Skin cancer is diagnosed more often than all other cancers combined. In 2006, more than 62,000 people in the United States discovered they had this cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. More than 9,000 people died from it.

Ultraviolet or UV rays are to skin cancer what smoking is to lung cancer-a highly avoidable cancer-causing agent. Excessive sun exposure is the cause for most of this. Other risk factors include exposure to coal, arsenic or radium, multiple moles, having a fair complexion and experiencing severe sunburns as a child.

There are two types. Non-melanomas are the most common type and the most treatable. This type rarely spreads to other parts of the body. Non-melanoma is found often on the head and neck. Exposure to UV rays is often the cause of non-melanoma cancer.

The second type is melanoma. This begins in the melanocytes, or the cells that produce color or pigment. Melanoma skin cancer can be found anywhere. According to the American Cancer Society, men most likely find this on their trunk while women usually discover it on their legs. Melanoma is the most fatal of the two types. It can spread to other parts of the body.

Skin cancer can be cured if it is caught early. It is recommended that you check yourself once a month. Look at yourself in a bright room in front of a mirror. Examine your skin closely and note the look of moles, freckles and blemishes.

What kind of changes should you look for to determine if you are at risk for skin cancer. Here are a few signs:

* If a mole has changed color
* Dark coloring that has exceeded the mole or mark
* Oozing of bleeding
* Itchiness, tenderness or pain

Several treatments are available. You physician may chose to cut the melanoma completely out. You will have stitches and a scar after the excision. If you doctor has confirmed melanoma, he will want you to come back so he can cut skin around it. This will let you and your physician know if the skin cancer has spread.

The best way to deter this is to monitor your time in the sun. Here are several recommendations to keep you skin cancer-free:

* Avoid the sun between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. when the sun is at its brightest.
* If you have to be outdoors, look for the shade.
* Cover up as much of your skin as possible.
* Use a sunscreen with a minimum sun protection factor of SPF 14.

Following these recommendations and keeping a eye on suspicious moles and marks can greatly reduce your chances of getting skin cancer.

For more information on cancer try visiting cancercondition.com cancercondition.com - a website that specializes in providing cancer related information and resources including information on cancercondition.com/skincancer.html skin cancer.

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In the last ten years the treatment of many types of cancer has been revolutionized by monoclonal antibody therapies. There are many, many print and audiovisual advertisements for these drugs bringing them into the public mainstream.. So, this brings to point some important questions: 1) What are monoclonal antibodies? 2) What types of cancer are treatable by this therapy? 3) What is the basic mechanism of action, i.e., How do these drugs work?

Antibodies are the body’s natural immune defense against invading pathogens. They are produced by specific cells of the immune system termed B cells. When an infection of the body occurs, the immune system takes note. After a brief time, when the front line defenses of the immune system battle the infection, [termed the innate immune response- the first line of battle], the cellular part of the fight takes over [the adaptive response]. The adaptive immune response involves antigen presenting cells, T and B cells. Very briefly, what happens within your body when an infection occurs is this: Circulating “detectives” called macrophages and dendritic cells find the infection and literally eat it or eat cells infected [in the case of a viral infection]. The cells then “present” specific protein parts of the eaten pathogen [bacteria or virus--called antigens] to cells called T and B cells. This is a call to arms: this is literally a scream saying “time to kick butt” by the immune system. The T cells are activated by the B cells upon finding the presenting antigen. The B cells then decide that they can better fight by changing themselves into a plasma cell. This is where the action happens. The B cell changes into a protein pumping machine, the protein being antibodies. The antibodies then go find from the blood the pathogen that the original antigen presenting cells early in the infection encountered. When the antibodies find their target, they bind to it and mark it for death. Think of this as a ball with toilet plungers attached. The wooden handle is what tells the immune system, “this thing needs to die”.

This is the basic theory behind monoclonal cancer therapy. Except in the context of monoclonal antibody cancer treatment, the antibodies are produced to a single epitope (a particular protein that the immune system readily sees from a cancer cell). These cells are then taken into the laboratory, grown and stimulated to produce a single antibody that “sees” a cancer cell.

An example of monoclonal antibody treatment in cancer is Herceptin. Herceptin is a monoclonal antibody specific for an antigen called HER2. HER2 is a protein that is more prevalent on cancer cells of the breast than in normal cells. This protein is from a family of receptors that tells normal cells to grow. The drug then takes advantage of this and can specifically target cancer cells of the breast in order to kill them. This drug too has side effects of being NOT heart friendly.

Another good example of neoplastic cancer therapy is the drug termed Rituxan (Rituximab). Rituxan is a monoclonal antibody directed towards the antigen CD20 on circulating lymphocytes of the blood and is indicated for the treatment of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. It works by depleting the blood of cells that have over-produced cells that have CD20 on their cell surface. When the antibody binds, like Herceptin, the body sees those cells as foreign and kills them.

So, the question is now that we know what neoplastic antibody therapy is, how does this killing work?
The current research and thinking is that when cancer cells are coated by these antibody drugs, the extending end of the antibody [called the Fc portion] attracts Natural Killer, NK, cells from the immune system. These cells actually have receptors that recognize this very event. When NK cells find antibody coated cells, they bind to them tightly and commence to kill them. The close proximity of the two cells allows the NK cell to release protein degradating enzymes, and other cytotoxic elements to kill the target.
This entire process is termed Antibody Dependent Cellular Toxicity, ADCC.

ADCC is a powerful tool being utilized by numerous biotech companies with the intent to augment the immune response with other, novel drugs. Such drugs that come to mind are TLR agonists, chemotherapy drugs and gene transfer strategies.

Genentech makes Herceptin, while Rituximab is in combination with Biogen Idec/Genentech. Both drugs are multimillion dollar assets to both companies. The side effects of Herceptin have been documented and are under intense research to understand them. Rituxan continues to be a key element to the bottom line of both companies with it’s successful treatments.

Herceptin is produced by Genentech.
Rituxan is another monoclonal antibody treatment indicated for the treatment of lymphoma.

T Bell posts regularly at biotech101.org biotech101.org There, T Bell interprets scientific clinical trial data and relates this to the current stock price of a particular company. In addition, with the help of what is that drug, they post how drugs most advertised in the media work within the body at whatisthatdrug.com whatisthatdrug.com T Bell has advanced research experience in pathology, cell biology, immunology and pharmacology.

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Scientists have wondered in the past why drinkers suffer more than twice the usual rate of breast, liver and digestive system cancers. Researchers from the US and Israel think they now know the answer: Tumors are more likely to spread after a bout of heavy drinking.
Gayle Page of Ohio State University in Columbia and her colleagues injected rats with tumor cells that try to migrate to the lungs, but found out that these are destroyed by the immune system’s natural killer cells. However, when the tumors were injected into rats given alcohol, they found that 40 times as many cancer cells lodged in the animal lungs.

The researchers said the effects of alcohol on natural killer cells have previously been underestimated, probably because the process of extracting the cells from the blood washes away the alcohol and gives the cells time to recover. The researchers add, however that the risk was temporary: if the injection of tumor cells were delayed by 24 hours after the rats were given alcohol, the tumors were no more likely to lodge in the lungs than in rats who are sober.
They said the increased risk appeared when the rats blood contained more than .2 percent alcohol. - Health Alert

Article from : medicalfactsandfallacy.bravehost.com medicalfactsandfallacy.bravehost.com

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My Great Grandma Jo was a truly original person who lost her battle with breast cancer in 2000. She struggled with the disease for more than 10 years and was a tough p3rson who refused to die. During her life, she was a wedding dress seamstress, a gardener, a jewelry designer, a collector of Native American arrowheads, and a real go getter of a person. She was well versed in many crafts-crocheting, knitting, quilting, and making beaded jewelry. She passed on her love of beaded jewelry to me, her great-granddaughter and namesake, and I make jewelry for sale in honor of her.

Emily Josephine Leisure was a native Kansas who was raised through the depression years by her mother, Winnifred Leisure. She married my great grandfather who was part Delaware Indian in secret and worked in a salt mine in Hutchinson, Kansas. My great-grandfather was Dale Stout and he was a professional house painter. They lived in the same house in Hutchinson for 40 years. They had 3 sons, Jack, Steve, and John Stout. My great-uncle Jack was a professional artist (painter). A different type of painter than his father. According to my family, Grandpa Dale used to let his son Jack paint the walls of his room in murals for practice, then he would just paint over it and start over! Emily Josephine (or Grandma Jo as we all called her) and Grandpa Dale also had a daughter, Sharon. She is my grandmother and also sews, makes jewelry, and has had breast cancer. Sharon had 3 daughters- Vickie, Nicholi and Penni. My Aunt Nickie passed away from breast cancer as well. I guess you could say it runs in the family.

When I was a little girl, all my Cabbage Patch Kid clothes and Barbie clothes were made by the women in my family…especially Grandma Jo. When I would go over to her house, she would show my brother and sister and I her arrowhead collection, rocks that she found in Arizona, some that she tumbled herself, fossils and all the jewelry she had made. She had a lot of African Trade beads and things made out of gemstone. She would let us touch everything and tell us what all the stones were. She had a good story to go with each item, something about where she got it from or whom it belonged to, that made it very special.

Everything was exciting with Grandma Jo. As she became elderly, she lost her eyesight. She would still string beads by feel with a needle and stringing thread for Bingo prizes for the “old people” in the nursing home. Grandma Jo would always let us choose something for ourselves to take home. I have kept everything she ever gave me and even though most of the necklaces don’t fit me anymore or are outdated, I will always treasure them.

Grandma Jo was very tough. She had a double masectomy, and chemotherapy. She lost all her hair. During her on and off struggle in and out of remission with breast cancer, she lost her husband. Great Grandpa Dale had a failing heart and had to go to a nursing home. He passed away within the same year. Grandma Jo was told many times that she would also die. She was sent home to die many times and kept on living and doing what she loved. Eventually the cancer got into her bones. Her back broke-literally-and she was told she would not walk ever again. She did walk again. It was only when the cancer spread to her brain that she did eventually lose her life after a more than 10 year battle with the disease. We all loved her dearly and still miss her. I wish she could have met my sons, but I tell them about her. She was an amazing person and I am proud to be from a lineage of tough women who are strong-willed, creative, and determined.

I have a lot of qualities in common with my Great Grandmother. I am named Emily after her. The name itself means ingenious, creative. I also crochet, scrapbook, play the flute (oh, did I mention Grandma Jo once won an award for writing the winning school fight song?), and I design and make jewelry from gemstones, shell, crystal, glass and wood. I have started my first website after selling through art and craft fairs for a couple years. My web address is www.feminineflairjewelry.com. The name of my business is Feminine Flair Jewelry. I have a handmade breast cancer bracelet available on my website.

I know that Grandma Jo is proud of me. I can tell my children what all the gemstones are, and the meanings of them. I am also a story-teller and have a series of stories I made up for my sons about a fictional police character. I wish that she could be here to see my work now that I am a 30-year-old adult and give me feedback on my art and jewelry designs, but my mom says I am a lot like her. I hope if I ever have breast cancer that I can be as tough as my Great Grandma Jo and my Grandma Sharon have been.

Created and written by Emily Foster, Jewelry Artisan/Designer and owner of Feminine Flair Jewelry

My items are available at feminineflairjewelry.com feminineflairjewelry.com

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