World-Herald editorial: Taking aim at cancer

Cancer. The word is no longer whispered in a fear-chilled voice, no longer something to be ashamed of. It never was, but the most vicious diseases, particularly mysterious ones that seem to strike randomly, without warning or mercy, have long carried shame with them.

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, though awareness should be only the beginning. Certainly among the best-known fundraising and consciousness-raising events is the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, being held today in downtown Omaha and in communities across the country. It was created in 1982 by Nancy Brinker in memory of her sister Susan, who died of breast cancer at 36.

There are few people who don’t know someone affected by breast cancer. It rocks the world of the stricken woman (or man — men get it too) and her family, friends and coworkers, and it keeps on rocking until it’s hard to tell where the solid ground is.

Since it’s Cancer Awareness Month and since good news is so welcome, here are some happy tidings from the cancer treatment front.

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Creighton research on Vitamin D. Researcher and professor of medicine Joan Lappe is working on phase two of her research into the benefits of Vitamin D in reducing cancer risk. The first phase indicated that rural postmenopausal women who took optimum amounts of calcium and vitamin D3 supplements could reduce their risk of breast cancer and 25 other cancers by 60 percent to 77 percent.

Since the 1940s, Lappe said, medical literature has suggested that people living in sunny areas had a lower rate of cancer. Studying Vitamin D, the “sunshine vitamin,” seemed logical. “It almost seems too simple,” she said. “These are not megadoses. We just need adequate amounts.”

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Great idea in Hastings. The healing garden at the Morrison Cancer Center, part of Mary Lanning Memorial Hospital in Hastings, Neb., soothes and helps heal the soul even as patients receive up-to-the-minute cancer treatment. The garden, visible and audible from treatment areas, features waterfalls and streams in all seasons of the year.

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UNMC project. Dr. Vimla Band at the University of Nebraska Medical Center has identified two subtypes of cells that lead to breast cancer, one that causes a cancer likely to spread to other parts of the body and one that is unlikely to spread. She and her associates are working to find a method to tell which type a tumor is. The work is complex and ongoing.

The researchers also are trying various treatments on the two cell types — chemotherapy, for instance — and are studying the cells’ reaction to the insertion of cancer genes. They are looking for markers in the subtypes of cancers that would tell oncologists which treatments might be more effective, potentially saving more lives.

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Drug research. Dr. Hamid Band, married to Vimla Band, also is working on breast cancer research. He is studying a breakthrough drug, Herceptin. The drug is used only on 25 percent of breast cancer patients, and it stops working in some of them. Dr. Band is looking for a way to overcome that resistance as well as a method to extend the effectiveness of Herceptin to the rest of the patient population.

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Big Questions. The “Big Questions Initiative” being sponsored by the National Cancer Institute will figure out the important questions that researchers should be focusing on. One big question: How can doctors tell which patients need the most aggressive treatment and which patients, those with cancers not likely to spread around the body, could bypass the most intensive help?

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UNMC. Researchers at UNMC, considered the foremost lymphoma treatment center, with patients from around the world, are studying personalized therapies based on the genes in a patient’s tumor.

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Microwave treatment. Researchers at the University of Oklahoma Cancer Institute are working on this “major advancement for women with later stage breast cancer,” according to researcher Dr. William Dooley. It works by improving the effectiveness of chemotherapy.

Some of the new treatments could be used to manage the disease, much as diabetes is managed, with daily medications. Others will help improve the survival rate. Some facilities are maximizing the human side of cancer with amenities such as the healing garden. And all are working hard to make the lives of breast cancer patients better.

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Fundraising and consciousness-raising, such as the efforts of the Komen Foundation, are one side of cancer, the side that needs the support and help of Midlanders to succeed. This month, consider this uncomfortable subject and how any contribution — financial, physical or spiritual — is welcome.

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