The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) has rescheduled its annual meeting for July 1114 in Washington, D.C. The organization postponed the meeting earlier this year because of the reported cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in Toronto, the city in which the meeting was to be held.
About 16,000 people were expected to attend the meeting. AACR executives decided to cancel the annual gathering in Toronto after a higher-than-expected number of attendees began canceling their meeting registrations. "The decision reflects the growing concern of manyparticularly those with clinical care responsibilitiesthat we must minimize the risk of spreading SARS, especially for those whose immune system is already compromised from their fight with cancer," said AACR chief executive officer Margaret Foti, Ph.D.
For more information from AACR, visit its Web site at http://www.aacr.org. For more information on SARS, visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/sars/.
Oral Contraceptive Use Associated with Risk of Cervical Cancer
Use of oral contraceptives, or birth control pills, is associated with cervical cancer risk that appears to increase with increasing duration of contraceptive use, according to a systematic review of published data.
Past studies have suggested that long-term use of oral contraceptives is associated with the risk of cervical cancer in women who have been infected with the human papillomavirus (HPV), which is thought to be a major cause of cervical cancer. Valerie Beral, M.D., of Cancer Research U.K. in Oxford, and her colleagues reviewed data from 28 published studies involving a total of 12,531 women with cervical cancer who had a history of oral contraceptive use.
Compared with women who had never used oral contraceptives, women who had used oral contraceptives for less than 5 years, 5 to 10 years, and 10 or more years, had a 10%, 60%, and 120% increased risk of cervical cancer, respectively. The findings held even after the researchers accounted for differences in the types of cervical cancer, HPV status, number of sexual partners, cervical screening, smoking, and use of barrier contraceptives.
The researchers note that more studies are needed to determine whether risk of cervical cancer decreases after the discontinuation of contraceptive use. The study appears in the April 5 issue of the Lancet.
Study Finds No Advantage to Newer Tests for Cervical Cancer
In several countries, newer tests for cervical cancer screening are replacing the conventional Pap smear. However, a new study suggests that these newer, more expensive tests do not outperform conventional testing and should not replace the Pap smear for cervical cancer screening.
Researchers from the French Society of Clinical Cytology Study Group compared the sensitivity, specificity, and reliability of conventional smear testing with two newer tests, monolayer cytology and human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA testing, in 2,585 women who had previously undergone Pap testing. Conventional cervical smear testing had better sensitivity and specificity than monolayer cytology, and was more satisfactory and reliable, according to the researchers. HPV DNA testing, in combination with monolayer cytology, also did not outperform conventional Pap smear testing.
"Monolayer testing, which seems less reliable and less valid and is more expensive, should not replace conventional smear tests for cervical screening," the researchers concluded. The study appears in the April 5 issue of the British Medical Journal.
See also News, Vol. 95, No. 6, p. 424, "Guidelines Recommend Less Frequent Screening Interval for Cervical Cancer", and Vol. 94, No. 4, p. 245, "Developing Countries Put Cervical Cancer Tests to the Test".
FDA Approves HPV Test for Cervical Screening
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA test as a primary screening tool for cervical cancer. The test was previously approved only as a secondary screen for women with abnormal Pap test results.
The new indication allows the HPV DNA test to be used in combination with a Pap smear to test for 13 strains of HPV, which cause the majority of cervical cancer cases. Past studies have suggested that women who have normal Pap test results and no sign of HPV infection have a 0.2% risk for developing cervical cancer, compared with a 6% to 7% risk for women who have an abnormal Pap test and a positive HPV test.
The HPV DNA test is not intended to replace regular Pap screening, nor is it intended to screen women under age 30 who have normal Pap tests.
More information is available from the FDA at http://www.fda.gov.
Imatinib Targets Fusion Protein in Rare Blood Disorder
The anticancer drug imatinib (Gleevec) is showing effectiveness against a rare blood disorder called hypereosinophilic syndrome (HES), and it appears to work in some cases by blocking the activity of a fusion protein associated with the disease, according to a new study.
The finding raises the possibility that HES may be an unrecognized form of cancer. Because imatinib has been shown to work on a variety of cancers by inhibiting tyrosine kinases, researchers have hypothesized that a similar mechanism may be involved in the treatment of HES.
D. Gary Gilliland, M.D., Ph.D., of the Brigham and Womens Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, and his colleagues treated 11 patients with HES with imatinib, which produced a response lasting more than 3 months in nine of the patients. Five of these nine patients were found to carry a genetic deletion that resulted in the formation of a fusion gene called FIP1L1-PDGFR. In culture, imatinib inhibited the growth of cells expressing this gene. However, cells containing a mutation in this gene were resistant to imatinib.
The study appears in the March 27 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Linda Wang
![]() |
||||
|
Oxford University Press Privacy Policy and Legal Statement |