OFF TOPIC, but too important to too many to not post


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Researchers find big batch of breast cancer genes

Mon May 28, 2007 9:03am ET
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor, Reuters
http://today.reuters.com/news/articl...l_ushealth1100

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A genetic mutation that raises the risk of breast cancer is found in up to 60 percent of U.S. women, making it the first truly common breast cancer susceptibility gene, researchers reported on Sunday.

Reports from several teams around the world identified changes in four other genes that raise the risk of breast cancer significantly. Several are found in many men and women.

More than 60 percent of the women in the United States probably carry at least one of the mutations in one of the genes, called FGFR2, the researchers said. [read about FGFR2]

"This is a truly landmark breakthrough for breast cancer research, because these genes are the first confirmed common genetic risk factors for breast cancer," said Jianjun Liu of the Genome Institute of Singapore, who took part in one of the studies.

The researchers, reporting in the journals Nature and Nature Genetics, said the discoveries are the most important genes associated with breast cancer since BRCA1 and BRCA2 were identified. [read about BRCA1][read about BRCA2]

Women with faulty copies of BRCA1 or BRCA2 have a 50 percent to 85 percent chance of getting breast cancer in their lifetimes. But they are rare genes, and only account for 5 percent to possibly 10 percent of breast cancer cases.

Researchers have been testing women for other genes associated with breast cancer, to find its causes, to understand how and why it develops, and to make more effective treatments.

Better techniques to analyze DNA, and the publication of the human genome, the map of all DNA in the body, have made this a much faster and easier process.

David Hunter of Harvard University and a team at the U.S. National Cancer Institute looked at more than 2,200 women of European ancestry.

COMMON GENE, BIG RISK

They found four common mutations in FGFR2 associated with the breast cancer in women after menopause who do not have known relatives with breast cancer.

The mutations raise the risk of breast cancer risk by 20 percent if they carry one copy of the gene and by 60 percent if they carry two copies. And close to 60 percent of the women they studied carried at least one copy.

The findings do not yet have any real relevance for women, Hunter stressed.

"It is premature to recommend screening women for these gene variants, at least until the scientific community has further combed through the genome-wide findings and found all the variants that are associated with increased risk," Hunter said in a statement.

Douglas Easton of Britain's University of Cambridge led a team of researchers around the world to look at tiny changes in the DNA code called single nucleotide polymorphisms or SNPs -- pronounced "snips" -- in the DNA of 21,860 people with breast cancer and 22,578 people without it. [read about SNP]

They found mutations in four genes that were more common in the people with breast cancer -- FGFR2, TNRC9, MAP3K1 and LSP1. [no easy to read definition of TNRC9, MAP3K1 and LSP1 found]

FGFR2 may be a logical candidate for a breast cancer gene -- it is a receptor, a kind of molecular doorway, for compound called tyrosine kinase which is involved in several cancers.

In a third study, a team at deCODE genetics, the University of Nijmegen in the Netherlands and elsewhere studied 22,000 people to find two other gene mutations associated with breast cancer. One is also near TNRC9.

"DeCODE estimates that these two variants are contributing factors in one quarter of breast cancer cases in women of European origin," the company wrote in a statement.

Breast cancer kills 500,000 people a year globally according to the World Health Organization, and 1.2 million men and women are diagnosed with it every year.

"Essiac: The Secrets of Rene Caisse's Herbal Pharmacy" by Sheila Snow and Mali Klein, 2001
ISBN 0-404-13262-6 "The New Medical Follies: An Encyclopedia


Essiac Definition
Essiac is a medically untested and unproven alternative treatment for cancer, AIDS, and other diseases. It consists of a blend of four herbs: burdock root (arctium lappa), Indian rhubarb root (rheum palmatum, sometimes known as Turkish rhubarb), sheep sorrel (rumex acetosella), and the inner bark of slippery elm (ulmus fulva or ulmus rubra).
Purpose
Essiac tea is generally used by alternative healthcare practitioners to treat various forms of cancer and the side effects of conventional cancer therapy. It is also used to treat AIDS. It is used to a lesser extent to treat a variety of other medical conditions, including diabetes, skin inflammation, liver and thyroid problems, diarrhea, ulcers, and some other degenerative diseases. Other uses include treating pain, purifying the blood, healing wounds, lowering cholesterol, and increasing energy levels. As of 2005, essiac tea is more commonly used in Canada than the United States.
Although each of the four main ingredients in essiac tea are used to treat other conditions, only the sorrel is used separately to treat cancer. Only when the four are combined do they effect anticancer properties. Alternative healthcare practitioners do not claim to know how or why the ingredients work in combination, but one idea is that they work synergistically to stimulate production of antibodies. Rene Caisse (pronounced "Reen Case", d. 1978), a Canadian nurse who ran her own clinic from 1934 to 1942, was convinced that this tea could cure cancer. She believed essiac tea purified the blood and carried away damaged tissue and infection related to the cancer. She also believed the tea strengthened the immune system, allowing healthy cells to destroy cancerous cells.
Caisse maintained that tumors not destroyed by essiac tea would be shrunk and could be surgically removed after six to eight weeks of treatment. To insure any malignant cells that remained after treatment and surgery were destroyed, Caisse recommended at least three months of additional weekly essiac treatments.
One of Caisse's patients was her mother, Friseide Caisse, who was diagnosed with liver cancer at the age of 72. Her mother's physician reportedly said she had only days to live. Rene Caisse began giving her mother daily intramuscular injections of the tea. Friseide began recovering within a few days and after a few months, with less frequent doses of essiac, her cancer was gone. She lived to be 90, finally succumbing to heart disease.
Description
Essiac tea is based on a Canadian Ojibwa Indian formula containing primarily burdock root, Turkish rhubarb root, sheep sorrel, and the inner bark of the slippery elm. It is used in alternative medicine mainly as a treatment for cancer.
The formula, said to have been first developed by an Ojibwa healer, was intended to purify the body and balance the spirit. In 1922, the formula came to the attention of Rene Caisse (essiac is Caisse spelled backwards), a nurse in Ontario, Canada, after hearing first-hand accounts of its curative effects on cancer. She began administering the tea to cancer patients and found it to have remarkable healing abilities. Despite considerable objection from the medical profession, Caisse continued treating cancer patients with the tea until she died in 1978. In 1977, Caisse sold the essiac tea formula to the Resperin Corp. of Ontario, Canada. It is now produced generically by at least 35 companies and sold mainly in health food stores and on the Internet. It is sold as a dry mix and as a brewed liquid.
Caisse reported that hundreds of her patients had been cured of their cancers through the use of her tea, sometimes used as intramuscular injections. Most of the patients came to her after conventional cancer treatments (surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy) failed. Several alternative healthcare practitioners report essiac tea seems to work best in patients who have had the least amount of radiation therapy or chemotherapy.
The mainstream medical community does not embrace essiac tea. Critics contend that a certain number of cancers deemed incurable spontaneously go into remission without adequate medical explanation. Others chalk up the successes to the so-called placebo effect, in which the belief that the treatment is working effects a cure rather than the treatment itself. The treatment is not approved by the American Medical Association or the American Cancer Society. In 2000, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) began a crackdown on Internet distributors of essiac tea. The FTC said claims by the distributors that essiac tea cured or was an effective treatment for cancer, AIDS, and other diseases were misleading and illegal.
In 1938, a bill in the Canadian Parliament to legalize essiac tea failed by three votes. As of 2005 the tea still is not approved for marketing in the United States or Canada. However, the Canadian Health and Welfare Department permits compassionate use of essiac tea on an emergency basis.
In 1975 and again in 1982, the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York tested only the sorrel component in the tea. They boiled it, which may have neutralized any beneficial compounds in the leftover tea, and administered it to mice with cancerous tumors. It determined the formula had no anticancer effects. The National Cancer Institute and Canadian Bureau of Prescription Drugs reached the same conclusion in the 1980s.
Recommended Dosage
The four main ingredients of essiac tea are sold separately and can be combined at home. Essiac tea is also marketed as tea bags and in bottles of the prepared formula. The formula is ready to use immediately. When ready, the bottle is shaken to mix the sediments. Four tsp of the essiac formula are blended with 4 tsp of warm spring water. The usual daily dosage is 2–4 oz of tea for persons weighing 100–150 pounds and 2 oz for every 50 pounds over 150 pounds. Some alternative health practitioners recommend regular doses of essiac to strengthen the immune system and as a preventative for certain diseases, including cancer. The frequency ranges from daily to weekly.
Precautions
Essiac tea is not recommended for pregnant or lactating women. The formula should not be prepared or stored in plastic or aluminum containers. Sunlight and freezing temperatures are believed to destroy the formula's effectiveness. It is generally recommended that persons consult with their physician before treating any condition with essiac. It is important to remember that essiac is often used in combination with traditional cancer treatments, such as chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery.
Side Effects
No major adverse side effect have been associated with essiac tea.
Interactions
Essiac is not known to adversely interact with other medications or nutritional supplements.

Cancer Treatments 2007
Advanced Immunotherapy for Cancer with Proven Long Term Remission
www.Issels.com

Wikipedia Home > Library > Reference > Wikipedia
Essiac
Essiac or Essiac Tea is a blend of herbs used to make a tea that is believed[1] by some and questioned by others[2] to have cancer-treating properties. It was discovered by a Canadian nurse, Rene Caisse, who named it after her name spelled backwards. It was released to the public in 1988 by Dr. Gary L. Glum, author, "Calling of an Angel". Essiac contains greater burdock root (Arctium lappa), slippery elm inner bark (Ulmus rubra), sheep sorrel (Rumex acetosella), and Indian rhubarb root (Rheum officinale).
One form of essiac contains eight herbs; in addition to the four already mentioned, this formula contains red clover, watercress, blessed thistle, and kelp. There is some debate over which formula is more effective, and which one is "authentic."
Some people take Essiac Tea on occasion for general health purposes or for healing of various ailments, not just cancer. Other ailments it may possibly be used for are diabetes, immune system disorders, and liver problems.

Pro ^ THEHERBS.INFO

^ Eight Herb Essiac Formula

References
ISBN 0-9620364-0-4 "Calling of an Angel" by Gary L. Glum. 1988
ISBN 1-890941-00-X "Essiac: A Native Herbal Cancer Remedy" by Cynthia Olsen, 1998
ISBN 0-7171-3228-5 "Essiac: The Secrets of Rene Caisse's Herbal Pharmacy" by Sheila Snow and Mali Klein, 2001
ISBN 0-404-13262-6 "The New Medical Follies: An Encyclopedia of Cultism and Quackery in These United States" by Morris Fishbein, 1995