CANCErUS
Edition #1
June 20, 2012
10 Ways
To Reduce
Your Chance
Of Cancer!
The Future for
Cancer Treatment
Exclusive Interview with
Professor Andy Coley
Associate Professor Mick
Foley on shark antibodies
The latest in cancer cell
research!
A Note From The Team:
This magazine was created by three Year 9
students from Ivanhoe Grammar School, who
participated in Professor Nick Hoogenraad’s
Outreach Program at La Trobe University. For
five years, the School and La Trobe have
worked hard to spark a scientific interest in
students.
14 year old Elizabeth McGrath says, “I chose
cancer because society today doesn’t explain
what cancer actually is, and I wanted to know
more. I specifically chose to study lung cancer
because I know people who smoke, and it has
affected me personally”.
Fellow teammates Madeline Donis and Ashton
Turner agree wholeheartedly: “I chose cancer
because it’s something that affects everyone in
our community yet I feel so helpless, I just
needed to know what hope we have for a cure.”
We hope to enlighten our readers and give them
hope for a brighter future.
CONTENTS
1. What Is Cancer?
2. Current Treatment
-skin
-lung
-breast
3. 10 Ways To Lower Your Risk of
Cancer
4. Interview – Mick Foley
5. On Campus
6. On Campus – Page 2
7. Signs and Symptoms
8. Campaigns Against Cancer
9. Interview - Andy Coley
10. Future Treatment
-skin
-lung
-breast
11. Bibliography
W
H
A
T
I
S
The official definition of cancer is
“The disease caused by an
uncontrolled division of abnormal
cells in a part of the body.”
Skin cancer: A malignant
neoplasm (tumour) of the skin.
Lung cancer: Cancer
(malignancy) that originates in the
tissues of the lungs or the cells
lining the airways. Lung cancer
originates when normal lung cells
become abnormal, usually after a
series of mutations, and begin to
divide out of control.
Breast cancer: Breast cancer is a
malignant tumour that starts in the
cells of the breast.
CANCER?
The current treatment for melanoma:
The main treatments for skin cancer are surgery, chemotherapy,
radiotherapy and alternative/complementary treatments.
Surgery: After the melanoma and surrounding skin has been sent
for pathology testing and melanoma has been confirmed, a second
procedure will occur. This procedure includes the removal of more
normal skin around the melanoma (‘margin of safety’). The margin
differs from 5mm-2cm depending on the depth of the melanoma.
The aim is to remove any cancer cells in the surrounding skin and
prevent the melanoma returning to the same site.
Radiotherapy: Uses radiation to destroy/injure cancer cells.
Radiotherapy is aimed to do as little harm as possible to normal
body tissue. It is common to have radiotherapy once a day every
weekday over several weeks, the treatment itself only takes a few
minutes however there may be a waiting period before each
session.
Chemotherapy: Is the treatment of cancer with anti-cancer drugs.
Its goal is to destroy cancer cells with least amount of damage to
normal cells. The drugs works by stopping cancer cells from
growing and reproducing. It is used as a palliative treatment to try
to control cancer growth, it will not usually cure. It is most
commonly given as intravenous treatment however there are other
types including tablets.
The current treatment for lung cancer:
Lung: There are four main treatments for lung cancer and they are; surgery,
chemotherapy, radiotherapy, multimodality therapy and complementary/alternative
treatments.
Surgery: The two surgeries include Curative surgery(removal of the tumour) and
Palliative surgery which involves removing obstructions
Chemotherapy: best for patience with small cell carcinoma .
Strong drugs that stop cancer cells reproducing. Chemotherapy is good because it also
kills cells that have metastasized because it travels around the body through the blood.
Chemotherapy doesn’t actually destroy tumours it only stops the cancer from growing
and spreading. If you had a tumour you would want to have a different type of
treatment. The down side of chemotherapy is that after you use it if the cancer comes
back (recurrent cancer) your body will have built up a immunity and the chemicals may
not have the same effects
Chemotherapy drugs have not been perfected so they often attack healthy cells as well
as cancer cells this results in a huge amount of side effects.
Radiotherapy : used in the early stages of lung cancer or to assist chemotherapy by
containing it to the lungs and lymph notes.
High energy rays like X-rays but much stronger that kill or shrink cancer cells. This
treatment is painless and only takes 2-3 min.
Also includes severe side effects.
Targeted therapy (biological agents) – In some patients case (usually those who are
non-smokers) they are suitable to use a new kind of drug that targets the growth genes
and/or blood-vessel forming genes of the cancer cells. Usually targeting therapy will be
used if chemotherapy no longer controls the disease. These drugs are good because
they tend to have almost no side effects except for a rash.
Complementary and alternative medicines and theories– Many people give
complementary and alternative medicines a shot because they feel more natural and
‘in control’ of their bodies and treatment. Complementary therapies are a variation of
relaxation strategies and medicines used together for a more natural approach.
Alternative therapies are unproven remedies some herbal or dietary which are used
instead of medical treatment. Complementary theories are usually a good way to cope
with medical treatment but alternative treatments are generally dangerous and illadvised because they are not commonly effective so they waist your money and some
herbs used may be harmful to you.
The current treatment for breast cancer:
A breast cancer in the form of a tumour is usually removed
surgically and typically, the patient is giving post-surgery
chemotherapy and radiation therapy, to kill any cancerous
cells that survived surgery.
Chemotherapy and radiation therapy treat cancers by killing
any cells that rapidly divide or grow, hopefully targeting
cancer cells. This means that the therapy kills your immune
system. Other side effects include hair loss and digestion
disruptions.
Some tumours are hormone positive, and require hormones
to grow, and in recent years, a treatment has been developed
to completely treat tumours such as these. These can be
identified by the presence of hormone receptors. For
example, tumours with receptors for the hormone estrogen
are known as ER+ tumours. Similarly, tumours with
progesterone receptors are PR+. Three treatments are
available to treat different types of hormone-positive
tumours. They work by blocking the hormones that allow the
tumours to grow.
If a breast cancer patient has surgery, they can have one of
three different procedures: a mastectomy (removal of the
entire breast), a quadrantectomy (removal of one quarter of
the breast) or a lumpectomy (where just a small part of the
breast is removed). After surgery, radiation is often given to
the tumour region and surrounding lymph nodes. In the case
of a lumpectomy, radiation treatment is essential.
10 Ways to lower your risks of
cancer
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Wear sunscreen
Exercise regularly
Don’t smoke
Limit your alcohol intake
Don’t expose yourself to asbestos
Don’t expose yourself to second-hand smoke
Limit your UV exposure
Maintain a healthy diet and weight
Wear protective clothing when in the sun
Regulate visits to the doctor for check-ups
Our interview with Associate
Professor Mick Foley:
When do you expect the studies will be finished?
Well, they’re never really finished. When will a shark antibody be used in the clinic? Will
you get it from your doctor? If everything went perfectly, if there were no problems, it
would probably take five years, probably closer to ten. That’s if everything works and all
the money comes in. That’s just how long it takes to find the right antibody, to modify it so
it works in the human blood, plus all the clinical studies to prove that they’re safe can take
many, many years, so it’s hard to say. But there are some shark antibodies already in the
clinic. It’s a slightly faster process now, but it still takes a long time.
When it is developed, what form will it take?
Either a tablet, or ‘magic bullet’, or an injection. Something you can get from your doctor.
Maybe a vaccine. Like the human papilloma virus, where you get vaccinated. That took a
long time to develop. In the early stages, it’s hard to say.
Even if it’s in the clinic, will it be costly?
It is expensive, but it will progressively get cheaper. Like when the iPod first came out.
They were very expensive, but now they’re cheaper, so we can afford. When DVD players
first came out they were thousands of dollars, and televisions, even. As more people make
them, they get cheaper. So the medicine will get cheaper and the better they will be made.
Along with breast cancer and malaria, do you think there’s any other diseases they’ll
cure?
I think they could be used in all sorts of diseases. Things like inflammation are very good
targets for those. They could be applicable to almost any disease, but the question is
where they are best suited. We here have limited resources, so we need to target the most
important diseases. Even though you could target anything, what we want to do is create
an area for diseases that human antibodies aren’t very good at curing. But they could also
be used for diagnostics in the future. Sugar detection for diabetics, pregnancy
testing…they’re diagnostic tests. These antibodies might be very good at that because
they’re very, very stable and will last longer. It’s not just good in therapy but it good be
very useful in diagnosis. The problem is focusing on diagnosis is difficult – it’s hard to get
funding because the margins in the diagnostics industry are very, very low. Whereas,
people are looking at cures. Cures bring in billions of dollars a year. If you have a new
diagnostic, your profit might only be in the hundred thousands. It’s difficult for people to
want to fund you. It’s much easier to get them with cures.
Could you see these being commonly available?
Yes, definitely. There will be treatments like this. Whether it’s the shark antibody or the
camel antibody, these treatments will be around. Certainly in your lifetime. I’ve no doubt
about that. But I think these will be more use for therapy rather than vaccination. There
are already cures for certain diseases using antibodies. What it’ll look like, however, I’m
not so sure.
Signs and
SKIN:
It is important to follow the ABCDE rules when monitoring a mole, freckle or
growth.
A- for asymmetry.
B- for irregular edges or borders.
C- for colour. Moles should be one colour only.
D- for diameter. The mole or the skin tumour should be no larger than 6mm.
E- for elevation. Any mole that is elevated or develops a lump should be
checked out.
BREAST
The first noticeable symptom is typically a lump on the breast. Other than a
lump, symptoms of breast cancer may include:
•
Thickening on one breast
•
One breast becoming larger or lower than the other
•
Skin of the breast puckering or dimpling
•
Nipple changing position or shape
•
Rash and/or discharge on or around the nipple
•
Constant pain in the breast or armpit
•
Swelling in the armpit or collarbone area
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
LUNG: (In chest)
Intense or persistent coughing
Pain in chest, shoulders or back
A change in the colour or volume in sputum(saliva mixed with mucus or pus)
Shortness of breath
Changes in voice or being hoarse
Harsh sounds with each breath
Recurring bronchitis or pneumonia
Coughing up phlegm or mucus (perhaps with blood in it)
Coughing up blood
Symptoms
The “Slip,Slop,Slap,Sleek,Slide”
campaign features a seagull
encouraging Australians to “slip”
on a shirt, “slop” on some
sunscreen, “slap” on a hat,
“seek” shade and “slide” on
some sunnies.
For more than a decade, the
Mother’s Day Classic fun run and
walk has provided communities
with a great way to celebrate
Mother’s Day and raise funds for
breast cancer research
This is an ad run by the
Australian Government to
discourage smoking and features
the quitline number . IT is part of
the quitnow campaign
What needs to be done for a cancer cure to be developed?
“My impression of cancer, from a pathology perspective, is that it’s not just one disease. It’s many
diseases. It’s not like the flu or liver disease. [It is] many different diseases caused by a similar
process, and affects many different organs […] Many cancers will metastasize, they’ll spread,
that’s often the problem. You can have benign cancers, which don’t spread. Breast tumours will
spread to the lymph nodes. Melanomas will spread to the brain, liver, gut. First thing we want to
do is stop the primary tumours from spreading. We can stop the spread, and there are therapies
that do that.”
What about prevention?
“Obviously prevention is the best way to stop people from having cancer, to stop them getting it in
the first place, and we’re relatively good at that. People have stopped smoking. If you go back
thirty years, many, many more people used to smoke and smoking is a real problem when it
comes to cancer. So don’t smoke. People used to go out in the sun all the time and then we had
a high level of melanoma, and now people are very aware of that. We slip slop slap. And
obviously that’s a good thing to do. We’re eating better than we used to. But we are eating a lot of
fatty foods and red meat which might not be so good. Having said that, we’re eating more
vegetables and that can prevent cancer.”
How far has cancer treatment come in recent years?
The management of cancer, we’ve gotten better and better at it. Of course, that depends on the
type of cancer. If someone has pancreatic cancer, for instance, they’d probably have the same
survival rate as they would 20, 30 years ago, because we don’t understand it. But if someone had
leukaemia they’d probably live for a lot longer, because treatment for that has developed hugely
in the last twenty or thirty years. Breast cancer, we have new therapies. There are other cancers
that we can’t treat at all. We don’t know how. Some tumours are more easily treated than they
were, and some aren’t. Generally, cancer is a disease of the elderly. One in three people will
have it sometime in their life.
What is the property that makes some cancers curable and some not?
“Understanding is the first and most important step to that. In order to fix something, you have to
understand it. If I want to fix my car, I have to know what all the parts do in order to isolate the
problem. Some cancers we understand, others we don’t understand at all. Generally speaking,
we have therapies for the ones we understand, and not for the ones we don’t.”
How does the cancer actually start?
“Cancer is when cells mutate. So in a genome, when cells divide, they are sometimes miscopied.
Usually, that’s not a problem. Except when the mutation is in an important gene, then that
mutation might have a cancerous effect. The longer you’ve been on the planet, the more likely
you are to get it. Also, if you live in a hot place, or in the tropics, you are far more likely to get skin
cancer. Many, many, many people in Australia get skin cancer and many of them are over
seventy. Because when they were twenty, they’d go out into the sun with no hat, no sunscreen,
no shirt on, and now they’re developing cancer. That would have instilled mutations in their cells.”
So if you spend more time in the sun now, are you more likely to get cancer later in life?
The more time you spend around areas that have a high effect on the reproduction of cells, such
as being in the sun too much, the more cell mutations you’ll have, and the more chances you’ll
have of one or more of those mutations becoming cancerous.
The Future Treatments for
melanoma:
There are 3 main new-found treatments for melanoma, these are;
Vemurafenib: New Scientist 2011
According to New Scientist June 2011 two new drugs that have been
dubbed as the biggest breakthrough in cancer therapy in 30 years have
been discovered. The first is a drug called, vemurafenib. Half of all
melanomas have been found to be linked with a mutated gene called
BRAF. Vemurafenib inhibits BRAF and shuts down these tumours by
targeting and blocking the BRAF protein. After a six month trial, survival
was 84% for those taking vemurafenib compared to 64% of those taking
dacarbazine (standard chemotherapy drug). Dr Chapman states, “This
is the beginning of personalized medicine in melanoma”. Doctors say
the drug could be approved and on the market in just 6 months.
IIpilimumab: New Scientist 2011
Caroline Robert and her team at the Gustave Roussy Cancer Institute in
France found that in a trial of 250 patients who received dacarbazine
along with ipilimumab survived for two years compared to the 17.9% of
patients taking dacarbazine alone. Ipilimumab is an antibody that works
by boosting the immune system’s response to a tumour.
The firms behind each drug aim to combine the drugs in a trial.
Yervoy:
Yervoy is a drug that works by stimulating the body’s immune system to
fight off cancer. It is a man-made antibody that blocks a crucial switch
on immune cells, cancer would use this switch to turn off the body’s anticancer immune response. Yervoy has shown that it increases survival
rate by one third. A complete course of Yervoy includes four infusions
over 3 months. In a trial of 676 late-stage melanoma patients, patients
taking Yervoy survived an average of 10 months after treatment had
commenced, others taking an experimental vaccine survived
approximately 6 months. However, this drug does have possible
sideffects. One of them being that the Yervoy could stimulate the
immune system to destroy healthy cells. In clinical trials, nearly %13
suffered from severe or fatal autoimmune reactions.
The future treatments for breast
cancer:
In the future, the primary goal is to stop the spreading of the tumours in all
cases.
One of the biggest advancement currently in potentially curing cancer is
the use of antibodies to target the cells. They are extremely specific and
only affect their ‘target cells’. Antibodies operate using a lock and key
model, which means if they are developed successfully, this type of
treatment will not have any side effects, which is extremely impressive
when compared to current treatments such as chemotherapy.
Instead of using human antibodies however, scientists in Australia and the
U.S. are investigating using the antibodies from sharks and camels. They
are being used for multiple reasons. Firstly, because cancer is a cell
mutation disease and not a foreign substance, the body doesn’t recognise
it as dangerous and does not develop a line of defence for it. Also, human
antibodies cannot yet be used because in order for them to be created,
there would have to be human testing, and the research is not yet at that
stage. Shark and camel antibodies are also far more stable, and although
they do not last as long in the human body, they can withstand much
higher temperatures, which might make them available for use in the field
of diagnosis. This would be a huge advance. Shark antibodies are also
very small, which means the immune system won’t detect them at times.
In future, there are hopes that once a cancer is discovered, a patient can
have a tablet or be injected with the appropriate antibodies that will latch
onto the cancer and, sometimes with the help of an added toxin, kill it. It
may also one day be available in the form of a vaccine.
It is believed that developing the drug to its ‘market phase’ could take
probably ten years or maybe more, and could be costly, but over time, it
will hopefully decrease in price, as many people are likely to produce it
because the need is so high.
It is also believed that the full version of the treatment will be available
widely in our lifetime. Currently, the antibody Herceptin has been identified
and has cured some cases of breast cancer, but there are many cures still
in progress.
The future treatments for lung
cancer:
Scientists are looking
into the following
fields for possible
cures/treatments for
lung cancer.
• Early detection
• CT scans or chest
x-rays to detect
lung tumours
• Chemotherapy
regime : different
combos of exciting
chemotherapy
medicines
• Vaccines
• Gene therapy
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Professor Nick
Hoogenraad of La Trobe University for
not only sharing his knowledge with us
but for also inviting us into the university
and allowing us to participate in the
Outreach Program.
We would also like to thank all the
lecturers and academics but in particular
the following: Associate Professor Mick
Foley, Dr. Andrew Coley and Dr. Mark
Hulett.
Lastly, we would like to express our
thanks to Ivanhoe Grammar School for
giving us the opportunity to partake in
this spectacular program.
Bibliography:
http://freeimagesarchive.com/data/media/48/No+Smoking+Sign+Clip+Art.png
http://www.bozined.com/breast-cancer-awareness-ribbon.html
http://brianmaines.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/diet-and-exercise.jpg
http://www.drlopo.com/secure/wpstore/wp-content/uploads/sunscreen-girle1280640044825-300x200.jpg
http://www.24x7bulletin.com/wp-content/uploads/medical-exam-checkup-doctorthumb4322398.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6c/Melanoma.jpg/250pxMelanoma.jpg
http://www.latrobe.edu.au/staff-profiles/images/photos/mfoley.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/yiWzyeOIbgA/T5S_ZeTY_sI/AAAAAAAAHVw/G9F3dKKsTxQ/s1600/mothers-day-classic.png
http://resources1.news.com.au/images/2009/08/21/1225764/682173-quit-this-warningfirst-appeared-on-australian-t-6062383-jpg.jpg
http://www.meddean.luc.edu/lumen/meded/medicine/pulmonar/cxr/atlas/images/71bl.jp
g
http://www.virtualmedicalcentre.com/uploads/VMC/DiseaseImages/739_ct_scan.jpg
Websites
Page Name
URL
Breast Cancer – Wikipedia
Lung Cancer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breast_cancer
http://www.lungcancer.org/reading/
Untitled Radio Conversation
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2010/s2953697.htm
Lung Foundation Statistics
http://www.lungfoundation.com.au/lung-information/statistics
Cancer Australia
http://www.canceraustralia.gov.au/node/466
NBCF
www.nbcf.org
Melanoma – Cancer Council
www.actcancer.org/sun-smart/skin-cancer.aspx
Melanoma
www.melanoma.com/sign.html
Melanoma
www.melanoma-symptoms.com/melanoma-symptoms_1.html
Melanoma Risk Factors
www.cancer.org/Cancer/SkinCancer-Melanoma/DetailedGuide/melanoma-skin-cancer-risk-factors
Cancer Drugs Raise Hope For Survival
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/cancer-drugs-raise-hope-survival/story?id=13767742#.T-AqaReP8Ta
FDA approves New Melanoma Treatment http://www.webmd.com/melanoma-skin-cancer/news/20110325/fda-approves-new-melanoma-treatment-yervoy
Books/Journals
Title
Author(s)
Publisher
Treatment of Early Breast Cancer Vol. 1 (Medical Journal)
Breast Cancer – A Psychological Treatment Manual
Melanoma
Cancer Council
N/A
Lung Cancer – The Facts
Chris Williams
Preventing Breast Cancer
Dr Cathy Read
Complimentary and alternative cancer therapies
Magazines
Title
NewScientist
Date Published
11 June 2011
Year Published
Early Breast Cancer Trialists’ Collaborative Group (EBCTCG)
Sandra Haber
Harper Collins Publishers
2002
Oxford University Press
1994
Unknown
1992
Cancer Council
N/A
2004
La Trobe University
1995
1990