Advanced Colon Cancer at age 21 - Not your Average College Experience

Listen to the most recent "Cancer Bytes" where Nathan tells his story of being diagnosed with colon cancer at age 21.

Click on the above blue link to listen to Nathan's story. Read more!

The Hope Chest Receives Donation to Support Genetic Research

Nathan Shatsoff presents Ellen Matloff, MS, Director of the Yale Cancer Center Cancer Genetic Counseling Program, with a $4,000 check to support The Hope Chest fund. Click on the above blue link for the full story.

Nathan Shatsoff was a healthy, athletic college student who was enjoying life. He got a bad cold and cracked a rib from coughing. He became concerned when the ache in his side didn’t go away, and went to a local doctor for a check up. Nathan, his doctor, and his entire family were beyond shocked when he was diagnosed at the age of 21 with stage IV colon cancer. He described the diagnosis as being very lonely, as this disease is mostly reserved for people much later in life. Two years after his diagnosis, Nathan is approaching his 50th treatment with chemotherapy. Nathan has the most advanced case of colon cancer any doctor he has been to has seen in such a young person. However, his prognosis and treatments have not stopped him from fighting against cancer for himself, his family, and future patients.

Nathan’s diagnosis led his family to delve into their family’s history and they learned of an extensive history of colon cancer and pre-cancerous colon polyps at young ages. This led to the realization that this pattern was likely hereditary. Nathan’s sister contacted Ellen Matloff, MS, Director of the Cancer Genetic Counseling Program at Yale Cancer Center and set up a meeting to discuss this possibility. Ms. Matloff has collected DNA samples from multiple generations of the family and Dr. Allen Bale, Professor of Genetics, is analyzing these samples with the latest technologies in search of the mutation causing these cancers.

Nathan is also hard at work. With the support of his family, Nathan founded the organization RELENTLESS Against Cancer, a federally recognized 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation dedicated to raising money to donate to specific hospitals and practices working to develop new treatments as well as early detection methods.

“The fight against cancer is something that must be renewed each and every day,” said Nathan. “Every day you wake up is a chance to make a difference. While the ultimate goal cannot be accomplished in one day, every day we are closer to making it a reality. Our efforts must be tireless, they must be RELENTLESS, and this is the reason I started this organization, for my family and future patients.”

Recently, Nathan donated the proceeds from a fundraiser to The Hope Chest fund at Yale Cancer Center. The Hope Chest fund was created to ensure that genetic counseling, and the hope of early detection, risk reduction, prevention, and cutting-edge research, will be passed on to the next generation. Nathan and his family hope to make people understand that not everyone diagnosed with cancer will either undergo surgery or a few months of treatment and either be cured or pass away from the disease.

“My ultimate goal is to help in any way I can with cancer research so one day no one will ever have to endure what I have,” Nathan said.

To learn more about RELENTLESS Against Cancer, or to find out how you can donate, please visit www.relentlessagainstcancer.com

Read more!

Dr. Spencer Well to Present at the Garde Arts Center in New London, CT

Dr. Spencer Wells, director of National Geographic’s Genographic Project, is presenting at the Garde Arts Center in New London on Friday, March 11 at 7:30 p.m. as part of the “Faces of Our Planet” series. Dr. Wells’ pioneering research in genetics and human diversity is sure to interest you and Yale University Genetics students. The student rate is only $10 and more details can be found on the event website (click on the above light blue link to be redirected).

The Genographic Project uses DNA from participants around the world to document and create the first-ever map of human migration, showing how humans came to populate the planet after leaving Africa some 60,000 years ago. The project demonstrates that -- in all of our diversity -- our shared DNA makes us truly connected.

Dr. Wells has been a guest on The Daily Show and TODAY, and has also been a presenter at a renowned TED Conference. Read more!

Dr. Janet Davison Rowley

An interview with Dr. Janet Davison Rowley, who discovered that broken and translocated chromosomes were a factor in blood cancers. Click on the above light blue link to be directed to the article. Read more!

Hereditary Diffuse Gastric Cancer

The Chelcun Family has created this incredible resource to help spread awareness about hereditary diffuse gastric cancer (HDGC). Based on their risks to develop stomach cancer, several family members pursued prophylactic total gastrectomies (removal of their stomachs) – and in each case, pathology revealed the presence of undetected cancer. Learn more about their story and HDGC at their website by clicking on the above light blue link.

Read more!

U.S. Says Genes Should Not Be Eligible for Patents

The ruling that the patents on the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes were invalid prompted the government to re-evaluate its policy. After review, the government said on Friday that human and other genes should not be eligible for patents because they are part of nature. The new position could have a huge impact on medicine... and on the biotechnology industry!

See the above light blue link for more details Read more!

Society of Gynecologic Oncologists PreOvar Statement

Many of you have inquired about having the PreOvar test to predict risk for ovarian cancer. While we are hopeful that this, and other, tests will be clinically validated in the near future, they have not been to this point. As you will see in this link, the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists believes that the clinical value of the PreOvar test remains unknown until further validation studies are performed. Therefore, insufficient data exist presently to recommend this test as a tool for better defining ovarian cancer risk.

To access the link, please click on the above light blue link. Read more!

Errors in Delivery of Cancer Genetics Services: Implications for Practice

The Grand Rounds video presentation of our publication "Errors in Delivery of Cancer Genetics Services: Implications for Practice" is now available.

Please click on the above light blue to link to be redirected to: http://yalecancercenter.org/education/grand-rounds.html#videotop

Scroll down and select:

September 14, 2010

Ellen Matloff, MS

Errors in Delivery of Cancer Genetics Services: Implications for Practice

Read more!

It's National Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer Week!

For Immediate Release

September 16, 2010

National Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer Week Passes House Unanimously FORCE Applauds Effort to Raise Awareness of Hereditary Cancers

WASHINGTON, DC—This week, in a unanimous show of support, the House of Representatives voted to pass a resolution designating the first-ever National Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer (HBOC) Week and National Previvor Day.

Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered (FORCE) worked with Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) to draft the measure and conducted an extensive advocacy campaign to sign the 93 cosponsors for H Res 1522.

National HBOC Week 2010 will take place the last week of September (September 26 – October 2, 2010) to raise awareness of hereditary breast and ovarian cancer. National Previvor Day, the last Wednesday of September (September 29, 2010), will call attention to the many individuals who carry an inherited predisposition to cancer but have not developed the disease.

“Three-quarters of a million Americans are estimated to carry an inherited gene mutation that causes a strong predisposition to breast and ovarian cancer,” explained Wasserman Schultz. “These hereditary risk factors affect thousands of American ‘previvors’—survivors of a predisposition to cancer.”

Certain genetic mutations significantly increase risk of breast and ovarian cancer. “BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations place a woman’s lifetime breast cancer risk as high as 85% and ovarian cancer risk as high as 50%, both significantly greater than that of the general population. Families with an inherited BRCA mutation have the highest known risk for both cancers, and multiple family members are often affected. This is a community that faces a disproportionate cancer burden," said FORCE Executive Director Sue Friedman. “Knowledge of a genetic predisposition to cancer, available risk management and treatment options will save lives. Through this resolution we also hope to raise awareness of the unmet need for more research and resources for these families.”

Knowing one’s family health history is critical. Cancers tend to be more aggressive in women with BRCA mutations, and occur at a younger age, when individuals are less likely to undergo routine cancer screening. Cancer screening recommendations for high-risk populations differ from those for the general public, and more aggressive surveillance is needed. Thus, awareness of an inherited predisposition to cancer may lead to earlier detection and preventive strategies that ultimately reduce the chance of dying from cancer.

FORCE has special HBOC Week and Previvor Day events taking place in numerous locations around the country including Washington, DC, New York, Cincinnati, Chicago, Detroit and San Francisco.

# # #

FORCE: Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered (www.facingourrisk.org) is a national nonprofit organization devoted to improving the lives of individuals and families affected by hereditary breast and ovarian cancer. FORCE was founded in 1999 to assure that no one would ever have to face hereditary breast or ovarian cancer alone. Through our programs, FORCE promotes research of hereditary cancer; educates people about cancer risk, prevention, detection and treatment; and advocates for resources and legislation to address the needs of our community. Read more!

Who Owns Your Genes? It's not you. And that matters.

Please visit the above light blue link for the full article published in Self Magazine this month about how patents are impacting BRCA testing.

Her is an excerpt from the article:

Myriad's monopoly on BRCA has also prevented genetics counselors and other clinicians from giving patients valuable information about their genes that Myriad couldn't yet provide. In 2006, researchers at the University of Washington at Seattle showed that Myriad's BRCA analysis was missing about 12 percent of mutations in breast cancer patients with a strong family history of the disease. "We could test for the missing mutations at our lab, so I contacted Myriad and told them we'd like to offer that to patients," says Ellen Matloff, director of Cancer Genetic Counseling at Yale Cancer Center in New Haven, Connecticut. "They said no, that they were going to offer the test once they'd completed their research. More than a year passed before they started offering it, now called the BRAC Analysis Rearrangement Test [BART]. We had to sit here that whole time knowing some patients had mutations that were being missed.” Read more!