Filed under: Breast Cancer , Research , Daily news Researchers are reporting that a new vaccine designed to treat breast cancer appears to be safe in women with advanced disease. It showed signs of slowing down tumor growth too. The Neuvenge vaccine, made by Dendreon Corporation -- maker of the Provenge prostate cancer vaccine -- targets the aggressive Her-2 positive form of breast cancer, which affects 20 to 30 percent of breast cancer patients. Using immune cells from a cancer patient's own body, Neuvenge is a tailor-made therapy. Reports about Neuvenge, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, indicate the vaccine did not cause any serious side effects and of the 18 women who participated in the Phase I study, there was a reduction in the size of a tumor in one patient. In three other women, the disease seemed to stabilize for as long as a year. Although Neuvenge may not be given the go-ahead for Phase II study for some time, researchers believe their initial findings are promising.

Filed under: Prostate Cancer , Politics , Daily news , Sports George Mitchell, the man leading an independent investigation of steroid use among Major League Baseball players -- he's also a former U.S. Senate Majority Leader -- has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. "The cancer is small, low grade and localized, and can be effectively treated and cured,'' says Mitchell's physician, The prognosis is very good for Mitchell, a Democrat from Maine. Mitchell, 73, said in a statement that he expects his treatment will not interfere with his investigation that began in March 2006 when he was appointed by MLB Commissioner Bud Selig to interview hundreds of people and review thousands of documents.

Filed under: Prostate Cancer , Television , Daily news , Celebrity news Merv Griffin, creator and producer of TV game shows Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, announced in July that he'd been diagnosed once again with prostate cancer. Hospitalized after the cancer recurrence was detected during a routine examination, Griffin was reportedly doing fine. New reports indicate Griffin's prognosis is not so fine, although his reps won't confirm of deny this. It is clear Griffin is still in the hospital. Sources close to him say he is putting all his strength into fighting this battle with cancer. In lieu of sending him flowers, Griffin asks that well-wishers donate to the Young Musicians Foundation -- an organization he chairs. Also, messages can be sent here .

Filed under: Prostate Cancer , Sports Original ABC Wide World of Sports announcer Bill Flemming, also known for broadcasting college football, golf, and Olympic events, died last Friday of prostate cancer. He was 80. Before sports fans were watching televised football games all weekend long -- and then watching on-going highlights on ESPN -- they were listening to Fleming's Sunday afternoon run-down of the previous day's games. He offered fans a glimpse into matches from other regions, and he traveled all over these same regions if it meant capturing a story. He announced 11 Olympics and more than 600 Wide World of Sports events. He once shuttled from hurling in Ireland to car racing in Santa Monica, California, to a parachuting contest in Bavaria, all in just one month. Named Norman Flemming on the day he was born in 1926, this man grew up in the Chicago area, moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan as a high school student, and was a member of Ann Arbor High School's state championship football team in 1943. He was also co-captain of the basketball team. He came by athletics naturally. Speech, his eventual college major, was another love. In 1949, he won a campus-wide speech contest and landed the grand prize: a summer job at WUOM, the campus radio station. He worked his way up to sports director. And then his career took off. Flemming's resume includes work with the NBC affiliate in Detroit and NBC's Today show. He helped with the telecast of the United States Open golf tournament in 1957 and joined Wide World of Sports in 1961.

Filed under: Prostate Cancer , Prevention A reader posted a comment on one of my blogs and asked "What tests positively determines prostate cancer?" It prompted me to do a little research. 80 percent of men over 70 years old will get prostate cancer. That is a devastating statistic. A lot of times in the medical field diagnosing something requires a multitude of tests to rule out things and to get a better diagnosis. Such is the case for prostate cancer. There are several tests used to diagnose prostate cancer. Blood tests, rectal exams, rectal ultrasounds, needle biopsy, and cystoscopy. A high level of PSA in the blood can be a sign of prostate cancer. PSA is a protein produced by cancerous prostate cells. With a rectal exam your doctor can feel for lumpy or a hard prostate. If a lump or hardening is found then most often they will do a needle biopsy to examine under a microscope. A cystoscopy is an examination of your bladder and uretha but can help determine several types of cancer and not just bladder cancer. With all kinds of cancer, it is important to stay up to date with yearly exams for prevention. I hope this information helps. Read     Permalink     Email this     Linking Blogs     Comments

Filed under: Breast Cancer , Prostate Cancer , Research , Stress Reduction , Daily news Way to go Wake Forest University scientists -- for adding to the body of evidence connecting stress to illness and for reporting before anyone else that the stress hormone epinephrine causes changes in prostate and breast cancer cells that may make them resistant to death. Emotional stress contributes not only to the development of cancer, says lead researcher George Kulik, D.V.M., Ph.D , but it also reduces the effectiveness of cancer treatments. Previous research shows levels of epinephrine, produced by the adrenal glands, are sharply increased during stressful situations and can stay elevated during long-term stress and depression. During this study, published in the on-line Journal of Biological Chemistry, Kulik and colleagues found that a protein called BAD -- the cause of cell death -- becomes inactive when cancer cells are exposed to epinephrine. This is huge for patients and researchers. "It may be important for patients who have increased responses to stress to learn to manage the effects," said Kulik. "And, the results point to the possibility of developing an intervention to block the effects of epinephrine." Read     Permalink     Email this     Linking Blogs     Comments

Filed under: Prostate Cancer , Thyroid Cancer , Daily news , Sports Denver Nuggets coach George Karl missed his team's match-up against the Lakers Tuesday night so he could spend some quality time with his son, Coby, who had surgery for the removal of cancerous lymph nodes on Monday. Coby Karl, 23, spent seven hours in surgery. It was his second surgery in 13 months -- he had his thyroid removed last year after he was diagnosed with a treatable form of cancer called papillary carcinoma. Chemotherapy followed the first surgery to kill off any remaining cancer cells. All reports indicate both Karls are doing fine and Coach Karl, who has been surviving prostate cancer since 2005, was back to his coaching duties last night. His team took on the Sacramento Kings -- and won. Coby Karl is taking it easy for now. He just recently finished his final season with Boise State University where he led the Broncos with 14.8 points per game. He's still a great athlete, but right now, his health comes first.

Filed under: All Cancers , Politics These days, politics and cancer seem to go hand in hand. In February, United States Representative Charles Norwood , from Augusta, Georgia, died of lung cancer. In March, Virginia Congresswoman Jo Ann Davis revealed the breast cancer she fought in 2005 had recurred. A few days ago Elizabeth Edwards , wife of presidential candidate John Edwards, shared that her own breast cancer, originally diagnosed in 2004, has relocated to her bones. United States Press secretary Tony Snow is a colon cancer survivor. Presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani is a prostate cancer survivor. Candidate John McCain has had three bouts with melanoma, the most aggressive form of skin cancer. Bob Dole, now 83, was a cancer survivor at age 73 when he ran for the White House as the 1996 Republican presidential nominee against President Clinton. And the 2004 Democratic nominee, John Kerry, had prostate cancer surgery in 2003. If I did more research, I bet I'd turn up a whole slew of other politicians who have received a direct hit from cancer. But that's not necessary. I think what I'm trying to demonstrate is already clear. Take any sector of society and cancer will somehow be woven into the lives of those who define the population. Athletes and cancer. Celebrities and cancer. Musicians and cancer. Kids and cancer. Young moms and cancer. Men and cancer. Politicians and cancer. This brings me to my next point -- cancer is widespread, so widespread it surfaces over and over again within any given group of people. This makes me sad. But this infiltration of the disease also means none of us is alone. And as a woman with cancer; a young mom with cancer; a wife, a daughter, a sister with cancer; and a writer with cancer, this makes me feel comforted, supported, and utterly strong. Permalink     Email this     Linking Blogs     Comments

Filed under: Prostate Cancer , Daily news , Movies , Cancer Survivors One man. One cancer diagnosis. One feature-length film. About how 17,000 men gain membership every month in a group this one man calls, The Men's Club. The man is Rocky Galgano. He is 58 years old. He is a retired police officer. And he happens to be a member of the very club he features in his film -- a club full of men living with prostate cancer. Galgano created his documentary as a companion to all the densely-written books and resources he found filled to the brim with medical jargon about a disease that will strike 218,890 and kill 27,050 men this year alone. Men are reluctant to talk about prostate cancer or get tested for the disease, says Galgano. And yet this form of cancer can be cured if caught early. So Galgano stepped to the plate and started talking. He talks about his personal experience, and he talks about different types of treatment. He has nine different doctors talk. He has cancer survivors talk. And he says he wants as many people as possible to see this film. Galgano is working on distribution and says he's close to a deal with Amazon.com . He also plans to market the not-yet-rated film to urologists across the country, and he will soon sell his masterpiece -- a trailer can be seen here -- on his website for $19.95. Permalink     Email this     Linking Blogs     Comments

Filed under: Prostate Cancer , Drug , Chemotherapy , Clinical Trials Sanofi-Aventis , one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies, issued a press release that stated Taxotere (docetaxel) improves survival in patients with metastatic prostate cancer.