According to a new study, older black people with renal cell cancer have significantly lower survival rates than older white patients. The study found that this disparity can be attributed to the lower rates of surgical removal of the kidney and higher rates of comorbid illnesses.

This study was conducted by Dr. Sonja I. Berndt from the NCI and was published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Even among black patients who had surgery, the survival rates were lower when compared to whites who had their kidney removed. In contrast, black patients who did not have surgery had better survival rates than white patients who did not have surgery.

According to a study from the Karolinkska Institute in Sweden, alcohol consumption may lower the risk of kidney cancer. The researchers found that the odds of developing kidney cell cancer was 40 percent lower among those who consumed 620 g of ethanol per month versus those who did not drink at all.

Drinking more than two glass of red wine per week was associated with a 40 percent reduction in kidney cell cancer risk compared with drinking no red wine and there were similar trends for white wine and strong beer. There was no correlation between kidney cell cancer risk and light beer, medium beer, strong wine or hard liquor.

The researchers write that the reduced risk associated with wine and beer might be due to the phenolics they contain, which possess antioxidant and antimutagenic properties. However, since the risk also seems to be correlated with ethanol intake overall, they speculate that the alcohol itself might also play a role.

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic Jacksonville have found that when a gene that makes sFRP-1 is suppressed, the defining event in the development and progression of clear cell renal carcinoma occurs. Clear cell renal carcinoma accounts for at least 80 percent of all kidney cancers.

Kidney cancer incidence has been increasing by about 2 percent per year for the past six decades. Researchers believe some of this increase may be related to smoking and other environmental factors. Kidney cancer tumors that are found when they are advanced are difficult to treat with a two-year survival of only 12 percent. Kidney cancer where the tumor has not spread has a five-year survival of up to 75 percent.

Florida State University researchers are working on ways to induce apoptosis, or cell death, in cancer cells by damaging their DNA strands with light, in a field of chemistry known as photochemistry.

According to Igor V. Alabugin, "We have found that a group of cancer-killing molecules known as lysine conjugates can identify a damaged spot, or 'cleavage,' in a single strand of DNA and then induce cleavage on the DNA strand opposite the damage site. This 'double cleavage' of the DNA is very difficult for the cell to repair and typically leads to apoptosis."

In an example of this technique, doctors treating an esophageal tumor might first inject the tumor with a drug containing these lysine conjugates and then hit the tumor with a specific light, activating the drug and leading to double-strand DNA damage and then cell death.

Alabugin collaborated in separate test with Dr. John A. Copland of the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Jacksonville, Florida. In these tests, the drug plus the phototherapy activation killed more than 90 percent of metastatic human kidney cancer cells with a single treatment.

Thanks to KidneyCancerResource.com for the tip.

Lee Hazlewood, well known for his famous song, "These Boots were Made For Walkin'" has died. Hazlewood was 78 and died of kidney cancer.

Hazlewood was best known for his anthem of independence that Nancy Sinatra made so famous. It is a theme song for many women everywhere who have needed to strap on a pair of boots and do some walking. Hazlewood and Sinatra collaborated on a number of other projects, but none that received the notoriety of the Walkin' song.

The songwriter was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2005. He passed away quietly at his home over the weekend.

CT-guided radiofrequency abalation (RFA) has been shown to be 100 percent successful at eradicating small malignant kidney tumors, according to a study out of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.

RFA uses a probe, guided by CT. A high-frequency current heats the tumor and destroys it.

More than 100 patients underwent RFA for kidney tumors. Of the 95 tumors that were smaller than 3.7 cm, all were completely eradicated by one treatment, as were 14 of the larger tumors. Seven more of the 16 larger tumors were eradicated after a second treatment, for a total of 93 percent success rate for all 125 tumors.

According to the lead author, Ronald J. Zagoria, "The results – a high cure rate and low complication rate – establish that at institutions with experience doing this procedure, this is an alternative method for treating small renal malignancies in patients who are not good surgical candidates."

For more details on this promising technique see here.

According to reseachers at Duke, a combination of two drugs works better than either drug for patients with renal cell carcinoma, the most common form of kidney cancer. This study was published in the August 1st issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology and was funded by the National Cancer Institute.

The two drugs used in the study together were interferon alpha and sorafenib, which is sold as Nexavar. Interferon alpha is an immunotherapy agent, but kidney tumors only respond to it about 5 to 10 percent of the time. The second drug, sorafenib, is a anti-angiogenic, a class of drugs that work by choking a tumor's blood supply. But sorafenib shrinks tumors in only 5 to 10 percent of kidney cancer patients.

However, when both of these drugs were used in combination, the combination led to significant tumor shrinkage in 33 percent of the 40 patients who participated in the study. Two of the patients had complete responses, meaning their tumors were destroyed. The particpants in the study all had renal cell carcinoma in stage IV disease.

Based on the success of this small study, researchers will soon beging a multisite trial to both confirm these findings and investigate whether patients show additional progress when they take increasing doses of sorafenib alone after the dual therapy.

"This is a deadly cancer that has been hard to treat, and the results of our study suggest that we may be able to further improve the efficacy of exciting new drugs like sorafenib," said Dr. Jared Gollub, lead investigator.

It seems to me like health experts are always going back and forth on the subject of alcohol -- one day it's good for you, the next it's going to kill you. Well, today it appears it is good for you, as it has been shown to reduce the risk of renal cell (kidney) cancer in a study that tested non-drinkers compared to those who consumed one alcoholic beverage a day. But the article is quick to point out that it's not saying that drinking is good for you overall, as alcohol has been shown to be linked to other cancers, including breast cancer and cancers of the oral cavities, esophagus and more.

So I guess the moral of the story is, don't take up drinking to prevent kidney cancer, yet don't give up drinking as it might help ward it off. Huh? I think there is way too much information out there on what's good for you and what's bad for you to really take it all seriously. Live a healthy life, eat well, partake in occasional activity and enjoy the things you enjoy in moderation -- the rest is up to nature if you ask me.

What do you think?

Two days ago, I posted about doctors who failed to diagnosis Peter Cura's cancer 37 times. Cura, who died from kidney cancer, because the negligence of doctors gave the cancer time to spread. The events of what Cura went through, and his death, are difficult to understand.

Today, I am doubly dumbfounded at hearing about John Heron in Scotland, who was properly diagnosed with a tumor on his kidney, but when he went in to have it removed, the surgeon removed the healthy kidney and left the diseased kidney intact. Once again, all I can think to ask is, how did that happen? Heron, who is 60, is left with no alternative but to go back in and have the diseased kidney removed. The Ayr Hospital has apologized for the tragic error. According to reports, Margaret, his wife, is too upset to speak about it.

How did this happen? UK's Daily Mail shares the story of Peter Cura, 31, who died from complications of kidney cancer, after his kidney cancer was misdiagnosed 37 times. Cura kept going in to see doctors, complaining of severe back pain. After undergoing diagnostic scans and six operations, no one accurately diagnosed his physical problems as cancer. At one point, Cura thought he might have cancer, but the doctors told him he was suffering from kidney stones. Cura insisted on a CAT scan. The CAT scan revealed he was in kidney failure. When they surgically removed the failed kidney, the physicians found a three inch tumor. By that time, the cancer had spread. The diagnosis became incurable kidney cancer.

Cura, a carpenter from Rainham, died last week. In an interview before his death, he spoke of his anger that the delay of a timely cancer diagnosis would cost him his life. He felt great sadness that he would not see his young children grow up. "I mainly feel anger with the doctor I was seeing at the time," said Cura, "It crossed my mind that it might be cancer. But when I asked the doctor he said, "Definitely not." It seems Cura was doing all the right things to try to get proper medical care for himself, and the healthcare system failed him miserably. What a tragic, tragic loss, for Cura and his family.

Lizard Eater is on her way to the ministerial life, but right now, life has other plans. Her infant, whom she reverently calls the Little Warrior, had been sick, and one side of her abdomen had swollen. Her mother thought it might be something simple, like gas or indigestion. Lizard Eater took Little Warrior to the pediatrician. After an ultrasound, echocardiograms, x-rays, CT scans and biopsy, Little Warrior was diagnosed with bilateral Wilm's tumors in both of her kidneys. Journey to Ministerial Life is Lizard Eater's blog about Little Warrior's battle with cancer, the treatments the baby endures, the mother who prays, and watches over, and cares for, a child with cancer.