Malignant News and Research

RSS

Genetic test helps avoid needless thyroid surgery

US researchers report that a gene-based test may help to identify patients who have cytologically indeterminate thyroid nodules that are benign.

10 Jul 2012

Sox10 gene plays a central role in melanoma

Black skin cancer, also known as melanoma, is particularly aggressive and becoming increasingly common in Switzerland. Despite intensive research, however, there is still no treatment. Researchers from the University of Zurich have now discovered a gene that plays a central role in black skin cancer. Suppressing this gene in mice inhibits the development of melanoma and its proliferation - a discovery that could pave the way for new forms of therapy.

10 Jul 2012

MammaPrint more cost-effective and clinically-useful test than Oncotype DX

New research from University of the Sciences' Mayes College of Healthcare Business and Policy suggests that MammaPrint - a gene expression profiling (GEP) test used to identify whether women with early-stage breast cancer would benefit from chemotherapy - is the more cost-effective and clinically-useful test than the most frequently used GEP in practice in the United States today.

10 Jul 2012

Blocking a fundamental process deep within cancer cells can selectively kill them

Investigators reporting in the July issue of the Cell Press journal Cancer Cell have found that blocking a fundamental process deep within cancer cells can selectively kill them and spare normal cells.

10 Jul 2012

Cook Medical receives FDA clearance for Evolution Colonic Controlled-Release Stent

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Cook Medical 510(k) clearance for the Evolution Colonic Controlled-Release Stent, Cook announced today.

9 Jul 2012

Novel treatment for cancer based on protein from HIV-1 virus

Yissum, Research and Development Company of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, introduces a novel method for treating cancer based on Vif, a protein isolated from the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV-1). The method was invented by Professor Emeritus Moshe Kotler and Dr. Roni Nowarski from the Department of Immunology and Cancer Research at the Hebrew University.

9 Jul 2012

Bioengineers develop microfluidic platform to mechanically confine cancer cells

It's well known in conventional biology that during the process of mammalian cell division, or mitosis, a mother cell divides equally into two daughter cells. But when it comes to cancer, say UCLA researchers, mother cells may be far more prolific.

6 Jul 2012

MiR-125b downregulated in both aggressive and indolent forms of CLL

Loss of a particular microRNA in chronic lymphocytic leukemia shuts down normal cell metabolism and turns up alternative mechanisms that enable cancer cells to produce the energy and build the molecules they need to proliferate and invade neighboring tissue.

6 Jul 2012

Cells close to death from toxin exposure can survive when toxins are removed

The vast majority of cells that appear to be on a one-way track to death after exposure to toxins can bounce back completely after those toxins are removed, Johns Hopkins scientists report in a new study. The finding, published in the June 15 issue of Molecular Biology of the Cell, is not only a testament to the indomitable cellular spirit, but could also offer some practical insight on how to save dying tissues after heart attacks or strokes as well as prevent cancer in cells transiently exposed to toxins.

3 Jul 2012

Radiologists' efficiency can be improved using lung nodule matching program

An automated lung nodule matching program can improve radiologists' efficiency almost two-fold, a first of its kind study shows.

28 Jun 2012

New type of micromachine can penetrate tissue and overcome cellular barriers

Microscopically small submarines that can swim through our blood to clear out clogged arteries or destroy malignant tumors. This concept may sound utopian, but it isn’t. Various micro- and nanomachines have in fact already been developed.

27 Jun 2012

Study investigates how glucose metabolism affects biochemical signals in cancer cells

Compared to normal cells, cancer cells have a prodigious appetite for glucose, the result of a shift in cell metabolism known as aerobic glycolysis or the "Warburg effect." Researchers focusing on this effect as a possible target for cancer therapies have examined how biochemical signals present in cancer cells regulate the altered metabolic state.

27 Jun 2012

Greater awareness of MH and consequences of ryanodine receptor gene mutations

From the MHAUS President's Blog by MHAUS President, Henry Rosenberg, MD. A few months ago, I received a call from the MH Hotline who connected me to an anesthesiologist and OR team who were desperately trying to manage a Malignant Hyperthermia crisis.

26 Jun 2012

Skin patch treatment kills common skin cancer

A skin patch treatment for basal cell carcinoma effectively destroys facial tumors in most patients without the need for surgery or major radiation, researchers report.

25 Jun 2012

New test can identify low-risk thyroid nodules and reduce unnecessary surgeries

A new test can be used to identify low-risk thyroid nodules, reducing unnecessary surgeries for people with thyroid nodules that have indeterminate results after biopsy. The results of the multi-center trial, which includes researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, appear online in the New England Journal of Medicine.

25 Jun 2012

Afirma gene expression test can reduce unnecessary thyroid cancer surgeries

Veracyte, Inc., a molecular diagnostics company that is pioneering the emerging field of molecular cytology, today announced results from a large, prospective, multicenter study, which demonstrated the potential for the Afirma® Gene Expression Classifier, a gene expression test, to reduce the large number of unnecessary surgeries in thyroid cancer diagnosis by more than half.

25 Jun 2012

Deferasirox reduces elevated iron levels in patients with myelodysplastic syndrome

Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center and colleagues at six other institutions have recently tested a treatment for patients with myelodysplastic syndrome, or MDS, a blood-related malignancy that involves the ineffective production of blood cells, leaving patients anemic and in need of frequent blood transfusions. Because the body has no natural means to reduce iron that accumulates from repeated transfusions, patients' organs can become iron overloaded, leading to heart failure, liver injury, susceptibility to infection, and other complications.

23 Jun 2012

Researchers identify genes that cooperate in development of medulloblastoma

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital - Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project lifts lid on the most aggressive subtype of medulloblastoma and finds genes that cooperate in tumor development.

22 Jun 2012

Screening reduces colorectal cancer death not development risk

Screening for colorectal cancer by testing for fecal occult blood reduces the risk for death from this type of cancer, study results show.

20 Jun 2012

Researchers determine structure of MRN complex

Double-stranded breaks in cellular DNA can trigger tumorigenesis. Researchers from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich have now determined the structure of a protein involved in the repair and signaling of DNA double-strand breaks. The work throws new light on the origins of neurodegenerative diseases and certain tumor types.

20 Jun 2012