Lymph node metastases are an indicator of prognosis in breast cancer patients and a major criterion in determining the need for adjuvant chemotherapy. Although a biopsy can detect these metastases, there is a need for an accurate and noninvasive method of detection.
Hisataka Kobayashi, M.D., Ph.D., of the National Cancer Institute, and colleagues developed a method in which nano-size molecules were used as contrast agents during magnetic resonance imaging to detect sentinel lymph node drainage in normal mice and mouse models of breast cancer. Using this method, regions of sentinel lymph nodes that contained metastatic tumors appeared as black spots while regions without tumors and lymph nodes in normal mice appeared white. This new imaging method, the authors conclude, has the potential to be used to detect sentinel lymph node metastases in human breast cancer patients.
Contact: NCI Press Office, 301-496-6641
Scientists Highlight Apoptosis as a Target for Cancer Chemoprevention
A growing number of chemopreventive agents, including some retinoids and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, have been shown to stimulate programmed cell death--apoptosis--in precancerous and malignant cells. Reuben Lotan, Ph.D., of The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and colleagues review recent studies of several chemopreventive agents and construct a paradigm for apoptosis as a target for cancer chemoprevention.
Contact: Laura Sussman, Communications Office, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, 713-745-2457, lsussman@mdanderson.org
Also in the May 5 JNCI:
Small Gene Changes in Some Leukemia Patients May Explain Varying Responses to Chemotherapy:
http://www.eurekalert
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Contact: Sarah Zielinski
jncimedia@oupjournals.org
301-841-1287
Journal of the National Cancer Institute
4-May-2004