The risk of infertility and early menopause increases significantly for women who use tobacco or are exposed to secondhand smoke, according to a study led by Roswell Park researchers and published in the current issue of Tobacco Control.

More than a dozen Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) researchers were invited to present findings at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) 57th Annual Meeting & Exposition, a four-day meeting in Orlando, Fla., that concluded yesterday.

Two studies from JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association, report that fewer men are being screened for prostate cancer.

Roswell Park Cancer Institute’s (RPCI’s) annual Tree of Hope lighting ceremony will be held on Friday, Dec. 11, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. in Kaminski Park and Gardens on the Roswell Park campus.

In the five decades since camptothecin was first isolated from the bark of a tree used in traditional Chinese medicine and identified as a powerful anticancer agent, several thousand chemicals with similar structures and functions have been investigated. And while two of these analog compounds, irinotecan and topotecan, have been approved in the U.S. as treatments for cancer, both are associated with significant shortcomings. Researchers from Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) have reported findings about a new synthetic form of camptothecin, known as FL118, that appears to have greater potency, longer efficacy and fewer adverse side effects than irinotecan and topotecan.

The size of a surgically removed tumor is generally thought to relate to the risk of the cancer spreading to other regions of the body. But because tumor cells may metastasize at different times and the rate of spread is difficult to assess, the relationship between tumor size and the relative risk of recurrence after surgery is challenging to calculate.