Chemotherapy generally improves survival in postmenopausal breast cancer patients, according to a landmark study led by Dr. Kathy Albain of Loyola University Health System.

Eighteen single-point genetic variations indicate risk of recurrence for early-stage head and neck cancer patients and their likelihood of developing a second type of cancer, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center reported at the American Association for Cancer Research Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research Conference.

Long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, primarily found in fish and seafood, may have a role in colorectal cancer prevention, according to results presented at the American Association for Cancer Research Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research Conference, held Dec. 6-9, 2009, in Houston.

Locally advanced breast cancer patients who received the same class of neoadjuvant chemotherapy were found to have no evidence of disease at the time of their surgery, or achieved pathological complete response, at the same rate regardless of race, according to researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

Women with a deleterious gene mutation are diagnosed with breast cancer six years earlier than relatives of the previous generation who also had the disease and/or ovarian cancer, according to new research from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

Researchers at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center are helping to lead a massive international study on the possible genetic effects of radiation and cancer drug exposures on future generations. The study's principal investigators are meeting this week at the OU Health Sciences Center to discuss their recent findings, which will be presented at an upcoming meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics.

A special report published in the October issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons indicates that an alarming 35% of initial diagnostic breast biopsies in the United States are still being done using unnecessary open surgical techniques. This in spite of the fact that it costs as much as three times more than the much less invasive and equally accurate needle biopsy technique.

An increase in cases of a rare type of head and neck cancer appears to be linked to HPV, or human papillomavirus, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Among women with early stage breast cancer, genetic variation of a certain enzyme appears to be associated with clinical outcomes for women treated with tamoxifen, according to a study in the October 7 issue of JAMA.

Results of a phase two clinical trial published October 5th in the Journal of Clinical Oncology show that adding continuous daily doses of a targeted drug called imatinib mesylate to regular chemotherapy more than doubled three-year survival rates for children with a high risk type of blood cancer called Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (Ph+ ALL).