Testing It Up

A young girl’s battle became the battle of a whole lot of other people – but hers was a battle, unfortunately, that she was unable to win.

Six-year-old Jasmina Anema made a lot of high-profile friends who eventually fought for her cause. She was suffering from leukemia and became the rallying point behind a charity, “One for Jasmina,” that moved celebrities such as Rihanna, Kelly Rowland and Lamar Odom to encourage people to register as bone marrow donors.

Jasmina passed away on Wednesday in New York. On Thursday, Lamar wrote on his Twitter page: “I’m very sad to hear that my little friend, Jasmina, lost her battle with leukemia. My prayers are with her family.” Lamar Odom speaks in a video for DKMS Americas, the world’s largest bone marrow donor center, along with Isabelle Huurman, Jasmina’s best friend. She was diagnosed with leukemia a little over a year ago.

Her death, however, may not exactly be in vain. Jasmina’s battle with cancer resulted in the registration of more than ten thousand people as bone-marrow donors. What this translates to is a bigger opportunity for hundreds of leukemia patients to get a match and receive a bone marrow transplant right when they need it the most.

DKMS Americas co-founder Katharina Harf gave the following statement: “Her strength and positive attitude provided inspiration – not only to the 140,000 people diagnosed with blood cancer such as leukemia or lymphoma each year – but to the thousands of healthy Americans who were inspired to register as donors.”

New York Health Screening

According to U.S. researchers a virus that has been found to cause leukemia and tumors in animals may play a part in prostate cancer in humans. Xenotropic murin leukemia virus related virus (also known as XMRV) was found in about 27% of prostate cancer cases( 233 active cases and 101 benign controls were studied), especially those with particularly aggressive tumors. It’s hoped that these findings could help with the development of a new vaccine or more effective treatment method based on the link.

Viruses like HPV have been found to cause certain cancers in recent years, making it possible for drug makers to develop vaccines to inoculate against the virus and thus prevent cancer.   If these findings prove to be true it could help vaccines and preventative medicines to reduce and in time perhaps eliminate some forms of cancer.

Prostate cancer kills 254,000 men a year and is the second most deadly form of cancer in men worldwide.

XMRV is a retrovirus which means that it introduces it’s genetic map into the framework of any cells it contaminates. This in turn either kills or makes the cell cancerous. If the way it infects the human body can be found and prevented some forms of prostate cancer could be averted.

The FDA has put out new warnings about using TNF blockers (Simponi, Humira, Enbrel, Cimzia, Rimicade) due to the risk of developing lymphoma and other cancers in teen and child patients with inflammatory disease. The drugs already have a black box that warns that the drug may cause cancer but the FDA wants the risk of lymphoma and other cancers for child and teen patients to be clear as well. Made to neutralize tumor necrosis factor alpha, a protein that is overproduced in a patient with inflammatory disease(such as psoriasis, Crohn’s Disease, and psoriatic arthritis), the drug does its job. Unfortunately TNF is a major factor in the prevention of developing cancers.

An investigation begun in June of 2008 led to these findings. During the investigation 48 cases of malignant cancers and 147 cases of leukemia were found in teens and children who were taking the TNF blockers.  11 of these who contracted lymphoma and 26 of those who contracted leukemia died as a result of the cancer or its treatment. The FDA warns doctors and patients to be aware of the symptoms of cancer and watch for them if they’re using the drug.

Patients facing childhood leukemia have been proven to have higher levels of pesticides in their urine according to a study conducted by the Georgetown University Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. The study compared urine samples from children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and their moms with healthy children and their mothers. Their finding found that there were much higher levels of household pesticides in the mother-child pairs which were affected by cancer.  Although these health hazard findings do prove the need for more research into the affects of these pesticides it doesn’t prove that they cause the cancer for certain.

These pesticides are found in the environment and can be easily absorbed by the skin and through ordinary respiration. 33% of mothers who had children affected by leukemia reported use of household pesticides in their home while only 14% of mothers who had healthy children could say the same. It seems clear that although the link doesn’t prove these pesticides caused the cancer it would be advisable to reduce their use to help prevent the risk from being increased. Sprays, bombs, and strips are all pesticides that are commonly used in the home. The children in this study were between the ages of 2 and 7 an age which is particularly vulnerable to environmental affects. If you feel your child could be at risk reduce or discontinue use of these household pesticides as soon as possible.