Jan 2012: Faulty proteins may prove significant in identifying new treatments for ovarian cancer | e! Science News

Link:  PLOS One published study


 Objective
To define the BRCAness profile of sporadic ovarian carcinoma and determine whether BRCA1, PARP, FANCD2, PTEN, H2AX, ATM, and P53 protein expression correlates with response to treatment, disease recurrence, and recurrence-free survival.

"The study -- which was supported by the Sherie Hildreth Ovarian Cancer (SHOC) Foundation -- focused on proteins that are supposed to assist cells in repairing harmful breaks in DNA strands, a process called homologous recombination (HR). The malfunctioning of HR is not well understood in ovarian cancers where there is no family history of the disease. However, there is evidence that these proteins influence a patient's ability to respond to drugs and their survival rates after treatment."

abstract: Intraoperative Neuraxial Anesthesia But Not Postoperative Neuraxial Analgesia Is Associated With Increased Relapse-Free Survival in Ovarian Cancer Patients After Primary Cytoreductive Surgery

Abstract

Objectives:  

Regional anesthesia has been shown to blunt the response to surgical stress and decrease the use of volatile anesthetics and the consumption of opioids, which may reduce immune compromise and potentially delay tumor recurrence. The goal of this study was to find a possible association between intraoperative regional anesthesia and decreased cancer recurrence.

Conclusions: 

Intraoperative use of epidural anesthesia was associated with an increased time to tumor recurrence after surgery in ovarian cancer patients. This may be a result of preservation of the immune system function.

A systematic review of positron emission tomography (PET) and positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) for the diagnosis of breast cancer recurrence