September 3, 2003 (Vol. 1, No. 3)
Advancing Knowledge, Saving Lives is a quarterly e-newsletter of cancer research and health-care advances from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
Read this e-newsletter online at: http://www.fhcrc.org/about/pubs/enews/fhcrc-enews/2003-09/

Promising Treatment for Childhood Brain Cancer on the Horizon
Fred Hutchinson researchers have found a potential new treatment for medulloblastoma, the most common form of childhood brain cancer. The study shows that drugs derived from vitamin A, known as retinoids, kill medulloblastoma cells. Clinical trials of the drugs may begin within a year.

For more information, go to:
http://www.fhcrc.org/pubs/center_news/2003/aug7/sart2.html


Cancer/Aging Connection Could Lead to New Cancer Drugs
The link between aging and cancer is now clearer thanks to a new Fred Hutchinson study that connects a powerful cancer-causing protein to a gene associated with a disease that causes premature aging. Researchers speculate that a new class of anti-cancer drugs might be developed based on the study findings.

For more information, go to:
http://www.fhcrc.org/pubs/center_news/2003/aug7/sart4.html


Combined-Hormone Therapy Doubles Breast-Cancer Risk
Older women who take combined-hormone-replacement therapy for five years or more double their risk of developing breast cancer, according to a new Fred Hutchinson study. Additionally, researchers found that cancer risk increases the longer a woman takes estrogen/progestin therapy. Study participants were 65 or older.

For more information, go to:
http://www.fhcrc.org/pubs/center_news/2003/jul3/sart4.html


Heavy Smoking May Promote Prostate Cancer
Middle-aged men who are long-term, heavy smokers face twice the risk of developing more aggressive forms of prostate cancer than men who have never smoked, a new Fred Hutchinson study shows. Men under 65 who have 40 or more "pack years" of cigarette smoking — those who smoke a pack a day for 40 years or two packs a day for 20 years — also face a 60 percent increased risk of prostate cancer overall.

For more information, go to:
http://www.fhcrc.org/pubs/center_news/2003/jul17/sart1.html



The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, home of two Nobel laureates, is an independent, nonprofit research institution dedicated to the development and advancement of biomedical technology to eliminate cancer and other potentially fatal diseases.

For information on Fred Hutchinson's privacy policy, go to:
http://www.fhcrc.org/termsofuse_privacypolicy.html

ISSN 1541-7433
Copyright 2003
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
P.O. Box 19024
Seattle, WA 98109-1024
www.fhcrc.org