By Steven Reinberg
EmpowHer's HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, June 24 (HealthDay News) -- A new vaccine to treat and prevent metastatic colon cancer appears to work in mice, researchers report.

The vaccine has one unique property: It acts on the immune system in the intestines, a separate immune system from the one that protects the body generally.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Morbidly obese patients who undergo weight-loss surgery greatly reduce their risk of cancer, according to a study providing fresh evidence of health benefits from these increasingly common operations.

Researchers from McGill University in Montreal found that the people who underwent bariatric surgery saw reductions in particular in the risk for breast and colon cancer. Many people see dramatic weight loss after such surgery.

THURSDAY, June 19 (HealthDay News) -- Colon cancer patients with high blood levels of vitamin D boost their survival odds by 48 percent, a new study suggests.

Previous studies have indicated that high levels of vitamin D may reduce the risk of getting colon cancer by 51 percent, although other studies dispute that claim. But until now, no studies have looked at whether vitamin D could improve survival among people who already had the disease.

MONDAY, June 2 (HealthDay News) -- Long-term smokers treated for advanced colon cancer are at increased risk for cancer recurrence, a Dana-Farber Cancer Institute study shows.

Researchers analyzed data from 965 people treated for stage III colon cancer, and found that those with a 20 or more pack year history (calculated by number of years smoking times packs per day) were up to 22 percent more likely to have their cancer return or to die than patients who'd never smoked.

By Amanda Gardner
EmpowHer's HealthDay Reporter

SUNDAY, June 1 (HealthDay News) -- Colon cancer patients who have the normal version of a particular gene are more likely to benefit from a combination treatment that includes adding the targeted therapy Erbitux to chemotherapy.

Some two-thirds of colon cancer patients have the normal, or "wild-type" form of the gene, according to the new study.

By Amanda Gardner
EmpowHer's HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, May 16 (HealthDay News) -- Colon cancer patients with a specific subset of the disease don't need to receive chemotherapy. In fact, not only does chemotherapy not benefit this group of patients, it may actually harm them, a new study found.

MONDAY, May 5 (HealthDay News) -- The overproduction of a protein may be what starts harmless colon polyps on their journey to becoming malignant tumors, Finnish researchers report.

FRIDAY, May 2 (HealthDay News) -- A number of potential new targets for treatments that block tumor blood vessel formation -- a key step in tumor growth and metastasis -- have been identified by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

TUESDAY, April 15 (HealthDay News) -- Astronauts may be at increased risk of colon cancer and premature aging from the high-energy radiation found in space, a new report says.

By Amanda Gardner
EmpowHer's HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, Feb. 22 (HealthDay News) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration went against the recommendation of its own advisory panel on Friday and approved the cancer drug Avastin for women with advanced breast cancer.