Cancer women need fertility advice
Monday November 7th, 2011
Women undergoing treatment for breast cancer need to be given advice on how they can preserve fertility, a major conference was told today.
The
National Cancer Research Institute conference in Liverpool, UK, is considering
ways to improve care of patients as well as major steps in research into
treatment.
Cancer teams around the UK take varying approaches to the problem - causing concern that many quite young women may not be told about their options.
Researchers say many cancer teams may be reluctant to raise the issue for fear that women will delay treatment while they take steps such as embryo preservation.
A study, reported to the found that fewer than 40 per cent of teams considered whether to raise the issue of fertility preservation based on a woman's individual circumstances - such as whether she had children or a partner.
Researcher Dr Judy King, of the Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust, London, UK, called for breast cancer teams to have a fertility lead, who would help identify women who should be referred to a fertility specialist.
She said: "This important survey reveals wide variation in the knowledge, attitudes and practices of healthcare professionals managing young women with breast cancer.
"This may mean there is a lack of standard information being given to patients, and that referral to a fertility specialist is not always being offered."
* Nottingham University researchers will tell the conference about a new idea for destroying cancer cells containing the BRCA gene, which is linked to breast and ovarian cancer and other cancers.
Their plan is to block an enzyme called APE1, responsible for repairing damage to these cancerous cells.
Researcher Dr Srinivasan Madhusudan said: "This important study provides the first evidence that APE1 is an important new target for personalised cancer treatment.
“Not only could these molecules provide a basis for new drugs to treat cancers with faulty BRCA genes – especially breast and ovarian cancer – but they could help ‘soften up’ cells from many cancer types to boost the effect of radiotherapy and chemotherapy.”
Baroness Delyth Morgano, of the Breast Cancer Campaign, said: "With up to ten per cent of all breast cancers thought to result from faulty BRCA1 and/or BRCA2 genes, new treatments for these patients could possibly help up to 4,800 of the women diagnosed with the disease in the UK each year."
* UK researchers today also revealed a "Sleeping Beauty" jumping gene which is helping to decipher the genetic causes of colorectal cancer.
The research is being undertaken at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Research Institute. The work has been set out in Nature Genetics.
Insertional mutagenesis reveals multiple networks of co-operating genes driving intestinal tumorigenesis. March HN et al. Nature Genetics 6 November 2011
Tags: Cancer | Childbirth and Pregnancy | Gastroenterology | Internal Medicine | Nursing & Midwifery | UK News | Women’s Health & Gynaecology
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