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    <recommendedItem id="20100101_19_250"
                     title="Cancer Research &quot;Giant&quot; Lawrence Garfinkel Dies at 88"
                     score="0.002"
                     href="http://www.medpagetoday.com/Pulmonology/Smoking/tb/18108?impressionId=1265724810442"
                     
      &lt;p&gt;Epidemiologist Lawrence Garfinkel, MA, a legendary researcher for the American Cancer Society whose work helped establish a link between cancer and smoking and other activities, died of cardiovascular disease Thursday in Seattle, Washington at 88.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;The American Cancer Society today mourns the loss of one of its most important historical figures,&quot; said John R. Seffrin, PhD, the society&apos;s chief executive officer.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;Larry Garfinkel joined the American Cancer Society as a young scientist in 1947, and for more than four decades played an instrumental role in expanding knowledge of and reducing death from smoking.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Garfinkel&apos;s 1982 Cancer Prevention Study-II (CPS-II) is the largest contemporary study of tobacco and mortality, with 1.2 million participants and 77,000 data-compiling volunteers across 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;CPS-II uncovered the effects of lifestyle factors, such as obesity, alcohol consumption, medications, genetic elements, that affect cancer and other chronic diseases, the analysis of which still reveals important clues about cancer today.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The study also found lung cancer mortality rates in women increased five-fold from data collected in the original Cancer Prevention Study, while cancer rates among non-smoking women remained the same. This information provided strong evidence that lung cancer was almost exclusively a disease found in smokers.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Garfinkel was born on January 11, 1922 in Manhattan&apos;s Lower East Side and was raised in the South Bronx.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;He served in the army during World War II, where he was seriously injured in northern France in August, 1944.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Ultimately, Garfinkel graduated from the City College of New York and received a Masters Degree from Columbia University. He also received several honorary doctorates.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Garfinkel began work for the ACS in 1947.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;He assisted E. Cuyler Hammond, MD, and Daniel Horn, MD, in the first ACS prospective mortality study of 187,783 males in the late 1940&apos;s by coordinating much of the field work, including training thousands of ACS volunteers in data collection techniques.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Garfinkel acted as the co-principal investigator of the larger Cancer Prevention Study I (CPS-I) in 1959. The study enrolled 1 million participants across 25 states and required over 68,000 volunteers to collect data.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In the 1960s, he contributed to more than two dozen major papers on the relation between smoking and health. He was co-author of one of the first reports combining epidemiology with pathology and provided some of the first direct evidence of lung damage related to smoking.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Garfinkel also contributed to issuance of the landmark 1964 Surgeon General&apos;s report on smoking and health.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;He was appointed director of ACS research in 1979 after Hammond&apos;s retirement.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Garfinkel retired from the ACS in 1989. Over the course of his career, he had contributed to more than 100 journal articles.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Richard D. Klausner, MD, then-director of the National Cancer Institute, said at the time: &quot;Few individuals have contributed as much to our present-day knowledge about the disease consequences of smoking.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;His remarkable achievement is an important reminder what a tremendous impact an individual can make, and inspires all of us to continue the fight against cancer.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Garfinkel continued to volunteer with the ACS after his retirement and taught biostatistics at the New York University Dental School.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;He is survived by his brothers, Harold and Melvin; his sons, Martin and Herb; a daughter-in-law, Margaret Cary, and two grandchildren.&lt;/p&gt;

    </recommendedItem>
    <recommendedItem id="20100101_19_174"
                     title="AACR-IASLC: MicroRNA Linked to SCLC Response (CME/CE)"
                     score="-0.003"
                     href="http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/AACR-IASLC/tb/18008?impressionId=1265724810442"
                     
      &lt;p&gt;CORONADO, Calif.  --  Tiny genetic segments may give a big tip-off to platinum chemoresistance in patients with small cell lung cancer, researchers said.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Three microRNAs were linked to de novo chemoresistance in a small study led by Glen J. Weiss, MD, of Scottsdale Healthcare and the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), both in Scottsdale, Ariz.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;He presented the results here at the Joint Conference on Molecular Origins of Lung Cancer sponsored by the American Association for Cancer Research and the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Further validation would be needed before denying any patient chemotherapy based on the findings, cautioned Tyler Jacks, PhD, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and president of the AACR.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;However, &quot;biomarkers of this sort will be useful in diagnosing patients and applying relevant therapies  --  in this instance perhaps applying novel therapies, given the belief that the conventional therapies will be of no value to these individuals,&quot; he said as discussant on the study at a press conference.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Weiss agreed.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;This is early stage,&quot; he said in an interview. &quot;But hopefully down the road it will have implications for treating patients with small cell [lung cancer].&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Non-small cell lung cancer has been a success story for personalized treatment.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;It was revolutionized by discovery of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations as both a prognostic factor and treatment target for the EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But for small cell lung cancer, the standard treatment is platinum-based chemotherapy with only two real options in first-line treatment, the researchers said.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Worse, 15% to 30% of small cell tumors are intrinsically resistant to platinum chemotherapy and never respond.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;[Small cell] lung cancer patients haven&apos;t had a real advance in 15 years or more for chemotherapy,&quot; Weiss told &lt;em&gt;MedPage Today&lt;/em&gt;. &quot;What we&apos;re trying to do is identify the group that doesn&apos;t respond to standard therapy so that we can identify new treatments for them up front instead of treating everyone the same.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Among the genetic possibilities for these efforts, microRNA  --  RNA molecules of around 20 nucleotides in length  --  are a good option, Weiss explained.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;They regulate gene expression like messenger RNA but are smaller and more stable across a variety of fluid and tissue types, he said.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In the study, the researchers analyzed diagnostic tumor samples from 34 patients with small cell lung cancer.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Among them, 19% had de novo chemoresistance marked by progressive disease. Most had had a partial or complete response to chemotherapy (61.9% and 9.5%, respectively).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;After extraction of total RNA, microRNA profiling revealed 16 top candidates for association with progressive disease.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The 28 samples with sufficient RNA for further testing showed three microRNAs linked to chemoresistance that were validated by quantitative real-time PCR: &lt;ul&gt; &lt;li&gt;miR-92a-2* with a &lt;em&gt;P&lt;/em&gt;-value of 0.010&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;miR-147 with a &lt;em&gt;P&lt;/em&gt;-value of 0.018&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;miR-574-5p with a &lt;em&gt;P&lt;/em&gt;-value of 0.039&lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Many of the patients had comorbidities at baseline, including 47.1% with hypertension and 32% with emphysema or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. But these did not predict chemotherapy response.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The next step is to validate the biomarkers in an independent cohort of small cell lung cancer patients, the researchers concluded.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Then studies will need to determine what does work in these chemoresistant patients, Weiss said.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;We&apos;ve learned that if we&apos;re going to make the next hurdle and if we&apos;re going to better treat this disease, we need more personalized care,&quot; agreed Roy Herbst, MD, PhD, of M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;float:left;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;border-color:#8dabbc;font-family:arial;font-size:12px;background-color:#DBE9F2;padding:5px;&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;The study was supported by the American Cancer Society-Sylvia Chase Pilot Grant, IBIS Foundation of Arizona, and the TGen Foundation.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Weiss reported recieving lab support from TGen Foundation and Scottsdale Healthcare Foundation as well as being party to provisional patents related to microRNAs in lung cancer.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Jacks provided no information on conflicts of interest.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Herbst has reported financial relationships with Genentech, Lilly, Amgen, and AstraZeneca. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;clear:both;&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
    </recommendedItem>
    <recommendedItem id="20100101_19_119"
                     title="AACR-IASLC: Green Tea May Have Cancer Benefit (CME/CE)"
                     score="-0.005"
                     href="http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/AACR-IASLC/tb/17931?impressionId=1265724810442"
                     
      CORONADO, Calif.  --  Green tea may reduce the risk of developing lung cancer, particularly for smokers, according to a case-control study.&lt;br&gt;
&lt;br&gt;At least a cup a day was associated with a 5.16-fold lower lung cancer risk among Taiwanese adults (&lt;em&gt;P&lt;/em&gt;&amp;lt;0.001), found I-Hsin Lin, MS, of the Chung Shan Medical University in Zhonghe City, Taiwan, and colleagues.&lt;br&gt;
&lt;br&gt;And for current and former smokers, regular green tea intake was associated with a 12.71-fold lower risk than abstaining (&lt;em&gt;P&lt;/em&gt;&amp;lt;0.001), suggesting that the antioxidants in tea have &quot;an inhibitory effect ... elicited by smoking.&quot;&lt;br&gt;
&lt;br&gt;The findings were reported here at the Joint Conference on Molecular Origins of Lung Cancer sponsored by the American Association for Cancer Research-International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer.&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;We suggest smokers or nonsmokers, both of them, should drink green tea to keep away from lung cancer,&quot; Lin told &lt;em&gt;MedPage Today&lt;/em&gt;. &quot;However, the cessation of smoking is the best way for cancer prevention.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Chemoprevention with green tea is appealing but it&apos;s too soon for a clinical recommendation, commented Roy S. Herbst, MD, PhD, of the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and a chair of the conference.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;It should probably be the basis of a hypothesis for a larger chemoprevention trial across multiple populations,&quot; he said in an interview.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Given inconclusive results in prior epidemiologic studies, Lin&apos;s group designed a hospital-based case-control study that included questionnaires and genotyping of 170 primary lung cancer patients and 340 age- and gender-matched healthy controls who presented for physical checkups.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Most participants in both groups reported drinking no green tea. But seven of the 170 cases and 64 of the 340 controls said they typically drank at least one 120-mL (4 oz) cup a day.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Overall, lung cancer risk appeared linked to green tea consumption.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Compared with those who drank one or more cups per day, those who drank it infrequently (less than once a day) were 4.22 times more likely to develop lung cancer (&lt;em&gt;P&lt;/em&gt;&amp;lt;0.01).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Those who didn&apos;t drink green tea at all were at a 5.16-fold greater risk (&lt;em&gt;P&lt;/em&gt;&amp;lt;0.001), nearly the same elevation in risk seen with smoking for 40 pack-years compared with never smoking (odds ratio 5.46, &lt;em&gt;P&lt;/em&gt;&amp;lt;0.001).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Among never smokers, greater green tea intake was more protective (&lt;em&gt;P&lt;/em&gt;&amp;lt;0.01 for trend). But risk was not significantly lower for those who drank at least one cup daily than for those who drank none.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Among smokers  --  whether current or ever  --  the same dose effect was seen (&lt;em&gt;P&lt;/em&gt;&amp;lt;0.001). Compared with individuals who averaged one or more cups daily, non-tea drinkers had 12.71 times higher risk (&lt;em&gt;P&lt;/em&gt;&amp;lt;0.001) and those who had less than one cup a day were at 12.22 times greater risk (&lt;em&gt;P&lt;/em&gt;&amp;lt;0.01).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;A long-term green tea habit appeared more protective as well, with a more than threefold reduction in risk for more than 10 years compared with none among both smokers and never smokers.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;That green tea had a greater impact for smokers than for nonsmokers was a surprise, Lin said. She cautioned, though, that the study may have been confounded by various unmeasured factors.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Since the control group was recruited at presentation for routine physicals, they may have followed a generally healthier lifestyle than those with lung cancer, Lin suggested.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Experimental studies have suggested that one mechanism for chemoprevention with green tea may be its impact on insulin-like growth factors.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The researchers looked at genetic polymorphisms tied to expression of insulin-like growth factors, and found that the benefits of green tea were almost entirely restricted to individuals without lung cancer-susceptible genotypes, supporting an interaction between this genetic- and lifestyle-related risk.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div style=&quot;float:left;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;border-color:#8dabbc;font-family:arial;font-size:12px;background-color:#DBE9F2;padding:5px;&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;The researchers reported no conflicts of interest.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Herbst reported no relevant conflicts of interest.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;clear:both;&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
    </recommendedItem>
    <recommendedItem id="20090101_3_553"
                     title="Family History of Lung Cancer Doubles Risk for the Disease"
                     score="-0.005"
                     href="