Tumorigenesis

Postpartum mammary gland involution drives progression of ductal carcinoma in situ through collagen and COX-2 Lyons, T. R. et al. Nat. Med. doi:10.1038/nm.2416

The risk of dying from breast cancer is higher in women diagnosed within 5 years after giving birth. Using a mouse model, Lyons et al. have shown how postpartum deposition of collagen in the mammary gland and the following overexpression of COX2 promote the invasiveness of mammary epithelial tumor cells. Inhibition of COX2 by ibuprofen reduced collagen deposition, tumor growth and infiltration, suggesting that ibuprofen might be a good candidate to prevent postpartum breast cancer.

Hematology

Adverse psychological outcomes in long-term survivors of hematopoietic cell transplantation: a report from the Bone Marrow Transplant Survivor Study Sun, C.-L. et al. Blood doi:10.1182/blood-2011-04-348730

Sun et al. evaluated the psychological distress of 1,065 long-term survivors after hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) by comparing their psychological and physical health with that of their healthy siblings. After a follow up of 7 years following HCT, 22% of the survivors reported adverse psychological outcomes (anxiety, depression and somatic distress) whereas only 8% of their siblings did.

Prevention

Vitamin, mineral, and specialty supplements and risk of hematologic malignancies in the prospective VITamins And Lifestyle (VITAL) study Walter, R. B. et al. Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev. doi:10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-11-0494

This study evaluated the association between the use of supplements of garlic, grape seed and multivitamins, and the risk of developing hematologic malignancies. Participants who reported using garlic supplements at least 4 days a week for over 3 years, had a 45% lower risk of hematologic cancer compared with non-users. For grape-seed extract, the risk was 43% lower. Daily use of multivitamins was not associated with a lower risk of hematologic cancer.

Epidemiology

Risk of ovarian cancer in women with pelvic inflammatory disease: a population-based study Lin, H.-W. et al. Lancet Oncol. doi:10.1016/S1470-2045(11)70165-6

Lin et al. have found an association between pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) and ovarian cancer. The Taiwanese study reported an incidence of ovarian cancer among young women with PID of 2.78 per 10,000 person-years, compared with an incidence of 1.44 in women without PID who were matched for age.