Malaysia to offer free cervical cancer vaccination next year

Tue, 23 Mar 2010

Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia's Health Ministry is to begin offering free human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccinations to 13-year-old girls next year in a bid to reduce the number of cervical cancer cases, the official Bernama news agency said Tuesday.

The free vaccination is due to be offered to roughly 300,000 13-year-old girls by the middle of 2011, and is to cost the government about 150 million ringgit (45.1 million dollars), Deputy Health Minister Rosnah Abdul Rashid Shirlin, said.

Rosnah told Parliament on Tuesday that the vaccination would hopefully reduce cases of cervical cancer and genital warts, adding that studies had shown that teenage girls under the age of 15 had a better immunity response compared with older girls or women.

HPV is a common virus that is passed on through genital contact during sexual intercourse and is a known cause of cervical cancer.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/315367,malaysia-to-offer-free-cervical-cancer-vaccination-next-year.html.

Green Tea Extracts Halt Growth of Prostate Cancer Tumors

Friday, February 05, 2010 by: David Gutierrez, staff writer

(NaturalNews) An extract made from one of the main antioxidants found in green tea may be able to slow the progression of prostate cancer, according to a study conducted by researchers from Louisiana state University and published in Cancer Prevention Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Researchers gave 26 prostate cancer patients between the ages of 41 and 68's four capsules of day of Polyphenon E, an extract of epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) made by Polyphenon Pharma. EGCG is a powerful antioxidant to which many of the health benefits of green tea have been attributed. The dosage given to the participants in the study was equivalent to that acquired from drinking 12 cups of green tea per day.

After 12 weeks, the researchers found that levels of the prostate cancer markers Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and prostate specific antigen (PSA) had fallen by an average of 18.9 percent, 9.9 percent and 10.4 percent, respectively, indicating a slowed progression of the disease.

PSA is a marker of inflammation, and indicates disease severity in prostate cancer patients. HGF and VEGF are both produced by prostate tumors as they spread to other parts of the body.

In some patients, HGF and VEGF levels fell as much as 30 percent upon treatment with the EGCG extract.

The researchers were cautiously optimistic about the study findings.

"It's still in an early stage," researcher Jim Cardelli said. "Green tea can keep cancer from growing very fast, but it may not be able to shrink tumors. But it can be a good addition to traditional therapies, like chemo (chemotherapy) or radiation."

Researchers do not know whether the same effects could be seen in other cancers, but the antioxidants in green tea have previously been linked to a reduced risk of a variety of cancers, skin and autoimmune conditions, cardiovascular disease and inflammation.

Source: NaturalNews.
Link: http://www.naturalnews.com/028099_green_tea_prostate_cancer.html.

Scientists say curry compound kills cancer cells

LONDON (Reuters) – A molecule found in a curry ingredient can kill esophageal cancer cells in the laboratory, suggesting it might be developed as an anti-cancer treatment, scientists said on Wednesday.

Researchers at the Cork Cancer Research Center in Ireland treated esophageal cancer cells with curcumin -- a chemical found in the spice turmeric, which gives curries a distinctive yellow color -- and found it started to kill cancer cells within 24 hours.

The cells also began to digest themselves, they said in a study published in the British Journal of Cancer.

Previous scientific studies have suggested curcumin can suppress tumors and that people who eat lots of curry may be less prone to the disease, although curcumin loses its anti-cancer attributes quickly when ingested.

But Sharon McKenna, lead author of the Irish study, said her study suggested a potential for scientists to develop curcumin as an anti-cancer drug to treat esophageal cancer.

Cancers of the esophagus kill more than 500,000 people across the world each year. The tumors are especially deadly, with five-year survival rates of just 12 to 31 percent.

McKenna said the study showed curcumin caused the cancer cells to die "using an unexpected system of cell messages."

Normally, faulty cells die by committing programed suicide, or apoptosis, which occurs when proteins called caspases are 'switched on' in cells, the researchers said.

But these cells showed no evidence of suicide, and the addition of a molecule that inhibits caspases and stops this "switch being flicked' made no difference to the number of cells that died, suggesting curcumin attacked the cancer cells using an alternative cell signaling system.

U.S. researchers said in 2007 they had found curcumin may help stimulate immune system cells in the Alzheimer's disease.