Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, have discovered that men with longtime high levels of C-peptide -- an indicator of insulin production -- had triple the risk of developing colorectal cancer. A high C-peptide reading usually suggests a patient has hyperinsulinemia, in which insulin in the body can rise to damaging levels. They also found that the patterns of prostate specific antigen after treatment for prostate cancer could predict who was more likely to die. Men whose PSA levels rose quickly and fell slowly after getting hormone-based therapy were 13 times more likely to die than men whose PSA levels rose slowly at first and then fell sharply. The reports are published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, April 2004.

Scientists at Leiden University Medical Center, The Netherlands, report that people who have joint pain and have detectable antibodies to compounds in the body called cyclic citrullinated peptides (CCPs) are at high risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis. They suggest the test could be used with the traditional RA test.
Source: Arthritis and Rheumatism, March 2004.