Cushing’s syndrome:
An estimated 20,000 people in the US have Cushing’s, with more than 3,000 new cases diagnosed each year. The incidence is similar in Europe. Cushing’s syndrome disproportionately affects females, who make up about 75% of the diagnosed cases. Symptoms of Cushing’s syndrome can include obesity, diabetes, psychiatric disorders, osteoporosis and immune suppression. Cushing’s syndrome is caused by elevated secretion of cortisol from the adrenal gland, in association with pituitary, adrenal or other cancers.

Orphagen has identified small molecule antagonists to SF-1 that have the potential to suppress cortisol levels in all Cushing’s patients without serious side effects.

Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC):
ACC is a rare malignancy with an extremely poor prognosis (5-year overall survival: 37-47%). Complete surgical resection offers hope for long-term survival but surgery is not an option in up to two-thirds of patients because metastasis has usually occurred by the time of diagnosis.

SF-1 is recognized as a potential mechanism-based therapeutic target for control of ACC and an SF-1 antagonist could be used in the treatment of ACC.

Pediatric ACC:
Pediatric ACC is a very rare but aggressive cancer with a long-term survival rate of about 50%. Approximately 60% of children with adrenocortical tumors are diagnosed before the age of four. The SF-1 gene is amplified and SF-1 protein is overexpressed in the vast majority of childhood adrenocortical tumors strongly implicating SF-1 in pediatric adrenocortical tumorigenesis.

Castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC):
CRPC is the most common cancer in males. Surgery is not an option if the cancer has spread beyond the prostate gland, at which point patients typically receive hormonal therapy, essentially chemical castration. This course of therapy usually fails within two years, resulting in castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Most patients eventually succumb to CRPC, which is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in men.
SF-1 antagonists may: (1) block the adrenal androgens that circumvent chemical castration, and are a primary cause of CRPC; and (2) inhibit synthesis of androgens within the prostate tumor itself, where SF-1 may control induction of enzymes for de novo androgen synthesis in treatment-resistant cancers.

From http://www.orphagen.com/research_cushings.html

• Women in menopause often speak about hair loss but many do not realize that hormonal imbalances cause unwanted hair growth too.

• All women produce small amounts of the male sex (or androgen) hormones, which includes testosterone, but it is the over production of the hormones that leads to excessive hair growth.

• We actually have hair all over body which stays on our bodies for our entire lives which is known as vellus hair which can be little thicker or darker depending on the person.

• Coming to terminal hair means it begins to appear during puberty with hormonal changes and continue to develop long after and it is darker than the vellus hair

•  All women produce small amounts of the male sex (or androgen) hormones, which includes

 testosterone, but it is the over production of the hormones that leads to excessive hair growth.

Excess hair can be categorized as either hirsutism or hypertrichosis.

• HIRSUTISM indicates the presence of excess terminal hair growth in areas of the body that is androgen-sensitive.

• Hirsutism is rarely caused by a serious illness but excess hair growth in women can causedistress or embarrassment.

• In some cases, hirsutism may be a result of an underlying medical disorder, such as polycysticovary syndrome.

• Androgen-sensitive areas of the body are the face, chest, areola, above the lip, lower back, buttock, inner thigh, external genitalia, axillae(under arms),chin and beard region. 

• HYPERTRICHOSIS indicates excess terminal hair growth in areas of the body that is not androgen sensitive.

• Androgen-insensitive areas of the body include forehead, forearms, and tops of the hands.

The most important and common causes of excessive hair include::

• high levels of male hormones

• polycystic ovary syndrome(POS)

• ovarian tumors

• corticosteroids

• certain medication

• growth stimulating drugs

• adrenocortical carcinoma

• congenital adrenal hyperplasia

I’m in my mid-forties, married and have two young children. The reason for starting this blog was to help people who are diagnosed with cancer, there are so many resources out there that people are just not aware of so I thought I’d share a little bit of what I’ve discovered to make your journey a little less stressful.

I’ll write a bit more in the coming weeks about how to talk to your doctors, what to do with your pathology reports, second opinions, where to get your prescriptions, how to save some money and what free resources that are out there.  As I go along if there are services available that you are aware of please share in the comment section and I’ll do my best to research and post a blog post about them.

All the best on your journey

Today marks ten years of my being cancer-free. In this photo, I had been recovering at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota for almost a month. By then I had lost my left kidney, left adrenal gland, a rib, a few lymph nodes, and 25% of my liver.

There have been times that I didn’t quite understand why it was that I was still here. My cousin who is an oncologist even said that mets (metastasis or spread) to the liver is usually fatal because of all the liver’s network of blood vessels. Tumors are kept alive thanks to these vessels, yet the good doctors at the Mayo Clinic were able to resect the part of the liver where my adrenal cancer (supposedly from 1998) had spread. My liver has grown back quite healthily as shown in yearly CT scans.

I thought I knew everything about faith when I was first diagnosed in 1998, that I had dealt with cancer and understood life and religion. But when it came back in 2002, I dropped to my knees again and came to realize that I was not even half-way to understanding what faith was really all about. Feeling a bit vulnerable so will zone back out and continue with this flashback to Minnesota in February of 2002.

Thanks to my sis who was with me in Minnesota to wheel me around in the snow. We discovered amazing underground passage ways and skyways between our hotel, the hospital, movie theater and bookstore without ever having to leave the buildings. Here we are playing in the snow outside of Barnes and Noble which was previously a movie theater before being converted into a bookstore.

Hoping someone newly diagnosed with adrenal cancer finds me instead of the searches that bring up “less than five years survival” types of statistics.

To your health and your faith.

Andrew Jones, who partnered Richards to third place in last year’s L&H 500 at Phillip Island, will stand in for the Team BOC driver alongside Jason Bright.

Richards raced　most recently　in the Muscle Car Masters event at Eastern Creek last weekend, driving an　ex-John Harvey HDT Torana. Despite winning his race the 35-year-old says he is not fit to tackle the gruelling V8 endurance events at Phillip Island and Bathurst.

The L&H 500 at Phillip Island is from 16-18 September with the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 from 6-9 October.

Jason Richards

Team BOC

“Although I’m feeling really good at the moment, I haven’t solved my health problems.

“I was hoping to have something by now to indicate we could win the battle with this cancer but ultimately it’s not been the case. Every scan I’ve had has got worse and worse and I’ve not been able to put the brakes on it.

“I have periods where I feel really good and periods when I’m not so good and it’s too hard to determine when they’re going to be. I didn’t want to let the team down.

“I think it would have been my 15th Bathurst and it’s pretty disappointing not to be participating but that’s what life dishes out. “I still feel like I want to have some input so I will be at Phillip Island pestering everybody and putting my five cents’-worth in. I’m still part of the team and keen to be involved. “It’s actually quite good being a fly on the wall. You pick up a lot more stuff that you miss when you’re more involved. Brad [Jones] and I have had lots of conversations about what’s happened at the race weekends and we quite frequently totally agree. It’s good to have more eyes and ears in these bigger races and my experience can add a lot of value.

“The cars were so competitive last year and, to be honest, if Brighty doesn’t win I’ll be disappointed.”

Brad Jones

Team Co-Owner

“I don’t think there’s one team member, including the drivers, who wouldn’t like JR to be driving the car but his health is the most important thing in the world and clearly he’s still got a titanic battle on his hands. “It will be great to have him at the event. We talk regularly about the racing and he has a really good feel for what’s going on. He’s still very much part of the team. “I think Jonesy will make a great substitute. He and JR came third here last year and hopefully Brighty and Jonesy can go a bit further for the team and for JR.” Notes Jason Richards was diagnosed with ACC, a rare and aggressive form of cancer, last November at the end of his second year with Brad Jones Racing.

Jason Bargwanna is standing in for Richards whilst he recovers All messages of support to Richards should be directed to his Facebook fanpage www.facebook.com/pages/Jason-Richards-Fan-Page)

Related articles

• V8 Supercars – Kings Of The Mountain Tackle A Very Different Peak (beyondtheredline.org)
• V8 Supercars – Di Grassi signs on for Gold Coast 600 (beyondtheredline.org)

The Team BOC driver started from sixth on the grid but was soon battling for the lead despite suffering from adrenocortical carcinoma. He snatched P1 from Alex Davison in the pits but was reeled in by Garth Tander, who was on the faster soft tyre, and finished second after 25 laps.

Team-mate Jason Bright ran in sixth until the closing laps, when his tyres faded and he dropped to ninth.

Tomorrow’s race, in which JR aims to go one better, starts at 1.10pm.

Jason Richards
Team BOC #14
“Maybe it’s just being relaxed in the driving and enjoying myself but for some reason I seem to be performing better with cancer in me! Today when we were at the front, pushing for the lead, the adrenalin just worked wonders.

“I had a choice: either to sit on the couch and watch or to take the seat and have a go myself. This is my weekend, where I’m living my normal life; the heavy stuff will come later on. 

“The emotional support I’ve had from the fans, my family, my V8 family, the team and my sponsors; it’s exactly why I’m doing it. I’m just very grateful. Maybe that’s what lifted me to do this today. 

“It really does make a difference when you’re at the hospital; having all this positive energy from being part of my team.”

Jason Bright
Team BOC #8
“It was awesome to see. There isn’t anyone here that wasn’t happy to see JR in second and there were plenty of people who wanted to see him win it. Early on there I could see he was racing away. Six months off doesn’t see to have slowed him down at all.”

Related Articles

• Richards: ‘It’s Been an Excellent Weekend’ (beyondtheredline.org)
• V8 Supercars – JR ‘Happy’ With P9 On First Day Back (beyondtheredline.org)
• V8 Supercars – Jason Richards To Race At AGP (beyondtheredline.org)

The information first described at the last ASCO meeting now appears in detail in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

The publication includes p53 mutation prevalence tables, and some intriguing correlations.

For instance:

* Cancer of ovary, pancreas, and prostate, not normally associated with Li-Fraumeni, occurred in some people with germline p53 mutations.
* No patients with invasive breast cancer between ages 30 and 49 and no relatives with four classic Li-Fraumeni cancers (sarcoma, adrenocortical carcinoma, breast cancer, brain cancer) had germline p53 mutations. All five patients with breast cancer under age 30 and a history of one of these cancers other than breast cancer in a first- or second-degree relative had these mutations.
* In this study, families without at least one member who had one of these four cancers are highly unlikely to have a p53 mutation.

A recent review in Nature Reviews Cancer discusses polymorphisms in the TP53 locus and their implications for cancer.

Clinical Trials

What new studies are testing adenovirus-based gene therapy for cancer using p53?

Practice Guidelines

Find last year’s update to NCCN’s guideline on genetic assessment for families with high risk of breast and ovarian cancer.

(Please ignore the misleading 2001 publication date on this result listing. We’ll look into the problem.)

Noteworthy recent results in Cancer/Hemic
What are your colleagues looking at?

EpCAM

Transcriptional Repression of Epithelial Cell Adhesion Molecule Contributes to p53 Control of Breast Cancer Invasion
Cancer Research (February 1, 2009)

head squamous cell carcinoma

RESULT: Erlotinib and bevacizumab in patients with recurrent or metastatic squamous-cell carcinoma of the head and neck: a phase I/II study
Lancet (March 2, 2009)

RESULT: Phase I Study of Lapatinib in Combination With Chemoradiation in Patients With Locally Advanced Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Head and Neck
Journal of Clinical Oncology (March 2, 2009)

CLINICAL QUERY of the week
Lessons from a genuine search result

Someone wrote in to say they appreciated finding this result (or, actually, pair of results) with the search term interleukin. (You’ll need to scroll down to find them.)

RESULT: Managing Toxicities of High-Dose Interleukin-2
Cancer Network

TIP: Notice that this result appears twice in close succession on the same page. This is not a mistake. Some publishers divide long online articles into more than one page, and SearchMedica has discovered two pages from the same article that are relevant to the search term.

The first page of the article will not always be the first of several results on the list.

To locate the first page, after clicking on the article title, scroll to the bottom of the page where you will see a list of consecutive numbers. Click on the number “1″ to read the article from the beginning.