9 July 2018

Research: Hope for liver cancer treatment

An Australian medical breakthrough offers liver cancer sufferers hope for a more effective treatment for the killer disease in its early stages. Centenary Institute scientists have successfully created a model of primary liver cancer which places medical researchers in a better position to develop more effective treatments. Most of the modelling to date has been unable to effectively mimic human liver cancer but the three-year study has developed a more efficient model of human liver cancer, which is useful for a better understanding of how liver disease and liver scarring advances into liver cancer.

Courier Mail, 07/07/2018, Page 9; Daily Telegraph, 07/07/2018, Page 11; Hobart Mercury, 07/07/2018, Page 6

Research: Invisible remedies

Tiny particles invisible to the human eye, and packed with layers of different drugs, are being developed as the next innovative way of delivering drugs and treating cancers in hard-to-reach places. The revolutionary research of nanoparticle layering coating technique that is being tested in animal models from MIT’s Professor Paula Hammond. Prof Hammond said her method was to “shrink-wrap” layers of desired medications, gene silencing substances and materials to stimulate tissue growth around each other. Each layer of the particle can be as thin as one 10,000th width of a human hair.

Herald Sun, 09/07/2018, Page 17

Research: New blast for cancer

Blasting away prostate cancer with ultrasound is as successful as more gruelling treatment but a lower risk of side-effects, a study suggests. Though survival rates for the most common type of male cancer are high, some patients suffer distressing and permanent consequences such as incontinence or erectile dysfunction brought on by radiotherapy or surgery. Now a new technique using high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) to target tumours has scored highly in tests. In the largest trial, 625 men with prostate cancer underwent the treatment and doctors found that HIFU resulted in the same survival rate as more invasive treatments.

Adelaide Advertiser, 07/07/2018, Page 31; Courier Mail, 07/07/2018, Page 27; Daily Telegraph, 07/07/2018, Page 29; Herald Sun, 09/07/2018, Page 29

Screening: Cancer risk on screens

Targeting breast cancer screening at the women most at risk would lead to more deaths every year, a report says. The UK study shows that scrapping screening for low-risk women would cut “over-diagnosis” by 27 per cent but increase deaths by 3 per cent. Over-diagnosis can result in operations such as lumpectomies for cancers that may not have developed before a patient died. The study — a simulation based on real data — tested an alternative excluding women seen as low-risk due to genetic or lifestyle factors

Daily Telegraph, 07/07/2018, Page 27

Skin Cancer: City living cuts skin cancer rates

Beach lifestyles and working in the great outdoors increase the risk of skin cancer by up to 31 per cent compared with city living, a University of South Australia study indicates. The first study to systematically document non-melanoma skin cancers in SA found people living in coastal regions and the Eyre and Yorke peninsulas were 23 to 31 per cent more like to develop the cancers that metropolitan residents.

Adelaide Advertiser, 09/07/2018, Page 11

Skin Cancer: We help UK fight sunbeds

Australian anti-sunbed campaigner and melanoma survivor Jay Allen is taking his message to Britain. Melanoma UK has enlisted Mr Allen to share his story in the hope the UK will follow Australia’s lead in banning sunbeds. Sunbeds were banned in Australia in 2013 after research showed a clear link between solarium use and melanoma. Solariums are popular in the UK, a country renowned for its lack of sun but cases of malignant melanoma have more than quadrupled in the UK in the past three decades.

Sunday Telegraph, 08/07/2018, Page 40

Tobacco: Be more graphic

Most smokers know their habit is damaging their lungs, hearts and throats, but don’t realise that smoking increases the risk of serious health problems, from type 2 diabetes and leukaemia to infertility and rheumatoid arthritis. New research by Cancer Council Victoria found half of Australian smokers were not aware of 13 of the 23 health conditions that are now linked to smoking. It has prompted calls for updated graphic warning labels on cigarette packs to highlight the risk of other lethal cancers and medical conditions. The two leading health groups say the survey of 1800 people — published in the Medical Journal of Australia today — highlighted the need to update graphic health warnings on cigarette packs that have been in place since 2012.

Courier Mail, 09/07/2018, Page 14; Daily Telegraph, 09/07/2018, Page 5; Herald Sun, 09/07/2018, Page 12; West Australian, 09/07/2018, Page 18

Tobacco: No fines for dining smokers

Two years since smoking was outlawed in outdoor dining areas across the state, local authorities have not issued a single fine for flouting the ban. SA Police last week confirmed they had not issued any fines across the Burnside and Norwood, Payneham & St Peters districts under the no smoking regulations, introduced by the former Labor government on July 1, 2016.

Adelaide Advertiser, 09/07/2018, Page 2

Cancer in the News is an edited summary of news items in daily national and capital city newspapers. Produced by Cancer Council Australia, it aims to keep stakeholders up-to-date on media reporting of cancer. Cancer in the News does not necessarily represent the views of Cancer Council Australia.