News digest – tamoxifen, immunotherapy, cancer myths, and… obesity and BMI?

Thousands avoiding drug for breast cancer prevention

Thousands of women are choosing not to take a drug that can prevent breast cancer, reports Mail Online. Our researchers found that 6 in 7 women with a family history of breast cancer opt out of taking tamoxifen as a preventative measure. The researchers found the main reasons for not taking tamoxifen were fear of side effects, distrust of medication in general and believing cancer was down to fate.

Call for Theresa May to tackle obesity

Opposition party leaders have written a joint letter to Theresa May calling on her to tackle obesity, according to The Guardian. They want to see limits on junk food offers and advertising, and for sugar and fat levels in food to be lowered.

Widespread belief in cancer myths

Mistaken belief in mythical causes of cancer is rife, according to new research we funded. Nearly 2 in 10 wrongly thought microwave ovens cause cancer, and more than 4 in 10 wrongly thought stress causes cancer. BBC News covered the story.

Immunotherapy and the NHS

A promising type of immunotherapy, called CAR-T cell therapy, could be available on the NHS this year, according to The Guardian. It’s produced positive results in some patients who were previously beyond treatment, but also severe side effects and deaths in some other trials. The head of NHS England, Simon Stevens, called for a reduction in price before it’s approved.

Tests on Zika as a cancer treatment in mice

Zika virus, which causes birth defects in babies, is being tested to see if it could be used to treat childhood brain cancers. Mail Online report on the early research in mice, which is similar to work that we’re funding to see if the virus could be used to treat adults.

Using NHS data for research

Two thirds of people are willing to let the NHS collect their personal data for research, reports Pulse. A poll of more than 3,000 adults found that just under 2 in 10 would be against the NHS using their healthcare data for medical research. Nearly 6 in 10 were also willing to give a blood sample to a national DNA research database.

Small radiotherapy changes could make a big difference

Tiny differences in the position of a patient during radiotherapy for lung or oesophageal cancer could have a big impact survival, according to Yahoo News reporting on unpublished clinical research. A few millimetres difference can mean the radiation treatment aimed at tumours ends up closer to the heart than planned where it can cause unintentional damage. The researchers said more accurate positioning could be a simple way to improve survival.

And finally

BBC News reported on a research showing most adults in the UK are overweight or obese, but that many are in denial about their weight. They provided a BMI calculator for readers to see how they compare, but also looked into how reliable BMI is as a measure of obesity after readers raised concerns.

Michael