One in 18 men and women will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer during their lifetimes -- that translates into more than 150,000 people diagnosed and more than 52,000 colorectal cancer deaths each year, securing the disease as the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States.

Fortunately, mortality rates for this disease have been declining due to earlier screenings, awareness of symptoms, removal of polyps, and improved treatments through advances in research discoveries -- like today's genetic breakthroughs.

In a recent study, researchers identified a cell pathway critical in the development of colon cancer and also lung and stomach cancers.

STAT3 (signal transducer and activator of transcription 3) is the newest discovery and is a target regulated by PRPRT (receptor protein tyrosine phosphatase T), already identified to be mutated in these cancers.

"The role of protein tyrosine phosphatase in cancer is still an under-explored area," says Zhenghe John Wang, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Genetics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and Case Comprehensive Cancer Center.

"Our study shows that receptor protein tyrosine phosphatase T regulates an important signaling pathway that is critical in cancer development. This identification will allow new approaches to pharmacological designs and facilitate alternative approaches for cancer treatment."

This study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS Online Edition Feb. 20-23, 2007), provides new hope for the development of drugs that will target this potentially deadly disease.

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences needs sisters -- 18,000 sisters to be exact -- to join the nation's largest research project aimed at pinpointing the causes of breast cancer.

The Sister Study ideally will enroll a total of 50,000 women whose sisters had breast cancer. Since the study launch in October 2004, 32,000 women have been recruited. But still more are needed.

The 10-year observational study requires very little time, is available in English and Spanish, and requires women to first answer questions about diet, jobs, hobbies, and breast cancer risk factors. Later, a female health professional collects small samples of blood, urine, nail clippings, and house dust for use in analysis of environment and genetics.

Women in the United States and Puerto Rico between the ages of 35 and 74 may be eligible for the study if their sisters -- living or deceased -- had breast cancer. The study participants must have never been diagnosed with breast cancer themselves.

The Sister Study, in partnership with the American Cancer Society, NIH's National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities, Sisters Network Inc., the Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization, and the Intercultural Cancer Council, is confidential and safe. Women are never asked to take medications, visit medical locations, or make any changes to their habits, diet, or daily life. They are simply asked to join this effort so that the mystery of breast cancer can continiue to unfold.

To volunteer or learn more about the Sister Study, visit www.sisterstudy.org or www.estudiodehermanas.org. Or call (877) 474-7837 or (866) 889-4747 for the hearing-impaired.

Nearly a decade ago, women in Long Island began to worry about their high rates of breast cancer. So they advocated and lobbied and pushed until a public law was passed that allowed for the creation of the Long Island Breast Cancer Project. Funded by both the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, great data has emerged from this project -- like the data linking breast cancer and household pesticides.

Although much research has linked cancer with pesticides in work and industrial settings, few studies have investigated what these chemicals can do in households -- until now, thanks to research conducted as part of The Long Island Breast Cancer Project.

Published online in the December 13 American Journal of Epidemiology, researchers found an association between lifetime residential pesticide use and breast cancer risk in a sample of 1,508 Long Island women diagnosed with breast cancer between 1996 and 1997. These women were compared to 1,556 random controls. All women were asked to self-report their pesticide exposure and to offer blood samples for the study of organochlorine compound levels -- found in lawn and garden products.

As expected, researchers found an increased breast cancer risk for women whose blood samples showed the highest levels of organochlorine compounds. They also found it hard to find women who did not use lawn and garden pesticides to some degree.

Use of household pesticides has infiltrated our society, says researcher Susan Teitelbaum, assistant professor in the department of community medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, who reports she is happy to see a movement toward use of alternative methods, like integrated pest management.

Teitelbaum has just one recommendation as result of this study. It's quite simple really -- stop using pesticides.

Hopes of a vaccine for cancer received a boost this week following trials of a new therapy that successfully blocked tumor growth in animals. The experimental vaccine protected animals from cancer for up to five months, and stopped tumors growing bigger in those that already had the disease.

In a trial, researchers transplanted breast tumors into mice before giving them two injections of the vaccine, two weeks apart. The first injection primed the immune system and the second acted as a booster. The trial showed the vaccine triggered a release of antibodies that suppressed tumor growth for up to 150 days. The mice showed no side effects.

In a second trial, genetically engineered mice bred to develop breast cancer within 28 days were given a modified version of the DNA vaccine that also blocked a gene linked to cancer.  "Normally all these mice develop cancer within a month, but in the trial 80 per cent remained cancer-free and lived for up to one and a half years," said Holmgren, whose study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday.

The researchers believe the vaccine was successful because it works differently from previous DNA vaccines. Instead of targeting cancerous cells that are constantly mutating, the vaccine acts on healthy cells that the tumor recruits to build up its blood supply.  The researchers have teamed up with a Swedish company to manufacture antibodies that could be used in a human cancer vaccine. If the vaccine is effective in human trials, it could potentially help give protection against a range of cancer varieties.  A cancer vaccine could be used to prevent cancers returning in patients who have already been operated on, or received chemotherapy or radiotherapy.