Journal of the National Cancer Institute
-
J. Natl. Cancer Inst. · Feb 1997
Birth cohort and calendar period trends in breast cancer mortality in the United States and Canada.
Previous studies of regional and temporal variation in U.S. breast cancer mortality rates have been confined largely to analyses of rates for white women. ⋯ Widespread environmental exposures are unlikely to explain the higher relative breast cancer mortality rates observed for U.S. white women in the Northeast, since the rates for black women in this region were not higher than in other regions. The moderation of breast cancer mortality rates for women born between 1924 and 1938 coincides with increased fertility rates following World War II. Stable or decreasing mortality rates for U.S. women and Canadian women born after 1950 were not expected in view of declining fertility rates, suggesting a change in a breast cancer risk factor or protective factor. The increase in calendar period trend slope in the 1980s likely reflects the coincident rise in breast cancer diagnosis via mammography. The recent decline in calendar period trend for white women in the United States and for Canadian women may be the result of earlier detection and increased use of adjuvant therapy.
-
J. Natl. Cancer Inst. · Jan 1997
p53 status and prognosis of locally advanced prostatic adenocarcinoma: a study based on RTOG 8610.
The p53 tumor suppressor gene (also known as TP53) is one of the most frequently mutated genes in human cancer. Several studies have shown that p53 mutations are infrequent in prostate cancer and are associated with advanced disease. ⋯ The interaction of radiation therapy plus hormone therapy and abnormal p53 protein expression may provide a clinical link to experimental evidence that radiation therapy and/or hormone therapy act, at least in part, by the induction of apoptosis (a cell death program) and suggests that this mechanism may be blocked in patients whose tumors have p53 mutations.
-
J. Natl. Cancer Inst. · Dec 1996
Risk of basal cell and squamous cell skin cancers after ionizing radiation therapy. For The Skin Cancer Prevention Study Group.
Human evidence that ionizing radiation is carcinogenic first came from reports of nonmelanoma skin cancers (NMSCs) on the hands of workers using early radiation devices. An increased risk of NMSC has been observed among uranium miners, radiologists, and individuals treated with x rays in childhood for tinea capitis (ringworm of the scalp) or for thymic enlargement; NMSC is one of the cancers most strongly associated with the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Although exposure to ionizing radiation is a known cause of NMSC, it is not yet clear whether therapeutic radiation causes both major histologic types of NMSC, basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Additionally, the potentially modifying effects, such as latency, age when treated, and type of treatment, are not well understood. ⋯ Our data suggest that exposure to therapeutic radiation is associated with BCC but not with SCC.
-
J. Natl. Cancer Inst. · Dec 1996
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Clinical TrialPostchemotherapy adjuvant tamoxifen therapy beyond five years in patients with lymph node-positive breast cancer. Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group.
Data from a pilot study published in 1984 suggested that tamoxifen administration (as adjuvant hormonal therapy) for more than 5 years after initial breast cancer surgery might have therapeutic benefit. ⋯ Our results suggest that further evaluation of adjuvant tamoxifen therapy beyond 5 years in women with axillary lymph node-positive, estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer who have also been treated with adjuvant chemotherapy would be appropriate.