Cancer Research UK - Science Update blog

News digest – tobacco disappointment, genetic ‘fine tuners’, vaccine cost drop, and more

Posted on May 11, 2013 by Oliver Childs

The latest cancer news

Wednesday was a sad day for public health. The worrying rumours we’d heard last week – that the government had scrapped plans to introduce plain, standardised tobacco packaging in the Queen’s speech – turned out to be true. This BBC article has more info. We wrote about why this is a blow in the fight against cancer.
Our scientists found that genetic ‘fine tuners’ known as microRNAs control the body’s own attack against breast cancer. Read more in our press release
US scientists uncovered why breast cancer patients with dense breasts are often more likely to develop aggressive tumours that spread. This NewsWise article has more info.
Also across the pond, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine identified a group of proteins that are faulty in about one-fifth of all human cancers. Science Daily covered the story.

Pharmaceutical companies agreed a substantial discount on the cost of cervical cancer vaccines for the developing world. The New York Times and the Guardian have more detail.

And finally

We were dismayed this week by several headlines like this: “Sun’s blood pressure benefits may outdo cancer risks”. The study in question only looked at the blood pressure of 24 volunteers who sat beneath tanning lamps. It didn’t directly look at skin cancer risk and also hasn’t been published in a peer-reviewed journal yet. Overexposure to UV radiation from the sun or sunbeds is the main cause of skin cancer, so we advise everyone to enjoy the sun safely.

A sad day for public health – standard packs and the path ahead

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Chris Woodhall

The 2010 film The King’s Speech was a national triumph. So at Cancer Research UK we’re dismayed to have to report that we’re not exactly rolling out the red carpet for yesterday’s Queen’s Speech.

In fact, quite the opposite.

The Queen’s Speech – which outlined the Government’s focus for the next year – has, shockingly, left plans to put tobacco products in plain, standardised packaging, on the cutting room floor.

The government has thus failed to deliver on a policy that would help protect children from a product that has no safe level of consumption.

So today, nine months since its consultation closed in August 2012, we’re left hanging, still waiting for the government to make a clear statement of its intentions.

In that time more than 150,000 children have started smoking – the beginning of an addiction that kills half its long-term users.

In light of this disappointing decision, we wanted to outline, clearly and simply, which organisations support this measure. Also we thought it worth exposing the vested interests of its opponents. This is all worth knowing, because this fight isn’t over; this is not “The End”.

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A Queen’s Speech to speed up progress against cancer?

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Simon Kirkland

Today, the Queen set out the Government’s priorities for the next year

This morning the Queen opened the third session of the 2010-15 Parliament with a speech in the House of Lords.

Her speech was written by the Government, and outlined its legislative agenda for the upcoming parliamentary session (which will last roughly a year).

And over the next couple of days, both Peers in the House of Lords, and MPs in the House of Commons will debate its contents.

Cancer Research UK takes a great interest in the Government’s plans, and how we think they will affect cancer patients and research into the disease.

So what are the key points for us from this speech?

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News digest – breast cancer rates, worrying tobacco rumours, genetic maps and more

Posted on May 4, 2013 by Oliver Childs

It’s time for our round-up of the week’s headlines

Breast cancer in women under 50 has reached 10,000 a year for the first time, according to figures we released this week. But the good news is that more women in this age group are surviving their disease. Here’s our press release, and the Telegraph’s front page coverage.

In other breast cancer news, tamoxifen and similar oestrogen-blocking drugs have been found to reduce breast cancer rates by more than a third in women at high risk. Our press release and blog both have more detail. We also liked this Telegraph piece about tamoxifen.
Several papers (including the Guardian) covered research about a possible link between cosmetic breast implants and a greater chance of dying from breast cancer. The research does not suggest implants cause cancer, but they may cause a delay in diagnosis. As this excellent NHS Choices analysis says, larger studies are needed to understand this link.

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Government must put children’s health before tobacco’s profits

Posted on May 2, 2013 by Alan Worsley

Children are lured by tobacco packaging

Next Wednesday, in a ceremony full of tradition and colour, the Queen marks the formal start of the parliamentary year.

This will include a speech that sets out the government’s agenda for the coming session, outlining proposed policies and legislation.

We’ve been urging the government to seize this opportunity to replace the slickly designed tobacco packaging with packs of uniform size, shape and colour.

But we’re very concerned by today’s newspaper reports that the government is backing away from including legislation in the speech.

We believe it’s a grave mistake to allow the current situation to continue.

The public consultation on the future of tobacco packaging closed in August 2012 and we’ve been impatiently waiting since then to hear what this government will do about this issue.

Impatiently waiting because every day the government delays taking action sees more than 500 under 16s being lured into smoking, an addiction that will kill half of all long term smokers.

Tens of thousands of our supporters have added their voice to our campaign to protect children from tobacco industry marketing, so we know the public backs this measure.

The evidence shows plain, standardised packs reduce the appeal of smoking, and experts from across the fields of health and law enforcement are fully behind the move.

You might wonder who could possibly oppose this measure. The answer is simple – the group with the most to lose, the tobacco industry and the groups they fund.

Because fewer smokers mean lower profits and less money in the bank for the industry.

If this government doesn’t act, the tobacco industry will get the green light to continue targeting our children with sophisticated and slick designs.

You may have also seen this Japan Tobacco International (JTI) ad popping up in national newspapers recently, part of the £2million advertising campaign that JTI are waging against the introduction of plain packaging.

Click to enlarge

We’ve written before about misleading and unsubstantiated ads from JTI, which have been banned by the Advertising Standards Agency.

When the tobacco industry is desperate enough to spend so much money on misleading the public, we know we must be on the right path. Private Eye magazine published its own spoof version of the above JTI ad, which we thought was too good not to share:

Reproduced by kind permission of PRIVATE EYE magazine www.private-eye.co.uk

Indeed… we couldn’t have said it better ourselves.

Alan

For more information visit our campaign website – Setting the Standard for cigarette packaging.

Detecting cancer early – the second NAEDI Conference

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Flora Malein

Professor Mike Richards speaking at the first NAEDI conference in 2008

Diagnosing a cancer early is one of the factors that can make the biggest difference in its successful treatment.

Launched in 2008, the National Awareness and Early Diagnosis Initiative (NAEDI) is a partnership between Cancer Research UK and the Department of Health that aims to tackle diagnosing and detecting cancers early.

One of its key aims is to jump-start research into this crucial area, and last month, a diverse group of researchers descended on the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute for the second NAEDI research conference, to discuss different aspects of research on early cancer diagnosis.

Following an introduction and welcome from Cancer Research UK’s chief executive, Dr Harpal Kumar, the conference kicked off with a fascinating talk from US researcher Dr Christine Berg, the lead investigator on the USA’s national lung cancer screening trial.

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New tricks for old drugs – blocking oestrogen to prevent breast cancer

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Hazel Nunn

Can drugs like tamoxifen be used to prevent breast cancer?

Tamoxifen is one of the mainstays of breast cancer treatment. Since the early 1980s, it’s been given to women who’ve had breast cancer to try to stop the disease returning.

As a result, it’s saved the lives of millions around the world, and some regard it as the most important cancer drug ever developed.

But today this old drug returns to the spotlight, with a new study showing that tamoxifen and other oestrogen- blocking medicines can reduce the chances of healthy women developing breast cancer.

We’ve blogged before about the discovery of tamoxifen, and Cancer Research UK’s role in its development.

But until now it’s not been clear whether tamoxifen and related drugs might have benefits for healthy women. Today’s finding, by an international team led by Cancer Research UK-funded researchers, provides the best evidence yet that these drugs could be used to help prevent breast cancer in women at average and above-average risk of the disease.

This is hugely significant. If benefits are shown to outweigh the risks, offering women at high risk of breast cancer a drug to lower their risk, could potentially prevent many thousands of breast cancer cases in the UK alone.

Let’s look at their findings, and at what happens next.

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