Thursday, January 26, 2012

Erlotinib dose-adjusted for smoking status effective as first treatment for head and neck cancer

Erlotinib dose-adjusted for smoking status effective as first treatment for head and neck cancer [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 26-Jan-2012
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Contact: Nicole Napoli
nicolen@astro.org
703-839-7336
American Society for Radiation Oncology

Head and neck cancers respond well to the anti-cancer drug erlotinib when it is administered before surgery and a stronger dose is given to patients who smoke, according to a study presented at the Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer Symposium, sponsored by AHNS, ASCO, ASTRO and SNM.

Erlotinib is an oral anti-cancer drug that can slow a tumor's growth and spread by inhibiting specific growth receptors on the surface of the cancer cells. Early detection of a patient's response to EGFR inhibitors, such as erlotinib, is critical to personalizing head and neck cancer treatments.

In a first of its kind study in patients with head and neck cancer, researchers sought to determine how well tumors unaffected by other therapies respond to erlotinib, when the drug dose was adjusted according to the patient's smoking status. It has been recently shown that smokers metabolize the drug faster than nonsmokers.

Nonsmokers received 150 mg per day and smokers received 300 mg per day for at least 14 days before surgery. A FDG-PET scan and neck CT was performed before treatment and at the end of erlotinib administration. In addition, an early FDG-PET was performed after four to six days of treatment.

The results showed that erlotinib is effective as a first line of therapy when the dose is adjusted per smoking status, even when used for a limited duration. Both smokers and nonsmokers tolerated the dose of erlotinib and neither experienced serious adverse effects. The study also showed that the FDG-PET scan taken early can show changes in the standard uptake value and predict a patient's response to erlotinib.

"We hope our results will motivate clinicians to consider and investigate further the use of erlotinib in patients with head and neck cancer and adjust the dose for smoking status," Mercedes Porosnicu, MD, lead author of the study and an assistant professor of internal medicine at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston Salem, N.C., said. "We also hope that our study will help better select the patients expected to respond to erlotinib."

###

The abstract, "Pilot study to evaluation the effect of erlotinib administered before surgery in operable patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN)," will be presented as a poster presentation. To speak with one of the study authors, contact Beth Bukata or Nicole Napoli on January 26-27, 2012, in the press room at the Arizona Biltmore at 602-912-7854 or 703-839-7336. You may also email them at bethb@astro.org or nicolen@astro.org.

About the American Head and Neck Society

The American Head and Neck Society (AHNS) is the single largest organization in North America for the advancement of research and education in head and neck oncology. The purpose of the AHNS is to promote and advance the knowledge of prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of neoplasms and other diseases of the head and neck; to promote and advance research in diseases of the head and neck; and to promote and advance the highest professional and ethical standards.

About the American Society of Clinical Oncology

The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) is the world's leading professional organization representing physicians who care for people with cancer. With more than 30,000 members, ASCO is committed to improving cancer care through scientific meetings, educational programs and peer-reviewed journals. ASCO is supported by its affiliate organization, the Conquer Cancer Foundation, which funds ground-breaking research and programs that make a tangible difference in the lives of people with cancer. For ASCO information and resources, visit http://www.asco.org. Patient-oriented cancer information is available at http://www.cancer.net.

About the American Society for Radiation Oncology

The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) is the largest radiation oncology society in the world, with more than 10,000 members who specialize in treating patients with radiation therapies. As the leading organization in radiation oncology, biology and physics, the Society is dedicated to improving patient care through education, clinical practice, advancement of science and advocacy. For more information on radiation therapy, visit http://www.rtanswers.org. To learn more about ASTRO, visit http://www.astro.org.

About SNMAdvancing Molecular Imaging and Therapy

SNM is an international scientific and medical organization dedicated to raising public awareness about what molecular imaging is and how it can help provide patients with the best health care possible. SNM members specialize in molecular imaging, a vital element of today's medical practice that adds an additional dimension to diagnosis, changing the way common and devastating diseases are understood and treated.



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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Erlotinib dose-adjusted for smoking status effective as first treatment for head and neck cancer [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 26-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Nicole Napoli
nicolen@astro.org
703-839-7336
American Society for Radiation Oncology

Head and neck cancers respond well to the anti-cancer drug erlotinib when it is administered before surgery and a stronger dose is given to patients who smoke, according to a study presented at the Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer Symposium, sponsored by AHNS, ASCO, ASTRO and SNM.

Erlotinib is an oral anti-cancer drug that can slow a tumor's growth and spread by inhibiting specific growth receptors on the surface of the cancer cells. Early detection of a patient's response to EGFR inhibitors, such as erlotinib, is critical to personalizing head and neck cancer treatments.

In a first of its kind study in patients with head and neck cancer, researchers sought to determine how well tumors unaffected by other therapies respond to erlotinib, when the drug dose was adjusted according to the patient's smoking status. It has been recently shown that smokers metabolize the drug faster than nonsmokers.

Nonsmokers received 150 mg per day and smokers received 300 mg per day for at least 14 days before surgery. A FDG-PET scan and neck CT was performed before treatment and at the end of erlotinib administration. In addition, an early FDG-PET was performed after four to six days of treatment.

The results showed that erlotinib is effective as a first line of therapy when the dose is adjusted per smoking status, even when used for a limited duration. Both smokers and nonsmokers tolerated the dose of erlotinib and neither experienced serious adverse effects. The study also showed that the FDG-PET scan taken early can show changes in the standard uptake value and predict a patient's response to erlotinib.

"We hope our results will motivate clinicians to consider and investigate further the use of erlotinib in patients with head and neck cancer and adjust the dose for smoking status," Mercedes Porosnicu, MD, lead author of the study and an assistant professor of internal medicine at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston Salem, N.C., said. "We also hope that our study will help better select the patients expected to respond to erlotinib."

###

The abstract, "Pilot study to evaluation the effect of erlotinib administered before surgery in operable patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN)," will be presented as a poster presentation. To speak with one of the study authors, contact Beth Bukata or Nicole Napoli on January 26-27, 2012, in the press room at the Arizona Biltmore at 602-912-7854 or 703-839-7336. You may also email them at bethb@astro.org or nicolen@astro.org.

About the American Head and Neck Society

The American Head and Neck Society (AHNS) is the single largest organization in North America for the advancement of research and education in head and neck oncology. The purpose of the AHNS is to promote and advance the knowledge of prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of neoplasms and other diseases of the head and neck; to promote and advance research in diseases of the head and neck; and to promote and advance the highest professional and ethical standards.

About the American Society of Clinical Oncology

The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) is the world's leading professional organization representing physicians who care for people with cancer. With more than 30,000 members, ASCO is committed to improving cancer care through scientific meetings, educational programs and peer-reviewed journals. ASCO is supported by its affiliate organization, the Conquer Cancer Foundation, which funds ground-breaking research and programs that make a tangible difference in the lives of people with cancer. For ASCO information and resources, visit http://www.asco.org. Patient-oriented cancer information is available at http://www.cancer.net.

About the American Society for Radiation Oncology

The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) is the largest radiation oncology society in the world, with more than 10,000 members who specialize in treating patients with radiation therapies. As the leading organization in radiation oncology, biology and physics, the Society is dedicated to improving patient care through education, clinical practice, advancement of science and advocacy. For more information on radiation therapy, visit http://www.rtanswers.org. To learn more about ASTRO, visit http://www.astro.org.

About SNMAdvancing Molecular Imaging and Therapy

SNM is an international scientific and medical organization dedicated to raising public awareness about what molecular imaging is and how it can help provide patients with the best health care possible. SNM members specialize in molecular imaging, a vital element of today's medical practice that adds an additional dimension to diagnosis, changing the way common and devastating diseases are understood and treated.



[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-01/asfr-edf012412.php

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US asks for time to try ICE agent shooting suspect (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Prosecutors are asking for extra time to coordinate with Mexican authorities before heading to trial against an accused Zeta drug cartel member charged in the shooting of two U.S. agents.

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth indicated Wednesday he'd grant the request over the objection of defendant Julian Zapata Espinoza's court-appointed attorney, who requested a speedy trial. But Lamberth warned prosecutors that he expects the foreign authorities to turn over evidence quickly or the case could go back to Mexico, where the shooting occurred Feb. 15.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jaime Zapata was killed and his colleague Victor Avila was wounded in the highway shooting. Both were based in Texas.

The Mexican army has said Zapata Espinoza admitted killing Zapata, mistakenly believing he was part of a rival gang.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_re_us/us_immigration_agents_shot

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In Death Valley, ancient volcano gives scientists a surprise

The Ubehebe crater in Death Valley National Park is much younger than previously thought, and represents a more significant volcanic hazard than previously thought, according to a new study.

A half-mile-wide crater in Death Valley National Park may represent a more significant volcanic hazard than previously thought, according to a new study ? though not enough to cancel your next visit to the park.

Skip to next paragraph

The crater, Ubehebe, formed in an enormous explosion between 800 and 2,100 years ago, the research team estimates ? far more recently than earlier studies suggest.

Moreover, the scientists involved in the work suggest the precursors for an eruption ? a supply of magma and an underground source of water the magma could turn to steam in a flash ? may still lurk beneath the nearly 800-foot deep crater.

"We were really surprised by the youthfulness of the eruption," says Brent Goerhing, a paleoclimatologist at Purdue University and a member of the team. "We always had in the back of our heads that it could be young, within the past few thousand years. But we didn't think it could be that young."

The results appear in the Jan. 18 issue of the journal Geophysical Review Letters.

Ubehebe is the largest in a grouping of small craters ? all thought to have formed the same way: magma rising through the crust to encounter groundwater. The searing magma instantly turned the water to steam, blasting out the crust above it.

The steam and ejected rock would have risen in an expanding column, only to fall back to the valley floor once it ran out of energy to keep rising. The collapse would have sent a hot flow of material with a consistency of just-mixed concrete spreading in all directions at speeds up to 200 miles an hour. Larger rocks the blast lofted would have pummeled the ground.

The best spot for viewing the event would have been several miles away, Dr. Goehring quips.

Death Valley, with its parched climate, represents a prime location for studying the geological forces that shape the continent's basin-and-range region.

The region covers most of the US West, and is characterized by short, generally north-south trending mountain ranges separated by dry valleys.

Into Death Valley rode Goerhing, Columbia University professor Nicholas Christie-Blick, and a group of students in March 2008 on a field trip to use the valley as an outdoor teaching lab.

As the group walked along Ubehebe's rim, they talked about the crater's age and how it formed. How it formed "is pretty well-known," Goehring says. But estimates of its age ranged as far back as 20,000 years. Some researchers had found native American artifacts buried in the explosion's ash fall. That suggested Ubehebe's eruption came no earlier than 10,000 years ago, when humans are thought to have first moved into the valley.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/vx46O4q3QTg/In-Death-Valley-ancient-volcano-gives-scientists-a-surprise

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Wednesday, January 25, 2012

[OOC] Kuroshitsuji - The Raven Returns

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Memo scandal witness refuses to travel to Pakistan (AP)

ISLAMABAD ? The chief witness in a secret memo scandal that threatens to bring down the Pakistani president will not travel to the country to testify, claiming the government has set a trap to prevent him from leaving, his lawyer said Monday.

Mansoor Ijaz has instead offered to record his testimony and submit it to a Supreme Court commission investigating the scandal, said attorney Akram Sheikh. Ijaz, a U.S. businessman of Pakistani origin, was scheduled to travel to Islamabad to appear before the commission on Tuesday but has bickered with the government over who will guarantee his safety.

Ijaz has accused the Pakistani government of orchestrating an unsigned memo that he delivered to the U.S. last year asking Washington to help stop a supposed military coup following the American raid that killed Osama bin Laden. The Pakistani government has denied any involvement.

It's unclear how the commission will respond to Ijaz's refusal to travel to Pakistan. His testimony is seen as vital, and anything that interferes with the judges' fully quizzing him could hinder their investigation into the scandal.

The memo affair has rattled the civilian leadership at a time when it is beset by an array of crises, including a struggling economy, a violent Taliban insurgency and a separate tussle with the Supreme Court over old corruption charges against President Asif Ali Zardari.

The army was outraged by the memo and denied it ever intended to carry out a coup. It successfully pushed the Supreme Court to investigate against the wishes of the government, which said the matter was already being probed by the parliament.

Ijaz has claimed the Supreme Court commission ordered the military to guarantee his security while in Pakistan, but the government has said the Interior Ministry was responsible. Interior Minister Rehman Malik has warned Ijaz could be prevented from leaving the country.

"It seems like a well-orchestrated trap to hold Mansoor Ijaz indefinitely in Pakistan," said Sheikh, his lawyer.

The army assigned one officer to Ijaz's security detail at the request of the government, said Attorney General Anwarul Haq.

But this was clearly not enough to assuage the witness' concerns.

Ijaz has accused the former Pakistani ambassador to the U.S., Husain Haqqani, of crafting the memo with Zardari's support. Haqqani resigned in the wake of the scandal, but both he and the president have denied any connection to the letter. The Supreme Court has prevented the former envoy from leaving the country while it is investigating.

Haqqani's lawyer, Zahid Bokhari, filed a petition with the commission asking it to turn down Ijaz's request to record his statement.

"If he does not come to Pakistan, he has something to hide, instead of something to reveal," said Bokhari.

Government supporters have accused Ijaz of acting at the behest of the country's powerful army, something both have denied. They have also questioned Ijaz's credibility.

Those questions intensified last week after a music video surfaced in which Ijaz acted as a ringside commentator for a female wrestling match in which both women eventually ripped off their bikinis ? a shocking image in conservative Pakistan. Ijaz claimed he didn't know there would be nudity in the video.

One of the reasons the memo scandal has generated so much controversy is rampant anti-American sentiment in Pakistan. The letter offered to replace Pakistan's national security leadership with people favorable to the U.S. in return for help from Washington in stopping the supposed coup.

The U.S. has provided Pakistan with billions of dollars in military and economic aid in return for support in fighting the Taliban and al-Qaida, but relations have always been defined by a lack of trust.

The raid that killed bin Laden in a Pakistani garrison town heightened that mistrust. Pakistan was outraged it was not told about the operation beforehand, and U.S. officials questioned how bin Laden was able to live near Pakistan's equivalent of West Point for years.

The relationship deteriorated further late last year after American airstrikes accidentally killed 24 Pakistani soldiers at two Afghan border posts. Islamabad retaliated by closing its border crossings to supplies for NATO troops in Afghanistan and kicking the U.S. out of a base used by American drones.

Drone strikes have been a source of tension because they are widely perceived in Pakistan as mostly killing civilians, a claim denied by the U.S. Washington held off on carrying out drone attacks in Pakistan for more than six weeks after the errant airstrikes on Nov. 26.

But the drone attacks have since resumed. Missiles struck a house and a vehicle in Deegan village in the North Waziristan tribal area on Monday, killing four alleged militants, said Pakistani intelligence officials speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

The U.S. refuses to speak publicly about the drone program, but American officials have said privately that the strikes have killed many senior Taliban and al-Qaida commanders.

Although Pakistan is widely believed to have supported the strikes in the past, that cooperation has become strained as the relationship between the two countries has deteriorated.

____

Associated Press writers Asif Shahzad in Islamabad and Rasool Dawar in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan, contributed to this report.

Follow Sebastian Abbot on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/sababbot

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120123/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan

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Official: possibility of unregistered passengers (AP)

GIGLIO, Italy ? Unregistered passengers might have been aboard the stricken cruise liner that capsized off this Tuscan island, a top rescue official said Sunday, raising the possibility that the number of missing might be higher than previously announced.

Divers, meanwhile, pulled out a woman's body from the capsized Costa Concordia on Sunday, raising to 13 the number of people dead in the Jan. 13 accident.

Civil protection official Francesca Maffini told reporters the victim was wearing a life vest and was found in the rear of a submerged portion of a ship by a team of fire department divers.

Earlier, Italian authorities raised the possibility that the real number of the missing was unknown because some unregistered passengers might have been aboard. As of Sunday, 19 people are listed as missing, but that number could be higher.

"There could have been X persons who we don't know about who were inside, who were clandestine" passengers aboard the ship, Franco Gabrielli, the national civil protection official in charge of the rescue effort, told reporters at a briefing on the island of Giglio, where the ship, with 4,200 people aboard rammed a reef and sliced open its hull on Jan. 13 before turning over on its side.

Gabrielli said that relatives of a Hungarian woman have told Italian authorities that she had telephoned them from aboard the ship and that they haven't heard from her since the accident. He said it was possible that a woman's body pulled from the wreckage by divers on Saturday might be that of the unregistered passenger.

But one of Concordia's officers, who's recovering from a broken leg suffered during the evacuation, dismissed the allegation that such passengers were on the ship.

"Everyone is registered and photographed. Everything's electronic," the Italian news agency ANSA quoted Manrico Giampedroni as saying.

Authorities are trying to identify five corpses who are badly decomposed after spending a long time in the water.

Gabrielli said they have identified the other eight bodies: four French, an Italian, a Hungarian, a German and a Spanish national.

The missing include French passengers, an elderly American couple, a Peruvian crewwoman and an Indian crewman and an Italian father and his five-year-old daughter. Some of their relatives were briefed by rescuers Sunday, and also met with Pierluigi Foschi, the CEO of Costa Crociere, SpA ? the ship's operator ? who viewed the crippled cruise liner from a boat.

France's ambassador to Italy, Alain Le Roy, recounted Foschi's visit.

"He came to see the families, all families. He met the French family. He met the American family. I am sure he is meeting other families, mostly to express his compassion ... to say that Costa will do everything possible to find the people, to compensate families in any way."

The search had been halted for several hours early Sunday, after instrument readings indicated that the Concordia has shifted a bit on its precarious perch on a seabed just outside Giglio's port. A few meters (yards) away, the sea bottom drops off suddenly, by some 20-30 meters (65-100 feet), and if the Concordia should abruptly roll off its ledge, rescuers could be trapped inside.

When instrument data indicated the vessel had stabilized again, rescuers went back in, but only explored the above-water section and evacuation staging areas where survivors have indicated that people who did not make it into lifeboats during the chaotic evacuation could have remained.

Passengers were dining at a gala supper when the Concordia sailed close to Giglio and struck the reef, which is indicated on maritime and even tourist maps.

There are also fears that the Concordia's double-bottom fuel tanks could rupture in case of sudden shifting, spilling 2,200 metric tons (almost 500,000 million gallons) of heavy fuel into pristine sea around Giglio, which is part of a seven-island archipelago in some of the Mediterranean's most pristine waters and a prized fishing area.

But Gabrielli said pollutants found near the ship have been detergents and other substances, including chlorine, apparently from the wreck of the ship, which carried some 3,200 passengers and a crew of 1,000. Any fuel traces found were "compatible with what you find in a port," he said.

Ferries and cargo ships regularly call at Giglio's port.

Sophisticated oil-removal equipment has been standing by, waiting for the search-and-rescue operations to conclude before workers can start extracting the fuel in the tanks.

Giglio Mayor Sergio Orpelli told Sky TG24 TV that it was tentatively planned to begin fuel-removal operations on Monday but that the timetable ultimately depends on when the rescue efforts are concluded. "No hopes have been abandoned that someone might still be alive," Orpelli said.

Coast guard and fire rescue teams have said that the search will go on, as long as the weather holds and the Concordia stays stable.

The Italian captain, Francesco Schettino, is under house arrest as prosecutors investigate him for suspected manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning the ship while many were still aboard.

Operator Costa Crociere, a subsidiary of U.S.-based Carnival Cruise Lines, has said that Capt. Schettino had deviated without permission from the vessel's route in an apparent maneuver to sail close to the island and impress passengers.

Schettino, despite audiotapes of his defying Coast Guard orders to scramble back aboard, has denied he abandoned ship while hundreds of passengers were desperately trying to get off the capsizing vessel. He has said he coordinated the rescue from aboard a lifeboat and then from the shore.

Rome daily La Repubblica, citing what Schettino allegedly told prosecutors in Grosetto, Tuscany, when he was interrogated last week, quoted him as saying that Costa Crociere was aware of the "recurring practice" of nearing coastlines to salute those ashore. Schettino is quoted as saying that such a maneuver was planned by Costa executives before the ship left the port of Civitavecchia before dinner time on Jan. 13 to gain publicity for the company.

It was not immediately possible to confirm Schettino's allegations. Prosecutors cannot comment on details of a probe while it is still being conducted, and the office of Schettino's lawyer was closed Sunday.

Marco De Luca, a Costa Crociere lawyer, said the company is "an injured party" in the tragedy, which Costa executives have blamed on the captain's failure to follow the programmed route.

Giglio Mayor Orpelli said such "salutes" by passing cruise ships are rare.

Orpelli insisted that before the ill-fated Jan. 13 approach by the Concordia near the reef, the last previous time was on Aug. 14, when the island was celebrating a summer festival in the port, and that the maneuver was closely coordinated with island and navigational authorities. That summer salute was "carried out in perfect safety," the mayor told Sky, adding that he thanked the captain of that voyage "and told him to thank his crew."

Orpelli said that island officials were unaware of the Jan. 13 plan for such a salute.

___

D'Emilio reported from Rome. Fulvio Paolocci reported from Giglio.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120122/ap_on_re_eu/eu_italy_cruise_aground

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Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Study finds new genetic loci associated with menopause onset

Monday, January 23, 2012

An international team of researchers from the Boston University Schools of Public Health and Medicine and other institutions has uncovered 13 genetic loci, linked to immune function and DNA repair, that are factors in the age of onset of menopause.

Menopause -- the cessation of reproductive function of the ovaries -- is a major hormonal change that affects most women when they are in their early 50s. Most prior studies of the age of onset of menopause have focused on genes from the estrogen-production pathway or vascular components.

In the new study, published online Jan. 22 in Nature Genetics, a research team led by Kathryn Lunetta, professor of biostatistics at the BU School of Public Health, and Joanne Murabito, associate professor of medicine at the BU School of Medicine, identified 13 novel loci associated with menopause onset, while confirming four previously established loci. Most of the 17 loci are associated with genes related to DNA damage repair or auto-immune disease; others are linked to hormonal regulation.

"Our findings demonstrate the role of genes which regulate DNA repair and immune function, as well as genes affecting neuroendocrine pathways of ovarian function in regulating age at menopause, indicating the process of aging is involved in both somatic and germ line aging" the authors said.

Lunetta said the new findings "bring us closer to understanding the genetic basis for the timing of menopause. They may also provide clues to the genetic basis of early onset or premature menopause and reduced fertility.

"We hope that as a better understanding of the biologic effects of these menopause-related variants are uncovered, we will gain new insights into the connections between menopause and cardiovascular disease, breast cancer, osteoporosis, and other traits related to aging, and that this will provide avenues for prevention and treatment of these conditions," she said.

According to Murabito, director of the research clinic at the Framingham Heart Study, "It will be important to determine if a genetic variant that directly influences age at menopause also increases risk for later life health conditions, such as breast cancer."

The authors said they expected further research to identify "a substantial number of additional common variants" that impact age of menopause, and that many of them will be located in genes identified in their study. The study examined more than 50,000 women of European descent who had experienced menopause between the ages of 40 and 60.

The research team noted that a large-scale study of menopause onset in African-American women is underway, which will help to determine whether the genetic variations that affect menopause onset in African-American women are similar or substantially different for women of primarily European descent.

Besides Lunetta and Murabito, senior authors on the study include: Anna Murray, a senior lecturer in genetics at the Peninsula Medical School in Exeter (UK); and Jenny A. Visser, a scientist at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam (Netherlands).

###

Boston University Medical Center: http://www.bmc.org

Thanks to Boston University Medical Center for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/116942/Study_finds_new_genetic_loci_associated_with_menopause_onset

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