The interaction of sex, age and ethnicity has a significant impact on overall survival in metastatic colorectal cancer (MCRC) patients, a study led by researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) and USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center suggests.
While age and ethnicity are well-established factors that impact survival in colorectal cancer, the study found that gender also plays an important role in overall survival, says Andrew Hendifar, M.D., MPH, fellow in the division of hematology/oncology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and lead author of the study. Researchers found that pre-menopausal women with metastatic colorectal cancer (18-44 years old) lived longer than younger men, while older women (75 and older) had significantly worse overall survival than older men.
The study adds to the growing evidence that female hormones are protective for colon cancer, researchers say.
"This study provides further evidence that estrogen may play an important role not only in colon cancer development but also progression of the disease, and may impact how we develop therapies for women and men with colon cancer," says Heinz-Josef Lenz, M.D., professor of medicine at the Keck School of Medicine and a senior investigator on the study.
Researchers screened 56,598 patients with metastatic colorectal cancer from 1988 to 2003, using the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) registry. Models were created using the patients' age at diagnosis, sex, ethnicity and overall survival. Independent of age, there were no survival differences between men and women with MCRC. However, when age was added to the model, sex became significantly associated with survival across all ethnicities.
Researchers also found that certain ethnicities had better overall survival than others. Namely, Hispanics and Asians have better outcomes than Caucasians and African-Americans. Further studies in this area should look at how certain diets or specific surroundings contribute to the development of colorectal cancer, Hendifar notes.
"The data warrant further studies to determine the role of estrogen and ethnicity in colorectal cancer development," he says. "In the future, we may tailor different treatments for men and women."
The study was funded by grants in honor of Sharon A. Carpenter and from the Dhont Family Foundation.
The results of the study will be presented at a poster discussion "Gastrointestinal (Colorectal) Cancer" on Sunday, June 1, at the 2008 annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) held at McCormick Place in Chicago. The authors and title are: A.E. Hendifar, G. Lurje, F. Lenz, A. Pohl, P. Manegold, K. Togawa, H. Husain, H. Lenz, D. Yang, "Sex, age and ethnicity are associated with survival in metatstatic colorectal cancer."
Source:
ScienceDaily (May 31, 2008)
Sex, Age And Ethnicity Assciated With Colorectal Cancer Survival
Mars Signal is Back
Radio signals from the Mars Phoenix lander are restored.
By: Captain Maverick May 29, 2008, 4:58 PM EDT NASA reported that the Phoenix Mars lander suffered a one day delay caused by a communications glitch that was repaired late Tuesday night. With communications restored, commands to deploy the Phoenix's robotic arm were able to be uploaded to the probe on Wednesday. Despite the glitch in the communications, the Phoenix seems to be performing well according to NASA's mission specialists. Project Manager Berry Goldstein was reported as saying that the craft is experiencing excellent "health". Now the goal will be to unstow the scoop-tipped robotic arm, which is expected to take place on Wednesday afternoon. This task will involve moving the scoop towards the arm with the wrist joint. It will release a spring-loaded pin that kept the arm restrained during the launch of the craft and the landing on Sunday. This robotic arm is a very critical component of the Phoenix. The communications glitch forced NASA to find a "work-around" by using the Odyssey to communicate with the lander throughout the mission. But this was a contingency that was planned for, if needed. Radio signals from the Mars Phoenix lander are restored.
NASA pullout could cut 'hope' short
By Traci Watson, USA TODAY
The space shuttle Discovery, scheduled for liftoff Saturday, will take to orbit a project nearly 25 years and $1 billion in the making: one of the biggest laboratories ever built for the International Space Station.
Excitement over the launch is tempered by concern that the lab's mission may be cut short if NASA follows through on its plan to withdraw from the station after 2015.
Named Kibo, which means "hope" in Japanese, the space lab is designed to last at least 10 years and could probably be used for 20, says Yoshinori Yoshimura of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, which built the lab. NASA's withdrawal from the space station could lead the lab to prematurely shut down.
Besides Japan and the United States, 12 other nations have invested in the station. NASA has been responsible for 75% of the $157 billion cost of building and operating the 10-year-old station, according to the European Space Agency. It "does not seem feasible" that other nations could fill NASA's shoes, says Cristina Chaplain of the Government Accountability Office, an investigative arm of Congress.
Withdrawing from the station for lack of money a few years after finishing it is "like buying a new car and saying, 'You paid $40,000 for a new car, and now I can't put the gas in the tank,' " said former senator John Glenn, the first American in orbit, during a Capitol Hill visit this month.
The space agency has made no final decisions.
NASA's space-operations chief William Gerstenmaier said last month that NASA has "done nothing to preclude" U.S. participation in the station beyond 2015. He said if NASA does want to continue research on the station, "we need to do that planning now."
NASA wants to end its commitment to the space station, so it can use the money — about $2 billion a year — to return humans to the moon.
If NASA were to pull out of the station in 2015 without getting its partners' approval, "there would be a lot of problems," says Alan Thirkettle, station manager for the European Space Agency.
He notes the United States signed a 1998 treaty establishing the station that requires Europe to get 10 years of use from the station's lab. A 2015 shutdown would allow Europe seven years of research.
Kibo's biggest section, including the main laboratory, will be fixed in place by the seven-member crew on Discovery — the second of three shuttle flights needed to transport and assemble the lab. The shuttle's launch is scheduled for 5:02 p.m. ET Saturday.
Astronauts in Kibo will be able to use equipment such as a furnace for growing crystals and a chamber for growing cells. Rather than addressing industrial or medical questions, experiments will focus on basic research — including how fluids behave in zero gravity.
The space station was repeatedly redesigned in the 1980s and '90s, driving up the lab's cost and delaying its flight. The lab won't be done until 2009, when a platform for astronomy equipment is launched.
Discovery commander Mark Kelly, who called the lab "pretty amazing," said it "would be great if we could continue to operate it" beyond 2015.
It's "ridiculous to be thinking about decommissioning the station before it's even completed," says space researcher Louis Stodieck of the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Others point out that NASA has cut funding for research on the station. "What are we losing?" says David Goldston, former chief of staff of the House Science Committee. "In terms of actual science … it's going to do virtually nothing."
