Factors such as age, sex, and family history can impact a person’s risk of getting pancreatic cancer. It is more likely to occur later in life. Certain conditions can also increase the likelihood of pancreatic cancer.

Pancreatic cancer develops in the tissues of the pancreas. This organ secretes digestive enzymes. Some cells in the pancreas also produce insulin, a hormone crucial for blood sugar control.

Anyone can develop pancreatic cancer, but certain factors may increase the likelihood of the condition developing. Continue reading →

Some doctors recommend comprehensive treatment strategies that address the cause of disease over the ‘silver bullet’ approach of targeting symptoms.

Columbia University Irving Medical Center researchers have discovered that smooth muscle cells (SMC) in arteries can behave like cancer cells, worsening atherosclerosis. Their study, published in Circulation, suggests that anticancer drugs could help prevent heart attacks and strokes caused by this condition.

Atherosclerosis, the buildup of fatty plaques in arteries, is a leading cause of cardiovascular disease. Despite treatments such as statins, the prevalence of atherosclerosis-related diseases continues to rise. Research published in Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine states that atherosclerosis “has now surpassed communicable diseases to become the world’s most prevalent killer.”

“Atherosclerosis has been known as a chronic inflammatory disease for several decades,” Dr. Huize Pan, lead author and assistant professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt University, told The Epoch Times. He explained that the new findings offer a fresh perspective by viewing the disease through a cancer lens, potentially identifying new drug targets for prevention and treatment. Continue reading →

Doctors are being warned that a lifesaving cancer therapy may cause new tumors to form in rare cases.

In a report in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers urged physicians to ‘be on the lookout’ for unusual symptoms in patients who receive Car-T therapy.

CAR-T therapies, or chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapies, was first approved in November 2017 and is reserved for cancer patients who would otherwise die without it

Twenty-five people in the US out of around 30,000 have been diagnosed with secondary cancer after receiving the treatment for a separate cancer. Continue reading →

Four experts give their assessment on how advances in technology and science will transform oncology care over the coming decade and beyond.

The profound progress in cancer care since President Richard Nixon signed the National Cancer Act of 1971 into law is evidenced by the soaring number of cancer survivors since the law went into effect. In the 1970s, there were 3 million cancer survivors;[1] today, there are more than 18 million, and that number is expected to climb to 26 million by 2040.[2]

In addition, advances in cancer treatment over the past 3 decades, along with smoking cessation and earlier detection for some cancers, have resulted in a steady drop in cancer mortality, preventing more than 4 million deaths in the United States since 1991.[3] However, despite this improvement, cancer remains an insidious disease that, in 2024, is expected to take the lives of over 611,000 individuals in the United States – and nearly 10 million globally.[4] Continue reading →

MGO, a glucose metabolite, can temporarily destroy the BRCA2 protein, reducing its levels in cells and inhibiting its tumor-preventing ability.

You may have heard that sugar feeds cancer cells, and evidence supports that. However, the missing link in this narrative has been a thorough understanding of just “how” sugar feeds cancer – until now. A recent study published in Cell in April uncovers a new mechanism linking uncontrolled blood sugar and poor diet with cancer risk. Continue reading →

Doctors are being warned that a lifesaving cancer therapy may cause new tumors to form in rare cases.

In a report in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers urged physicians to ‘be on the lookout’ for unusual symptoms in patients who receive CAR-T therapy.

Twenty-five people in the US out of around 30,000 have been diagnosed with secondary cancer after receiving the treatment for a separate cancer.  Continue reading →

A chemical in Agent Orange is a known carcinogen linked to several cancers, chronic conditions and birth defects.

A soldier participates in the Norwegian Foot March at Fort Ord National Monument, in Monterey County, California, Oct. 28, 2022. Mounting evidence shows that to kill pervasive poison oak and other weeds at Fort Ord — a former Army base, which closed in 1994 — the military sprayed and experimented with the powerful herbicide combination Agent Orange as far back as the 1950s. (WINIFRED BROWN/U.S. ARMY)

As a young GI at Fort Ord in Monterey County, California, Dean Osborn spent much of his time in the oceanside woodlands, training on soil and guzzling water from streams and aquifers now known to be contaminated with cancer-causing pollutants.

“They were marching the snot out of us,” he said, recalling his year and a half stationed on the base, from 1979 to 1980. He also remembers, not so fondly, the poison oak pervasive across the 28,000-acre installation that closed in 1994. He went on sick call at least three times because of the overwhelmingly itchy rash.

Mounting evidence shows that as far back as the 1950s, in an effort to kill the ubiquitous poison oak and other weeds at the Army base, the military experimented with and sprayed the powerful herbicide combination known colloquially as Agent Orange. Continue reading →

I sat there, frozen in time, full of fear, full of anxiety. Waiting for my time to “face the music,” but this wasn’t a dance party.

My fellow patients, complete strangers, were seated about me, and each of us kept a safe distance apart from each other – a carry-over from the pandemic, I guess. All of us waiting to get our news – a thumbs up or thumbs down… Continue reading →