CHICKEN eggs containing a drug that can target and treat skin cancer have been produced by Scottish scientists. Researchers at the Roslin Institute near Edinburgh, where Dolly the Sheep was cloned, used genetically modified hens to lay the drug-laced eggs. By "hijacking" the biological processes of the hens they were able to concentrate high levels of the drug inside the egg whites. The drug comes in the form of an antibody in the egg white. It specifically targets the malignant melanoma cells that cause skin cancer. The breakthrough has raised hopes that large quantities of the cancer drug can be harvested for patients from chicken eggs.

It is the first time drugs have been successfully produced in large quantities inside animal food products. Previous attempts to grow drugs inside sheep milk have proven to be ineffective. Researchers at the Roslin Institute are now trying to breed a second generation of hens capable of laying drug-laced eggs in a bid to produce larger flocks that can be used as "factories" for making the drug. Standard laboratory methods used to produce the drug, called Anti-R24(h), are expensive and time consuming. But using genetically modified chickens, researchers were able to produce large quantities of the drug cheaply and quickly.

"We are hijacking one of the protein genes and replacing it with our drug protein instead," said Dr Helen Sang, of the Roslin Institute. "With a modified cockerel it should be possible to produce a whole flock of transgenic hens. Each hen lays one egg a day, so it means we could produce a lot of the drug from that."

The Avian Transgenic Manufacturing project is a joint venture between the Roslin Institute, US-based drug company Viragen and the biotechnology firm Oxford BioMedica. They are aiming to have the first chicken egg-produced drugs available for use by cancer patients within five years after initial clinical trials of the antibody drug have already proven to be successful. It works by hunting out and detecting molecules on the outside of the cancer cells and helping the body's immune system destroy them.

Sang claims while patients could take the drug by eating one of the "designer" eggs, it is unlikely the drug regulation authorities would allow it to go on the market unpurified. "It is a nice idea, but eggs contain a lot of other things. All drugs have to meet stringent criteria and have to be a certain purity, and it would be difficult to prove the drug is pure in an uncracked egg."

Genetics experts last night hailed the method as a major breakthrough. Professor Richard Wilson, of Glasgow University, said: "Being able to produce viable drugs inside chicken eggs is a big step and being able to obtain a drug by cracking an egg is very attractive." Previous attempts to produce drugs in animal products have failed to live up to the same expectations. A spin off company from the Roslin Institute, PPL Therapeutics, aimed to produce drugs in sheep milk, but the firm went bust within a few years. Other firms have also tried to use milk from goats and cows to produce drugs but none have proved commercially viable.

[Top]

Study: Curry ingredient fights skin cancer-(Reuters10/07/2005)

The compound that makes curry yellow could help fight skin cancer, U.S. researchers reported. They said curcumin, found in the spice turmeric, interferes with melanoma cells. Tests in laboratory dishes show that curcumin made melanoma skin cancer cells more likely to self-destruct in a process known as apoptosis. The same team has found that curcumin helped stop the spread of breast cancer tumor cells to the lungs of mice.

Bharat Aggarwal of the Department of Experimental Therapeutics at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and colleagues treated three batches of melanoma cells, known as cell lines, with curcumin at different doses and for varying times.

The curcumin suppressed two proteins that tumor cells use to keep themselves immortal, the researchers write in next month's issue of the journal Cancer. "Based on our studies, we conclude the curcumin is a potent suppressor of cell viability and inducer of apoptosis in melanoma cell lines," Aggarwal's team wrote. "Future investigation to determine the effects of curcumin in animal models of melanoma and clinical trials are planned."

Earlier research has shown that curcumin, which acts as an antioxidant, can help prevent tumors from forming in the laboratory. Aggarwal said people who eat plenty of turmeric have lower rates of some cancers, although the spice itself has not been shown to reduce cancer risk in people.

Cancer study yields clues on gray hair-(Times of India-24/12/2004)

US cancer researchers have developed a new explanation for graying hair that they hope will also shed light on the most dangerous type of skin cancer. Senior Researcher, Dr. David E. Fisher of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston said, "What we really want is to come up with treatments for melanoma."

Melanoma is the malignant form of melanocytes, the cells that help colour hair and skin and is partially resistant to chemotherapy and radiation. Fisher's team found that hair turns gray when melancoytes get depleted. The scalp retains a reservoir of adult stem cells that provide a continuous supply of these colour making cells, but as the body ages, these cells become depleted and sometimes begin to develop in the wrong part of the hair follicle.

Studies: Sun holds cancer benefits and risks-(AP-02/02/2005)

Sunlight exposure, a major risk factor for the potentially deadly skin cancer melanoma, may also help victims survive that disease, new research indicates. And a second study indicates that exposure to sunlight may reduce the risk of getting cancer of the lymph glands. Researchers stress that their findings do not mean people should rush out and start baking in the sun. As for what people should do to gain sunlight's benefits without its downsides, an editorial accompanying the studies said more research is needed.

"Sunlight, particularly ultraviolet radiation, is a very well established human carcinogen. Nothing in these papers should in any way detract from this message," said Kathleen M. Egan of Vanderbilt University Medical Center. But the new reports, being published this week in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, do provide important clues to the development of these cancers and some factors that may slow or stop them.

Melanoma has been increasing over the past half-century in developed countries with Caucasian populations, and studies have consistently found exposure to the sun a major risk factor. However, a new look at 528 melanoma victims over five years also found that increased sun exposure led to increased survivability, according to the study led by Marianne Berwick of the department of internal medicine at the University of New Mexico. "It's totally counterintuitive, and we're trying to investigate it," said Berwick, noting that she is now doing a similar study of 3,700 melanoma patients worldwide. "It's really strange, because sunburn seems to be one of the factors associated with improved survival, and that doesn't make much sense, so we think sunburn's a proxy for the kind of sun exposure that leads to melanoma. But there's so much we need to know," Berwick said in a telephone interview.

She said Vitamin D, which the skin makes in response to sunlight, may be a factor. Vitamin D can help regulate cell growth and help cells stop unneeded growth through a process called apoptosis. Another possibility is solar elastosis, a response to sunlight that breaks down collagen in the skin -- the same process that causes sun-related wrinkling. "It may be something in solar elastosis itself ... it may be that some physical barrier created by this breakdown of collagen keeps the melanoma from getting into the blood and lymph system," Berwick said.

In the second study, a research team led by Karin Ekstrom Smedby of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, studied 3,000 lymph cancer patients and a similar number of people without lymph cancer in Denmark and Sweden. They found that increased exposure to ultraviolet radiation through sunbathing and sunburns resulted in a reduced incidence of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Vanderbilt's Egan, who was not involved in either research team, said it's unlikely to be sunlight itself that is an explanation of these findings. The scientific community is converging on the idea that Vitamin D is likely to be a protective agent in cancer, she said in a telephone interview. "It's long been known that Vitamin D is a critically important agent in bone health," she noted. "More recently it has become increasingly obvious that Vitamin D has important regulatory functions in the cell, in terms of cell division," she said.

In an accompanying commentary in the journal, Egan and co-researchers at Vanderbilt say the two findings are of particular interest because non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is suspected of being caused in a way similar to skin cancer. More than a million cases of skin cancer are attributed to sun exposure annually in the United States, with about 54,000 cases of melanoma diagnosed each year, noted the Vanderbilt researchers, which also included Jeffrey A. Sosman and William J. Blot.

Advanced melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer, can be successfully treated in some cases by vaccinating patients with tumor proteins. How these vaccines work and why they are only effective in some patients remains unclear. Pierre Coulie and colleagues now show, in two articles in the January 17 issue of the Journal of Experimental Medicine, that these vaccines work by increasing the number of immune cells called killer T cells that can attack the tumor. In an unexpected finding, however, they discovered that that these cells mostly recognize tumor proteins that were not contained in the vaccine. Understanding the characteristics of the T cell populations that are expanded after vaccination may help in the development of more effective anti-tumor vaccines

Tumor-specific T cells can be detected in the blood and the tumors of many melanoma patients, and yet these cells are unable to kill the tumor. What causes the impotence of these T cells is a mystery. Equally mysterious is why vaccination against tumor-specific proteins sometimes causes tumor regression without expanding large numbers of vaccine-specific killer T cells.

Pierre Coulie's group studied anti-tumor T cells in patients vaccinated with a tumor antigen called MAGE-3. In one patient whose tumor regressed after vaccination, the authors found significantly more T cells specific for non-vaccine tumor proteins than were detected before vaccination. Vaccine-specific T cells, on the other hand, became detectable but did not expand to large numbers. Thus, reinvigoration of existing tumor-specific T cells after vaccination did not require large numbers of vaccine-specific T cells.

Although it is not known how these tumor-specific cells get activated, Coulie thinks that the few T cells stimulated by the vaccine may change the local, suppressive environment of the tumor such that other T cells can snap out of their stupor and attack the tumor.

Kids Need to Wear Sunscreen, Hats, Shirts, Shades for Skin Cancer Protection-(Yahoo News-16/08/2004)

After a child's first summer, mothers often lapse in protecting the child's skin from the sun, new research shows. Yet that's a critical time to wear sunscreen and cover arms and legs, to protect against skin cancer. "Painful sunburns during childhood are particularly important in the development of melanoma, a life-threatening form of skin cancer... yet "at least two-thirds of U.S. children are not adequately protected from the sun," writes researcher Lori Steinberg Benjes, MD, a professor of dermatology at Boston University. Her study appears in the latest issue of the Archives of Dermatology.

In it, Benjes surveyed 92 families -- all with newborns -- to learn about their sun protection efforts during their child's first and second years. All the families lived in Falmouth, Mass., where a well-publicized sun protection education program was underway. Despite the publicity, mothers quit protecting their babies' skin early on. After the first summer (when the children were about six months old), skin damage rates increased from 22% to 54% the second summer, when they were about 18 months old, Benjes reports. Fewer hats, long-sleeved shirts, and shades were used after children reached six months, she writes. Yet more than 90% of mothers reported routinely using sunscreen during the child's second summer.

What's going on? As children become more active, mothers may have trouble keeping hats and shirts on them, writes Benjes. Also, mothers may not realize that wearing sunscreen alone is not adequate protection, she adds. Because there were few fully shaded playgrounds and pool sites in Falmouth, that was a problem. While children are in newborn through toddler stages, mothers must be more proactive with safe-sun strategies, she writes. Sun protection must be taught as part of a routine. When kids hit preadolescence, it's another critical time to bolster the message: Wear sunscreen and cover skin during peak times of the day to prevent skin cancer

MONKLANDS' sunworshippers are being warned against the risk of skin cancer. North Lanarkshire Council's Trading Standards Service, the health board and Cancer Research UK are advising people to:- l) Stay out of the sun, especially during the middle of the day when the sun's rays are at their strongest. 2) Cover up - wear a t-shirt and wide-brimmed hat. Don't forget to protect your eyes. 3) Use sunscreen with at least SPF 15. Apply generously and often and at least 20 minutes before going out in the sun.4) Take special care with babies and young children. Babies under six months should be kept out of the sun. Research has shown that people who were sunburned during childhood are at greater risk of developing skin cancer in later life. 5) Above all - don't burn.

Sunburn can double your risk of skin cancer and don't forget that the sun's rays can still cause damage on cloudy days. For the period 1996-2000 just over nine per cent of registered cases of skin cancer in Scotland were in the Lanarkshire Health Board area. Between 1998-2002 almost nine per cent of deaths from this disease in Scotland were recorded for the same area. The Trading Standards Service carried out a project on sunscreens to find out if they provide the level of sun protection which they claim to offer. Dave Roderick, Trading Standards manager, said: "Sunscreens can often be very expensive. It has been estimated that the cost of buying brand name sunscreens for a family of four on a fortnight's holidays could be as much as £100. "A range of sunscreens, including some of the cheaper brands available in North Lanarkshire were purchased by Trading Standards officers and submitted to the public analyst for testing. Despite the fact that some of the products cost as little as 99p, there were no adverse test reports. "All products sampled were found to provide the level of SPF claimed on the labelling - a few provided slightly higher levels than those stated."

Anne Scott, the project manager, added: "The results indicated that there are cheaper alternatives to the expensive, well-known brands - so you don't have to shell out a fortune to save your skin. Just make sure that you use a broad spectrum sunscreen to protect you both from UVA and UVB and one with at least a SPF of 15. Shop around, keep an eye open for special offers and buy from a reliable source. Leaflets and 'infocards' are available from any of the council's Consumer Advice Centres." Dave Roderick further advised: "You don't have to go abroad to be at risk from skin cancer.

A study of Scots skin cancer patients found that 34 per cent have never been abroad but they had sunbathed at home. So whether you are lazing by the pool or on the beach, shopping or sightseeing, working or relaxing in the garden, playing or picknicking in the park, remember to stay safe in the sun and protect your skin from cancer. And it is important to report any changes to moles or any unusual marks or growths on your skin go your doctor right away.

Over a third of parents say their children have suffered sunburn, a survey reveals. The poll also reveals that 41% like to see their children with a tan. Cancer Research UK ,which commissioned the survey, said the findings showed many parents were failing to take skin cancer warnings seriously. The findings were published to mark a new public awareness campaign, which will see posters in nurseries, GP surgeries and outlets of Boots. The poster, created for Cancer Research UK's SunSmart campaign, has been designed to highlight how quickly children's skin can burn in the sun. It features the slogan "Kids Cook Quick" along with a picture of two sunburnt children sitting on the beach. Some 19,000 posters will be distributed across the UK.

"This poster has been created to help remind parents to protect their children," said campaign coordinator Sara Hiom. "Our survey shows that just over three-quarters of parents know that it's never OK for a child to go red in the sun, but they may not always realise that young skin can burn very quickly, in as little as 10 minutes. "Sometimes, even with the best intentions, we can be caught out. "We hope the Kids Cook Quick slogan will stick in parents' minds over the summer and remind them to make sure their children are properly protected whenever they are in the sun, by following the SunSmart code. "This means seeking shade in the middle of the day, covering up with a hat, t-shirt and sunglasses, as well as using sunscreen that is factor 15 or higher."

Dr Catherine Harwood, consultant dermatologist for Cancer Research UK, urged parents to cover children up when they are in the sun. "As children have much more opportunity to play and take part in sports and other outdoor activities, they spend far more time in the sun than adults. "Babies' and toddlers' skin is particularly susceptible as their skin is thinner and produces less protective pigment. "We get around 80% of our exposure to the sun before the age of 21. So it is vital that parents are aware of the dangers and know how to protect their children properly." The British Skin Foundation urged Britons to cover up during the summer. "We must take care of ourselves by covering up and using sunscreen with an SPF15 or above and SPF30 for children, especially on the triangle area between the nose, chin and ears where most tumours are found," said Dr Colin Holden, its spokesman.

Significant Opportunities for Anti-Cancer Immunotherapy Ad-IL2 Product Candidate-(AACR Annual Meeting-14/04/2004)

Transgene reported today the progress and encouraging data from its immunotherapy research and development program of Ad-IL2 that were presented in poster sessions at the 95th annual meeting of the American Association of Cancer Research (March 27-31, 2004) in Orlando, FL. Transgene's two posters presented data from the ongoing phase I/II clinical trial in patients with melanoma and other solid tumors as well as results from pre-clinical experiments in animal tumor models. "We were pleased to present these data at the A.A.C.R. annual meeting," stated Jean Francois Carmier, Chief Executive Officer of Transgene. "They indicate a promising potential for our Ad-IL2 cancer immunotherapy program.

In addition to the initial results in the clinic of Ad-IL2, our pre-clinical data from the combination with conventional therapies open up numerous therapeutic opportunities for this product candidate. We are in the process of preparing a Phase II trial for the beginning of next year." Phase I/II clinical trial: results encourage expansion of the trial The Ad-IL2 immunotherapy product candidate is being tested in patients with metastatic melanoma or with other advanced solid tumors accessible to intra-tumoral injection. To date a total of 26 patients, 17 suffering from melanoma and nine from other solid tumors, have received intra-tumoral administrations (2 to 19 injections) of Ad-IL2. All the patients included in the trial have progressive disease refractory to standard therapies.

Astex Technology and the Sanger Institute have joined two of the country's leading cancer research organisations in a drug discovery project aimed at combating skin and colon cancer. Scientists from the Cancer Genome Project (CGP) at Sanger, the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) and Cancer Research Technology (CRT) will collaborate with Cambridge Science Park company Astex to identify and develop novel drug candidates for major indications in oncology using research garnered from the CGP. The world-class collaboration relates to the discovery of novel drugs against the cancer target BRAF, first identified as a key target implicated in a variety of cancers in 2002 when scientists from ICR and the CGP discovered that the gene was involved in several cancers, including 70 per cent of malignant melanomas, one of the deadliest forms of skin cancer. ICR, the Wellcome Trust and CRT began a collaboration in 2003 to identify BRAF inhibitors; now Astex will add expertise in fragment-based drug discovery to the collaboration.

The partners have established a joint research team whose expertise spans fragment-based drug discovery, cancer biology and the preclinical and clinical development of cancer drugs. Astex CSO and founder, Dr Harren Jhoti, said: "This is a world-class team in an important and exciting new therapeutic opportunity for cancer. We look forward to developing novel drugs targeted against BRAF and bringing these to the clinic quickly with the expert support of our collaborators." Dr Ted Bianco, technology transfer director at the Wellcome Trust, said: "There is excellent synergy between the collaborating parties. Astex's structure-based approach to drug discovery is highly complementary to the cancer therapeutic resources of the other parties. In partnership we can speed-up the drug development process and reach the clinic earlier."

Malignant melanoma usually occurs in individuals who have been exposed to the sun, x-rays, or ultraviolet (UV) light for prolonged periods. Although it accounts for just 11 per cent of skin cancers, it is responsible for almost all of its deaths. Incidence of malignant melanoma has doubled in the last decade, with worldwide estimates in excess of 100,000 per annum, and is responsible for more than 7,000 deaths in the US and 1,600 deaths in the UK each year. The CGP began after the mapping of the human genome was completed, looking at which of our 30,000 genes are involved in cancer. Preliminary evidence that the BRAF gene was mutated was found within the first 20 genes looked at; it was then studied in approximately 1,000 different cancer samples. BRAF was found to be mutated in about 70 per cent of malignant melanomas, 10 per cent of colon cancers and a smaller proportion of other cancer types.

The finding suggests sunscreens must protect against both UVA and UVB rays to provide proper protection. University of Sydney researchers found UVA rays - which age the skin, but do not burn - can cause DNA damage. The study, in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, contradicts the view that UVB rays alone pose a cancer risk. Experts had thought that UBA rays pose less of a problem, because, although they penetrate deeper than the shorter wavelength UVB ways that cause sunburn, they were thought to have less impact on DNA. However, the Australian researchers who examined skin tumours found evidence that UVA rays had damaged cells in the deep basal keratinocyte cell layer. The basal layer contains the mother cells that ensure continual regeneration of the skin through cell division But the researchers believe that UVB damage may be enough to make skin cells migrating out from this region highly vulnerable to cancer.The researchers, led by Dr Gary Halliday, wrote: "The predominance of UVA mutations in the basal cell layer reinforces the pivotal role UVA may play in the malignant transformation of human skin. "The importance of protecting the population not just from UVB but also from UVA irradiation has profound implications on public health worldwide."

The scientists examined tissue samples from 16 patients being treated for two different types of skin cancer at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Camperdown, Australia. Both types of cancer showed greater signs of basal skin layer damage from UVA than UVB rays. The vast majority of UVB mutations were in the outer layers of the skin. They said the widespread use of UVB-blocking sunscreens in Australia may have led to increased exposure to UVA. Dr Catherine Harwood, a dermatologist at Cancer Research UK, said: "This is an important paper which adds new data to the growing body of evidence pointing to a significant role for UVA in the development of skin cancer. "Although experimentally very thorough it is still a relatively small study, and the findings now need to be confirmed in similar larger scale studies. "As the authors point out, confirmation of such a role for UVA may have major implications for public health initiatives to prevent skin cancer, as it becomes increasingly clear that the protection from both UVA as well as UVB is essential."

People aged under 16 could be banned from tanning salons, and coin-operated outlets could be closed, under new proposals for the industry. Cancer Research UK's new partnership with tanning salons is aiming to squeeze "rogue salons" out of the business. For the first time, the charity has formally united with the Sunbed Association, the watchdog which represents around 2000 parlours in the UK, in an effort to promote self regulation within the sunbed sector. Skin cancer experts yesterday agreed that regulation, rather than an outright ban, was the most effective way to minimise the risks of sunbed use, which is believed to cause nearly 100 cases of melanoma in the UK each year. Sara Hiom, who co-ordinates Cancer Research UK's SunSmart campaign, said the charity hoped the partnership would encourage sunbed users to visit parlours which are SA members and must comply with the organisation's code of practice, rather than non-members which are not obliged to follow safety guidelines. She said: "We are in talks because we don't see legislation as the answer."

Until the negotiations with the Sunbed Association, the charity has taken a hard line stance against the tanning industry. However, Ms Hiom denied claims that the charity's softer approach would undermine its warnings of the dangers posed by sunbed use. She said: "The last thing we are doing is endorsing sunbed use, and we have to be careful we make that clear. "You have to accept that, no matter what you say, some people will continue to risk using sunbeds. It is early days, but this is an alternative worth exploring."

With 70,000 cases of skin cancer diagnosed in Britain each year, Cancer Research UK and the Sunbed Association agreed plans to stop sunbeds being used by the under-16s. They also called for coin-operated salons to be shut down and want to see Europe-wide guidelines introduced for all other tanning businesses. Both groups will take their plans forward at a summit later this month. Although the watchdog represents only a quarter of the tanning facilities in the UK, it hopes that the new strategy will encourage more operators working to its code.

Professor James Ferguson, a specialist in ultraviolet skin diseases at the photobiology unit at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee, said the need for regulation was greater than ever. He said: "There is an epidemic in skin cancer and there is no doubt that artificial sources, such as sunbed parlours, have contributed to that. "It is a move in the right direction. Banning is not feasible and I would welcome any move towards self-regulation. "You can't tell people not to do it, but what we need is regulation, education and control. A lot of people who use sunbeds are in the younger end of the population and don't realise the consequences. "Like cigarettes and alcohol, there should be an age limit. Parental consent or accompanying adult would be sensible." The British Medical Association also approve of self-regulation as the best option.

The common cold virus most people try their hardest to avoid is very likely to be the cure for malignant melanoma, Australian scientists have discovered in a major breakthrough announced hereA team of researchers at the University of Newcastle believe they have made an exciting discovery in the treatment of the usually deadly skin cancer of which Australia, with its hot sun, has the highest rate in the world for its fair-skinned populace. "We have established that melanoma cells can be destroyed by infecting them with a common cold virus," the lead researcher, associate professor Darren Shafren said. "We believe this is a significant break-through in the development of the treatment of melanoma. We are very excited about it." "The results we have had using human cells and also in animal studies have been very exciting. If we can replicate this success in human trials then it could be available within a year or two." The research has just been published as the cover story in the January 2004 edition of Clinical Cancer Research, the journal of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).

Skin cancer is so common here that it would be of huge benefit in a country in which one in every two people will develop some form of the disease at some stage. Some 300,000 Australians will visit a doctor this year to have a skin cancer removed. Almost 9000 new cases of melanoma are diagnosed each year, about 1000 Australians die of melanoma, which is the fifth most common form of cancer. The projected process involves injecting the common cold virus, the coxsackievirus, into the melanoma site, the virus replicates itself and is expected then to start to kill off the melanoma. Shafron says that within weeks, there is a reduction in the size of the melanoma and it eventually disappears. "When the secondary action begins, we expect the virus to circulate the body finding and killing off melanomas in the same manner with the effect that it will seek out and kill melanomas that may be undetectable," he added. "This is a community occurring virus, not a manufactured drug or a genetically altered virus. We believe it could even be effective for people with advanced melanoma." The work, based on technology developed by the picornavirus department at the university over the past four years, is being conducted at the local biotechnology company ViroTarg's laboratory in the Royal Newcastle Hospital 150 kilometres (95 miles) north of Sydney.

Although sunscreen lotions were designed to shield people from the sun's harmful rays, recent studies have hinted that sunscreen use might actually increase the odds of developing melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. However, a new report shows that people who regularly slather on the lotion can rest easy. After reviewing the findings from 18 studies published between 1966 and 2003, investigators at the University of Iowa in Iowa City found no convincing evidence that using sunscreen does anything to increase the risk of melanoma. All of the studies included in the analysis compared sunscreen habits of people diagnosed with melanoma to others who were cancer-free. The report responds to a handful of recent studies that showed that people who used sunscreen were more likely than people who didn't to develop melanoma. Study author Dr. Leslie K. Dennis explained that her review showed that most of the previous studies that reported an increased risk of melanoma among sunscreen users did not account for the fact that people who are most at risk for melanoma - such as those with fair skin who burn easily - are also more likely to use sunscreen. Consequently, many sunscreen users are more likely to develop cancer because of their skin, and not because of their use of protective lotions, she noted. "Sunscreens do not cause skin cancer," Dennis told Reuters Health.

The review, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, also failed to show that using sunscreen reduced the risk of melanoma. Dennis noted that many of the people included in the 18 studies had used older forms of sunscreen, manufactured before the development of features such as sun protection factor (SPF), water-resistance and blockers against different types of ultraviolet radiation. For instance, research has shown that ultraviolet A radiation may be more likely to trigger melanoma than ultraviolet B, and sunscreens did not start including certain ultraviolet A-absorbing compounds until 1989. Dennis said that she believed newer sunscreens do, in fact, protect people against melanoma and other types of skin cancer, but that it may take many more years before those benefits become apparent.

"A protective effect of sunscreen use is not likely to be seen until these newer features have been used for at least ten years," she noted. Dennis and her colleagues write that investigations into sunscreen's ability to protect against melanoma may be further muddied by the fact that some people use sunscreen in order to stay out longer in the sun, which can itself increase the risk of cancer. They add that sunscreen likely works best when used correctly, and people looking to protect themselves from sun's harmful rays should make sure to spend some time in the shade, use enough sunscreen, apply it evenly and opt only for types that contain an SPF greater than 15. For Dennis, the bottom line for sunscreen users is simple: keep using it.

Treatment with low-dose interferon does not seem to improve the survival of patients who've undergone surgery for melanoma, an often-deadly type of skin cancer, new research suggests. "Questions remain as to whether (the drug works well enough) to justify routine use," the investigators conclude. "After many years of clinical research, there is good evidence that high-dose interferon (helps prevent disease recurrences), but no clear evidence of the benefit to overall survival," lead author Dr. Barry Hancock, from the University of Sheffield in the UK, noted in a statement. In the current study, Hancock's group assessed the outcomes of 674 patients who had their melanomas surgically removed and then received either interferon or no further treatment for two years or until their cancer returned. All of the patients had "high-risk" melanomas based on the severity of their cancer. The results are published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

The five-year overall and recurrence-free survival rates were 44 percent and 32 percent, respectively, and the rates did not differ much between the two study groups. Moreover, this held true when the groups were compared by disease severity, age and sex. Predictors of decreased overall survival included male gender and cancer spread to nearby lymph nodes. In contrast, age was not an important prognostic factor. Although severe interferon-related toxicities were relatively rare, 50 patients did withdraw from treatment due to the toxic effects, the researchers point out. "This study confirms that optimal care for patients with high-risk melanoma is still not clear," Dr. Lynn Schuchter, author of an accompanying editorial, said in a statement. "The challenge now is to go beyond these results -- to develop more innovative and efficient (studies), and better identify those patients at risk of recurrence based upon...genetic factors," Schuchter, from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, added.

Skin Cancer Melanoma Rare in Children Treated with Radiation-(Reuters Health-28/11/2003)

Radiation treatments for childhood cancers are unlikely to lead to malignant melanoma, according to a new study. Certain long-term studies have suggested that as many as 10 percent of childhood cancer survivors may subsequently develop tumors, and there also have been reports of an increase in childhood and adolescent melanomas. However, following the study, Dr. Florent de Vathaire, of the National Institute of Public Health and Medical Research, Villejuif, France said, "our conclusion is that radiation-induced melanoma exists as a complication of, but is rare." Led by de Vathaire, the researchers studied about 30,000 children treated for a cancer from Nordic countries, the UK and France. The results are reported in the November issue of the European Journal of Cancer. They found that as children survive longer after cancer, the risk of subsequent cancers increases. However, there were only 16 cases of malignant melanoma in about 20 years, and those occurred only in areas of the skin that had received large doses of radiation. Thus, de Vathaire concluded, radiotherapy "may not be considered as a public health problem for survivors of a childhood cancer."

A new set of studies adds to evidence that flight crews face an increased occupational risk of developing cancer. Three studies, using data from air crews in two Nordic countries and involving several thousand cabin crew members, all point to an increased risk associated with working for long periods above the clouds. In one study, researchers from Iceland studied cabin crews for malignant melanoma, one of the most deadly and aggressive skin cancers. They surveyed more than 1,000 pilots and cabin attendants and 2,000 others randomly selected from the general population, asking about physical and lifestyle risk factors. They found men who flew for a living doubled their chances of developing the condition, and women were at 3.5 times the increased risk.

"While there have been other studies that have shown higher incidences of skin cancer in air crews, this is one of the first to try to adjust for sunbathing and other lifestyle factors," says study author Dr. Vilhjalmur Rafnsson, a professor of preventive medicine at the University of Iceland. "And it shows that occupational risks are indeed a significant factor.All our routes here are in higher exposure zones, which are about double that of the equator, and that is important. Many people say that the amount of radiation is not a lot, but cosmic radiation has significantly greater amounts of neutron activity. There is a lot of uncertainty about the effects of these neutrons, which are more biologically active than other types of ionizing neutrons."

Another Icelandic study of more than 1,500 female flight attendants, 35 of whom went on to develop breast cancer, also suggests that the occupation may be an significant factor in that disease as well. Researchers in that study, which looked at more than 40 years of flying crew data, found women crew members who had worked in those positions for five or more years before 1971 were five times as likely to develop breast cancer as those who had been in service for less time before this date. The association remained after adjusting for reproductive factors.

And a Swedish study found that while the overall incidence of cancer was only slightly higher than the general population, incidences of malignant melanoma among both male and female cabin crew was two to three times higher. Moreover, it also discovered additional increases in incidences of other skin cancers among the male flight crew. However, while that study found female flight attendants had a 30 percent increased risk of breast cancer, this was not statistically significant when adjusted, and researchers could not find any link between length of employment or cumulative hours worked. This led them to question whether other factors, such as reproductive patterns, might be contributory factors. "While we don't have the confidence that this higher rate is related directly to occupational factors," says study author Dr. Anette Linnersjö, of the Stockholm Center of Public Health, "it probably is a real increase because other studies showed similar results. It could also be explained by time lag or disruption of the body's rhythm. We haven't enough data on exposure."

Researchers found that jet planes, which gained prevalence after 1971, fly higher in the atmosphere and for longer periods of time, routinely exposing crews to cosmic radiation for long periods -- often 14 hours or more at a time. In an accompanying editorial, Dr. Elizabeth Whelan of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, wrote the average amount of exposure to ionizing radiation has increased over time due to this trend. She went on to suggest that irregular working hours and disturbances to the body's internal clock could also play a role in predisposing some to ill health. "But the question still remains whether the increased risk found in these studies is due to work or lifestyle factors," she wrote. "The research does not yet provide definitive answers." Nevertheless, Whelan concluded: "The evidence that flight crew are at increased risk for certain types of cancer is growing, and current concerns about potential hazards in this occupation are not without basis." The findings appear in the November issue of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

To help prevent skin cancer, schoolchildren should be taught to take cover from the sun by wearing hats and other protective clothing, new guidelines advise. Schools, recreational areas and tourist attractions are all good places to get out the skin cancer prevention message, according to the Task Force on Community Preventive Services. Faced with rising rates of skin cancer in the U.S., the independent panel, which is supported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, reviewed published research to find out what programs are effective at getting people to "cover up" to protect themselves from the sun. The task force found that skin cancer prevention efforts at grade schools and recreational locations, such as public swimming pools, are effective.

One aim of the report was to help public officials "try to concentrate on things that have been shown to work," said Dr. Mona Saraiya, a medical epidemiologist at the CDC's division of cancer prevention and control. She told Reuters Health that more research is needed to test the effectiveness of prevention efforts in other locations, including child care centers, high schools and colleges, workplaces and media and community awareness programs. "That doesn't mean that they don't work," she said, just that they have not been studied enough.

Cases of melanoma, the rarest but most dangerous form of skin cancer, have increased dramatically during the past two decades, as have deaths from the disease. The CDC predicts that more than 54,000 people will be diagnosed with melanoma this year, and 7,600 people will die from it this year. The CDC estimates that there will be more than 1 million new cases of the other two main skin cancers, basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. Despite the rise in skin cancer, surveys have found that only about one out of every three Americans takes steps to reduce sun exposure. Anyone can develop skin cancer, but factors that increase the risk include a family history of the cancer, fair skin and red or blonde hair. People who burn easily and do not tan are also more susceptible to skin cancer.

Although sunscreens can reduce exposure to the ultraviolet (UV) radiation that is linked to cancer, slathering on some lotion is not enough for preventing skin cancer, according to experts. In fact, some studies suggest that sunscreen use can be harmful if people spend more time in the sun because they feel protected, according to the report. In addition to sunscreen, other ways to minimize UV exposure include wearing wide-brimmed hats, long sleeve shirts and long pants, and sunglasses that block UV rays. Staying in the shade and avoiding the sun when its rays are strongest -- between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. -- are also recommended. The guidelines, which appear in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, are being released in conjunction with a recommendation put together by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. That group concludes that there is insufficient evidence to evaluate the effectiveness of doctors at encouraging patients to reduce sunlight exposure. "Counseling parents may increase the use of sunscreen for children, but there is little evidence to determine the effects of counseling on other preventive behaviors," the report concludes.

In patients with a history of skin cancer other than melanoma, the use of selenium supplements does not appear to prevent the recurrence of two other types of skin cancer--basal cell and squamous cell cancer--and may actually raise the risk of squamous cell cancer, new research suggests. The initial results from the Nutritional Prevention of Cancer Trial reported in 1996 showed that selenium use did not influence the rate of nonmelanoma skin cancer in individuals who were at risk for this type of cancer. However, the new findings, which are based on three additional years of follow-up, suggest that use of the selenium, an antioxidant, may promote certain cancers. These findings run counter to the results of animal studies that indicate a protective effect for selenium and other antioxidants.

The study, reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, involved 1312 patients with a history of nonmelanoma skin cancer who were randomly assigned to receive daily supplementation with selenium 200 micrograms or placebo ("sugar pill"). In agreement with the initial results, selenium use was not associated with the risk of basal cell cancer, study author Dr. James R. Marshall, from the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York, and colleagues note. However, use of the antioxidant seemed to raise the risk of squamous cell cancer, the researchers state. Selenium users were 25% more likely to develop this malignancy than nonusers. These findings should be viewed along with the overall impact of selenium supplementation as a potential cancer-preventing agent, the authors note. Prostate cancer prevention trials that are now underway, including one testing selenium supplementation in men with precancerous cells in the prostate, "will help to clarify this overall impact," they add.

Aspirin might help treat a rare form of cancer that causes huge mushroom-shaped tumors to grow out of the body's hair follicles and sweat glands, scientists said. Writing in the medical journal Nature, the scientists said aspirin's anti-inflammatory properties could help combat cylindromatosis, an inherited form of skin cancer also known as turban tumor syndrome. People who have the syndrome suffer from inflamed skin tissue which releases a host of molecules that may help keep cancer cells alive, they said. Aspirin reduces the inflammation and therefore might help to starve the cancer cells. The research is contained in three studies carried out independently in the Netherlands, Greece and Israel. All three are published in Nature. George Mosialos, head of the Greek team, said the research might also prove useful for the treatment of other types of cancer. "It could be used for certain types of leukemia and lymphomas." Mosialos told Reuters.

Cylindromatosis produces distinctive mushroom-shaped tumors which grow out of the scalp and other hairy parts of the body. While the tumors are benign, they can cause terrible disfigurement and, if untreated, can turn into life-threatening malignant cancers. "It's important that we put the theory to test in patients as soon as we can," Cancer Research UK's Professor Alan Ashworth said in a statement. "In the case of turban tumor syndrome, we think anti-inflammatory drugs could be rubbed into tumors in gel form in order to shrink them," he said. "We know inflammation can play a role in the development of a number of other cancers too, so it could be that aspirin will find a range of uses as a cancer treatment."

A University of Minnesota study has confirmed the pivotal role of an enzyme known as JNK2 in the development of nonmelanoma skin cancers. The findings suggest that JNK2 should be evaluated as a target for the prevention and treatment of such cancers. Lead author Zigang Dong, director of the university's Hormel Institute in Austin, Minn., presented the work on July 13, 2003, at the American Association for Cancer Research meeting in Washington, D.C. Ultraviolet rays from the sun are the major culprit in skin cancer, which accounts for more than half the cancers in the United States. The process of cancer development involves a chain of interactions among biochemicals in the skin, and biochemicals that play key roles in carcinogenesis make potential therapeutic targets.

Many human cancers show elevated activity in some form of JNK enzyme, and the enzyme is also activated by sunlight, Dong said. "Even if one goes into the sun for a few minutes, the activity of JNK in the epidermis rises," said Dong. "If you go out for a few minutes, JNK activity doesn't stay elevated. But it looks as though if a person gets too much sun exposure, JNK activity becomes permanently elevated and cancers develop. This study indicates that some form of JNK activity is a key step in the process by which nonmelanoma cancers grow." Working with mice, Dong and his colleagues focused on two enzymes known to be activated by factors that cause cells to divide and that have been considered important in skin cells' response to UV light.

Of the two enzymes, called JNK1 and JNK2, only the latter turned out to play an important role in the development of tumors. The researchers used two lines of mice that had been rendered enzyme-deficient by inactivation of the gene for either JNK1 or JNK2 in fertilized mouse eggs. When the mice were two months old, the scientists applied a chemical carcinogen to the skin of their backs, followed by five-times-a-week exposure to UVB light, the ultraviolet light that causes skin cancer. At 31 weeks of age, a much smaller percentage of JNK2-deficient mice had tumors (18 percent), compared to control mice (48 percent) or JNK1-lacking mice (50 percent). At 40 weeks of age, the percentage of tumor-bearing JNK2-deficient mice had almost doubled, to 35 percent, while the percentage rose more slowly in control mice (to 56 percent) and JNK1-deficient mice (to 73 percent). The data suggest that when JNK2 is lacking, skin cells are inhibited, or at least delayed, in their response to UVB light. "Knocking out the JNK2 enzyme could simply delay the response to ultraviolet light, but if so, it would be significant," Dong said. "If we age enough, every one of us will get cancer. But if we can delay the process, that's good progress." The researchers also studied the biochemistry of skin and embryonic cells from the mice. They found that UVB light and a chemical known to promote tumor formation induced biochemical activity associated with cell division and tumor growth in control mice and JNK1-deficient mice, but not in JNK2-deficient mice.

Australia close to perfecting anti-melanoma treatment, vaccine-(AFP-23/06/2003)

A melanoma treatment developed in Australia could be available within five years after a number of terminal patients had been declared free of the disease in early trials. Queensland's state government said phase three trials of an anti-melanoma vaccine, the final hurdle before the product could be registered, were now under way. The development was unveiled by Queensland's state premier Peter Beattie to a Washington medical conference and in a statement released here simultaneously. The treatment had the potential to prevent hundreds of thousands of deaths around the world, he said.

Queensland, which boasts that it is Australia's "sunshine state", has the highest rates of melanoma in a country with one of the worst rates of the cancer in the world because of its largely light-skinned European population and a climate which ranges from warm in the south to tropical in the north. One in 25 Queenslanders reportedly develop melanoma at some stage during their lifetime. Beattie said Queensland was now "leading the way in the global race to find a treatment for this very malignant skin cancer". The human trials follow recent registration by the Therapeutic Goods Administration, Australia's drug regulator, allowing the Queensland Institute of Medical Research to produce and supply drugs for use in phase one, two and three trials. The trial's principal investigator, Chris Schmidt, said the latest placebo-controlled trial would treat 200 patients with melanoma from around Queensland. Schmidt said researchers hoped to have the results of the trial within five years. "Depending on the results, the anti-melanoma vaccine could be available in hospitals shortly afterwards," he said. He said even with surgery, 75 percent of melanoma patients with disease which had spread to other parts of the body, relapsed to the terminal stage.

Childhood Sunburn Can Lead to Skin Cancer Later-(HealthScoutNews-08/06/2003)

Most parents wouldn't dream of handing their children a dangerous toy or feeding them tainted food. Yet, many otherwise loving and caring parents put their kid's lives at risk simply by sending them outdoors to play in the summer sun. The reason is skin cancer. And experts say that if you let your children spend even a short amount of time outside without protection from the sun, you're increasing their risks of this disease by a generous proportion. "Anytime you get a sunburn, at any age, your risk of skin cancer goes up. But get that burn before the age of 18, and your risks go up dramatically -- and the more times a child experiences sunburn or even sun damage caused by a tan, the greater their future risk of skin cancer," says Dr. Darrell Rigel, a dermatologist from New York University Medical Center.

One reason, Rigel says, is the cancer-causing effects of the sun are cumulative. Simply put, the earlier that sun damage to the skin starts -- which can happen with a tan as well as a burn -- the more likely your child is to reach the level of cellular damage that translates into skin cancer. But that's not the only reason children need to be protected from the sun. Because a child's immune system is not fully developed, Rigel says, they don't have the kind of biochemical defense mechanism that normally helps an adult's body catch at least some of the cells damaged by the sun and repair them before cancer has a chance to develop. "As a result, over time those cells damaged in childhood become an adult skin cancer," Rigel says.

Earlier this year, research conducted at Harvard's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston was even more specific in pinpointing the dangers to children. According to Dr. Lynda Chin, it may all come down to the recently discovered Rb pathway -- a series of biochemical signals that can sense when damage occurs in a skin cell and immediately shut down its ability to duplicate itself. "In this way, the Rb pathway can help stop tumors from forming," says Chin, an assistant professor of dermatology at Harvard Medical School. However, the more sun exposure you have, particularly at a young age, the more likely it is the Rb pathway will become damaged and no long able to sense when a skin cell is in trouble. Essentially, "the suns rays inactivate the built-in protection, allowing melanoma to grow," Chin says.Indeed, the American Academy of Dermatology confirms that nearly two-thirds of all melanoma skin cancers are related to sun exposure, and up to 80 percent of that exposure usually occurs during childhood. The American Cancer Society estimates that more than 54,000 new cases of melanoma skin cancer will be diagnosed in 2003, and some 7,600 new deaths will occur from this disease this year.

One way to protect your children is to make certain they wear a sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) of at least 15, and to make sure they use the product correctly. "This means using enough sunscreen to cover all exposed areas of the body, and putting it on at least 30 minutes before going outside," says Dr. Ted Daly, a dermatologist at Nassau University Medical Center in New York. "Sometimes, we recommend a number 30 sunscreen because people generally put on less than they should," Daly says. So, even if you're stingy with your application of SPF 30, you'll still get the benefits of SPF 15 wherever the sunscreen is applied. Daly also reminds parents to make certain children reapply sunscreen after bathing, or after participating in any activity that can cause them to sweat off the protection.

Although parents are often present when a young child goes outdoors, experts suggest this may not be the case as the child grows older. No longer under your watchful eye, skipping a sunscreen can be far too easy -- particularly at sporting events or summer camp. The solution: Teach your children well, beginning as early as possible, about the need for sunscreen. "It's not enough to just put the sunscreen on your child, you have to also teach them about sun protection so, as they get a little older, they'll remember to keep on using it -- even when you're not around to remind them," Daly says. Although sunscreen can go a long way in protecting your child, experts from the American Academy of Dermatology say it won't do the whole job. Both Daly and Rigel urge parents to enlist at least one other form of protection for their children, including hats, sunglasses and T-shirts, particularly at the beach. Also, remember that sunburns can happen in the shade of a beach umbrella, or even on a cloudy day. So keep a keen eye on any color changes in your children's skin while they're outdoors. "It can take up to 12 hours for a sunburn to become apparent, so a child that looks a little pink in the afternoon might end up with a red sunburn by the next morning," Rigel says. So, he says, get them indoors the minute you see a change in skin color.

Melanoma is all too often a deadly disease. While it accounts for less than 5% of all skin cancers, it is responsible for more than 75% of skin cancer deaths. This is because it is very difficult to treat once it has spread beyond where it started. But the knowledge gained over the past few decades may soon lead to new, more effective forms of treatment for the disease. Most of these new treatments, such as cancer vaccines now in development, try to use the body's immune system to attack the cancer cells. Immunotherapy has thus far had a limited role in treating cancer, but it is one of the most promising areas of cancer research, especially in melanoma.

This cancer seems to be especially well suited for research with immunotherapy treatments for several reasons:

· Once it has spread, the survival rates are low, largely because melanoma does not respond well to traditional therapies such as radiation and chemotherapy.
· There is some evidence that melanoma tumors can be controlled by the immune system. For example, in rare cases melanomas have been known to simply go away on their own. Most scientists think this is due to some type of immune reaction against the cancer.
· Two of the more effective treatments now used for melanoma, interferon alpha and interleukin-2, work by revving up the patient's immune system, and cause tumor shrinkage in a small percentage of advanced melanomas. With these factors in mind, researchers have been trying to make vaccines against melanoma for many years, often with mixed results.

What Is a Cancer Vaccine? Most people are familiar with the vaccines given during childhood to prevent certain diseases, such as measles and mumps. These vaccines work by teaching the body's immune system to recognize a specific invader, such as a virus, so the body can resist infection if exposed to it in the future. Cancer vaccines operate on the same principle, attempting to prime the immune system to combat a disease. But there are some important differences. Most cancer vaccines now in development are not meant to prevent disease, but to stop it from returning after most or all of it has been removed during surgery. Viruses and bacteria look very different from cells in the body, so the immune system has a relatively easy time recognizing them as "foreign." It knows they don't belong in the body, so it doesn't take much prodding to stimulate an attack on these organisms. Cancer cells, on the other hand, look a lot like normal cells, so the immune system has a harder time distinguishing between the two. The trick is to find something different about the cancer cells and make the immune system aware of this. But this has not proved to be an easy task. Scientists have used a variety of techniques to try to get the immune system to attack melanoma cells, and each has its advantages and disadvantages.

Whole Cell Vaccines: The simplest technique has been to use whole, killed melanoma cells as a vaccine. There are two possible sources of such cells. The vaccine can be made from a person's own melanoma cells (removed during surgery), which is known as an autologous vaccine. These have the advantage of having all of the needed "flags" (antigens) on the cell surfaces to cause the immune system to respond. But because the immune system has already seen these cells and has not killed them off, they have to be chemically modified and usually must be given along with an immune booster to make them more effective. Other disadvantages with such personalized vaccines include the expense to make them, and the fact that some people do not have enough cells removed during surgery to make an adequate amount of vaccine. Still, early results have shown that some people seem to live longer when given the vaccine. At least one such vaccine, known as M-VAX, is now in late-stage clinical trials, the results of which should be available within the next few years.

The other sources of tumor cell vaccines are melanoma cells taken either from other patients or grown in a lab. These are known as allogeneic vaccines. Two such vaccines are now in large clinical trials - Canvaxin (which combines three types of irradiated melanoma cells) and Melacine (which uses two types of melanoma cells that have been split apart to expose more antigens). A recent review of previous studies of Canvaxin showed it may increase survival time. The largest study of Melacine to date did not find an overall survival advantage, but did find a benefit in people with specific immune system characteristics, which may be explored in further studies.

Newer Vaccines: In the last decade, scientists have come to understand more about what makes melanoma cells different from other cells, as well as about how the immune system works. These discoveries have led to newer, more specific types of vaccines, which are now entering clinical trials. Many of the "flags" on cell surfaces (known as antigens) that are unique to melanoma cells have been identified, and researchers are now making vaccines composed of one or more of these antigens. These might have the advantage of more specifically activating the immune system. (Whole cell vaccines, on the other hand, may not have enough of these antigens, and have many unneeded antigens.) Other vaccines use pieces of antigen DNA, which are taken up by cells in the body and provide a more constant source of antigen exposure to the immune system. Still others involve taking immune system cells out of the body, where they can be exposed to the antigens in the lab and then reintroduced into the body. Most of these vaccines use dendritic cells, which are a very powerful type of immune system cell. Researchers recently had success with a similar technique that involved taking immune system cells known as tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) from surgically removed tumors, growing them in the lab, and reinjecting them. While only a small number of patients were treated with this approach, almost all had their tumors shrink.

Promising But Not Yet Ready: Unfortunately, no vaccine has yet received FDA approval for treating melanoma, so these therapies are currently available only through clinical trials. But with the wealth of new techniques being explored to help treat melanoma, the outlook for advanced cases will undoubtedly improve.

Outdoor Exercise Can Be Dangerous: Doctors are always touting the benefits of exercise. But there can be a downside, if you like to exercise outside -- exposure to the sun can lead to skin cancer. Skin cancer is more common in Texas than many other states. Doctors said that the reason is simple. The closer you get to the equator, the more damage the sun can do. Time is also an issue. From 10 a.m. until 2 p.m., the sun is right overhead, which means the rays are more intense. So doctors advise that people should take precautions when exercising outside. The right clothing can make a big difference. "Clothing you can't see the sunlight through is better than thinner clothing you can see through," said Dr. Jeffery Lee, with M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Dark and bright colors are better than pale ones since they absorb UV rays, according to experts. "The brighteners in our detergents are probably good because they also increase the amount of UV radiation absorbed by clothing and reduce the risk," Lee said.

But prevention is only the beginning, doctors said. Having someone literally watch your back may be the thing that saves your life. "The buddy system is good, you know, especially people who have experienced what we have been through," said Brad Bowers, who had skin cancer. A friend of Bowers pointed out a mole on his back that turned out to be melanoma. "Every time we have a blistering sunburn before the age of 18, we increase the chance we will develop melanoma," Lee said. The cancer was successfully removed from Bowers. But he knows to be careful since melanoma has a high reoccurrence rate. Half of those who reach 65 years of age will get skin cancer, according to statistics.

Sunscreen Important For Protection: Skin cancer is the leading killer of people in their 20s and 30s, according to doctors. In fact, many physicians said that they are seeing more cases of skin cancer in younger patients. Melanie Gould was diagnosed with the disease when she was 14 years old. Now, the letters "SPF" have an important meaning for her. SPF stands for sun protection factor. She has to wear it at all times. "It has become something I do on a regular basis with moisturizer and lotion on my arms and legs," Gould said. The skin cancer was found when Gould went in to have a mole removed from her leg. "I have never heard of anyone having skin cancer at such a young age and I just thought that old people had it and it was just something that got sliced off at the dermatologists and that was it. It was a huge shock," Gould said. Remembering to wear sunscreen daily has become a lot easier since so many products include it. Sunscreen was added to products for other reasons than preventing prevent skin cancer, according to cosmetic industry experts. Jennifer Phillips is Nordstrom's skin care manager. She said that sunscreen helps fight the effects of aging. "It is in your moisturizer. It is in your foundation," Phillips said. Newer products on the market make it easier to get a tan without sun damage. It's a tan in the bottle.

Dr. Paul Mansfield, with M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, said that he would like to see fewer people hitting tanning beds. "I mean, it is deadly and it is just something you should be concerned about. So wear some sunscreen and cover up and don't go to tanning beds," Mansfield said.

Use Buddy To Find Problems: One in six people will be diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma in their lifetime. One in 75 will face melanoma. When it comes to protecting yourself against skin cancer, a buddy can be your best bet, according to doctors. The reason is because the cancer often grows where you cannot see it. Richard Broderick's wife noticed his. "There is a mole on my back my wife noticed," Broderick said. "It can be found anywhere on your skin. Not just on your face or arms -- areas that are exposed. And I think that is an important myth to dispel," said Dr. Ronald Rapini, with M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. On men, skin cancer is most commonly found on the back. That's where Dustin Gragg, 22, found his. "It kind of itched and I'd go scratch. I would use the corner of a wall to scratch my back because I couldn't reach it," Gragg said. On women, melanoma is most commonly found on the lower leg. "So people think it is going to be in the sun-exposed areas but melanoma is commonly in a covered-up area," Rapini said.

Another often-overlooked trouble spot is underneath hair. Research found that while 80 percent of the more benign skin cancers, called basal and squamous cell, turn up in sun-exposed areas, the more deadly type of skin cancer appears where covered areas or pale skin is exposed to large amounts of sun. Approximately 20 percent of people diagnosed with melanoma die, so early detection is the key to beating this type of cancer, doctors said. Many of the patients checked at M.D. Anderson's Melanoma Skin Center said that they were encouraged or even nagged to visit the doctor by their "buddy." For many, it saved their lives.

Skin Cancer Affects All Skin Colors: One of the myths of skin cancer is that people of color do not get the disease. It's a deadly mistake, according to doctors. Patrick Robertson, who is African American, first noticed a dark spot on his foot while he was in the eighth grade. But it did not start growing until three years ago. "It slowly got bigger over the years. Then it got thick," Robertson said. Now, Robertson has a melanoma the size of a golf ball on his foot, which spread to his lymph nodes. "I used to say, 'Oh nothing's wrong. It is going to go away.' But shoot, it turned out to be melanoma," Robertson said. Like many African Americans, Hispanics and Asians, he did not think he could get skin cancer. "They think because they belong in the Hispanic group or Asian group, they (have) no risk for skin cancer. They are at lower risk of skin cancer, but it does not imply zero risk," said Dr. Tri Nguyen, with M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Since it is more rare for minorities to get skin cancer, patients tend to come in when the cancer is in a later stage, according to doctors. "They are found at later stages. They have a high mortality and a worse prognosis for all types of skin cancer, but especially melanoma," Nguyen said. Another problem -- skin cancer in minorities can look different and is typically found in different areas of the body, according to doctors. "(It's important) to exam fingers and toes -- areas you wouldn't think you would get skin cancer," Nguyen said. But doctors said that the biggest obstacle is cultural. Hispanics and Asians often don't believe they are sick unless they have symptoms. But skin cancer doesn't have any symptoms until it spreads.

Five patients who developed skin cancer after an organ transplant may have received cancer seed cells from the donor, researchers report. The cancer, Kaposi's sarcoma, is caused by a virus that the body usually can eliminate. It has become associated with the AIDS epidemic because the virus affects people with weakened immune systems. Kaposi's sarcoma appears in about one out of every 200 transplant recipients - 400 to 500 times the rate of the general population. It had been thought the virus was able to take hold in these patients because their immune systems were suppressed to prevent rejection of the new organ.

But a European research team has found evidence that, at least in some transplant patients, seed cells for the cancer tumors seem to have originated in the organ donor. The findings of the team led by Patrizia Barozzi and Mario Luppi of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia in Modena, Italy, are reported in the journal Nature Medicine.The study shows that "tumor cells from the organ donor can contribute to one of the most frequent transplant-related malignancies," Patrick S. Moore of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute said in an accompanying article. He was not part of the research team.

Weeks ago, Scottish doctors reported on two cases of patients developing the skin cancer melanoma from transplanted kidneys even though the donor was successfully treated for the cancer many years earlier. Transfer of cancer from a donated organ to a transplant patient is rare, and the chances of it happening long after the donor was treated were thought to be extremely unlikely. In the cases involving Kaposi's sarcoma, researchers studied eight patients - six women and two men - who received kidneys from male donors and who developed Kaposi's sarcoma nine months to 40 months later.

In analyzing the cancer cells from the women, the researchers detected Y-chromosome DNA in four cases. DNA is the molecule that determines a human's development. Women have two X-chromosomes while men have one X- and one Y-chromosome. Thus, the presence of the Y-chromosome DNA in the women's cancer indicates that the cells originated with a male. There was no evidence of Y-chromosomes in the cancer in the other two women or in normal cells from any of the women. Using DNA analysis of the cancer cells in the men, the researchers found that in one case the cancer DNA was related to that of the donor. Kaposi's sarcoma can be treated by reducing or ending the suppression of the patient's immune system, allowing it to battle the cancer. That also can mean the immune system attacks the transplanted organ, causing it to be rejected. Moore noted that the organ donors had no symptoms of Kaposi's sarcoma, which suggests they are infected with the cancer-causing virus but that their bodies destroy the cancer cells when they form. Once the infected organ is transplanted into someone with a weakened immune system, however, the cancer cells can grow and cause disease.

Australia has a higher rate of the most deadly form of skin cancer but more people in Britain die of the disease each year, cancer experts said. In the last five years, 8,100 people in Britain have died from malignant melanoma compared to 4,900 in Australia, according to the charity Cancer Research UK. Dermatologists blame the high number of deaths in Britain on a lack of public awareness about the disease and a failure of people to recognize early symptoms. "Malignant melanoma is a preventable cancer. We need the public to be aware of what they can do to help prevent the disease," Dr. Charlotte Proby, a dermatologist with Cancer Research UK, said in a statement.

Skin cancer is one of the most common cancers in Britain. Most cases can be treated and are unlikely to spread. But malignant melanoma, which accounts for less than one in 10 skin cancers, is the most deadly form. Each year about 6,000 people in Britain are diagnosed with malignant melanoma, which usually develops in cells in the outer layer of the skin but can spread to other parts of the body. Cancer Research UK has joined forces with the government to launch a campaign, similar to one in Australia, to inform people about skin cancer and how to spot the early signs.

According to the most recent figures, there were 7,850 cases of malignant melanoma diagnosed and 1,000 deaths in one year in Australia, compared to 5,990 in Britain and 1,600 deaths. "People there have been educated primarily to protect themselves in the sun. They are also taught to take notice of any unusual skin growths or changes in moles and to have them checked by a doctor," said Proby. "This means where there is disease it is diagnosed early and can be successfully treated," she added. Doctors advise people to wear sunscreen, wide-brimmed hats and sunglasses to protect themselves from the sun's harmful rays and to make sure they do not burn. Parents are also advised to take extra care to protect their children.

Health promotion strategies to prevent deaths from skin cancer, particularly melanoma, have two components: advice on early recognition and advice on prevention. The population is perhaps heeding advice on early recognition. Five year survival from melanoma in England and Wales is improving, particularly in female patients,1 probably because the cancer is diagnosed at an earlier stage owing to increased public awareness. But the incidence of melanoma is increasing in the United Kingdom and the United States; in the United Kingdom it has doubled over the past 20 years. This contrasts with a falling incidence in Australia, but it is not clear whether this difference is attributable to the Australian prevention campaign having been active for longer or whether prevention messages are less effective in the United Kingdom.

By 1996, attitudes among Australian students had already shifted positively towards avoiding exposure to the sun and away from the use of sunscreen and desire for a tan. In contrast, a study of 80 students in the United Kingdom published in 2000 found that most emphasised positive benefits of sun exposure, enjoyed sunbathing, protected themselves inadequately, and did not intend to change this behaviour. Experts believe that 90% of non-melanoma skin cancers and two thirds of melanomas may be attributed to excessive exposure to the sun. Although no direct evidence shows that sunbeds cause skin cancer, they are a source of intense exposure to ultraviolet radiation, and according to a recent report from the National Radiological Protection Board therefore represent a potential health risk.

Campaigns to prevent skin cancer have incorporated numerous messages including the need to avoid sunburn and generally reduce exposure to ultraviolet radiation by staying out of the midday sun, wearing protective clothing, seeking shade, and applying sunscreen. In recent years the advice on sunscreen has included recommendations for the use of broadband preparations with a higher sun protection factor. Early health promotional material did not give greater emphasis to any one means of protection over another. Little discussion has taken place of the fact that skin tanned by ultraviolet radiation is damaged skin or of the potential risks of using sunbeds. A tanned appearance remains fashionable, and, although there has been a marked increase in sales of self tanning lotions in western Europe and the United States (market data, Euromonitor 2002), no evidence has shown that this is replacing exposure to ultraviolet radiation. Despite having a good understanding of the relation between overexposure to the sun and skin cancer, 81% of Americans still think they look good after being in the sun.

Risk taking behaviour with respect to exposure to the sun continues. The availability of sunbeds on high streets in the United Kingdom seems to be increasing, but we could find no sources of data on trends in access to and use of commercial sunbeds to confirm this. The licensing by local authorities of commercial premises in the United Kingdom offering cosmetic sunbed tanning depends on the application of bylaws and is currently discretionary. Few local authorities choose to license and data currently collected cannot be used to monitor trends. The only data we could find to support the hypothesis that the use of sunbeds is increasing was from one American tanning firm, whose turnover rose from $2.8m (£1.8m; 2.8m) in 1990 to $15m in 2002. In the absence of any other data these figures could alternatively represent a changing market share. The equal emphasis placed on the use of sunscreen versus avoiding exposure to the sun or wearing protective clothing in early prevention campaigns in the United Kingdom may have led to confusion. Surveys carried out in the United Kingdom have found that sunscreen is regarded as the most important sun protection measure.

It is still unclear, however, whether sunscreens effectively protect against skin cancer, and concern has been raised that they may directly or indirectly increase the risk of disease, primarily because of poor application and increased exposure to the sun.6 Sunscreens with a high sun protection factor do not always prevent sunburn, although they should if applied according to the manufacturer's directions. The thickness of application has been shown to be less than half that officially tested and key exposed sites (neck, temples, and ears) are often missed completely. Although sunscreen should be used to reduce exposure to ultraviolet radiation, evidence shows that most people use it to facilitate a tan through longer duration of exposure.

For children too, despite the availability of new protective clothing and shades, sun protection consists primarily of applying sunscreen and may actually result in an increase in the time of exposure. So even if sunscreens are effective at preventing sunburn, the concern is that they may be less effective at reducing exposure to ultraviolet radiation and preventing skin cancer. Strategies to prevent skin cancer in the United Kingdom and United States have not resulted in a tanned appearance becoming less fashionable and, although evidence shows increased sales of self tanning products, recent studies still report high levels of risk taking behaviour with respect to exposure to the sun and seeking a tan.

Studies also show that in the United Kingdom sunscreen is being used as the main mode of protection and that, contrary to advice, many people use sunscreen to prolong exposure. The report from the National Radiological Protection Board concludes that protection by sunscreens is less reliable than that provided by reducing exposure through other means. It recommends that e

[Top]

Skin cancer breakthrough in an egg-(Scotland on Sunday-24/07/2005)

Study: Curry ingredient fights skin cancer-(Reuters10/07/2005)

Cancer study yields clues on gray hair-(Times of India-24/12/2004)

Studies: Sun holds cancer benefits and risks-(AP-02/02/2005)