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Biotech News Science news Regular science news |
- Study shows that embarrassment prevents early diagnosis of bowel cancer
- CSIRO develops high-amylose wheat
- FDA approves first new head & neck cancer treatment in 45 years
Study shows that embarrassment prevents early diagnosis of bowel cancer
February – A study produced by Pfizer Australia Health Reports and the Gut Foundation has found that embarrassment prevents many people from being treated for bowel cancer. The study surveyed 1,337 people aged 18 and over and found that 60 per cent of people with bowel problems hesitate to see their doctor about it. While bowel cancer can be successfully treated if it is diagnosed early, fewer than 40 per cent of bowel cancers are detected early.
For more, down the bowel cancer report.
[Source: www.healthreport.com.au]
CSIRO develops high-amylose wheat
CSIRO has developed a new experimental wheat variety with potential benefits in the areas of bowel health, diabetes and obesity. Researchers working within the Food Futures Flagship used a CSIRO-developed RNA interface to down-regulate two different isoforms of starch-branching enzyme (SBE) II (SBEIIa and SBEIIb) in wheat endosperm resulting in an increased amount of amylose from about 25 to 70 per cent. When the >70 per cent amylose wheat grain was fed to rats in a diet as a wholemeal, several indices of large-bowel function were improved relative to standard wholemeal wheat. These results indicate that this high-amylose wheat has a significant potential to improve human health through its resistant starch content and would be expected to lead to a reduction in colorectal cancer risk. Importantly, there was no change in the growth rate of the rats. The Food Futures Flagship is working with Plant Industry, Human Nutrition and Food Science Australia and its French partner, Biogemma, to develop novel wheat varieties for the consumer market.
[Sources: CSIRO; National Academy of Sciences]
FDA approves first new head & neck cancer treatment in 45 years
1 March - The FDA has approved Erbitux (cetuximab) for use in combination with radiation therapy to treat patients with squamous cell cancer of the head and neck that can not be removed by surgery. This is the first drug approved for head and neck cancer that has shown a survival benefit in this population. Erbitux is the first drug approved to treat head and neck cancer since methotrexate became available in the 1950s. Approval of Erbitux was based on evidence of prolonged survival and tumour shrinkage. The safety and effectiveness of Erbitux was established in two studies. The randomised clinical trial of 424 patients using Erbitux in combination with radiation therapy showed a survival time of 49 months versus 29.3 months on radiation therapy alone. In addition, delay in tumour growth was observed with the use of Erbitux and radiation, compared to radiation alone. In a second trial of 103 patients, Erbitux helped to shrink the patients' tumours after the tumours no longer responded to platinum-based therapy.
[Source: FDA]
