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Markers in blood and spinal fluid, and a new imaging agent, show promise for early detection of Alzheimer's

With the continued aging of the population and the growing epidemic of Alzheimer's, early detection of the disease is crucial for risk assessment, testing new therapies, and eventual early intervention with better drugs, once they are developed. Four studies reported today at the Alzheimer's Association's 2008 International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease (ICAD 2008) in Chicago bring us closer to that goal of early detection by describing advances in biomarkers.

29 Jul 2008

Reduced dose anthracycline post-breast cancer surgery has no effect on outcome

Canadian researchers have discovered that there is a low risk of adverse effect from reducing post-op chemo by up to 25%, according to findings published in the online journal ecancermedicalscience.

20 Jul 2008

An inflamed response

Paul Martin, Professor of Cell Biology in the University of Bristol Departments of Physiology and Pharmacology, and Biochemistry, talked to Cherry Lewis about the discovery made in his lab that speeds up wound healing and reduces the size of the wound scar. She was interested not only in the discovery itself, but also in the processes and years of research that led up to it.

15 Jul 2008

Chemo pill shows promise for advanced lymphoma

A new chemotherapy pill for people with stubborn lymphomas is showing promise in early clinical studies, according to scientists at the University of Rochester's James P. Wilmot Cancer Center. Doctors reported that the drug is halting disease in nearly half of the patients with two forms of lymphoma participating in early clinical trials in Rochester and across the country.

15 Jul 2008

Discover of key patterns in gene packaging

Although every cell of our bodies contains the same genetic instructions, specific genes typically act only in specific cells at particular times. Other genes are "silenced" in a variety of ways. One mode of gene silencing depends upon the way DNA, the genetic material, is packed in the nucleus of cells.

13 Jul 2008

Insulin suppresses receptors that cause cascade of inflammation

Researchers at the University at Buffalo -- the first to identify the anti-inflammatory and cardioprotective properties of insulin -- now have discovered one pathway through which the hormone produces this effect.

13 Jul 2008

Researchers to compare common ARV as a pill and vaginal gel in unique HIV prevention study

In battle with an epidemic that has outpaced nearly all efforts to contain it, researchers are turning to strategies centered on the same antiretroviral (ARV) drugs that have been used successfully to treat HIV in hopes they will be as effective a stronghold for preventing the virus.

9 Jul 2008

Discovery of new function for an old enzyme in sialidosis

The lack of a single protein usually thought of as a run-of-the-mill enzyme that helps to recycle molecules in cells causes an incurable and often fatal disease of children, according to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital investigators.

7 Jul 2008

Modified chemotherapy regimen promising for lymphoma patients in the developing world

Preliminary results suggest that patients with aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in the developing world might benefit from a modified chemotherapy regimen, researchers say.

6 Jul 2008

Genetic link between Crohn's and asthma discovered

Research into the genetic causes of Crohn's disease has revealed that the gene ORMDL3, known to be a risk factor for childhood asthma, is also associated with Crohn's disease, and in the process links between the condition and other diseases have been found.

2 Jul 2008

Hypertension, insulin resistance and immune suppression links

Many of the 75 million Americans with essential hypertension also develop diabetes and other complications in addition to their high blood pressure, and researchers have discovered a common molecular mechanism in a strain of rat that explains why such metabolic disorders arise together in mammals.

30 Jun 2008

Cancer cure in mice to be tested in humans

Scientists at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center are about to embark on a human trial to test whether a new cancer treatment will be as effective at eradicating cancer in humans as it has proven to be in mice.

30 Jun 2008

Faulty DNA repair could be a risk factor for lung cancer in nonsmokers

People who have never smoked but whose cells cannot efficiently repair environmental insults to DNA are at higher risk of developing lung cancer than those with effective genomic repair capability, according to researchers from the Department of Epidemiology at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

26 Jun 2008

New details on how low blood flow promotes vascular disease

Researchers have found the first direct proof that a key protein drives the clogging of arteries in two ways, and that lowering levels of it opens them up, according to study results published in the June edition of the journal Circulation.

24 Jun 2008

Study provides direct proof on how key protein promotes vascular disease

23 Jun 2008

Discovery of possible new way to block inflammation in autoimmune disease

Researchers from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), have identified a promising new target for autoimmune disease treatment - a cell-surface receptor called DR3.

23 Jun 2008

Patient's own infection-fighting T cells put late-stage melanoma into long-term remission

Researchers describe the first successful use of a human patient's cloned infection-fighting T cells as the sole therapy to put an advanced solid-tumor cancer into long-term remission. A team led by Cassian Yee, M.D., an associate member of the Clinical Research Division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, reports these findings in the June 19 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

19 Jun 2008

Scientists cure advanced skin cancer with body's own cells

Scientists in the U.S. are claiming they have cured advanced skin cancer by using the patient's own cells.

19 Jun 2008

Individualized therapies for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma identified with PET

Positron emission tomography (PET) could be an important tool for identifying non-Hodgkin's lymphoma patients who are likely to respond well to treatment with 90 ibritumomab tiuxetan (IT)-the first radioimmunotherapy treatment approved for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, said researchers at the Society of Nuclear Medicine's 55th Annual Meeting.

16 Jun 2008

Evolution may have lumbered humans with allergy problems

Scientists funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) have discovered how evolution may have lumbered humans with allergy problems.

15 Jun 2008