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.

Peptide-based nanoparticles can suppress pancreatic cancer growth without adverse effects

Despite advances in cancer survival, more than 90 percent of people with pancreatic cancer die within five years. Most patients with pancreatic tumors (and half of those with colorectal cancers) carry a mutation in the KRAS gene, which normally controls cell growth and death.

21 Oct 2019

Epigenetic changes can lead to development of GISTs, other cancers

Most cases of gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST), a type of soft-tissue cancer (sarcoma), are caused by mutations in genes that can be effectively targeted with drugs that inhibit the activity of rogue cancer-promoting enzymes.

16 Oct 2019

Researchers propose potential treatment for Ewing sarcomas

Ewing sarcoma is a bone cancer that appears mainly in teenagers. Due to a single defective gene, once it spreads to distant organs it is hard to treat. Researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science have discovered molecular interactions underlying Ewing sarcomas and proposed a potential treatment, which has shown promise in a study in mice.

2 Oct 2019

Study reveals molecular mechanism of cancer malignancy and development of leukemia

A Waseda University-led research uncovered the molecular mechanism of how a particular cancer-causing oncogene could trigger an onset of acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

30 Sep 2019

Version of an antibiotic drug extends survival in mice with lethal pediatric brain tumors

Versions of an antibiotic drug called DON first isolated from soil bacteria more than 60 years ago have shown promising signs of extending survival in mice models of especially lethal pediatric brain tumors marked by the high expression of a cancer-causing gene known as the MYC oncogene, according to results of two studies from researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center.

23 Sep 2019

Cancer disease incidence and severity influenced by gene mutation, tissue location

The KRAS gene is one of the commonly mutated genes in cancer. More than 40 percent of colorectal cancers have a mutated KRAS gene, or oncogene, that is at least partially responsible for cancer development.

12 Sep 2019

YCC scientists uncover key to help treat many forms of cancer

Yale Cancer Center (YCC) scientists have uncovered the workings of a metabolic pathway or "gauge" that lets cancer cells detect when they have enough nutrients around them to grow.

11 Sep 2019

Researchers develop new cocktail of drugs that shrink pancreatic tumors

Cancer is relentless and resilient. When a drug blocks a cancer cell's main survival pathway, the cell avoids the obstacle by taking different pathways or detours to save itself. This tactic is called "developing resistance," and it's one of the key challenges researchers face when seeking effective therapeutics to combat pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA).

9 Sep 2019

Researchers receive $2.5 million NIH grant to study role of artemin in oral cancer pain

Researchers at New York University Oral Cancer Center were awarded a $2.5 million grant (R01CA228525) from the National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, to study the role of artemin in oral cancer pain and growth.

5 Sep 2019

Researchers discover a molecule that regulates tumor development in different types of cancers

Researchers from the Josep Carreras Leukemia Research Institute, discover that a non-coding region of the genome originates a key molecule for the proliferation of tumors in breast cancer and some types of sarcoma.

5 Sep 2019

Genetically altering protein in colon cancer cells may enhance efficacy of chemotherapy

Colorectal cancer outcomes may improve by genetically altering an immune-regulatory protein in cancer cells, making the cells more vulnerable to chemotherapy. That's according to new Mayo Clinic research.

27 Aug 2019

Researchers decode chain of molecules critical for growth and survival of pancreatic cancer

Researchers at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center have decoded a chain of molecules that are critical for the growth and survival of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) - the most common and also the most lethal form of pancreatic cancer.

23 Aug 2019

Enzyme induced by stress associated with liver cancer growth

An enzyme induced by stress to help reduce production of damaging free radicals is also used by liver cancer to regulate two major cell proliferation pathways that enable the cancer to thrive, scientists report.

22 Aug 2019

Researchers turn to single-cell analysis to understand a pediatric brain tumor

Investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital, alongside others, have revealed the cells of origin for specific subtypes of medulloblastoma, the most common malignant pediatric brain tumor.

25 Jul 2019

Novel anticancer agents show promise to control tumor growth in nearly every cancer type

A gene called MYC has become one of the hottest targets for cancer researchers around the world. MYC is known to drive tumor growth in nearly all cancer types - but successfully targeting the gene has proven to be a challenge.

9 Jul 2019

Researchers discover novel cancer-promoting molecular mechanism

A novel cancer-promoting molecular mechanism has been discovered by Pierluigi Scalia, M.D., Ph.D., with his co-workers at the Sbarro Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine, Division of Biology, Temple University, the Department of Medical Biotechnologies at University of Siena, Italy and the Italian non-profit research organization ISOPROG, in collaboration with the Center of Biocomputational Sciences, part of the College of Science and Technology in Philadelphia.

8 Jul 2019

Study solves mysteries of complex microRNA oncogenes

MicroRNAs are tiny molecules of nucleic acid that control gene expression, acting like a dimmer switch to tone down gene output at key positions in the network of information that governs a cell's function.

28 Jun 2019

Protein linked to malignant melanoma

Almost 300,000 people worldwide develop malignant melanoma each year. The disease is the most serious form of skin cancer and the number of cases reported annually is increasing, making skin cancer one of Sweden's most common forms of cancer.

28 Jun 2019

Study finds new cancer driver which is fast, furious and loud

The Fast and the Furious movie franchise meets the Fast N' Loud television series to define an oncogene that drives 35% of prostate cancers.

27 Jun 2019

Heart failure drug could be effective in treating leukemia

Canadian researchers followed their intuition that a drug initially intended for heart failure could be effective in treating cancer. Those efforts have borne fruit, as demonstrated by their work published in the Journal of Experimental and Clinical Cancer Research.

13 Jun 2019