Gum disease increases breast cancer risk in postmenopausal women

History of smoking significantly affects the link

Image courtesy: National Institute
of Dental and Craniofacial Research

CANCER DIGEST – Dec. 24, 2015 – Research has shown that taking care of your teeth and gums can prevent a lot of diseases you don’t want. Adding to the body of evidence, a new study shows that postmenopausal women with gum disease were more likely to develop breast cancer than women who did not have the chronic inflammatory condition, and a history of smoking significantly increased the risk, researchers report.

FDA approves new drug for sub-type of non-small cell lung cancer

CANCER DIGEST – Dec. 14, 2015 – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Alecensa (alectinib) to treat people with specific form of non-small cell lung cancer.

The Dec. 11 approval was for non-small cell lung tumors that have a mutation in the anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene, which is present in several types of cancer in addition to about 5 percent of non-small cell lung cancers. The approval is for treatment in patients whose disease has worsened after treatment with a drug called Xalkori (crizotinib), or who could not tolerate it.

5 of 6 at-risk women reject breast cancer prevention drug

CANCER DIGEST – Dec. 9, 2015 –Five in six women with increased risk of breast cancer turn down drugs likely to prevent the disease, according to research published in Annals of Oncology

Researchers at Queen Mary University of London collected data from 21,000 women of all ages who were at increased risk of developing breast cancer and had taken part in 26 international studies. 

Black breast cancer patients less likely to benefit from chemo before surgery

CANCER DIGEST – Dec. 1, 2015 – Among minority women treated with early chemotherapy, black women have worse outcomes than the other groups, a Yale Cancer Center analysis of the National Cancer Database shows.  

Black, Hispanic, and Asian women typically develop advanced-stage breast cancer more often than white women. As a result, black women are more likely to receive chemotherapy prior to surgery, or neoadjuvant chemotherapy, to reduce the tumor volume before the surgeon attempts to remove it in hopes of improving outcomes.