What does it mean to have a triple negative diagnoses of breast cancer? It means that your pathology states that the tumor is estrogen receptor-negative, progesterone receptor-negative and HER2-negative.

I have met many women along my breast cancer journey that are scared because they were diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer. Even though the overexpression of HER2 can be a more aggressive breast cancer, the discovery of Herceptin has given these women a targeted therapy for their specific tumor type. Women that have estrogen or progesterone positive breast cancer can take targeted therapies such as Tamoxifen and Aromatase Inhibitors to help prevent a recurrence. After chemotherapy, the triple negative women often feels that they have nothing and chemotherapy is the only course of treatment available to them.

Chemotherapy is the mainstay of therapy for these women, and the need for new effective agents in this setting is crucial. There is interest in EGFR inhibitors for triple negative patients. There is an ongoing trial that is investigating the potential efficacy of cetuximab with or without the chemotherapy drug carboplatin in patients with triple negative metastatic breast cancer. This study is the first one specifically designed to target a breast cancer subtype identified by gene expression analysis, with the hope of identifying a class of agents that could offer triple negative patients a survival benefit that is comparable to that achieved with the use of Herceptin.

According to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, triple negative breast cancer patients are more likely to develop distant metastasis. Researchers conducted a study among 482 women with early stage breast cancer. Out of the 482 women, 177 had triple negative disease. All women were treated with lumpectomy and radiation therapy. Some women also received chemotherapy. After five years 67 percent of women with triple negative breast cancer were free of distant metastasis, compared to 82 percent of the other women. Risk of local recurrence was equal in the two groups.

Additional research is needed to identify the optimal treatment strategy for these women.

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists have demonstrated a new locally applied treatment for the eye cancer retinoblastoma. The new treatment, tested on mice, reduced the size of the tumor and also did not cause the side effects common with chemotherapy.

This targeted therapy uses a customized drug to disable a specific molecule inside a growing cancer cell. It is delivered locally to the site of the disease, rather than using systematic treatment. Dr. Dyer, Ph. D., associate member of the St. Jude Department of Developmental Neurobiology said "The findings suggest that this treatment not only could offer children with retinoblastoma more effective and less toxic treatment, it could also increase the chance that their vision can be preserved by eliminating the tumor and preventing its spread from the eye to the rest of the body".

Retinoblastoma occurs in about 5,000 young children worldwide each year, arising from the immature retina, which is the part of the eye responsible for detecting light and color. A report on this work appears in the November 2nd issue of the journal Nature.

Glenn Close is the 2006 Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF) ambassador to the Saks Fifth Avenue Key to the Cure campaign. Oscar de la Renta is the 2006 designer of the Key to the Cure t-shirt -- available now at Saks Fifth Avenue stores for the price of $35. For each t-shirt purchase, $31 will benefit EIF's Women's Cancer Research Fund. T-shirts are available on-line and in retails stores everywhere.

All Saks Fifth Avenue retail stores and Saks.com will contribute to Key to the Cure by donating 2 percent of all profits during October 12-15. Off Fifth stores will donate 1 percent of profits during the same time period to benefit local and national women's cancer charities.

Key to the Cure is a women's cancer initiative founded in partnership with EIF's Women's Cancer Research Fund. The program receives on-going support from Mercedes-Benz USA -- set to donate one million dollars to the cause. EIF is the entertainment industry's leading charitable organization and has shared hundreds of millions of dollars in support of critical issues facing our society. Like breast cancer.

Researchers in Spain conducted a study among 1606 women with node-negative breast cancer. The results were published in the Annals of Oncology. What the researchers wanted to find out is whether the number of lymph nodes removed during axillary lymph node dissection influences risk of recurrence. Axillary lymph node sampling is a necessary procedure to stage a patient diagnosed with breast cancer. Women who underwent sentinel lymph node biopsy were not included in the study.

The researchers discovered that there was an increased risk of local breast cancer recurrence if fewer than six lymph nodes were removed. If the surgeon removes less than six lymph nodes there is a risk that other lymph nodes that could contain cancer can be missed. This can result in under staging and the patient not receiving the correct treatment plan.

In order to be confident that the patient does indeed have node negative breast cancer it is important to remove at least six lymph nodes for evaluation.

Where does the time go? Even though most of us have been experiencing the height of the summer season in the form of a nationwide scorcher of a heat wave, summer is almost over for school kids and teens leaving for college. Yes, in less than a month, it's back to school. There are advertisements everywhere you look for new school supplies and new school clothes. In preparation for the new school season, Duke Health has published Back to School Tips for Healthy Eating.

The experts say it is not about counting fat grams and calories but portion control and choices. According to pediatrician Dr. Terrill Bravender, "You don't have to be obsessive about it. If you generally eat healthy, there is room for some foods that aren't as healthy."

Dr. Bravender offers these basic common sense tips:

• Involve kids in lunchbox planning. If you let them make some choices about what goes into their lunchbox, they are more likely to eat it.
• Avoid the peanut butter and jelly rut. Nothing wrong with the traditional, but try new foods. Make it a food adventure.
• While everyone is still on summer break, encourage children to prepare their own lunch. Dr. Bravender suggests easy-to-make ideas like graham crackers with peanut butter and a glass of milk; fresh fruit with cheese cubes; a hard boiled egg with whole grain crackers; yogurt with a sliced banana; granola bars with milk; or tortilla chips and bean dip made without hydrogenated oils.
  

Ultimately, as the mother, what foods come in to the home are my choosing, so I try to make nutritious choices in food purchases. But I have found great success over the years by taking my kids to the grocery store with me, and allowing them to choose between several choices I offer. We also take a look at new foods, and talk about the food item. We read ingredients. Some we decide, by group vote, to bring home and try. During the growing seasons, they are with me when I stop at a roadside stand to buy local produce straight from the field, and each year we have an annual tradition of blueberry picking enough blueberries to last most of the year ahead. Food can be fun, and learning about good food a lifetime benefit in cancer prevention.

Consumer Reports has completed a review of the FDA testing on mercury levels found in canned tuna and issued new safety concerns. While the focus is on a clear alert for pregnant women and the damage mercury-contaminated tuna can cause to a developing fetus, mercury is also known to have an adverse effect on the immune system of adults. For anyone interested in cancer prevention, a healthy immune system is a vital first-line defense to keeping cancer from developing in the first place. Mercury, once consumed, can stay in the body for years.

Because of the new information provided by Consumer Reports regarding the dangers of canned tuna, and because fish is an excellent cancer prevention food, here is a list of fish that have shown consistently low-levels of mercury during testing and are safe to eat daily. Wild salmon and tilapia can be safely eaten every day. Flounder, sole, mullet, Atlantic mackerel and crab can be safely eaten once a week. In addition, Consumer Reports found fish-oil supplements to be a safe, reliable way to get omega-3 fatty acids. You can check state agencies and the Environmental Protection Agency advisories for contaminant levels of fish caught where you live here.

Bureaucratic silliness or grinchy meanspiritedness? Here's the facts. In 2003, Ronald Michalowicz, a fire inspector for the village of Bedford Park, was diagnosed with tongue cancer. He was not given great odds on surviving his cancer. He kept working while going through chemotherapy. Chemotherapy was rough -- he lost 107 pounds.

In 2004, at the end of chemotherapy, but before radiation treatment began, he finally took a leave of absence from a job he had worked 28 years. The community cared about one of its own enough to raise $25,000 dollars to help Michalowicz with medical and living expenses. Cancer is expensive.

Miraculously, he beat the odds and his cancer went into remission. When he went back to work, he was fired. Why? According to village officials, he had accepted monetary contributions from the community in violation of the Illinois Gift Ban Act and village code prohibiting employees from soliciting gifts that could affect their decision-making. He hadn't asked anyone for money. A building inspector, Steve Edwards, cleared a form letter with the mayor at the time, Ronald Robison, to ask for contributions on behalf of Michalowicz. There is a new mayor now. Michalowicz only has one more year to work before he is eligible for retirement. What's really going on? You decide.