Oncology News and Research

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Oncology, meaning bulk, mass, or tumor, and the suffix ''-logy'', meaning "study of") is a branch of medicine that deals with tumors (cancer). A medical professional who practices oncology is an ''oncologist''.

Discovery of genes that cause melanoma

Scientists from the Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR) have found two new genes that together double a person's risk of developing melanoma.

6 Jul 2009

PATRICIA trial shows HPV vaccine effective in prevention of cervical lesions

The final analysis of the PATRICIA study shows that the HPV-16/18 AS04-adjuvanted vaccine (GlaxoSmithKline) has high efficacy against the precancerous cervical lesions that can eventually lead to cervical cancer.

6 Jul 2009

FDA approves Alimta (pemetrexed) for advanced lung cancer

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Alimta (pemetrexed), the first drug available for maintenance therapy of advanced or metastatic lung cancer.

6 Jul 2009

IU Simon Cancer Center researcher heads cancer study during Indiana Black Expo's health fair

A small drop of blood can provide researchers with countless clues into cancer. You can help researchers at the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center by donating a blood sample during the Indiana Black Expo's INShape Indiana Black & Minority Health Fair.

6 Jul 2009

Survivors of childhood cancer at greater risk of birth complications when pregnant

Survivors of childhood cancer run particular risks when pregnant and should be closely monitored, the 25th annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology heard this week.

2 Jul 2009

New prostate cancer metastasis prediction method

Cancer experts at Johns Hopkins say a study tracking 774 prostate cancer patients for a median of eight years has shown that a three-way combination of measurements has the best chance yet of predicting disease metastasis.

1 Jul 2009

Prostate cancer: current evidence weighs against population screening

The recent release of two large randomized trials suggests that if there is a benefit of screening, it is, at best, small, says a new report in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.

30 Jun 2009

Hospira receives FDA approval for Azithromycin for injection

Hospira, Inc has announced it has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for a 500 mg vial of azithromycin for injection in the ADD-Vantage System.

30 Jun 2009

'Trojan horse' cancer therapy beats tumours resistant to chemotherapy

A new therapy to treat cancer has been developed by Australian scientists and it promises to have far fewer unpleasant side effects than conventional treatments and should also be much cheaper.

28 Jun 2009

Discovery of novel mechanism that could be targeted to prevent cancer spread

Researchers have discovered a key to the function of a specific protein that helps control the levels of other critical proteins within cells, including a protein that suppresses the spread of cancer. The new information about the mechanism of action of the protein, called gp78, may enable researchers to explore new types of therapies to prevent the spread of cancer. The study, by researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, was published in the June 26, 2009, issue of Molecular Cell.

28 Jun 2009

Multiparameter computational modeling of tumor invasion

Tumors are complex collections of cells whose behavior has proven difficult to understand, let alone predict. As a result, oncologists are often surprised by how a particular patient responds to a given course of therapy.

28 Jun 2009

Expanding quantum dot utility in cancer diagnosis and treatment

Quantum dots (QDs), nanoparticles that shine with extraordinary brightness when excited by light energy, have shown promise as new tools for detecting cancer at its earliest appearance, but concerns about potential toxicities have limited their clinical development. Researchers at the University of Buffalo may have found an answer to this limitation with their development of a new way to create QDs.

28 Jun 2009

Carbon nanotubes continue to show promise in battle against cancer

Carbon nanotubes, one of the original engineered nanomaterials, also may prove to be among the most versatile, as numerous teams of investigators continue to develop novel nanotube-based therapeutic and diagnostic tools. Over the past month, three new research papers have highlighted the potential of nanotubes as weapons against cancer.

28 Jun 2009

Nanofluidic biopsy detects subtle changes in cancer cells

By taking two standard laboratory techniques - capillary electrophoresis and antibody-based protein detection - and shrinking them to the nanoscale, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have created a new method for detecting miniscule changes in the levels of proteins associated with cancer.

28 Jun 2009

Nanoparticle-mediated targeting of MAPK signaling predisposes tumor to chemotherapy

An interdisciplinary team of researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Harvard-Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Division of Health Sciences and Technology has demonstrated a better way to deliver cancer drugs directly to tumors.

28 Jun 2009

Harnessing nanoparticles to track cancer cell changes

The more dots there are, the more accurate a picture you get when you connect them. Cancer researchers adopting that philosophy have developed a new imaging technology that could give scientists the ability to simultaneously measure as many as 100 or more distinct features in or on a single cell. In a disease such as cancer, that capability would provide a much better picture of what is going on in individual tumor cells.

28 Jun 2009

Early detection of pancreatic cancer closer thanks to multifunctional nanoparticles

Pancreatic cancer has a devastatingly low survival rate (less than 5 percent after 5 years) because it is usually diagnosed at an advanced stage. The initial symptoms, such as pain, jaundice, or weight loss, often do not allow the disease to be caught early enough for surgery and chemotherapy to be effective.

28 Jun 2009

Computer-guided nanoparticle therapy destroys tumors

Gold nanoshells are among the most promising new nanoscale therapeutics being developed to kill tumors, acting as antennas that turn light energy into heat that cooks cancer to death. Now, a multi-institutional research team has shown that polymer-coated gold nanorods one-up their spherical counterparts, with a single dose completely destroying all tumors in a nonhuman animal model of human cancer.

28 Jun 2009

HPV testing for cervical screening investigated

New research, published in The Lancet Oncology, has found that combining human papillomavirus (HPV) testing with routine liquid-based cytology (LBC) screening does not increase the detection of cervical cancer compared with LBC screening alone. The trial funded by the National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment (NIHR HTA) programme aimed to determine whether testing for HPV in the cervix might increase the effectiveness of the cervical screening programme.

25 Jun 2009

Strong link between high body mass index, pancreatic cancer

In reviewing the weight history of pancreatic cancer patients across their life spans, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have determined that a high body mass index in early adulthood may play a significant role in an individual developing the disease at an earlier age.

23 Jun 2009