US conference on cancer to focus on latest research

The American Society of Oncology holds its annual conference this weekend to chart progress on the latest advances in preventing and treating cancer amid calls for more US funding for research.

The results of dozens of clinical trials and other research will be presented during the five-day ASCO meeting -- the world's premier conference on cancer -- which is expected to attract more than 25,000 doctors, scientists, nurses and others working in the field.

More than 4,000 research abstracts have been accepted for the conference that opens Friday evening in Chicago, ASCO officials said.

Scientists will highlight progress in treating liver, gastrointestinal, lung, brain, neck and breast cancer as well as studies examining the effect of alternative medicines.
At the opening of the conference, scientists and directors of treatment centers will issue an appeal for the United States to renew its support for cancer research after a decline in US funding over the past four years.

"Thanks to the nation's investment in cancer research, survival rates are increasing, cancer deaths are declining for the first time in 70 years, and treatment is far more targeted, with fewer side effects," said physician Allen Lichter, executive vice president and CEO of ASCO.

"Now is the time to renew the nation's commitment to cancer research and give new hope and help to millions of patients," Lichter said.

The group will be calling for a seven percent increase in funding for the US government's National Institutes of Health, he said.

Researchers at the conference will present findings on the use of ginseng to counter fatigue among cancer patients, flaxseed and low-fat diets to counter the spread of prostrate cancer and shark cartilage extract used in combination with other treatments for lung cancer patients.

Findings from clinical trials will shed light on the efficacy of arsenic trioxide for patients suffering from leukemia and of Avastin, a drug from the Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche and the US firm Genentech, as a first line of defense in treating kidney cancer.

Avastin, in combination with chemotherapy, has already been shown to help prolong the life of patients diagnosed with breast cancer.

The drug, an anti-angiogenic, starves a tumor by preventing the formation of a blood vessel network and represents one of the first treatments that seeks to target how cancer functions.

Researchers also plan to unveil an elaborate study on the potential cardiovascular risks posed by combining the drug Herceptin with chemotherapy to treat breast cancer in its early stages.

Herceptin, produced by Roche, has been on the market for years but until now has been reserved for treating metastatic breast cancer with an excess of the protein HER2.

The drug, which attacks the HER2 protein, has been shown to reduce sharply the recurrence of breast cancer but also may enhance the risk of heart trouble.