LATEST NEWS AND RESEARCH ON BLADDER CANCER
Increase your personal odds of survival by empowering yourself with the latest news and research on bladder cancer; news you can use today and incorporate into your integrative cancer treatment programme; includes news on gene therapy, Infections, metformin, berberine, ordinary button mushrooms, green tea, linoleic acid and vitamin E.
" There's a dearth of information on new, integrative and even alternative treatments for Bladder cancer - it's great to see some options all in one place." (Peter W, Ottawa, Canada)
CONTENTS
Just click on the title below to read the article.
Go To: An Overview of Bladder cancer - causes, symptoms and treatment alternatives
2023 Research
2022 Research
2021 Research
2020 Research
2018/2019 Research
2017/2016 Research
2015/2014/2013 Research
2012 Research and before
Bladder Cancer risks reduced by vegetables
Several recent studies have focussed on bladder cancer. In one involving a survey on the dietary habits of 1,100 people, 275 of whom had bladder cancer, researchers from the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo showed eating just three small servings of raw cruciferous vegetables (e.g. broccoli and cabbage) per month can decrease the risk of developing bladder cancer amongst smokers by 40 per cent and non-smokers by 73 per cent.
MD Anderson show vitamins enhance Bladder Cancer Chemotherapy treatment
In the March edition of the MD Anderson Cancer Centres e news letter (www.cancerwise.org) there is a report on research which shows that vitamin C and vitamin K3 each improves the success rates of chemotherapy in bladder cancer.
Bladder Cancer in men - a bacterial link?
Men with a history of gonorrhoea have twice the risk of bladder cancer (BJC Vol 96.Issue 1). The study by Michaud at the Harvard School of Public health monitored over 50,000 men since 1986 after two previous studies suggested a possible link.
Gonorrhoea is an infection that often recurs and causes incomplete emptying of the bladder. The inflammation itself and/or the associated symptoms and/or the bacteria involved may all be causal.
Children, second hand smoke and Bladder cancer
Children and adolescents may be even more susceptible to the harmful effects of tobacco smoke than adults, according to new research into bladder cancer published in the International Journal of Cancer 2006; 119(10): pp 2412-2416.
Results from the study, part-funded by Cancer Research UK, suggest that exposure to second hand smoke at a young age increases the risk of bladder cancer in later life. Bladder cancer is the fourth most common cancer affecting men and the tenth most common affecting women in the UK. Over 10,000 new cases are diagnosed in the UK each year.
The research team looked at data from nearly 430,000 people** and found that exposure to second hand smoke during childhood was associated with an almost 40 per cent increased risk of bladder cancer in later life compared to no exposure.
They also found that for every five years later in life that people started smoking, their risk of developing bladder cancer was reduced by 19 per cent. This suggests that the younger a person is when they take up smoking, the greater their risk of the disease.
The team also found that for smokers, who were overall four times more likely to develop bladder cancer, both the intensity and duration of smoking affected their risk. Every five cigarettes a day increased risk by 18 per cent and every five years of smoking increased risk by 14 per cent.
Photodynamic Therapy For Bladder Cancer
From the University of Cardiff Hospital, Wales comes news that photodynamic therapy using mitomycin and ALA is safe, well tolerated and reduces recurrence rates in superficial bladder cancer. Rob Skyrme had used porphyrin mixtures previously but these had side effects like skin hypersensitity.
(Ed: PDT is well covered on our website.)
BCG treatment for bladder cancer needs added gene
BCG, a vaccine normally used against tuberculosis, has been in clinical use for bladder cancer for 30 years. But it doesn’t work in 30 per cent of cases and can have side effects. According to the International Journal of Cancer, researchers at St James University Hospital, Leeds added a gene to a strain of the bacteria to bolster the body’s immune response against the tumours. The added gene (a tumour necrosis factor) boosts the body’s ability to recognise the cancer cells.
Bladder cancer and low vitamin E
In a study with 1000 people, of whom 468 were newly diagnosed with bladder cancer, researchers at M D Anderson Cancer Centre found that alpha-tocopherol vitamin E significantly reduced the risk of bladder cancer. Dr Wu told the American Association of Cancer Research in March that high intake of alpha-tocopherol vitamin E is linked to a 42 per cent reduced risk. The study continues. Foods richest in alpha-tocopherol include nuts like almonds, fruits and vegetables especially red and green peppers, spinach and greens, seeds (for example, sunflower seeds) and vegetable oils like safflower. Although previous research has made a link with bladder cancer and vitamin F - it did not specify the type.
Natural Extract, fumeric acid, aids mitomycin C in bladder cancer
The British Journal of Cancer reports that Canadian scientists have found that using fumaric acid, an extract from fruits and vegetables, helped activate an enzyme which enhanced the activity of mitomycin C, a drug that is active against solid tumours in the bowel and bladder, but has side effects in higher doses.
The combined effect of drug and food extract allows much greater effect at lower doses.
Mushrooms help fight breast, prostate and bladder cancers
We have covered this claim on several occasions in Cancer Watch before. Two research studies seem to put it all in context.
Firstly, from the University of Western Australia in Perth comes research on Chinese women which shows that women who eat 10 gms of button mushrooms a day only developed one third of the breast cancers of women who did not eat mushrooms.
The reason given was their content of linoleic acid, which acts like an Aromatase inhibitor drug, and restricts the bodys oestrogen production.
The same study noted that if women consumed green tea as well their risk fell to just one in 10 when compared with women on a normal diet. Green tea has been shown to have a similar oestrogen restricting effect.
Next, scientists have discovered that the maitake mushroom can shrink tumours by as much as 75 per cent. Maitake mushrooms are common in Chinese and Japanese cooking. Hitherto, they have been used to treat blood pressure and liver disease, but some Japanese cancer hospitals have used them as a complementary therapy for a number of years. Researchers, lead by Dr Sensuke Konno, head of urology at the New York Medical Center, have published their findings in the British Journal of Urology (December 2009). Their research showed that with two cancers - bladder and prostate - the mushrooms could shrink the tumours and in some cases this even resulted in the cancer disappearing. In many of the cases the extract stopped the cancer growth. Researchers believe this is because a particular enzyme was activated which stops cancer growth.
Previous studies have shown the benefits of these so called medicinal mushrooms with breast cancer. One study by scientists in California (Feb 2009) seems to show that breast cancer patients who eat the mushrooms twice a day, prevent the cancer returning. This is thought due to an active ingredient which reduces oestrogen production.
The new research from New York Medical Center has been dubbed a breakthrough because it took extracts of the mushrooms in much smaller amounts than previously, but used them in conjunction with interferon, a drug which can significantly boost the immune system.
Go to: Interferon in cancer treatment
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