New viral therapy shows promise in treating primary liver cancer

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CANCER DIGEST – Nov. 19, 2016 – A virus that causes childhood coughs and colds could help in the fight against primary liver cancer, according to a study published in the journal Gut.

The research team, at Leeds University, Leeds, UK,  found that Reovirus was successful in treating both liver cancer cells grown in the laboratory and those taken directly from patients undergoing surgery for primary liver cancer.

8 more cancers linked to excess weight

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CANCER DIGEST – Aug. 31, 2016 – An international team of researchers has identified eight additional types of cancer linked to excess weight and obesity: stomach, liver, gall bladder, pancreas, ovary, meningioma (a type of brain tumor), thyroid cancer and the blood cancer multiple myeloma.

The findings are based on a review of more than 1,000 studies of excess weight and cancer risk analyzed by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Cancer on Research (IARC), based in France.  The results of the analysis were published Aug. 25 in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Killing two birds with one anti-viral stone

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CANCER DIGEST – June 9, 2014 – An anti-viral treatment for hepatitis B may turn out to prevent liver cancer according to a new study of 2600 patients treated for the disease. In a first-of-its-kind analysis those treated with antiviral therapy had a significantly lower occurrence of liver cancer during a five-year follow up period. Overall, 3 percent of the patients developed liver cancer during the study period. But patients who received antiviral therapy were 60 percent less likely to develop liver cancer than untreated patients. “The results of this study allow us to reassure our patients that we are not just treating their viral levels, but that antiviral therapy may actually lessen their chance of developing liver cancer,” said the study’s lead investigator, Henry Ford Health System’s Stuart C. Gordon, M.D. The finding was published in the May issue of Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

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Overall survival for microwave treatment comparable to surgery for liver cancer

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JGH – May 5, 2014 – More liver cancer patients treated with surgery to remove tumors survived 5 years compared to patient treated with microwaves to ablate or eradicate tumors. The study published online ahead of print in the Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology compared overall survival and disease-free survival of 117 patients treated with microwave ablation to 107 patient treated with surgery for liver cancer. Among the microwave group 61 (52 percent) survived 5 years compared to 64 (60 percent) of those treated with surgery, which were considered comparable rates of overall survival. For the microwave group 18 percent had 5-year disease-free survival compared to 31 percent of those in the surgery group. 

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Daily java may keep liver cancer free

LA TIMES – April 10, 2014 – Three to four cups of coffee a day may reduce the risk of developing liver cancer, say researchers at USC and the University of Hawaii. They reported their findings at the American Association for Cancer Research meeting this week in San Diego of an analysis of 179,890 people who participated in the Multiethnic Cohort Study between 1993 and 1996. Participants reported their coffee consumption and other dietary and lifestyle choices and were followed over 18 years for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) the most common form of liver cancer. During that time 498 participants developed HCC. Compared to non-drinkers or low coffee consumers, people who consumed one to three cups of coffee per day had a 29 percent reduction in risk of HCC and those who had four or more cups of coffee per day had a 42 percent reduction in liver cancer. The results were similar regardless of the participants’ ethnicity, sex, BMI, smoking status, alcohol intake, or diabetes status. 

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