study. The study, sponsored by the National Cancer Institute and launched in 2002, aimed to see if the tests, which are more sensitive than X-rays, would affect the outcomes for those with lung cancer, the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the country. The disease was estimated to have killed 159,390 people in 2009, according to the institute — more people than killed by breast, prostate, colon and pancreatic cancer combined.

A bill authorizing the first major federal study to look specifically at whether environmental factors play a role in breast and prostate cancer has been approved by the House Energy and Commerce Committee.The two-year study would be conducted by two of the federal government's premier research institutes -- the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences -- and would include elaborate environmental testing as well as in-depth questioning of hundreds or perhaps thousands of people.

WASHINGTON -- In response to an "epidemic" of cancer, particularly in the Middle Atlantic and Northeastern states, three Maryland lawmakers have backed legislation that would establish a national data bank to systematically track information about the disease.Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, D-Md., and Reps. Constance A. Morella, R-8th, and Kweisi Mfume, D-7th, are among co-sponsors of the Cancer Registries Amendments Act, which would establish cancer data banks in every state.Currently, 10 states lack cancer registers and there is no national repository for the information.

The University of Maryland's growing BioPark in West Baltimore will get a $200 million boost from plans announced Wednesday by the School of Medicine to team with private partners on a state-of-the-art proton cancer treatment center. Maryland Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown said the center would create 325 construction jobs, 110 permanent jobs and attract 2,000 patients a year. "It will also continue the state's and Baltimore City's investment in the communities of West Baltimore," he said.

Most men diagnosed with prostate cancer in the past two decades never needed to know they had the disease, leading many to treatment that can do more harm than good, according to a new study. The findings, published in Monday's Journal of the National Cancer Institute, found that since a blood test became the standard way to screen for prostate cancer, an additional 1.3 million men have been diagnosed with the disease. But because many men are diagnosed with cancer that will not cause symptoms and will not kill them, the screening tests save few lives, the authors conclude.