cancer

Even while skin cancer, especially melanoma, is not very frequent in India, this does not make it any less of a health emergency. Skin cancer is characterised by moles and patches and occurs when damaged cells from sunlight or tanning beds start to mutate. It also occurs when aberrant cells begin to expand uncontrolled in areas that are most exposed to sunlight. One of the worst types of the disease, melanoma, may develop as a result of the harm UV radiation from the sun cause.

Regardless of the weather or time of day, physicians and experts advise regular and religious use of sunscreen before going outside in order to reduce the risk of sickness. Another strategy is to be aware of the early warning signs so that the illness may be identified early and treated before the tumour progresses.

What signs of skin cancer are there?

The development of a lump or a patch of discoloured skin that does not go better after a few weeks is an early sign of skin cancer. The non-cancerous lumps, on the other hand, are typically scaly and flat. The malignant lumps typically manifest as hard, reddish-colored structures that eventually grow into ulcers.
Report to a doctor right away if you have noticed these symptoms for more than two to three weeks.

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But it doesn’t stop there; scratching could also be a sign of skin cancer. Itching may occur as a result of the tumour’s irritation or a buildup of bile salts. It could be a quiet indicator of the disease if you feel it for a long time without any apparent explanation.

How is skin cancer treated?

Treatment options may be suggested based on how bad the cancer or tumour is. Skin cancer patients with non-melanoma skin cancer may benefit from surgery. Other times, the patient could benefit most from plastic surgery, radiotherapy, or chemotherapy, among other treatments.

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Researchers claim that compounds including melamine, cyanuric acid, and aromatic amines, which can increase the risk of cancer and harm foetal development, are being exposed to pregnant women in the United States.

Researchers from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and UC San Francisco published the study’s findings in the journal Chemosphere. Nearly all research participants had melamine and cyanuric acid in their samples, however women of colour and those who had more smoke use had the greatest concentrations. Nearly all of the pregnant participants also had elevated levels of four aromatic amines, which are often used in goods with colours and pigments.

People can come into contact with melamine and aromatic amines through the air they breathe, contaminated food they eat, household dust they inhale, drinking water they consume, or objects they use that include plastic, dyes, or pigments.

According to Tracey J. Woodruff, PhD, a professor of obstetrics, gynaecology, and reproductive medicine and the director of the UCSF Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment, “These chemicals are of serious concern due to their links to cancer and developmental toxicity, yet they are not routinely monitored in the United States.” Woodruff is also a co-senior author of the study that was published on August 30, 2022, in Chemosphere.

Melamine and cyanuric acid, one of its main byproducts, are both high-production compounds that are produced at a rate of more than 100 million pounds annually in this nation alone. These substances may be more harmful when exposed combined than if either one is present alone. Aromatic amines are present in hair colour, mascara, tattoo ink, paint, cigarette smoke, and diesel exhaust. Melamine is present in dishware, plastics, flooring, kitchen countertops, and pesticides. Cyanuric acid is used as a disinfectant, plastic stabiliser, and cleaning solvent in swimming pools.

After infant formula and pet food poisoning episodes in 2004, 2007, and 2008 that resulted in numerous fatalities as well as kidney stones and urinary tract blockage in some persons, melamine was shown to be a kidney toxicant. More animal studies indicate melamine impairs brain function.

Researchers from the National Institutes of Health’s Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program collected urine samples from 171 women from a small but diverse group of women and measured 45 chemicals linked to cancer and other risks using new methods to capture chemicals or chemical traces. The study’s time frame was from 2008 through 2020.

The 171 ladies were from Puerto Rico, New Hampshire, New York, Georgia, California, and Georgia. 34 percent of the population were white, 40 percent Latina, 20 percent Black, 4 percent Asian, and the other 3 percent were members of other racial or ethnic groups. Prior research on melamine was either restricted to non-pregnant Americans or pregnant women in Asian nations.

According to Jessie Buckley, PhD, an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a co-senior author of the study, “It’s alarming that we continue to discover greater amounts of many of these dangerous substances among persons of colour.”

In contrast to white women, Black and Hispanic women had 3,4-dichloroaniline levels that were more than 100% higher. This chemical is used to make colours and insecticides.

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Since several of these chemicals are recognised carcinogens and probable developmental toxins, the study’s first author, Giehae Choi, a postdoctoral researcher at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, noted that the results “raise concerns for the health of pregnant women and foetuses.” It is obvious that regulatory action is necessary to reduce exposure.

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Researchers are looking into a potential new therapeutic approach for treating triple-negative breast cancer. Amir Abdo Alsharabasy, a CRAM doctorate candidate, is creating nitric oxide scavengers in Professor Abhay Pandit’s lab as part of a unique treatment approach for this aggressive form of breast cancer.

Triple-negative invasive breast cancer is resistant to hormone therapy and other HER2 protein-targeting therapies. Triple-negative breast cancer is typically more aggressive, more difficult to treat, and more likely to recur when compared to cancers that are hormone receptor-positive or HER2-positive.

“Nitric oxide, one of the primary free radicals created by tumour tissue, plays a crucial role in the evolution of breast cancer by stimulating the spread of cancer cells to other areas of the body at specific concentrations. As a potential novel treatment approach for triple-negative breast cancer, our goal is to develop injectable hydrogel formulations that can reduce or “scavenge” nitric oxide levels while enhancing carbon monoxide generation.

By stimulating the spread of cancer cells to other body parts at specific quantities, nitric oxide, one of the primary free radicals generated by tumour tissue, contributes significantly to the development of breast cancer.

Our objective is to produce injectable hydrogel formulations that can decrease or “scavenge” nitric oxide levels while increasing carbon monoxide generation, potentially leading to the development of a novel treatment strategy for triple-negative breast cancer.

HA “plays many roles in tumour tissues,” according to Amir. But there hasn’t been much study on how it works with nitric oxide. The study, which was just published in Biomacromolecules, tries to understand how these interactions work as well as how different effects on nitric oxide levels and breast cancer cell migration are affected.

Under the supervision of Prof. Abhay Pandit, Scientific Director of CRAM, the study was co-authored by Dr. Pau Farras from the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences in the Ryan Institute at the National University of Ireland Galway and Dr. Sharon Glynn from the Lambe Institute for Translational Research.

The study investigated the nitric oxide-scavenging abilities of HA. Nitric oxide cannot drive cancer cells into a tumour environment because, as the researchers discovered, it is transformed to particular nitrogen-centered free radicals when it interacts with the HA.

These results highlight the prospect of employing modified HA as a critical element in numerous biological applications and further our knowledge of how HA contributes in nitric oxide-induced cell migration.

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We are focusing on NO itself in an effort to avoid the side effects/reactions of these inhibitors, Professor Abhay Pandit said in response to the study. Recent developments in research regarding the roles of nitric oxide with tumour progression ultimately led to a number of ongoing clinical trials for evaluating the effects of NO-synthase inhibitors.

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Researchers at the University of Central Florida have developed a novel method for tracking metastatic cancer cells throughout the body, which may help diagnose cancer sooner and give patients with additional treatment options in the future.

Dr. Annette Khaled’s laboratory published in the most current edition of PLOS ONE that they employed a protein complex called chaperonin as a novel marker for cancer cells in the blood, providing a clearer indication of cancer progression. Using the new marker, UCF scientists were able to discover more cancer cells in the blood, a method known as liquid biopsy, which might help patients with breast and lung cancer better monitor their condition.

Cancer celblood and Protein

To survive and spread throughout the body, cancer cells require a huge number of proteins. The chaperonin complex allows proteins to fold into functional, three-dimensional structures. Cancer cells cannot develop in the absence of the complex proteins necessary. All cells include the chaperonin complex.

Cancer cells, on the other hand, have considerably greater amounts because “cancer cells are ravenous for protein,” as Dr Khaled explains. In recent years, Dr. Khaled has discovered the chaperonin complex as a crucial indication of cancer severity and has created nanoparticle-based therapeutics to seek out and kill the chaperonin complex in cancer cells. If this protein-folding pathway is absent, cancer cells hunger and perish.

“The more sophisticated the chaperonin, the more advanced the malignancy,” noted Dr. Khaled. “When we employ the chaperonin complex to identify cancer cells in the blood, we receive a signal that the disease is spreading. Using the chaperonin complex to detect cancer cells in blood is a unique non-invasive diagnostic tool.”

Cancer indicators in the blood are frequently based on epithelial characteristics in cells that line the body’s surfaces where tumours develop. However, such indicators for detecting cancer cells in the blood are limited, according to Dr. Khaled, and give little information about the malignancy itself. “Cancer cells discharged into the blood might come from any area of the tumour and survive for only a few hours.”

The chaperonin complex, a marker that detects hazardous cancer cells circulating in the blood, might inform clinicians whether a patient is relapsing or not responding to therapy.

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Dr. Khaled is the Director of the Division of Cancer Research at the College of Medicine. Her investigation began with the use of blood and tissues from patients with metastatic breast cancer being treated at Orlando Health’s UF Cancer Center to see whether the chaperonin complex was superior to standard markers for detecting cancer cells in the blood. She then tested this hypothesis on blood from lung cancer patients, revealing that the chaperonin complex identified more lung cancer cells than normal liquid biopsy procedures.

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The Serum Institute of India’s (SII) first indigenously produced quadrivalent human papillomavirus (qHPV) vaccine against cervical cancer will be considered by the Subject expert committee on Wednesday.

Prakash Kumar Singh submitted the qHPV vaccine commercial licence application to the DCGI on June 8. (director of government and regulatory affairs). Singh’s application to the DCGI highlights the vaccine’s antibody response against HPV types in all dosage and age categories.

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According to ANI, the vaccine is scheduled to hit the market by the end of 2022. The qHPV vaccine will be India’s first indigenously curated cervical cancer vaccine.

To assure its early availability in the country, the Pune-based Serum Institute of India submitted for market authorisation after completing a phase 2/3 clinical study with the Department of Biotechnology’s assistance.

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Artificial sweeteners lower the amount of added sugar and calories while preserving sweetness. According to a study published March 24 in PLOS Medicine by Charlotte Debras and Mathilde Touvier of the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research (Inserm) and Sorbonne Paris Nord University, France, and colleagues, some artificial sweeteners are associated with an increased risk of cancer.

Millions of individuals eat artificial sweetener-containing food and beverages on a regular basis. However, the safety of these additions has been questioned. Researchers examined data from 102,865 French people who took part in the NutriNet-Santé trial to assess the possible carcinogenicity of artificial sweeteners.

The Nutritional Epidemiology Research Team launched the NutriNet-Santé research in 2009 as an ongoing web-based cohort (EREN). Participants freely enrol and self-report their medical history, sociodemographic information, nutrition, lifestyle, and health data. Researchers acquired information about artificial sweetener consumption from 24-hour dietary records. The researchers conducted statistical analyses after collecting cancer diagnostic information during follow-up to evaluate the links between artificial sweetener use and cancer risk. They also controlled for age, gender, education, physical activity, smoking, body mass index, height, weight increase during follow-up, diabetes, cancer family history, and baseline intakes of energy, alcohol, salt, saturated fatty acids, fibre, sugar, whole-grain meals, and dairy products.

The researchers discovered that participants who consumed more artificial sweeteners, notably aspartame and acesulfame-K, had a greater risk of total cancer than non-consumers (hazard ratio 1.13, 95 percent confidence interval 1.03 to 1.25). Breast cancer and obesity-related malignancies were shown to have higher risks.

The study had numerous significant limitations, including the fact that food intakes were self-reported. Participants were more likely to be women, to have better educational levels, and to engage in health-conscious behaviours, suggesting that selection bias may have had a role. Because the study is observational, residual confounding is likely, and reverse causation cannot be ruled out. More study will be needed to validate the findings and understand the underlying processes.

“Our findings do not support the use of artificial sweeteners as safe substitutes for sugar in meals or beverages,” the authors write, adding that they “offer crucial and innovative information to address the disputes over their possible harmful health consequences.” While these findings need to be replicated in other large-scale cohorts and the underlying mechanisms clarified through experimental studies, they provide important and novel insights for the European Food Safety Authority and other health agencies around the world in their ongoing re-evaluation of food additive sweeteners.”

“Results from the NutriNet-Santé cohort (n=102,865) imply that artificial sweeteners available in numerous food and beverage brands throughout the world may be related with increased cancer risk, consistent with several experimental in vivo / in vitro investigations,” Debras says. Certain findings give new information for health officials to re-evaluate these food additives.”

Experts argue that while cancer therapies are vital for enhancing one’s quality of life, they can have a negative impact on the reproductive organs and hinder fertility. The inability to conceive is referred to as infertility. Experts note that while many factors influence female fertility, cancer therapy can harm the reproductive organs such as the ovaries, fallopian tubes, uterus, and cervix.

Because a woman diagnosed with cancer must undergo chemotherapy, radiation therapy, hormone therapy, surgery, or a transplant, she must choose amongst these options.

“These treatments can influence a female’s reproductive system; the changes to fertility, however, can be transient or permanent. Before undergoing cancer treatment, one should consult a fertility specialist and consider egg freezing, which can assist a woman become pregnant in the future if it is suggested,” stated Dr Prashant Mullerpatan MS, FRCS Consultant Oncosurgeon, Apollo Spectra Hospital, Mumbai.

“Cancer develops when cells divide and multiply at a rate that is significantly quicker than normal cells. Chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and surgery are among treatments that can have a variety of side effects and raise the chance of or induce infertility,” he stated.

Chemotherapy can cause the ovaries to stop producing eggs or oestrogen, resulting in primary ovarian insufficiency (POI). “In many situations, this disease is only temporary, and after therapy, one’s menstruation will return to normal, and fertility may be restored,” Dr. Mullerpatan explained.
“But, in many cases, the damage to the ovaries is irreparable, resulting to infertility on a permanent basis. Hot flashes, nocturnal sweats, irritability, vaginal dryness, and irregular or no menstrual cycles are some of the symptoms a woman may experience. Chemotherapy can cause healthy eggs to be decreased in the ovaries,” he added.

Women are born with an endless amount of eggs, according to Dr. Richa Jagtap, clinical director and consultant reproductive medicine at NOVA IVF Fertility in Mumbai. However, once the eggs are lost, they cannot be replenished, resulting in infertility and early menopause.
“As a result, getting pregnant after cancer therapy is difficult. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy, in particular, attempt to reduce the body’s developing cells. Unfortunately, this effects the eggs and sperms also. Because the amount of eggs is limited, the impact on eggs is more severe. The eggs can’t be replaced once they’ve been gone. “A woman should have normal menses, AMH (Anti-Müllerian hormone) levels in the permissible range, at least one healthy ovary, uterus, and Fallopian tube after cancer treatment,” Dr Jagtap stated.

According to Dr. Richa Jagtap, clinical director and consultant reproductive medicine at NOVA IVF Fertility in Mumbai, women are born with an infinite number of eggs. However, once the eggs have been lost, they cannot be replaced, resulting in infertility and menopause at a young age.
“As a result, conceiving after cancer treatment is challenging.” Chemotherapy and radiotherapy, in particular, aim to lower the number of growing cells in the body. Unfortunately, this has an impact on the eggs and sperm as well. The impact on eggs is more severe because the number of eggs available is limited. Once the eggs are gone, they can’t be replenished. Dr. Jagtap noted, “After cancer treatment, a woman should have normal menses, AMH (Anti-Müllerian hormone) levels in the permitted range, and at least one healthy ovary, uterus, and Fallopian tube.”