French researchers invent cancer vaccine

It has been reported that the French researchers at the Universite Paris Descarte in France have invented a promising new vaccine - administered as a nasal spray - being developed to treat several cancers.

It is one of a growing number of vaccines developed in the last few years to fight cancer that ultimately will eliminate outdated harsh chemotherapies and radiation treatments and use the bodies own natural immune system.

The vaccine has been first tested on head and neck cancers.

When a person develops cancer, the body mounts an immune response against the renegade cells but it is often too weak to halt their spread. So, to supplement radiation and chemotherapy treatment, scientists have been working to develop vaccines to boost the body's natural defenses against the tumors. Two promising vaccines in late-stage human trials target prostate cancer and metastatic melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer.

Another vaccine in the pipeline is designed to treat solid tumors that form in the mucosal tissues that line passages in the head, neck, lungs and genitals. The tissues produce a thick lubricating fluid containing powerful chemicals that normally protect against infection. Unfortunately, they also also block the immune cells that would otherwise fight the cancerous tumors. 

Now researchers have developed a nasal spray vaccine which overcomes this resistance, activating and mobilizing a specific type of immune cell, called a CD8+ T-cell, in the tissue at the tumor site.

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Beware Smoking Women: Lung cancer 'overtaking breast cancer in European women'

Breast cancer had been so far the biggest health concern of the women so far.

But now researchers find that incidence of Lung Cancer is overtaking breast cancer in women of European countries.

This is already the case in the UK and Poland, the Annals of Oncology reports.

The trend is increasing in women who started smoking in the 60s and 70s. The lung cancer death rate will continue on its upward trend for the next few years - but with fewer young European women now starting to smoke, it should decrease with time.

In 2013, some 82,640 European women will die from lung cancer, while 88,886 will die from breast cancer.

And by 2015 the balance will have shifted and lung cancer will take the lead, according to Prof Carlo La Vecchia and colleagues.

Read more about it at: BBC Health
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Sally Ride, the First American Woman In Space, dies at 61

Sally Ride, the first American woman to fly in space has died from pancreatic cancer, her website confirms. She was 61. 

Sally Ride, aboard space shuttle Challenger in 1982 [Photo: Business Insider]

Ride is famous for becoming the first American woman to fly in space when the shuttle Challenger launched on June 18, 1982. Two years later, she flew again on the Challenger for the 13th shuttle flight.  

Ride left NASA in 1987 to teach physics at Stanford University and then at the University of California, San Diego. She founded Sally Ride Science in 2001, which creates classroom materials and training for teachers in science, technology, engineering and math.

Read more: Business Insider

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China Finds Cancer-Causing Toxin In Baby Formula

A cancer-causing toxin linked to mildewed cattle feed has been found in baby formula in China, an official said Monday, the latest quality problem to plague the nation's dairy industry since a 2008 tainted formula scandal that caused six babies' deaths.

Aflatoxin was found in five batches of Nanshan Bywise brand formula made last year by Hunan Ava Dairy Industry Co. in Hunan province's Nanshan city that were being sold in Guangzhou, said a man surnamed Gong from the Guangzhou Administration of Industry and Commerce General Office.

Read more: Business Insider

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Hong Kong actress Jacqueline Law dies from cancer

Hong Kong actress Jacqueline Law dies from pancreatic cancer, announced her stepson Daryl Saturday 30 June. She was 45.

Jacqueline Law dies of cancer at 45

Unable to comment further due to restrictions from his father, Singaporean magnate Liu Chee Ming, who married Jacqueline in 2008 after dating her for 11 years, he could only add, "Please look out for the obituary."

In February, Law held a farewell party for herself with 20 of her friends from Hong Kong, including Sheren Tang, Monica Chan and Kitty Lai. Each of them received a CD with individual messages from their host, urging them not to be sad about her terminal illness. She was diagnosed with cancer in 2010.

Read more: Asia One

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Europe may withdraw "naked" airport scanners over cancer fears

Full Story: Mail Online 

Although the infamous "Naked Airport Scanners" have raised many an eyebrow since their installation in USA and Europe, there have never been fears of cancer concern before. But these are likely to be withdrawn after EU chiefs warned that they could pose a health risk due to the radiation they emit.

Civil Aviation Authority said radiation from scanning equals to 2 minutes radiation received on a Transatlantic flight

The £80,000 security scanners, introduced to detect suspicious items hidden on passengers, have already been criticized as an invasion of privacy due to the apparent ‘naked’ image that they produce of travelers. But the new information from the European Commission raises fears that the radiation from the machines could cause long-term health damage such as cancer, reports Mail Online.

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Did prostate cancer kill Egyptian mummies?

Full Story: Pravda 12 November 2011

A rare revelation has come to surface during a research undertaken on three Egyptian mummies in Lisbon's National Archaeological Museum in Belém. The research has revealed the first known case of prostate cancer in an Egyptian mummy. The discovery was made by the three entities participating in the Lisbon Mummy Project - MNA, IMI and Siemens, reports Pravda.

The study was performed using 64-cut multicut CAT-scan and Digital X-Ray technology using Siemens systems at the premises of IMI in Lisbon. The subjects under investigation were two closed sarcophagi from the third to first centuries BC and the ninth to eighth centuries BC and a bound/embalmed Ptolomaic mummy (305 to 30 BC). 

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