December 22, 2009
This is a repost of an article from last year. A few stats have been updated, but the messages are the same. Despite a huge amount of coverage in the press, the standard tenets of healthy living still remain the best way of reducing the risk of cancer.
And what better time to start that in the New Year?
A diet high in fruit and veg can help reduce the risk of some cancers
Christmas means different things to different people. But it’s probably fair to say that to most, it can be summed up very eloquently in one phrase – ‘my eyes were bigger than my belly’.
It’s traditionally a time when we eat more than we would ever usually eat, drink more than we would ever usually drink, and, perhaps no wonder, collapse on the sofa more than we would ever usually collapse.
Thank goodness, then, that Christmas is followed by New Year and the chance to start afresh.
Resolutions are a big part of any New Year and when we make them, we often have our health in mind. But how many of us realise just how much good we’re doing? In this post, we’ll find out how familiar resolutions can help to dramatically reduce our risk of cancer.
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Alcohol, Body weight, Cancer Prevention, Cancer in the news, Diet, Health & Lifestyle, Physical activity, Smoking | 
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Posted by Ed Yong
December 17, 2009
Sunbeds increase the risk of skin cancer
In Parliament yesterday Julie Morgan, the Labour MP for Cardiff North, introduced a Private Member’s Bill aimed at preventing under-18s using sunbeds.
This is great news and means steps are being taken to answer our call to ensure children and teenagers are protected from the dangers of sunbeds.
What is a Private Member’s Bill?
Every year twenty MPs names are drawn out of a ballot. This gives them the opportunity to put forward a Bill of their choice in the hope of making new laws. This time round, Julie was drawn high up in the ballot and, with our help, is taking forward a sunbeds bill.
This follows on from Sian James’, MP for Cardiff East, hard work in raising the profile of sunbeds in parliament.
What does the Bill include?
The Bill would make it a criminal offence for a sunbed operator to allow anyone under the age of 18 to use a sunbed.
What happens now in Parliament?
Private Member’s Bills can only be debated in Parliament on certain days, meaning that there isn’t usually enough time for them to become law. This session of Parliament is especially short because of the General Election, which needs to happen before June 2010 (pdf). Nevertheless, this is an important opportunity to make the case about why action is needed to protect young people from the dangers of sunbeds.
We will continue to work closely with Julie Morgan MP to make sure that there’s as much support in Parliament for the Sunbeds Bill as possible. Andy Burnham, the Health Secretary has expressed enthusiasm for taking action on sunbeds – but parliamentary time is short. In Scotland, legislation regulating sunbeds became law on 1st December 2009.
We very much hope that other MPs in Parliament will support the Bill when it’s first debated early in the New Year.
Henry
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Cancer Prevention, Cancer in the news, Health & Lifestyle, Policy, Sun & UV | 
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Posted by Henry Scowcroft
December 16, 2009
SUMO proteins gather at sites of DNA damage
Despite their heavyweight name,
SUMO proteins are a family of small proteins found in our cells, which, by sticking to other proteins, can regulate all sorts of cellular goings-on.
For example, sticking a SUMO protein onto another protein can shuttle it to a different location in the cell, or alter how it works.
And there’s tantalising evidence that SUMO proteins are involved in the repair processes that patch up our DNA during daily wear and tear. Given that damage to DNA can lead to cancer, understanding how SUMO proteins are involved in DNA repair could yield clues in the hunt for new cancer treatments.
Two new papers published today in the journal Nature, from researchers funded by Cancer Research UK and the Breast Cancer Campaign, help to unravel the mystery of SUMOs’ involvement in DNA repair.
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Posted by Kat Arney
December 16, 2009
A 'circus plot' of mutations in the lung cancer genome
It’s been a bumper week for research on cancer. As we report elsewhere, scientists have been delving deep into our cells’ DNA repair mechanisms, and finding out how they tick.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, two more papers published in Nature today look at what happens when DNA repair goes wrong, by mapping DNA damage across the whole genome of two types of cancer – melanoma and lung cancer.
What’s so remarkable – and groundbreaking – about these papers is not that they find new genes involved in cancer. It’s that the technique the scientists used to identify genetic damage allows them to identify what caused these mutations – and also build up a picture of how the cancers developed, on a molecular level.
This is a veritable treasure-trove of scientific information – the sort that has the potential to unlock some of cancer’s deepest secrets.
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Cancer in the news, DNA, Genes, Lung, Scientific papers, Skin cancer | 
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Posted by Henry Scowcroft
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