Breast Cancer’s Spread Now Better Understood

SUNDAY, Dec. 6 (HealthDay News) — The spread of breast cancer cells from the main tumor to other parts of the body is controlled by a growth factor known as TGFb, which may prove a promising target for new drugs to prevent metastatic breast cancer, British researchers say.

 

Previous studies have shown that TGFb (transforming growth factor beta) regulates normal cell growth and movement. In this new study, a team from Cancer Research UK used an advanced microscopy and analysis technique to document the movement of cancer cells from primary breast tumor sites in mice.

 

The researchers found that single breast cancer cells broke away from the main tumor and entered the blood system when TGFb turned on messenger genes in the cancer cells and then turned them off.

 

When TGFb was inactive, clumps (but not single cells) of breast cancer cells broke away from the main tumor. Because these clumps can spread only through the lymphatic system, not through the blood, the spread of cancer was local, the study authors explained.

 

“The results helped us to find the set of genes that are behind the spread of breast cancer — and that the genes need to be first turned on and then off in order for single cancer cells to be able to ‘relocate,’” study author Erik Sahai said in a news release from Cancer Research UK.

 

He noted that in “a medium-sized tumor there could be a billion cells — and only a small proportion might break away and spread. So it is like trying to find — and understand — a moving needle in a very big haystack.”

 

The study, published in the October issue of the journal Nature Cell Biology, is scheduled to be presented Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology, held Dec. 5 to 9 in San Diego.

Source: YahooNews

CDC: Swine flu is widespread only in 25 states

ATLANTA – Swine flu infections continue to wane, just as vaccine is becoming plentiful enough that some communities are allowing everyone to get it, not just those in priority groups.

Swine flu was widespread in only 25 states last week — mostly in the Northeast and Southwest, officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday.

In late October, 48 states were reporting widespread cases of swine flu. But since then, there’s been a decline across the country, and it appears that a fall wave of swine flu infections has peaked.

Meanwhile, a shortage of swine flu vaccine is easing, with 73 million doses now available, roughly twice as much as there was a month ago. And another 10 million doses are expected in the next week, said Dr. Thomas Frieden, the CDC’s director.

Initially, limited supplies caused the CDC to advise state and local health officials to reserve doses for those at highest risk for severe complications from swine flu or those who take care of them. That group includes pregnant women, children and young adults, health-care workers and people with asthma and certain other health problems.

Demand for the vaccine is still high in many places, but enough has become available that some communities are now giving it to people outside the priority groups, Frieden said.

“The number of communities that do that will increase in the coming weeks,” he predicted, at a press conference in Atlanta.

At least three states — Alaska, Arkansas and Oklahoma — have begun offering swine flu vaccine to all comers. And some communities have opened vaccinations up, including Broward County, Fla., and Sacramento County, Calif., said Paula Steib, spokeswoman for the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

Since it was first identified in April, swine flu has sickened an estimated 22 million Americans and killed 4,000. It has proved to be similar to seasonal flu but a bigger threat to children and young adults.

The swine flu pandemic has so far hit in two waves in the United States: First in the spring, then a larger wave that started in the late summer.

Flu is hard to predict, and health officials say they are worried of the possibility of a third wave this winter. The CDC said a new round of public service announcements about getting vaccinated are to begin next week.

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On the Net:

CDC report: http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/update.htm