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Novel genetic datashare initiative launched to improve detection of inherited breast and ovarian cancers

Quest Diagnostics, the world’s leading provider of diagnostic information services, and Inserm, the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research institution, today launched BRCA Share, a novel datashare initiative they co-founded to provide scientists and laboratory organizations around the world with open access to BRCA1 and BRCA2 genetic data.

From Quest Diagnostics 22 Apr 2015

Smoking and genetics can increase women's likelihood of giving birth to twins

African American mothers who smoke and have a genetic profile that includes a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of the TP53 gene have an increased likelihood of having twins, concluded a team of researchers from the University of South Florida and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

21 Apr 2015

Study explores artemisinin resistance in Plasmodium falciparum malaria

According to the World Health Organization's 2014 World Malaria Report, there are an estimated 198 million cases of malaria worldwide with 3.3 billion people at risk for contracting the infection. Although the impact of malaria is still significant, the statistics reflect a considerable reduction in the global malaria burden. Since 2010, disease transmission has been reduced by 30 percent and mortality due to malaria has decreased by almost half.

21 Apr 2015

Study opens door to new treatment for hard-to-treat asthmatic children

Researchers have identified a biological basis for asthmatic children who do not respond well to corticosteroid treatment – currently the most effective treatment for chronic asthma and acute asthma attack.

21 Apr 2015

Prenatal antidepressant exposure increases anxiety symptoms

Three-year-old siblings exposed to antidepressants in pregnancy show increased anxiety symptoms compared to their unexposed siblings.

21 Apr 2015

New collaboration brings comprehensive genomic profiling to UC Davis

The UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine have entered into a collaboration with Foundation Medicine, a leading molecular information company. The collaboration brings comprehensive genomic profiling into standard of care at UC Davis, allowing physicians to prescribe the most effective, targeted cancer treatments to patients based on the genomic information specific to each individual's cancer.

21 Apr 2015

TERT gene alterations co-occur with frequently altered bladder cancer genes

In results presented today at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2015, a collaborative study by the University of Colorado Cancer Center and the National Cancer Institute reports that the TERT gene promoter was altered in 69 percent of 54 cases of bladder cancer due to variants that occur after birth (called "somatic") and in 56 percent of bladder cancers due to inherited variants (called "germline").

21 Apr 2015

Global changes in cancer cells' epigenome may determine disease progression

Genomic studies have illuminated the ways in which malfunctioning genes can drive cancer growth while stunting the therapeutic effects of chemotherapy and other treatments. But new findings from Weill Cornell Medical College investigators indicate that these genes are only partly to blame for why treatment that was at one point effective ultimately fails for about 40 percent of patients diagnosed with the most common form of non-Hodgkin Lymphoma.

21 Apr 2015

Researchers discover molecular mechanism that links breast tissue stiffness to tumor metastasis

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center have discovered a molecular mechanism that connects breast tissue stiffness to tumor metastasis and poor prognosis. The study, published April 20 in Nature Cell Biology, may inspire new approaches to predicting patient outcomes and halting tumor metastasis.

21 Apr 2015

New Dream Team dedicated to ovarian cancer research formed at AACR Annual Meeting 2015

Stand Up To Cancer, Ovarian Cancer Research Fund, Ovarian Cancer National Alliance, and National Ovarian Cancer Coalition, along with the American Association for Cancer Research, Scientific Partner to SU2C, announced today the formation of a Dream Team devoted to ovarian cancer research at the AACR Annual Meeting 2015, held here April 18-22.

21 Apr 2015

Myc cancer gene allows tumor cells to divide, provokes cell suicide process

Myc cancer gene empowers tumor cells to relentlessly divide but simultaneously, provokes a cell suicide process called apoptosis. Myc controls cells by commanding the expression of every tenth of the genes in the nucleus of a tumor cell. However, in spite of more than two decades of intense research, no Myc motivated killer genes have been found.

21 Apr 2015

New UM SOM study reveals why thiazide drugs not effective in some patients

Every year, more than 120 million prescriptions are written worldwide for thiazide drugs, a group of salt-lowering medicines used to treat high blood pressure. These drugs are often work very well, and over decades have saved hundreds of thousands of lives.

21 Apr 2015

Research explores new, personalized ovarian cancer treatments

Identifying molecular changes that occur in tissue after chemotherapy could be crucial in advancing treatments for ovarian cancer, according to research from Magee-Womens Research Institute and Foundation and the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, partner with UPMC CancerCenter, presented today at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2015.

20 Apr 2015

Maple syrup makes disease-causing bacteria more susceptible to antibiotics, study shows

A concentrated extract of maple syrup makes disease-causing bacteria more susceptible to antibiotics, according to laboratory experiments by researchers at McGill University.

17 Apr 2015

Genetic study may help identify novel targets for treatment of high blood pressure

A genetic investigation of individuals in the Framingham Heart Study may prove useful to identify novel targets for the prevention or treatment of high blood pressure. The study, which takes a close look at networks of blood pressure-related genes, is published in the journal Molecular Systems Biology.

17 Apr 2015

Donald S. Coffey to receive Margaret Foti Award at AACR Annual Meeting 2015

Donald S. Coffey, PhD, will be honored with the ninth annual American Association for Cancer Research Margaret Foti Award for Leadership and Extraordinary Achievements in Cancer Research at the AACR Annual Meeting 2015, to be held in Philadelphia, April 18-22.

17 Apr 2015

Obesity in African-American men increases prostate cancer risk

Obesity has a profoundly different effect on prostate cancer risk in African-American as compared to non-Hispanic white men. Obesity in black men substantially increases the risk of low- and high-grade prostate cancer, while obesity in white men moderately reduces the risk of low-grade cancer and only slightly increases the risk of high-grade cancer, according to the first large, prospective study to examine how race and obesity jointly affect prostate cancer risk.

16 Apr 2015

Patterns of DNA anomalies can predict outcomes in women with ovarian cancer

Nearly anyone touched by ovarian cancer will tell you: it's devastating. It's bad enough that cancer in almost 80 percent of patients reaches advanced stages before diagnosis, and that most patients are expected to die within five years. But just as painfully, roughly one quarter of women diagnosed have no warning that they are resistant to platinum-based chemotherapy, the main line of defense, nor that they will likely have 18 months to live.

16 Apr 2015

Researchers examine how probiotics can help improve health, prevent disease

In recent years, research into the benefits of gut bacteria has exploded. Scientists across the globe are examining how these microbes can help improve health and prevent disease.

16 Apr 2015

Women with ovarian cancer need to be tested for BRCA genes

The genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 play a significant role in hereditary breast and ovarian cancers. Recent media attention has focused on American actress Angelina Jolie's decision to have her ovaries and fallopian tubes surgically removed after genetic testing for such cancers.

16 Apr 2015