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Scientists identify origins of anaplastic large cell lymphoma

Anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) is a very aggressive cancer of the blood, which usually occurs as a tumour in lymph nodes, the skin, the lungs, the liver, and in soft tissue, and mainly affects children and young adults.

18 Jan 2016

Selenium supplementation may have positive and negative effects on immune system

A more thorough evaluation of selenium supplementation is needed, to better understand its benefits to our immune system, and the risks.

13 Jan 2016

Cornell researchers identify potent cancer-killing proteins that can kill tumors in bloodstream

Cornell researchers have discovered potent cancer-killing proteins that can travel by white blood cells to kill tumors in the bloodstream of mice with metastatic prostate cancer. The breakthrough study will be published Feb. 10 as the cover article in the Journal of Controlled Release.

13 Jan 2016

Novel anti-inflammatory agents could control hyper-inflammatory responses to fungal infection

The most frequent fungal threat to humans, Candida albicans, is a common cause oral and genital infection. The fungal infections are often worsened by overwhelming inflammatory responses in the body and cause high mortality among risk groups. Umeå University doctoral student Ava Hosseinzadeh has discovered two novel anti-inflammatory agents, an antioxidant and an anti-inflammatory molecule, which could be used to control the hyper-inflammatory responses to the fungal infection.

12 Jan 2016

Low-oxygen exposure shortly after birth may increase learning and behavioral disorder risks

New research published in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology, shows that the development of white matter in the mouse brains is delayed when they are exposed to chronic low oxygen levels shortly after birth.

7 Jan 2016

New TAU study offers tangible hope of curing Mantle Cell Lymphoma

With a median survival rate of just five to seven years, Mantle Cell Lymphoma (MCL) is considered the most aggressive known blood cancer -- and available therapies are scarce. Three thousand Americans are diagnosed with MCL every year, and despite progress in personalized therapies to treat metastases elsewhere in the body, systemic therapeutic drug delivery to cancerous blood cells continues to challenge the world of cancer research.

6 Jan 2016

New oral breast cancer drug has potential to combat other types of cancer

Palbociclib, a new oral drug whose efficacy in combating breast cancer has been demonstrated alone and in combination with endocrine therapy, also has potential to combat other types of cancer, according to a literature review and additional original research conducted by experts at the Abramson Cancer Center in the University of Pennsylvania published this month in JAMA Oncology.

30 Dec 2015

Lower levels of antibodies in saliva linked to increased risk of mortality

New research from the University of Birmingham has found that lower levels of antibodies in saliva are associated with of an elevated risk of mortality, and could be an early indicator of risk.

24 Dec 2015

Shells of plant virus trigger immune system to wipe out tumors, provide protection against metastases

The shells of a common plant virus, inhaled into a lung tumor or injected into ovarian, colon or breast tumors, not only triggered the immune system in mice to wipe out the tumors, but provided systemic protection against metastases, researchers from Case Western Reserve University and Dartmouth University report.

23 Dec 2015

Large doses of vitamin A reduce severity of gastrointestinal disease in mice

After observing that some gastrointestinal disease in premature human and mouse infants progresses only when certain immune system white blood cells go into inflammatory overdrive, Johns Hopkins researchers have found that giving large doses of vitamin A to mice converts those blood cells into inflammation suppressors and reduces the severity of the disease, compared to untreated mice.

22 Dec 2015

Small airway-on-a-chip enables analysis of human COPD and asthma

A research team at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University leveraged its organ-on-a-chip technology to develop a model of the human small airway in which lung inflammatory diseases, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the third leading cause of mortality worldwide, and asthma can be studied outside the human body.

22 Dec 2015

Novel drug candidate prevents nerve cell damage in mouse model of Parkinson's disease

A team of scientists at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) and Longevity Biotech, Inc., has demonstrated that neuroprotection could be attained in preclinical models by a novel drug candidate that changes immune responses.

18 Dec 2015

Candidiasis needs to be treated early, aggressively to help vulnerable hospitalized patients

One of the most common causes of healthcare-associated infections, candidiasis is a serious, life-threatening fungal infection that needs to be treated early, aggressively and appropriately, note updated guidelines released by the Infectious Diseases Society of America and published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

17 Dec 2015

U of T researchers find another clue in understanding the cause of MS

Researchers at the University of Toronto have found another clue in understanding the cause of what drives Multiple Sclerosis (MS) disease. Their findings were published today in Immunity.

16 Dec 2015

Researchers discover novel way to enhance, restore cancer suppressor activity in B-ALL

Researchers at Penn State College of Medicine, working with Chinese and American colleagues, have discovered a novel way to enhance and restore cancer suppressor activity in B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, resulting in better outcomes in a pre-clinical model of the disease. The finding could pave the way for a new class of drugs for this and other forms of leukemia.

15 Dec 2015

Medication holds promise for protecting fertility and the body's defense system during chemotherapy

While targeted cancer treatments have reduced side effects and improved efficacy, chemotherapy remains the backbone of combination therapies for many forms of cancer. Unfortunately, cancer patients may suffer from several side effects from chemotherapy, including infertility and a weakened defense system that makes them susceptible to life-threatening infections.

15 Dec 2015

Irradiated white blood cells release substances that have positive effect upon tissue repair

Hendrik Jan Ankersmit's research group at the Clinical Department of Thoracic Surgery of MedUni Vienna has successfully shown that irradiated white blood cells release substances that reduce the severity of the damage caused by a heart attack or stroke and in spinal injuries and have a positive effect upon tissue repair. However, up until now it wasn't known exactly which particular substances were responsible for these beneficial effects. This has now been discovered.

14 Dec 2015

Innovative Phase II trial evaluates effectiveness of diabetes medication for lymphoma

Cancer, it could be said, grows like a weed: rapidly, invasively, and with devastating impact on the place it infests. Also like a weed, cancer can't grow on its own — it needs nourishment, which it drains from the human body, just as weeds take nutrients in the soil away from other plants.

13 Dec 2015

TET proteins needed to maintain genome instability, say researchers

Members of the TET (short for ten-eleven translocation) family have been known to function as tumor suppressors for many years, but how they keep a lid on the uncontrolled cell proliferation of cancer cells had remained uncertain. Now, researchers at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology demonstrate that TET proteins collectively constitute a major class of tumor suppressors and are required to maintain genome instability.

9 Dec 2015

Palbociclib and paclitaxel combination shrinks tumors in patient with ER positive breast cancer

Combining the new breast cancer drug palbociclib with paclitaxel (Taxol) shrank tumors in nearly half of patient with estrogen-receptor (ER) positive breast cancer, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.