Link between cancer and sleep cycle

A link was found between a person's sleep cycle and cancer.

People who work around the clock could actually be setting themselves back, according to Virginia Tech biologists.

Researchers found that a protein responsible for regulating the body's sleep cycle, or circadian rhythm, also protects the body from developing sporadic forms of cancers.

"The protein, known as human period 2, has impaired function in the cell when environmental factors, including sleep cycle disruption, are altered," said Carla Finkielstein, an associate professor of biological sciences in the College of Science, Fralin Life Science Institute affiliate, and a Virginia Bioinformatics Institute Fellow.

Supported by a National Science Foundation CAREER award and the Fralin Life Science Institute, the work was published in October in the print edition of the journal Molecular Biology of the Cell, with Tetsuya Gotoh, a research scientist in Finkielstein's lab, as lead author.

Specifically, researchers found that, unaltered, the human period 2 protein directly interacts with tumor suppressor proteins in cells to control cell division.

"When (human period 2 protein) is non-functional because it is either mutated or somehow modified, then, it is unable to do its job and prevent the cells from dividing at certain times of the day," Gotoh said. "This is particularly a problem in cases where tumor suppressor genes are mutated as it happens in more than 80 percent of all cancer cases."

The researchers observed the connection by studying various human and animal tumor cells, where repressing the human period 2 gene led to both abnormal circadian rhythmicity and a malignant transformation.

Researchers are now working closely with patients to identify those at risk of developing cancer due to the malfunctioning of the protein and the gene that produces it.

Results from these studies may help develop new, more effective prevention strategies for populations at risk due to circadian disruption, such as women working night shifts.

"These findings highlight the complexity of the circadian-controlled network and emphasize its physiological relevance for human health and for new therapeutic interventions," Finkielstein said.

"Over the past two decades we've learned a great deal about the inner workings of the circadian clock, the internal timepiece that controls our sleep:wake cycle and a whole host of other daily bodily rhythms," said Ignacio Provencio, a professor of biology at the University of Virginia who was not involved with the study. "The Finkielstein lab discovered that a molecular gear of this clock interacts directly with a well-studied protein whose role is to suppress tumor formation. This remarkable finding is likely to provide insight into how disruption of the internal clock can lead to cancer."

Finkielstein has long studied the connection between circadian rhythms and cancer development, particularly the incidence of breast cancer in women who work night shifts like nurses and flight attendants.

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No link between sleep apnea and cancer

A study shows there is no link between sleep apnea and cancer.

Canadian researchers have found no apparent connection between sleep apnea and cancer in a new study of more than 10,000 people with this common sleep disorder.

People with sleep apnea experience repeated periods of disrupted breathing during sleep. Studies suggesting a link between the condition and cancer risk theorized that low oxygen levels might trigger cell mutations connected with cancer.

"We were not able to confirm previous hypotheses that obstructive sleep apnea is a cause of overall cancer development through intermittent lack of oxygen," said lead author Dr. Tetyana Kendzerska, from the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences and Women's College Hospital at the University of Toronto.

The report, published Aug. 5 in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, is unlikely to put the question to rest, however.

"Additional studies are needed to find out whether there is an independent effect of sleep apnea on specific types of cancer," Kendzerska said.

Dr. Leonard Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, said the findings suggest that sleep apnea by itself is not related to an increased risk of cancer. "However, for some people the factors that cause sleep apnea are related to an increased risk of cancer," he said.

Risk factors for sleep apnea include smoking, chronic lung disease, obesity and diabetes, Lichtenfeld said. "It is these conditions that are more likely to cause the increased cancer risk seen in other studies, not the sleep apnea itself," he said.

This study isn't the "final answer," he said. "More research will have to be done."

For the study, Kendzerska and colleagues studied about 10,150 patients suffering from sleep apnea who took part in a sleep study between 1994 and 2010. They linked this data to health databases from 1991 to 2013.

At the start of the study, about 5 percent of the patients had cancer. Over an average of nearly eight years of follow-up, an additional 6.5 percent of the participants developed cancer. Most common were prostate, breast, colorectal and lung cancers, the researchers said.

Although no link was seen for cancer in general, the researchers did find that low oxygen levels related to sleep apnea were associated with smoking-related cancers, such as lung cancer.

Dr. Yosef Krespi, director of the Center for Sleep Disorders at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, cautioned that while sleep apnea may not cause cancer, it is a serious condition that needs to be treated.

"One should not ignore sleep apnea," Krespi said. "Sleep apnea is a chronic progressive disorder that if left untreated can result in serious heart problems."

More than 18 million American adults have sleep apnea, according to the National Sleep Foundation. Some experts say the condition is increasing because of the obesity epidemic.

Sleep apnea can make a cancer patient's life more difficult, Krespi said.

"The quality of life of sleep apnea patients with cancer and their ability to tolerate treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation can be very different than those without the condition," he said.

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Study: Seizure medication may reduce risk for some cancers

A study shows that the seizure medication valproic acid may reduce the risk for certain head and neck cancers.

A drug used to treat seizures may reduce the risk of head and neck cancers, a new study suggests.

Valproic acid (Depakote) is prescribed to prevent seizures and also to control mood, but it is also being investigated for cancer prevention because it inhibits genetic changes that can lead to cancer.

The new study included nearly 440,000 U.S. veterans, including about 27,000 who were taking valproic acid for bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), migraines and seizures. Overall, veterans who took the drug for at least one year were 34 percent less likely to develop head and neck cancers than those who didn't take the drug, the investigators found.

The risk appeared to be even lower in those who took it in higher doses or for longer periods of time, according to the study published online March 24 in the journal Cancer.

Veterans who took valproic acid did not have a reduced risk for lung, bladder, colon or prostate cancers, said team leader Dr. Johann Christoph Brandes, of the Atlanta Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Emory University in Atlanta, and colleagues.

"A 34 percent risk reduction for the development of head and neck cancer with [valproic acid] use could result in the prevention of up to approximately 16,000 new cases and 3,000 to 4,000 annual deaths in the U.S. alone," Brandes said in a journal news release.

"Head and neck cancer is an important global health crisis, and low cost and low toxicity prevention strategies like [valproic acid] use have a high potential impact on pain, suffering, costs, and [death] associated with this disease," he added.

Although the study found an association between valproic acid use and reduced risk of certain cancers, it did not prove cause-and-effect.

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Sleep necessary for mental health and well-being

This article discusses how crucial good sleep is for a person's mental health and well-being, and the consequences of not having good quality sleep.

Having a good quality and restorative sleep is essential for one to be able to function well throughout the day. Failure to do so will lead to numerous impacts to health, both long- and short-term.

According to the Sleep Disorder Society Malaysia (SDSM) president Dr Muhammad Muhsin Ahmad Zahari, some of the short-term negative impacts include short attention span, memory recall and learning; while its long-term effects have long been associated with hypertension, ischaemic heart disease, stroke, obesity, diabetes, weakened immune system, and cancer.

Dr Muhammad Muhsin added that sleep disorder can also increase the risk of accidents.

"People who suffer from insomnia are seven times more likely to become involved in an accident which then resulted in death or serious injury," he said at the launch of the `World Sleep Day Celebration and Sleep 2014 Conference' at Cititel Hotel, here, today.

He revealed that sleep disorder actually constitute a global epidemic that threatens health and quality of life for up to 45% of the world's population, thus it is essential for everyone to have a better understanding of sleep conditions.

"Sleep is a basic human need and it is crucial not only to our health and well-being, it also plays an important role in the metabolic regulation in children," said Dr Muhammad adding that SDSM is working closely with the relevant authorities, associations and organisations in improving the quality of service of sleep medicine.

"With regards to the quality service in sleep medicine, facilities such as sleep laboratory are vital. As our population grows, there is definitely a need to increase the number of sleep laboratory in public hospitals to cater to the need of the people." he added.

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Insufficient sleep epidemic

Insufficient sleep is a huge public health issue and is becoming an epidemic leading to negative health outcomes. This article tells you the possible negative health outcomes from insufficient sleep, how much sleep you should be getting, and general sleep hygiene tips.

Sleep is increasingly recognized as important to public health, with sleep insufficiency linked to motor vehicle crashes, industrial disasters and medical and other occupational errors. Unintentionally falling asleep, nodding off while driving, and having difficulty performing daily tasks because of sleepiness all may contribute to these hazardous outcomes. People experiencing sleep insufficiency also are more likely to suffer from chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, depression and obesity, as well as from cancer, increased mortality and reduced quality of life and productivity. Sleep insufficiency may be caused by broad scale societal factors such as round-the-clock access to technology and work schedules, but sleep disorders such as insomnia or obstructive sleep apnea also play an important role. An estimated 50 to 70 million U.S. adults have sleep or wakefulness disorder. Notably, snoring is a major indicator of obstructive sleep apnea.

In recognition of the importance of sleep to the nation's health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention surveillance of sleep-related behaviors has increased in recent years. Additionally, the Institute of Medicine encouraged collaboration between the CDC and the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research to support development and expansion of adequate surveillance of the U.S. population's sleep patterns and associated outcomes. Two new reports on the prevalence of unhealthy sleep behaviors and self-reported sleep-related difficulties among U.S. adults provide further evidence that insufficient sleep is an important public health concern.

Sleep-related unhealthy behaviors

The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey included a core question regarding perceived insufficient rest or sleep in 2008 (included since 1995 on the Health Related Quality of Life module) and an optional module of four questions on sleep behavior in 2009. Data from the 2009 survey's Sleep module were used to assess the prevalence of unhealthy sleep behaviors by selected sociodemographic factors and geographic variations in 12 states. The analysis determined that among 74,571 adult respondents in 12 states, 35.3 percent reported fewer than seven hours of sleep during a typical 24-hour period, 48.0 percent reported snoring, 37.9 percent reported unintentionally falling asleep during the day at least once in the preceding month, and 4.7 percent reported nodding off or falling asleep while driving at least once in the preceding month. This is the first CDC surveillance report to include estimates of drowsy driving and unintentionally falling asleep during the day. The National Department of Transportation estimates drowsy driving to be responsible for 1,550 fatalities and 40,000 nonfatal injuries annually in the United States.

Self-reported sleep-related difficulties among adults

The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey introduced the Sleep Disorders Questionnaire in 2005 for participants 16 years of age and older. This analysis was conducted using data from the last two survey cycles (2005 to 2006 and 2007 to 2008) to include 10,896 respondents aged older than or equal to 20 years. A short sleep duration was found to be more common among adults ages 20 to 39 years (37.0 percent) or 40 to 59 years (40.3 percent) than among adults aged older than or equal to 60 years (32.0 percent), and among non-Hispanic blacks (53.0 percent) compared to non-Hispanic whites (34.5 percent), Mexican-Americans (35.2 percent) or those of other race/ethnicity (41.7 percent). Adults who reported sleeping less than the recommended seven to nine hours per night were more likely to have difficulty performing many daily tasks.

How much sleep do we need? And how much sleep are we getting?

How much sleep we need varies among individuals but generally changes as we age. The National Institutes of Health suggests that school-age children need at least 10 hours of sleep daily, teens need nine to 10 hours, and adults need seven to eight hours. According to data from the National Health Interview Survey, nearly 30 percent of adults reported an average of less than or equal to six hours of sleep per day from 2005 to 2007. In 2009, only 31 percent of high school students reported getting at least eight hours of sleep on an average school night.

Sleep hygiene tips

The promotion of good sleep habits and regular sleep is known as sleep hygiene. The following sleep hygiene tips can be used to improve sleep:

* Go to bed at the same time each night and rise at the same time each morning.

* Avoid large meals before bedtime.

* Avoid caffeine and alcohol close to bedtime.

* Avoid nicotine.

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Sleep apnea can worsen skin cancer outcomes

A recent study showed that people with sleep apnea had significantly worse melanoma and skin cancer outcomes.

A bad night’s sleep can be the result of stress, poor diet, or simply not getting enough hours of rest. If you begin to fall into a pattern of back-to-back sleepless nights and find yourself experiencing daytime sleepiness, slow reflexes, and poor concentration, you may be suffering from a common sleep disorder — sleep apnea. The common yet underrecognized condition affects the way that approximately 22 million Americans breathe when they sleep at night, according to the American Sleep Apnea Association. Eighty percent of moderate and severe cases of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) are undiagnosed, putting patients at risk for high blood pressure, chronic heart failure, and other cardiovascular problems.

The sleep disorder has also been linked to a higher prevalence of cancer mortality. In sleep apnea, there is a lack of adequate air flow traveling into the lungs through the mouth and nose, causing a reduction in oxygen levels in the blood. This common trait in sleep apnea is known to play an important role during the various stages of tumor formation and progression. In fact, the severity of the sleep disorder may predict the risk of malignant skin melanoma, according to a new study.

Findings presented at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) Annual Congress in Barcelona unveiled the link between skin cancer and sleep apnea in humans. Previous studies have examined the link between the sleep disorder and both mortality and incidence rates from cancer. However, this is the first study to analyze the relationship between a specific cancer — skin melanoma — and sleep apnea in humans. The researchers measured the aggressiveness of melanoma, along with the presence and severity of sleep apnea, in 56 patients diagnosed with malignant skin melanomas.

Sixty-one percent of patients with malignant skin melanomas had sleep apnea, while 14.3 percent had severe sleep apnea. The results of the study revealed that as the severity of sleep apnea increased, the progression of skin melanoma also increased. Extreme sleep apnea was also associated with a higher growth rate or depth of invasion of the tumor, reports Science Daily.

"This is the first study in a human sample to show that sleep apnea can worsen the outcomes of melanoma." said lead author of the study, Dr. Francisco Campos-Rodriguez, from the Hospital de Valme in Seville, Spain.

While most patients with sleep apnea suffer specifically from OSA, central sleep apnea is the second most common type of sleep apnea diagnosed. This type of sleep disorder happens when the brain doesn’t send the right signals to the muscles that are responsible for controlling breathing, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center. Some people even suffer from a combination of the two types of sleep apneas — known as complex sleep apnea.

The research findings by Campos-Rodriguez and his colleagues could have important clinical implications, if applied to a larger sample size. "If the results are confirmed in larger studies, this would have important clinical implications, particularly as sleep apnea can be easily treated and this could open up new therapeutic possibilities for people with both conditions,” Campos-Rodriguez said. The researchers have begun a bigger trial that will further analyze the link between the sleep disorder and skin melanoma, involving 450 patients with cutaneous melanoma. This study could provide a breakthrough in the treatment of skin cancer patients with sleep apnea.

According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 120,000 new cases of melanoma will be diagnosed in the United States in a year. The most preventable cause of skin melanoma is exposure to the sun.

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People with epilepsy at elevated risk for some cancers

A study from Denmark reveals the elevated risk for some cancers that comes with epilepsy medications.

Here’s an interesting fact. Epilepsy is fairly common in Denmark. About 1.5 percent of the Danish population has this brain disorder that causes seizures. A recent study looked at cancer risks associated with the disease and its treatment.

Scientists have been debating for decades about whether or not the powerful medicines used to treat epilepsy increase an individual’s cancer risks.

After studying the entire Danish population, a new study found little or no association between epilepsy medications and increased cancer risks.

However, researchers did discover that the disease itself may increase the risk for certain cancers.

Jeanette Kaae and colleagues from the Department of Epidemiology Research at the Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen, Denmark, gathered information on 4,803,613 Danish residents over the age of 16, of whom 97,318 had a known epilepsy diagnosis.

The aim of this study was to establish whether medications used to treat epilepsy increase the risk for cancer.

The researchers looked at the wide range of medications used to treat the convulsive disease. A total of 22 medications were part of this analysis, some of which are used to treat conditions other than epilepsy.

Some of the medications included Lamictal (lamotrigine), Keppra (levetiracetam), Lyrica (pregabalin) and Zonegran (zonisamide).

The researchers found small increased risks (4-11 percent) of esophageal, stomach, intestine, lymph system, male genital tract, skin and urinary tract cancers among non-epileptics taking anti-epileptic medications (any medication) compared to non-users of these medications.

Non-epileptics taking these anti-epileptic medications also had 23 to 59 percent greater risks of liver, mouth and throat and respiratory tract cancers than did people without epilepsy who didn’t take these medicines.

People with epilepsy who were not taking any medications for the condition had small to moderate increased risks (17-35 percent) of cancer of the digestive and respiratory organs, compared to people without the disease.

Epileptics not taking any medicines, however, had a two-fold risk of central nervous system cancers and a three-fold greater risk of cancers of the mouth and throat compared to non-epileptics.

Adding medications did not further increase the risks of oral, digestive or respiratory cancers. 

Epileptics taking medications did have a nearly four-fold increased risk of central nervous system cancers and a 41 percent increased risk of liver cancer.

“For epileptics both with and without a record of anti-epileptic medication use, we observed strong associations between having epilepsy and the risks of central nervous system (200-400 percent increased risk) and mouth and throat (200-300 percent increased risk) cancers, as well as a modest association (30-35 percent increased risk) between epilepsy and the risk of respiratory tract cancers,” the authors wrote.

“The fact that there were generally no differences in cancer risk for epileptics who were taking medication for their condition and those who were not suggests that it is not primarily anti-epileptic medications that are responsible for the increased cancer risk among epileptics but epilepsy itself or another aspect of epilepsy diagnosis or treatment,” the authors concluded.

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Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Cancer

A study looks at long sleep duration, sleep apnea, and their links to risk of developing cancer.

A new study has found a significant positive association between long sleep duration and the development of colorectal cancer, especially among individuals who are overweight or snore regularly.

The results raise the possibility that obstructive sleep apnea may contribute to cancer risk.

"Our current study adds to the very limited literature regarding the relationship between sleep duration and/or sleep quality and colorectal cancer risk," said lead author Xuehong Zhang, MD, ScD, instructor in the Department of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and associate epidemiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

The study utilized data from two prospective cohort studies, the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS) and the Nurses' Health Study (NHS). A biennial questionnaire is sent to participants in each cohort to collect information on demographics, lifestyle factors and disease endpoints. Participants estimated their total hours of sleep in a 24-hour period and were asked if they snore.

A total of 76,368 women and 30,121 men formed the baseline population for this analysis. At baseline the median age was 53 years for women and 56 years for men. The researchers documented a total of 1,973 incident colorectal cancer cases: 1,264 cases in NHS (1986-2008) and 709 cases in HPFS (1988-2008).

In subgroup analyses, men or women who were overweight or who were regular snorers and who reported sleeping 9 hours or more per day had approximately a 1.4 to 2-fold increased risk of developing colorectal cancer compared to overweight or regular snorers with 7 hours of sleep per day.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine reports that individual sleep needs vary. However, the general recommendation is that most adults should get about seven to eight hours of nightly sleep.

The researchers suggest that the association between the self-reported long sleep duration and incident colorectal cancer may be explained by obstructive sleep apnea, which involves repetitive episodes of complete or partial upper airway obstruction occurring during sleep despite an ongoing effort to breathe. The major predisposing factor for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is excess body weight, and loud snoring is a common symptom of sleep apnea.

According to the authors, sleep disruption caused by OSA may reduce sleep quality and increase sleepiness, resulting in longer reported sleep durations. Furthermore, intermittent hypoxemia similar to that which occurs in OSA has been shown in animal models to promote tumor growth.

"Future studies should focus on different populations and evaluate to see whether sleep duration and sleep quality is a novel risk factor for colorectal cancer and to understand the mechanisms behind this association," said Zhang.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), colorectal cancer is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer and the second leading cause of cancer deaths in men and women combined in the U.S.

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Study: Internal Clocks Can Be Modified for Treatment of Disorders

A new study shows that treatments with modifying the internal body clock, or the circadian rhythm, can  potentially treat insomnia, obesity, diabetes, and cancer.

UC Irvine-led studies have revealed the cellular mechanism by which circadian rhythms -- also known as the body clock -- modify energy metabolism and also have identified novel compounds that control this action. The findings point to potential treatments for disorders triggered by circadian rhythm dysfunction, ranging from insomnia and obesity to diabetes and cancer.

UC Irvine's Paolo Sassone-Corsi, one of the world's leading researchers on the genetics of circadian rhythms, led the studies and worked with international groups of scientists. Their results are detailed in two companion pieces appearing this week in the early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"Circadian rhythms of 24 hours govern fundamental physiological functions in almost all organisms," said Sassone-Corsi, the Donald Bren Professor of Biological Chemistry. "The circadian clocks are intrinsic time-tracking systems in our bodies that anticipate environmental changes and adapt themselves to the appropriate time of day. Disruption of these rhythms can profoundly influence human health."

He added that up to 15 percent of people's genes are regulated by the day-night pattern of circadian rhythms.

In one study, Sassone-Corsi and colleagues found that the biological clock controls enzymes localized in the mitochondrion, a cellular structure devoted to energy metabolism. This government occurs through acetylation of proteins, a process that operates as a switch to turn genes on and off in cells based upon the cells' energy usage.

Some of the most important acetylation events in cells are dictated by an enzyme protein called SIRT1, which senses energy levels in the cell. Its activity is modulated by how many nutrients a cell is consuming. It also helps cells resist oxidative and radiation-induced stress. SIRT1 has been linked to the inflammatory response, diabetes and aging.

Sassone-Corsi first showed the circadian rhythm-metabolism link in 2008 and 2009, and in this study, he and his colleagues reveal the metabolic pathways through which SIRT1 works.

"When the balance between clock proteins is upset, normal cellular function can be disrupted," said Sassone-Corsi, who also directs the Center for Epigenetics & Metabolism at UC Irvine.

In exploring how to regulate SIRT1 activity, Sassone-Corsi teamed with scientists from two research-and-development groups at GlaxoSmithKline -- one in the United Kingdom and the other (called Sirtris) in the U.S. -- to test proprietary small-molecule compounds that stimulate SIRT1.

In mouse studies, they were able to modulate the scale of circadian-driven gene function with the SIRT1-activating compounds, effectively governing the circadian cycle in a host of genes involved with the metabolic rate in cells. This research proves that small molecules can be used as a pharmacological strategy to control circadian disturbances and is a step toward the development of drugs that could target many conditions, including metabolic disorders, diabetes, cancer and aging.

Postdoctoral researchers Selma Masri and Kristin Eckel-Mahan, graduate student Vishal Patel and Chancellor's Professor Pierre Baldi of UC Irvine, along with Shahaf Peleg, Ignasi Forne, Andreas Ladurner and Axel Imhof of Germany's University of Munich, as well as Sassone-Corsi, contributed to the study. The National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, INSERM and Sirtris provided support.

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Study: Sleep apnea associated with higher mortality from cancer

Sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular, metabolic and neurocognitive disorders.

New studies show that it also implies a greater risk of developing tumors, and even dying from cancer. Experimental animal studies led by researchers from the August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS), the University of Barcelona and the Hospital Clínic of Barcelona have shown that repeated episodes of hypoxia (an inadequate supply of oxygen that characterizes sleep apnea) are linked to accelerated cancer progression. New experimental results are the first to suggest that sleep apnea may be associated with increased cancer mortality in humans.

Animal experiments that gave rise to this hypothesis were led by professor at the UB Ramon Farré and his team of Respiratory Biophysics and Bioengineering from the Department of Physiological Sciences I of the Faculty of Medicine of the UB and of the IDIBAPS. Now, a collaboration with the team of Dr. F. Javier Nieto, from the Department of Population Health Sciences of the School of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Wisconsin (USA), has demonstrated in a large cohort of patients that sleep apena increases the risk of cancer mortality. Dr. Ramon Farré collaborates on a regular basis with Dr. Josep Maria Montserrat, from the Pulmonology Service at the Hospital Clínic of Barcelona, member of the IDIBAPS and lecturer at the Department of Medicine of the UB. Experimental studies in a cohort of Spanish patients suffering from apnea, funded by the Spanish Society of Pulmonology and Thoracic Surgery (SEPAR), have demonstrated that the risk of cancer may increase in patients with sleep apnea. This research has been supported by CIBERES, a multidisciplinary research network in respiratory diseases.

In vitro and animal studies show that intermittent hypoxia promotes angiogenesis and tumor growth. Therefore, researchers have examined 22-year mortality data on 1,522 subjects from the Wisconsin sleep cohort. This prospective study has analyzed predictors and natural history of sleep disorders using techniques of polysomnography. The results of the study, whose main authors are doctors Javier Nieto and Ramon Farré, were presented on Sunday 20 May during the International Conference of the American Thoracic Society (ATS 2012) in San Francisco. They have also been published in the journal The American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine (AJRCCM).

In this large cohort, the risk of all-cause mortality and of cancer mortality was adjusted for age, sex, body mass index, smoking, and other factors. Compared to subjects without sleep apnea, the relative hazards of cancer mortality were 1.1 for mild SDB; 2.0 for moderate SDB, and 4.8 for severe SDB. This means that, in case of developing cancer, the fact of having severe sleep apnea may accelerate cancer progression. However, further studies should be carried out to demonstrate whether patients suffering from aggressive cancer could benefit from early diagnosis and treatment of sleep-disordered breathing.

On the other hand, the cohort analyzed as part of SEPAR’s sleep study group gathers data on 5,246 patients who were diagnosed with sleep apnea in seven Spanish hospitals between 2000 and 2007. This study, carried out by Dr. Francisco Campos from the Valme Hospital (Sevilla) and co-ordinated by Dr. Josep Maria Montserrat, has shown that 5.7 % of patients with sleep-disordered breathing were diagnosed with cancer during the follow-up period, and that patients with the most severe apnea proportionally increased the risk of suffering from one. In an independent study also presented at the ATS 2012 conference, the group from the IDIBAPS-UB-Clínic put forward new data obtained from mice. This work shows that the effect of intermittent hypoxia on cancer growth is considerably stronger in lean mice than in obese mice.

Therefore, it is necessary to confirm with further studies the relationship between sleep-disordered breathing and cancer mortality. If these hypotheses are validated, further studies will have to analyse whether the diagnosis and treatment of SDB in patients with aggressive cancer might be indicated to prolong survival. Researchers from the IDIBAPS-UB-Clínic will continue working, together with renown collaborators such as those from the University of Wisconsin and the Spanish experts from SEPAR and CIBERES, to deepen knowledge about the relationship between sleep-disordered breathing, obesity and cancer mortality.

Read more here: http://www.healthcanal.com/cancers/29505-Sleep-apnea-associated-with-higher-risk-mortality-from-cancer.html

Study Claims Sleep Apnea Linked to Cancer

Two new studies have found that people with sleep apnea, a common disorder that causes snoring, fatigue and dangerous pauses in breathing at night, have a higher risk of cancer. The new research marks the first time that sleep apnea has been linked to cancer in humans.

About 28 million Americans have some form of sleep apnea, though many cases go undiagnosed. For sleep doctors, the condition is a top concern because it deprives the body of oxygen at night and often coincides with cardiovascular disease, obesity and diabetes.

“This is really big news,” said Dr. Joseph Golish, a professor of sleep medicine with the MetroHealth System in Cleveland who was not involved in the research. “It’s the first time this has been shown, and it looks like a very solid association,” he said.

Dr. Golish, the former chief of sleep medicine at the Cleveland Clinic, said that the cancer link may not prove to be as strong as the well-documented relationship between sleep apnea and cardiovascular disease, “but until disproven, it would be one more reason to get your apnea treated or to get it diagnosed if you think you might have it.”

In one of the new studies, researchers in Spain followed thousands of patients at sleep clinics and found that those with the most severe forms of sleep apnea had a 65 percent greater risk of developing cancer of any kind. The second study, of about 1,500 government workers in Wisconsin, showed that those with the most breathing abnormalities at night had five times the rate of dying from cancer as people without the sleep disorder. Both research teams only looked at cancer diagnoses and outcomes in general, without focusing on any specific type of cancer.

In both studies, being presented in San Francisco this week at an international conference organized by the American Thoracic Society, the researchers ruled out the possibility that the usual risk factors for cancer, like age, smoking, alcohol use, physical activity and weight, could have played a role. The association between cancer and disordered breathing at night remained even after they adjusted these and other variables.

Dr. Mitesh Borad, a cancer researcher and assistant professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic who was not involved with the studies, called the findings “provocative” but said more research was needed to confirm the association. The studies were observational, and other, unknown factors may account for the correlation between sleep apnea and cancer.

Recent animal studies have suggested that sleep apnea might play a role in cancer. When mice with tumors were placed in low-oxygen environments that simulate the effects of sleep apnea, their cancers progressed more rapidly. Scientist speculate that depriving mice of oxygen may cause their bodies to develop more blood vessels to compensate, an effect that could act as a kind of fertilizer for cancer tissue and cause tumors to grow and spread more quickly.

The researchers wondered whether a similar relationship might exist in people with sleep apnea, in whom throat muscles collapse during sleep, choking off the airway and causing gasping and snoring as the body fights for air. Severe sleep apnea can produce hundreds of such episodes each night, depleting the body of oxygen.

In one study, a team at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health examined data on state workers taking part in the long-running Wisconsin Sleep Cohort, who since 1989 have undergone extensive overnight sleep studies and other measures of health about every four years. The landmark project was one of the first to reveal the widespread occurrence of sleep apnea in the general population.

The researchers found that the more severe a person’s breathing problems at night, the greater the likelihood of dying from cancer. People with moderate apnea were found to die of cancer at a rate double that of people without disordered breathing at night, while those in the severe category died at a rate 4.8 times that of those without the sleep disorder.

“That is really striking,” said Dr. F. Javier Nieto, one of the study’s authors and chairman of the department of population health sciences at the University of Wisconsin. “It could be something else, but it’s hard to imagine that something we didn’t control for is causing this.”

In the second study, researchers with the Spanish Sleep Network took a slightly different approach, looking not at cancer mortality among apnea patients, but at the incidence of cancer. They used a measure called the hypoxemia index, which looks at the amount of time the level of oxygen in a person’s blood drops below 90 percent at night.

About 5,200 people were followed for seven years, none of whom had a cancer diagnosis when the study began. The researchers found that the greater the extent of hypoxemia, or oxygen depletion, during sleep, the more likely a person would receive a cancer diagnosis during the study period.

People whose oxygen levels dropped below 90 percent for up to 12 percent of the total time they were asleep, for example, had a 68 percent greater likelihood of developing cancer than people whose oxygen levels did not plummet at night, said study author Dr. Miguel Angel Martinez-Garcia of La Fe University and Polytechnic Hospital in Spain. As time spent without oxygen increased, so, too, did cancer risk.

Although the study did not look for it, Dr. Martinez-Garcia speculated that treatments for sleep apnea like continuous positive airway pressure, or CPAP, which keeps the airways open at night, might reduce the association.

The Wisconsin study also did not specifically look at the impact of treatment for apnea on survival, either, but when people who were being treated with CPAP were removed from the analysis, the cancer association became stronger, “which is consistent with the hypoxemia theory,” Dr. Nieto said.

“I would say that this is one more instance that shows that sleep apnea can have profound impacts for people’s health,” he added. “Not breathing while you’re sleeping is a serious problem.”

Read more here

Genetic Breakthrough for Brain Cancer in Children

An international research team led by the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI MUHC) has made a major genetic breakthrough that could change the way pediatric cancers are treated in the future. The researchers identified two genetic mutations responsible for up to 40 per cent of glioblastomas in children -- a fatal cancer of the brain that is unresponsive to chemo and radiotherapy treatment. The mutations were found to be involved in DNA regulation, which could explain the resistance to traditional treatments, and may have significant implications on the treatment of other cancers.

Using the knowledge and advanced technology of the team from the McGill University and Génome Québec Innovation Centre, the researchers identified two mutations in an important gene known as the histone H3.3. This gene, one of the guardians of our genetic heritage, is key in modulating the expression of our genes. "These mutations prevent the cells from differentiating normally and help protect the genetic information of the tumor, making it less sensitive to radiotherapy and chemotherapy," says Dr. Nada Jabado, hematologist-oncologist at The Montreal Children's Hospital of the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) and principal investigator of the study.

"This research helps explain the ineffectiveness of conventional treatments against cancer in children and adolescents -- we've been failing to hit the right spot," says Dr. Jabado, who is also an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at McGill University. "It is clear now that glioblastoma in children is due to different molecular mechanisms than those in adults, and should not be treated in the same way. Importantly, we now know where to start focusing our efforts and treatments instead of working in the dark."

Inappropriate regulation of this gene has been observed in other cancers such as colon, pancreatic, lymphoma, leukemia and pancreatic neuroendocrine cancer, and future research could therefore reveal improved treatments for these diseases. "What is significant here is that for the first time in humans we have identified a mutation in one of the most important genes that regulates and protects our genetic information. This is the irrefutable proof that our genome, if modified, can lead to cancer and probably other diseases. What genomics has shown us today is only the beginning," says Dr. Jabado.

"Génome Québec is proud to have contributed to a project whose results will make a significant impact on the treatment of pediatric glioblastoma," underlines Marc Le Page, President and CEO of Génome Québec. "The outstanding contribution of experts in genomics and new sequencing technologies, made by the McGill University and Génome Québec Innovation Centre and as part of Dr. Jabado's project, is further proof that genomics has become essential for development and innovation in medical research. I wish to acknowledge the excellence of the teams involved in this study and the model of interdisciplinary collaboration that was implemented."

"Personalized medicine has amazing potential for many areas of health care, including infection, rare diseases and cancer. Researchers, like this team, play a vital role in translating discoveries into improved patient care," says Dr. Morag Park, Scientific Director of the CIHR Institute of Cancer Research. "Through research advancements like this, there is now greater emphasis on using genetic information to make medical decisions. We congratulate Dr. Jabado and her team on these results."

Brain tumours are the primary cause of death for children with cancer in Europe and North America. The diagnosis of glioblastoma in a child or adolescent remains a death sentence and about 200 children in Canada die every year of this cancer. Most children will die within the two years of their diagnosis regardless of treatment.

This work was supported by the Cole Foundation, and was funded in part by Genome Canada and the Canadian Institute for Health Research (CIHR) with co-funding from Genome BC, Génome Québec, CIHR-ICR (Institute for Cancer Research) and C17, through the Genome Canada/CIHR joint ATID Competition (project title: The Canadian Paediatric Cancer Genome Consortium: Translating next generation sequencing technologies into improved therapies for high-risk childhood cancer.

Read more: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120130102522

Cancer Sequencing Initiative Discovers Mutations Tied to Aggressive Childhood Brain Tumors

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital - Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project provides first evidence linking cancer to mutations in genes involved in DNA organization

Researchers studying a rare, lethal childhood tumor of the brainstem discovered that nearly 80 percent of the tumors have mutations in genes not previously tied to cancer. Early evidence suggests the alterations play a unique role in other aggressive pediatric brain tumors as well.

The findings from the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital - Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project (PCGP) offer important insight into a poorly understood tumor that kills more than 90 percent of patients within two years. The tumor, diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), is found almost exclusively in children and accounts for 10 to 15 percent of pediatric tumors of the brain and central nervous system.

"We are hopeful that identifying these mutations will lead us to new selective therapeutic targets, which are particularly important since this tumor cannot be treated surgically and still lacks effective therapies," said Suzanne Baker, Ph.D., co-leader of the St. Jude Neurobiology and Brain Tumor Program and a member of the St. Jude Department of Developmental Neurobiology. She is a corresponding author of the study published in the January 29 online edition of the scientific journal Nature Genetics.

DIPG is an extremely invasive tumor that occurs in the brainstem, which is at the base of the skull and controls such vital functions as breathing and heart rate. DIPG cannot be cured by surgery and is accurately diagnosed by non-invasive imaging. As a result, DIPG is rarely biopsied in the U.S. and little is known about it.

Cancer occurs when normal gene activity is disrupted, allowing for the unchecked cell growth and spread that makes cancer so lethal. In this study, investigators found 78 percent of the DIPG tumors had alterations in one of two genes that carry instructions for making proteins that play similar roles in packaging DNA inside cells. Both belong to the histone H3 family of proteins. DNA must be wrapped around histones so that it is compact enough to fit into the nucleus. The packaging of DNA by histones influences which genes are switched on or off, as well as the repair of mutations in DNA and the stability of DNA. Disruption of any of these processes can contribute to cancer.

Researchers said that the mutations seem unique to aggressive childhood brain tumors.

"It is amazing to see that this particular tumor type appears to be characterized by a molecular 'smoking gun' and that these mutations are unique to fast-growing pediatric cancers in the brain," said Richard K. Wilson, Ph.D., director of The Genome Institute at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and one of the study's corresponding authors. "This is exactly the type of result one hopes to find when studying the genomes of cancer patients."

The results are the latest from the PCGP, an ambitious three-year effort to sequence the complete normal and cancer genomes of 600 children with some of the most poorly understood and aggressive pediatric cancers. The human genome includes the complete set of instructions needed to assemble and sustain human life. The goal is to identify differences that explain why cancer develops, spreads and kills. Researchers believe the findings will provide the foundation for new tools to diagnose, treat or prevent the disease.

For this study, researchers sequenced the complete normal and cancer genomes of seven patients with DIPG. "The mutations were found at such high frequency in the cancer genomes of those seven patients that we immediately checked for the same alterations in a larger group of DIPGs," Baker said. When researchers sequenced all 16 of the related genes that make closely related variants of histone H3 proteins in an additional 43 DIPGs, they found many of the tumors contained the same mistakes in only two of these genes.

Of the 50 DIPG tumors included in this study, 60 percent had a single alteration in the makeup of the H3F3A gene. When the mutated gene was translated into a protein, the point mutation led to the substitution of methionine for lysine as the 27th amino acid in this variant of histone H3 protein. Another 18 percent of the DIPG patients carried the same mistake in a different gene, HIST1H3B.

Researchers are now working to understand how mutations in H3F3A and HIST1H3B impact cell function and contribute to cancer. Earlier research provides some clues. The lysine that is mutated is normally targeted by enzymes that attach other molecules to histone H3, influencing how it interacts with other proteins that regulate gene expression, Baker said. Mutations in the enzymes that target histone H3 have been identified in other cancers, but this is the first report showing a specific alteration of histones in cancer.

Read more: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/cancer-sequencing-initiative-discovers-mutations-tied-to-aggressive-childhood-brain-tumors-2012-01-29

New Cancer Vaccine in Phase III Clinical Trials in Jerusalem

A new cancer vaccine developed by Israeli researchers has just startedPhase III clinical trials at Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem.

ImMucin is a 21mer synthetic vaccine composed of the entire signal peptide domain of the MUC1 protein.

The vaccine, produced by the Vaxil BioTherapeutics firm, is being tested against a type of blood cancer known as multiple myeloma. But if the vaccine works – and so far all the signs are positive – the VaxHit basic technology that supports the vaccine might also be used to fight other forms of the disease, according to the announcement on the company's website.

If the clinical trials are successful and the vaccine is approved, ImMucin may become available to the public in about six years, not only to treat cancer, but also to prevent its recurrence.

Vaxil was founded in 2006 by Dr. Lior Carmon, a biotechnology entrepreneur with a PhD in immunology from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot. The company, based in Ness Ziona, merged in June with Sheldonco.

The new vaccine works by activating the immune system by “training” T-cells to search and destroy cells with the MUC1 molecule, typically found only on cancer cells. More than 90 percent of common solid tumor cancers bear the MUC1 molecule, as well as many non-solid tumors, including lymphoma, leukemia and multiple myeloma.

Advanced-stage cancer will still require chemotherapy or surgery to remove a large tumor, Vaxil CEO Julian Levy noted, but if the cancer is brought down to size, the body will then be able to fight it, with ImMucin seen as a long-term approach to prevent recurrence.

Read more: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/149680#.TsKS4oA9a7g

http://unitedwithisrael.org/israel-develops-cancer-vaccine/

Biggest Ever Study Shows No Link Between Mobile Phone Use and Tumors

There is no link between long-term use of mobile phones and tumours of the brain or central nervous system, finds new research published online in the British Medical Journal.

In what is described as the largest study on the subject to date, Danish researchers found no evidence that the risk of brain tumours was raised among 358,403 mobile phone subscribers over an 18-year period.

The number of people using mobile phones is constantly rising with more than five billion subscriptions worldwide in 2010. This has led to concerns about potential adverse health effects, particularly tumours of the central nervous system.

Previous studies on a possible link between phone use and tumours have been inconclusive particularly on long-term use of mobile phones. Some of this earlier work took the form of case control studies involving small numbers of long-term users and were shown to be prone to error and bias. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) recently classified radio frequency electromagnetic fields, as emitted by mobile phones, as possibly carcinogenic to humans.

The only cohort study investigating mobile phone use and cancer to date is a Danish nationwide study comparing cancer risk of all 420,095 Danish mobile phone subscribers from 1982 until 1995, with the corresponding risk in the rest of the adult population with follow-up to 1996 and then 2002. This study found no evidence of any increased risk of brain or nervous system tumours or any cancer among mobile phone subscribers.

Read more: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111020191848