Oncogene News and Research

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An oncogene is a gene that, when mutated or expressed at high levels, helps turn a normal cell into a tumor cell.

'Targeted' drugs may be effective against lung and colorectal tumors driven by novel gene abnormalities

Novel gene abnormalities discovered in a subpopulation of lung and colorectal tumors could potentially identify patients with a good chance of responding to highly specific "targeted" drugs already in use for treating other cancers, scientists report.

14 Feb 2012

Scientists create new mouse model for medulloblastoma

Scientists at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham) developed a new mouse model for studying a devastating childhood brain cancer called medulloblastoma.

14 Feb 2012

Cyclin D1 oncogene may promote chromosomal instability

A team of researchers at Jefferson's Kimmel Cancer Center (KCC) led by Richard G. Pestell, M.D., PhD., FACP, Director of the KCC and Chair of the Department of Cancer Biology, have shown in a study published online Feb. 6 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation that the oncogene cyclin D1 may promote a genetic breakdown known as chromosomal instability (CIN). CIN is a known, yet poorly understood culprit in tumor progression.

7 Feb 2012

Inhibiting MET signaling in glioblastoma has major therapeutic value

A recent discovery by Van Andel Research Institute (VARI) scientists enables the prediction of patient sensitivity to proposed drug therapies for glioblastoma - the most common and most aggressive malignant brain tumor in humans.

7 Feb 2012

Urine-based biomarkers may lead to development of test for high-risk prostate cancer

Initial results of a multicenter study coordinated by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center indicates that two investigational urine-based biomarkers are associated with prostate cancers that are likely to be aggressive and potentially life-threatening among men who take a "watchful waiting," or active-surveillance approach to manage their disease.

3 Feb 2012

Scientists identify molecular switch that controls ATF2's dual functions

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) estimates that as many as one in 51 men and women will be diagnosed with melanoma-the deadliest form of skin cancer-at some point during their lifetimes. A research team led by Ze'ev Ronai, Ph.D. at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham) is working to unravel the molecular mechanisms underlying the development and progression of this disease in hopes of improving prevention and treatment strategies

3 Feb 2012

Molecular subtypes of lung cancer manifest as different diseases

Different kinds of lung cancer behave in different ways, suggesting they are fundamentally different diseases. According to a University of Colorado Cancer Center study published in Cancer, the official journal of the American Cancer Society, different subgroups of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) show distinct patterns of spread in the body.

3 Feb 2012

Crizotinib can treat ROS1-driven tumors

A report from investigators at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Cancer Center has defined the role of a recently identified gene abnormality in a deadly form of lung cancer. Tumors driven by rearrangements in the ROS1 gene represent 1 to 2 percent of non-small-cell lung cancers (NSCLC), the leading cause of cancer death in the U.S.

1 Feb 2012

Study describes new pharmacological resistance to colon cancer

Doctors and researchers of Hospital del Mar and its research institute, the IMIM, have lead a study describing a new pharmacological resistance to cancer. This new mechanism is a mutation in an oncogene called EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor) causing resistance to treatment using a drug called cetuximab, a monoclonal antibody which specifically attacks the EGFR.

23 Jan 2012

Inflammation enhances pancreatic cancer cell progression

Ben Stanger, MD, PhD, assistant professor of Medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, and Andrew Rhim, MD, a Gastroenterology Fellow in the Stanger lab, discovered that pancreatic cancer cells in an animal model begin to spread before clinically obvious tumor tissue is detected.

20 Jan 2012

Melanoma drug makes pre-existing cells with RAS mutation grow into skin squamous cell cancers

Patients with metastatic melanoma taking the recently approved drug vemurafenib (Zelboraf) responded well to the twice daily pill, but some of them developed a different, secondary skin cancer.

18 Jan 2012

Scientists identify pathway that activates hepsin on the surface of breast tumor cells

Scientists from the University of Helsinki and from UCSF have exposed a cell pathway that breast tumor cells use to destruct local tissue neighborhood. Cancer cells may use this pathway to free themselves from mammary epithelial tissue architecture, to spread to surrounding tissues. The cell pathway, the researchers found, is a biochemical chain of events leading to activation of a protein-cleaving enzyme on the surface of the tumor cells.

18 Jan 2012

Study shows how to stop brain cancer cell proliferation and migration

Brain cancer is hard to treat: it's not only strong enough to resist most chemotherapies, but also nimble enough to migrate away from radiation or surgery to regrow elsewhere. New research at the University of Colorado Cancer Center shows how to stop both.

18 Jan 2012

Study compares adoptive T-cell therapy with drug-based cancer treatment

In the treatment of large tumors, how effective is adoptive T cell therapy in comparison to drug-based cancer treatment? To answer this question, Dr. Kathleen Anders and Professor Thomas Blankenstein of the Max Delbr-ck Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch and researchers of the Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope Cancer Center in Duarte, California, USA designed and carried out a study comparing the two methods. Based on a mouse cancer model, the researchers elucidated the mechanisms of the two different treatments.

18 Jan 2012

Scientists identify hepsin protein's role in breast cancer

Cancers rarely are deadly unless they evolve the ability to grow beyond the tissues in which they first arise. Normally, cells -- even early-stage tumor cells -- are tethered to scaffolding that helps to restrain any destructive tendencies. But scientists from the University of Helsinki, Finland, and from UCSF have identified a cleaver-wielding protein that frees some tumor cells, allowing them to further misbehave.

18 Jan 2012

Study shows how Notch gene and PRC2 protein complex work together to cause T-ALL

A new study published in the journal Nature Medicine by NYU Cancer Institute researchers, shows how the cancer causing gene Notch, in combination with a mutated Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2) protein complex, work together to cause T- cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

13 Jan 2012

Celldex begins rindopepimut and Avastin Phase 2 combination trial in EGFRvIII-positive GB

Celldex Therapeutics, Inc. today announced that patient screening has initiated in a Phase 2 trial of rindopepimut in combination with Avastin in patients with recurrent epidermal growth factor variant III (EGFRvIII)-positive glioblastoma, called the "ReACT Study."

5 Jan 2012

Scientists discover N-cadherin as promising therapeutic target for pancreatic cancer

Often, and without much warning, pancreatic cancer cells slip through the endothelial cells, head into the blood and out to other parts of the body to metastasize, making it one of the deadliest and hardest to treat cancers today.

22 Dec 2011

Researchers discover miR-520 blocks cancer-promoting signaling pathway

MicroRNAs or miRNAs are tiny RNA molecules that have only about 20 nucleotides and do not code for proteins. They regulate many important processes in cells by binding to target messenger RNAs - the instructions for protein production -, thus blocking production of the respective protein. In cancer, the production of some miRNAs is often reduced or amplified. This particularly affects miRNAs that regulate the activity of cancer-promoting genes.

17 Dec 2011

NYUCI experts present latest research findings about hematologic cancers at 53rd ASH meeting

Experts from the NYU Cancer Institute, an NCI-designated cancer center at NYU Langone Medical Center, presented their latest research findings about hematologic cancers at the 53rd ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition held December 10-13, 2011 in San Diego, California.

14 Dec 2011

Oncogene News and Research

Further Reading

'Targeted' drugs may be effective against lung and colorectal tumors driven by novel gene abnormalities

Scientists create new mouse model for medulloblastoma

Cyclin D1 oncogene may promote chromosomal instability

Inhibiting MET signaling in glioblastoma has major therapeutic value

Urine-based biomarkers may lead to development of test for high-risk prostate cancer

Scientists identify molecular switch that controls ATF2's dual functions

Molecular subtypes of lung cancer manifest as different diseases

Crizotinib can treat ROS1-driven tumors

Study describes new pharmacological resistance to colon cancer

Inflammation enhances pancreatic cancer cell progression

Melanoma drug makes pre-existing cells with RAS mutation grow into skin squamous cell cancers

Scientists identify pathway that activates hepsin on the surface of breast tumor cells

Study shows how to stop brain cancer cell proliferation and migration

Study compares adoptive T-cell therapy with drug-based cancer treatment

Scientists identify hepsin protein's role in breast cancer

Study shows how Notch gene and PRC2 protein complex work together to cause T-ALL

Celldex begins rindopepimut and Avastin Phase 2 combination trial in EGFRvIII-positive GB

Scientists discover N-cadherin as promising therapeutic target for pancreatic cancer

Researchers discover miR-520 blocks cancer-promoting signaling pathway

NYUCI experts present latest research findings about hematologic cancers at 53rd ASH meeting

Achieving and maintaining ISO/IEC 27001 and BS 10012 certifications

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

Examining how pain could play a direct protective role in the gut

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