News digest – childhood cancer death rate drop, e-cigarettes, electric power lines and more

• September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. We released new figures showing that childhood cancer death rates have dropped by more than 20 per cent in the last 10 years. The Mail Online and the Daily Telegraph covered this, and here’s our press release for more details.
• And in light of the media coverage around the story of Ashya King, many people were looking for information about proton beam therapy. So here’s our blog post on where things stand in the UK for the treatment.
• Discussions around e-cigarettes continued this week, ranging from a study looking at how nicotine may ‘prime’ the brain for addiction to harder drugs, to further concerns over their regulation. Read our blog post on the promise and challenges of e-cigarettes for our take on the evidence as it stands.
• The BBC covered new figures showing a rise in the number of people being admitted to hospital for skin cancer treatment in England.
• And new figures revealed that the NHS in England missed its waiting time targets for cancer referrals for a second quarter in a row. The Independent has more.
• Medscape had this article on our work to improve cancer information on Wikipedia.
• We continued our partnership with the Daily Telegraph with this article about the importance of early detection of cancer, highlighting the crucial work that our Cancer Campaigns Ambassadors do.
• US researchers are testing a possible way of delivering curcumin – a chemical with potential cancer-killing properties found in the yellow spice turmeric – to tumours, using tiny bubbles of fat called ‘exosomes’. The Mail Online has more on this, but it’s important to remember that this study is still at a very early stage.
• Several media outlets covered a US study looking at the potential survival benefits to women diagnosed with breast cancer in one breast who opt for a double mastectomy. It’s important to point out that in the UK, a double mastectomy is not routinely offered to women with the most common forms of breast cancer when it’s only in one breast, but is still considered an option for women with a high risk of breast cancer due to an inherited faulty gene.
• Fascinating US research revealed a new way to grow cancer cells in the lab that more accurately recreates the environment tumour cells encounter in the body. This blog post explores the study, which used prostate cancer cells from patients to create these so called ‘organoids’
• Sticking with prostate cancer, we blogged about new US research on how the disease becomes resistant to drugs.
• This thought-provoking comment piece from the Guardian explores the challenges faced by doctors when discussing research and new treatments with their patients with cancer.
• The US drugs regulators approved a new form of immunotherapy called pembrolizumab, according to the Wall Street Journal (£). The drug is likely to reach the UK early next year. We blogged about the excitement around these drugs a couple of months ago.
• We spotted an interesting blog post on BioMed Central’s blog network about gene patenting.
• This excellent article from Forbes looks at the evidence around whether electrical power lines cause cancer.

And finally

• A large US analysis of multiple studies suggests that pilots and cabin crew are at greater risk of melanoma – the most serious form of skin cancer. Huffington Post covered this, but the researchers didn’t take account of participant’s skin type, nor the amount of time they spent in the sun (whether onboard a plane or not), so we can’t know for sure where this risk comes from.

Nick