Baltimore, Md. -- There are a number of things people are told to do to prevent cancer eat well, exercise, don't smoke. However, despite these obvious preventive measures, many individuals will develop the disease.
Researchers have been trying to develop methods to identify why certain individuals are more susceptible to cancer and from these insights, determine the molecular causes of the disease. Based on these results, scientists are now seeking to pinpoint compounds that can reduce the incidence or recurrence of cancer, a field of study known as chemoprevention. Several studies presented today at the American Association for Cancer Research's 4th annual Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research meeting in Baltimore are focusing on new directions in this promising new field.
"We have made great strides in recent years in identifying the risk factors for pre-cancer as well as cancer by studying large groups of individuals who have and do not have cancer," according to David S. Alberts, M.D., Regents' Professor of medicine, pharmacology, nutritional science, and public health at the University of Arizona College of Medicine and director of the Arizona Cancer Center. "Chemoprevention is a promising field that may help us develop new drugs to combat this deadly disease before patients begin suffering from its symptoms."
Use of Thiazolidinediones and Lung Cancer Survival in Type 2 Diabetes Patients (Abstract 3711)
Patients with type-2 diabetes, treated with a class of drugs called thiazolidinediones (TZDs), had a significantly reduced risk of death from lung cancer compared to non-users, according to a retrospective study of patients from the South Central VA Health Care Network, also known as the Integrated Service Network (VISN 16).
Specifically, the study found that patients with both diabetes and lung cancer, treated with TZDs, had a 33 percent reduced risk of mortality compared to non-users. Patients us
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Contact: Warren Froelich
froelich@aacr.org
215-440-9300
American Association for Cancer Research
1-Nov-2005