News

Common Diabetes Drug May Boost Ovarian Cancer Survival

Common Diabetes Drug May Boost Ovarian Cancer Survival

December 3, 2012

12/03/2012 Researchers at the Mayo Clinic have shown that ovarian cancer patients who were taking the common diabetes drug metformin survived longer than patients who weren’t on the drug.  The research was published online in the journal Cancer.  Two former OCRF grantees, Jeremy Chien, PhD, and Ramandeep Rattan, PhD, were among the paper’s authors. While metformin (also called Glucophage) … Continued

Physiological Evidence of "Cancer Brain" Found

Physiological Evidence of "Cancer Brain" Found

November 27, 2012

Using PET/CT scans, researchers looked at the brain function of 128 breast cancer patients. The study aimed to show that PET/CT is a useful tool to measure the presence of chemo brain. Read the abstract here and an article on the study here

OCRF Research Finds MicroRNAs Convert Normal Cells into Can...

OCRF Research Finds MicroRNAs Convert Normal Cells into Cancer Promoters

November 27, 2012

11/27/2012 Research funded by Ovarian Cancer Research Fund, and published in Cancer Discovery, sheds new light on the molecular changes that convert harmless cells surrounding ovarian cancer cells into cells that promote tumor growth and metastasis.  These cancer-supporting cells provide a novel target for treatment. The study’s lead author, Anirban Mitra, PhD, was funded by and … Continued

HHS Releases Health Reform Rules

HHS Releases Health Reform Rules

November 24, 2012

On Tuesday, the Department of Health and Human Services released three regulations related to implementation of health reform. One of these rules concerned guaranteed issue and a ban on pre-existing condition exclusion for adults. To learn more about these regulations see the article here The 131 pages of regulations can be found here

Study Reveals New Mechanism of Action for PARP Inhibitors

Study Reveals New Mechanism of Action for PARP Inhibitors

November 14, 2012

11/14/2012 Researchers at the National Cancer Institute have discovered a new way in which PARP inhibitors block cancer cell growth.  They also discovered that three experimental PARP inhibitors vary widely in their ability to kill cancer cells.  PARP inhibitors are a class of drugs that have shown promising results against ovarian cancer in women with … Continued

Study Shows Few Women Recognize Symptoms of Ovarian Cancer

Study Shows Few Women Recognize Symptoms of Ovarian Cancer

November 10, 2012

A study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that women were not aware of the non-gynecologic symptoms of gynecologic cancers, such as abdominal or back pain. Therefore, women did not recognize the urgency of seeking care for these symptoms. The study concludes that “[r]aising awareness of symptoms that can indicate gynaecologic … Continued

Ovarian Cancer Patients Have Lower Mortality Rates When Tre...

Ovarian Cancer Patients Have Lower Mortality Rates When Treated at High-Volume Hospitals

November 9, 2012

11/09/2012 A study by researchers at the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center (HICCC) at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center, recently e-published ahead of print by the Journal of Clinical Oncology, suggests that women who have surgery for ovarian cancer at high-volume hospitals have superior outcomes than similar patients at low-volume hospitals. The improved survival rate is not dependent on … Continued

OCRF News Exposure to Ultraviolet Radiation and Risk of Epi...

OCRF News Exposure to Ultraviolet Radiation and Risk of Epithelial Ovarian Cancer

November 5, 2012

11/05/2012 In an article published in Cancer Prevention Research, a group of researchers in Australia examined the relationship between lifetime exposure to solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) and ovarian cancer.  The study concluded that women in the highest third of average daily ambient UVR exposure over their lifetime were at significantly lower risk of all epithelial … Continued

Tea Consumption Reduces Ovarian Cancer Risk in Chinese Women

Tea Consumption Reduces Ovarian Cancer Risk in Chinese Women

November 2, 2012

11/02/2012 In a study published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Australian researchers examined the relationship between tea drinking and the risk of ovarian cancer among southern Chinese women.  The study, which included 500 women with serous ovarian cancer and 500 controls, found that regular tea consumption is associated with a reduced risk of ovarian cancer … Continued

Type II Diabetes Not Associated with Higher Risk of Ovarian...

Type II Diabetes Not Associated with Higher Risk of Ovarian Cancer

October 29, 2012

10/29/2012 Research published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers, and Prevention shows that type II diabetes mellitus was not associated with risk of epithelial ovarian cancer.  The risk ration was higher for type II diabetes with insulin use than for type II diabetes without insulin use.  Diabetes seemed to be more strongly associated with noserous than serous … Continued

New Guidelines on Palliative Care Released

New Guidelines on Palliative Care Released

October 16, 2012

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) released new guidelines on palliative care for cancer patients. “The guidelines outline procedures for screening, assessment, palliative care interventions, reassessment, and after-death care.”  

Ovarian Cancer Cell Stiffness Can Indicate Metastatic Poten...

Ovarian Cancer Cell Stiffness Can Indicate Metastatic Potential

October 15, 2012

A new study indicates that the stiffness of an ovarian cancer cell can indicate whether or not it is likely to be metastatic: the more stiff the cell is, the more likely it is to be malignant. The abstract is here An article on the study is here