A new material could help surgeons more accurately locate breast cancers, reduce the need for second surgeries and minimize pre-surgical discomfort for patients. Microscopic gas-filled spheres of silica, a porous glass, can mark the location of early-stage tumors to show their position using ultrasound imaging in the operating room.

 

When nicotine binds to the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAchR), it is known to promote smoking addiction and may also directly promote the development of breast cancer, according to a study published in The Journal of the National Cancer Institute. 

 

A group of researchers from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center is developing a way to treat cancer by using lasers to light up tiny nanoparticles and destroy tumors with the ensuing heat.

After menopause, 6 to 10 million women take hormone therapies, which are often a combination of estrogen and progestin, to replace hormones lost from inactive ovaries. Progestin is a hormone that is used to counteract the potentially negative effects of estrogen therapy on the uterus. In studies sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, evidence has been found that estrogen and progestin in hormone therapies increase the risk of breast cancer in post-menopausal women. Now, a University of Missouri study has found that progestins can also increase the chance of the cancer metastasizing, or spreading to the lymph nodes.

 

A compound derived from broccoli could help prevent or treat breast cancer by targeting cancer stem cells - the small number of cells that fuel a tumor's growth - according to a new study from researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.