Liver Cancer News and Research

RSS

Liver cancer is more common in older people. Over half of people newly diagnosed with liver cancer are age 65 and over. Liver cancer is more common in men than in women. Liver cancer rates are highest among Asians and Pacific Islanders, most likely because of higher prevalence of viral Hepatitis infection. Liver cancer rates are lower among whites than Blacks or Asians and Pacific Islanders. At this time, we do not know exactly what causes cancer of the liver. There are several different types of liver cancer. The most common type is associated with long-term excessive alcoholic beverage use, scarring of the liver (cirrhosis), and Hepatitis B virus or Hepatitis C virus infection. Long-term use of anabolic steroids can also increase the risk of getting liver cancer. Smoking is also believed to increase the risk of getting liver cancer.

BioAlliance Pharma, Vestiq enter license agreement for Oravig to treat oropharyngeal candidiasis

BioAlliance Pharma SA, an innovative Company dedicated to the development of orphan oncology products and to supportive care products, announces it has signed a binding term sheet with Vestiq for the commercialization rights in the United States of Oravig (known as Loramyc in Europe) for the treatment of oropharyngeal candidiasis in adults.

20 Jul 2012

High vitamin E intake associated with reduced risk of liver cancer

High consumption of vitamin E either from diet or vitamin supplements may lower the risk of liver cancer, according to a study published July 17 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

19 Jul 2012

Silymarin does not provide greater benefit for patients with chronic HCV infection

Use of the botanical product silymarin, an extract of milk thistle that is commonly used by some patients with chronic liver disease, did not provide greater benefit than placebo for patients with treatment-resistant chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, according to a study in the July 18 issue of JAMA.

18 Jul 2012

Activating NOTCH and AKT gene may trigger cholangiocarcinoma

A rare type of cancer thought to derive from cells in the bile ducts of the liver may actually develop when one type of liver cell morphs into a totally different type, a process scientists used to consider all but impossible. UCSF researchers triggered this kind of cellular transformation-and caused tumors to form in mice-by activating just two genes.

17 Jul 2012

Hepatitis C levels higher among males and African Americans

Epidemiologists have determined that levels of hepatitis C virus (HCV) found among injection drug users (IDUs) were higher in individuals who are male or African American even after differences in other factors were considered.

10 Jul 2012

Scientists develop novel anticancer drug designed to travel through the bloodstream

Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, working with Danish researchers, have developed a novel anticancer drug designed to travel -- undetected by normal cells -- through the bloodstream until activated by specific cancer proteins.

10 Jul 2012

Mouse model demonstrates role of AEG-1 in hepatocellular carcinoma

Researchers have created the first mouse model demonstrating the role of a cancer promoting gene, Astrocyte elevated gene-1 (AEG-1), in hepatocellular carcinoma, or liver cancer. The mouse model represents a critical step in understanding the molecular mechanisms of liver cancer progression and could lead to novel therapies for the disease.

8 Jul 2012

UTHealth professor receives ACS grant to improve care and QOL for people with liver cancer

Curtis Wray, M.D., an assistant professor of surgery at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) Medical School, has been awarded a grant from the American Cancer Society to find ways to improve the care and quality of life for people with liver cancer. Liver cancer is the sixth most common type of cancer in the world and about 750,000 new cases were diagnosed in 2008.

4 Jul 2012

Scientists develop new animal model to study nonalcoholic steatohepatitis

Scientists at Texas Biomed have developed the laboratory opossum as a new animal model to study the most common liver disease in the nation - afflicting up to 15 million Americans - and for which there is no cure.

4 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

DKK1 boosts liver cancer diagnostic options

Measurement of the protein Dickkopf-1 in serum could be used to diagnose hepatocellular carcinoma, especially early disease, Chinese researchers report.

2 Jul 2012

New volumetric functional MRI scan figures out beneficiaries of chemotherapy in liver cancer patients

Studies on some 55 U.S. men and women with potentially deadly liver or pancreatic cancers show that specialized MRI scans can tell within a month whether highly toxic chemotherapy is working and killing tumor cells long before tumors actually shrink - or fail to shrink.

2 Jul 2012

Second potential immune checkpoint target for cancer immunotherapy announced by Compugen

Compugen Ltd. (NASDAQ: CGEN) announced today results demonstrating the therapeutic potential of CGEN-15022, a Compugen-discovered B7/CD28-like membrane protein, as an immune checkpoint target for treatment of multiple cancers.

27 Jun 2012

MRI scans determine whether chemotherapy is working long before tumors shrink

26 Jun 2012

Cancer survivors benefit from healthy lifestyle

Australia’s first community-based Cancer Survivors Centre, which is based at the University of New South Wales, has joined the Dry July campaign in a bid to pinpoint the vital role a healthy lifestyle plays in fending off cancer and the after-effects of the disease.

26 Jun 2012

IU gastroenterologist develops first guidelines for diagnosis and management of NAFLD

An Indiana University School of Medicine gastroenterologist led a team of distinguished physicians who developed the first guidelines for diagnosis and management of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

22 Jun 2012

Rapid test to identify patients not responding to painkiller tramadol

French researchers have found a way to identify quickly the 5-10% of patients in whom the commonly used painkiller, tramadol, does not work effectively. A simple blood test can produce a result within a few hours, enabling doctors to switch a non-responding patient on to another painkiller, such as morphine, which will be able to work in these patients.

11 Jun 2012

Simple blood test can quickly identify 'poor metabolisers'

11 Jun 2012

Piramal to present data on several molecular imaging compounds at SNM annual meeting

Piramal Imaging SA, a subsidiary of Piramal Healthcare Limited, will present data on several compounds from its molecular imaging portfolio at the Society of Nuclear Medicine's 59th annual meeting in Miami Beach, Fla., from June 9 - 13.

10 Jun 2012

Jennerex announces data from JX-594 clinical studies on cancer

Jennerex, Inc., a private clinical-stage biotherapeutics company focused on the development and commercialization of first-in-class targeted oncolytic virus products for cancer, today announced that data relating to the company's oncolytic virus therapy for cancer was featured in three separate abstracts during the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting currently taking place in Chicago, Illinois.

5 Jun 2012