Growth Factor News and Research

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Drug study for brain cancer shows promising results

A clinical study conducted at Henry Ford Hospital on the use of a drug to extend the survival of patients with the most common and aggressive type of brain cancer, has yielded results that were significantly better than expected.

14 Dec 2007

Bosutinib safe, effective for chronic myelogenous leukemia

A new drug for chronic myelogenous leukemia works for patients who have developed resistance to frontline therapy and causes fewer side effects than other medications in its class, a research team led by scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center reports at the 49th annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology.

12 Dec 2007

Researchers uncover delicate protein balance behind the immune system response

A team of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine has identified the protein interactions involved in the immune system process that fights infection yet, in certain inflammatory diseases, runs amok and attacks friendly tissue.

10 Dec 2007

Keeping at-risk cells from developing cancer

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have discovered that cancers arising from epigenetic changes - in this case the inappropriate activation of a normally silent gene - develop by becoming addicted to certain growth factors.

10 Dec 2007

Growth factor receptor affects prostate cancer progression

Breeding mice with a gene for a cellular receptor that can be turned on and off-at will-not only enabled researchers at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston to show how prostate cancer progresses, but also provides a model for studying when a drug targeting a gene will have an effect on the cancer.

10 Dec 2007

Explanation on resistance to taxane class of drugs

Scientists have uncovered critical new details about the mechanisms that modulate the response of ovarian cancer cells to chemotherapy.

10 Dec 2007

Depression nearly triples the risk of death following a heart attack

...even when accounting for other heart attack risk factors, according to research presented at the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) annual meeting, which showed that among 360 depressed, post myocardial infarction patients followed for more than six years, those who did not recover from their depression in the first six months were more than twice as likely to die.

10 Dec 2007

Lymphatic vessel and lymph node function are restored with growth factor treatment

The frequent spread of certain cancers to lymph nodes often necessitates surgery or radiation therapy that damages the lymphatic system and can cause lymphedema, a condition of localized fluid retention that often increases susceptibility to infections.

4 Dec 2007

Hydrogen sulfide provides clues to a longer life

Hydrogen sulfide, or H2S, the chemical that gives rotten eggs their sulfurous stench - and the same compound that researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center successfully have used to put mice into a state of reversible metabolic hibernation - has now been shown to significantly increase life span and heat tolerance in the nematode worm, or C. elegans.

4 Dec 2007

Eltrombopag studied in Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura

There are estimated to be between 50,000 -- 100,000 individuals in the U.S. diagnosed with chronic Immune Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP), an autoimmune disease that dramatically reduces the number of platelets in their blood -- causing bruises, nosebleeds and, sometimes, life-threatening brain hemorrhages.

29 Nov 2007

Discovery of key acute myeloid leukemia gene

A gene called N-Myc leads a double life in certain white blood cells, helping to trigger a cancer called acute myeloid leukemia (AML) under some conditions while triggering apoptosis, or cell suicide, under other conditions, according to results of a mouse study done by investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

27 Nov 2007

Wyeth receives European approval for TORISEL

Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, a division of Wyeth, has announced that the European Commission has approved TORISEL (temsirolimus) for the first-line treatment of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) who have at least three of six prognostic risk factors. TORISEL is the only approved cancer therapy that specifically inhibits the mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin) kinase, an important regulator of cell proliferation, cell growth and cell survival.

27 Nov 2007

How can we know early who will benefit from tumor target therapy?

The precise tailoring of tumor target treatment for patients with cancer is an unmet challenge.

21 Nov 2007

Hormone norepinephrine may hasten the progression of certain blood cancers

Researchers here have shown that in cell cultures, the stress hormone norepinephrine appears to promote the biochemical signals that stimulate certain tumor cells to grow and spread.

20 Nov 2007

Avastin (bevacizumab) shows promise in phase II study of glioblastoma multiforme

Genentech, Inc. has announced that both study arms of a randomized, multi-center Phase II clinical study of Avastin (bevacizumab) administered alone or in combination with irinotecan chemotherapy demonstrated encouraging six-month progression-free survival (PFS) and objective response rate in patients with relapsed glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the most common and aggressive type of brain cancer.

19 Nov 2007

Diet low in carbohydrates may stunt prostate tumor growth

A diet low in carbohydrates may help stunt the growth of prostate tumors, according to a new study led by Duke Prostate Center researchers. The study, in mice, suggests that a reduction in insulin production possibly caused by fewer carbohydrates may stall tumor growth.

14 Nov 2007

Antibody might help starve cancerous tumors

An antibody might offer a safe and effective complement to anti-cancer therapies designed to starve malignant tumors by pruning the blood vessels that feed them, researchers report in the November 2 issue of the journal Cell, a publication of Cell Press.

2 Nov 2007