Cantaloupe Juice: Healthy and Delicious

Today's treat: cantaloupe juice.   High in anti-oxidants and anti-inflammatory nutrients, especially vitamins A and C and potassium.   We juice it rind and all, but cut out the seeds.  Some folks suggest juicing the seeds and adding pineapple juice for a nut drink and I might try that next time.

The anti-inflammatory issue is especially important, given recent research that shows that anti-inflammatory drugs could treat triple-negative breast cancer.

You'll need a good juicer and nicely ripe fruit.  Clean the rind well—we soak it in vegetable wash and then scrub it with a brush.   I'd go organic here because I never feel I get all the dirt off the rind.

Drink a small glass a day—the serving I show here is about half a cup, which is about 1/8th of a cantaloupe.  All juices are high in sugar,  so don't overdo.

Enjoy.

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Genes Related to the Metabolism of Fats Linked to Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

News Release from the American Association for Cancer Research

PHILADELPHIA — The overexpression or underexpression of a newly identified set of genes related to lipid metabolism may help physicians identify whether or not a woman is at risk for hormone receptor-positive or hormone receptor-negative breast cancer and to subsequently tailor prevention strategies appropriately, according to data published in Cancer Prevention Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Researchers sought to find a way to identify women at risk for estrogen receptor-negative breast cancer by examining gene expression in the unaffected breasts of women who had a primary breast cancer of known estrogen-receptor status.

They used this approach because prior research has indicated that if women who have had cancer in one breast subsequently develop a cancer in their second breast, the second cancer is likely to have hormone-receptor status that resembles the first cancer.

Using this logic, Khan and colleagues performed fine-needle aspiration on the unaffected breasts of 15 women with estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer and 15 women with estrogen receptor-negative breast cancer. They validated their results in a second group of women: 12 with estrogen receptor-positive disease, 12 with estrogen receptor-negative disease and 12 healthy controls. The cases in each set were matched by age, race and menopausal status.

The researchers identified 13 genes with significantly higher expression levels in samples from estrogen receptor-negative women. Eight of these genes were associated with lipid metabolism.

“This was interesting because obesity is a breast cancer risk factor for postmenopausal women, but obese women are generally thought to be at increased risk for hormone-sensitive cancer,” said Seema A. Khan, M.D., co-leader of the Breast Cancer Program at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University in Chicago.  “We were surprised to see that some of these genes that are associated with lipid metabolism, or the metabolism of fats, are actually more highly expressed in the unaffected breasts of women with estrogen receptor-negative breast cancer.”

The researchers also found significant overexpression of four of the genes associated with lipid metabolism — DHRS2, HMGCS2, HPGD and ACSL3 — in estrogen receptor-negative samples when compared with healthy women. In estrogen receptor-positive samples, two different lipid metabolism-associated genes — UGT2B11 and APOD — were underexpressed.

“It will be a few more steps before this information is practically useful, but we are hoping that it can take us to a place where we can obtain a breast sample from healthy women, see that they are at risk for a certain type of breast cancer and tailor the prevention strategy accordingly,” Khan said.

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Study looks at the metabolic process of triple-negative breast cancer cells

More Hope for Eventual Targeted Treatment

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 28, 2013) – A study led by the University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center's Dr. Peter Zhou found that triple-negative breast cancer cells are missing a key enzyme that other cancer cells contain — providing insight into potential therapeutic targets. Zhou's study is unique in that his lab is the only one in the country to specifically study the metabolic process of triple-negative breast cancer cells.

Normally, all cells — including cancerous cells — use glucose to initiate the process of making Adenosine-5'-triphosphate (ATP) for fuel to carry out essential functions. This process, called glycolysis, leads to other processes that use oxygen to make higher quantities of ATP — but solid tumor cells, which have little access to oxygen, are forced to rely almost exclusively on aerobic glycolysis for survival.  

Zhou's study, published in Cancer Cell, showed that the powerful transcription factor complex Snail-G9a-Dnmt1 is over-expressed in triple-negative breast cancer, inhibiting the enzyme 1,6-bisphosphate (FBP1). The loss of this enzyme shuts down the glucose anabolic pathway and promotes the glucose catabolic pathway, leading to a large amount of glucose entering the tumor cells and thus "feeding" the cancer. This metabolic switch empowers the triple-negative breast cancer cells to suck more glucose from the body, increasing macromolecule biosynthesis in tumor cells and maintaining ATP production despite a dearth of nutrients and an oxygen-free environment.

"These findings present significant insights regarding the development and progression of triple-negative breast cancer," said Zhou, associate professor of molecular and cellular biochemistry at UK. "They indicate that targeting the metabolic alteration will lead to an effective approach for treating this disease."

"The significance of this study rests in proving that triple negative breast cancer cells utilize glycolysis for survival and growth," said Dr. Allan Butterfield of the Markey Cancer Center, who aided in the research. “The FRBC will assist Dr. Zhou in furthering this exciting research, potentially helping to identify key proteins in triple negative breast cancer cells that are expressed or modified differently than in control cells. Such knowledge may lead to new insights to potential approaches to treat this cancer."

The study was also a collaboration with scientists at the University of Louisville (Dr. Teresa Fan) and at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (Drs. Mien-Chie Hung and Jun Yao). 

From a News Release from The University of Kentucky

Please consider a donation to Positives About Negative to keep this site going.  This work is entirely supported by readers.  Just click on the Donate button in the right of the page.  Thank you!

Read more about diet and TNBC in my book, Surviving Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.