Liver Cancer News and Research

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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.

Interinvest acquires common shares of Amorfix Life Sciences

On August 16, 2010, Interinvest reported that it had acquired direction or control through open market purchases of a total of 4,862,550 common shares of Amorfix representing 10.0% of the issued and outstanding common shares. Dr. Hans Black, the Chairman of Interinvest is also a director of Amorfix. Both he and Mr. Michael R. Sonnenreich, also a director of Amorfix, hold common shares of Amorfix that are included in the 10.0% as they are held within Interinvest accounts.

17 Aug 2010

FDA grants Microsulis Medical 510(k) clearance for Acculis Accu2i percutaneous microwave tissue ablation system

Microsulis Medical Limited, the leading company in microwave technology for medical devices, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has provided the company 510(k) clearance to market the Acculis Accu2i percutaneous microwave tissue ablation (pMTA) system for the coagulation of soft tissue during surgical procedures.

16 Aug 2010

August is National Immunization and Cataract Awareness Month

Childhood immunizations keep our children safe from a number of serious diseases. This is a good time of year to make sure your child is up-to-date on all of his/her immunizations. Continue reading to find out which vaccines the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend for children 6 and under.

16 Aug 2010

Merlin protein controls adult cell activity to cause liver cancer

A protein known to be involved in a rare hereditary cancer syndrome may have a role in the regulation of liver stem cells and the development of liver cancer. In the August 15 issue of Genes & Development, a Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) research team describes finding that the protein called merlin, encoded by the NF2 (neurofibromatosis type 2) gene, controls the activity of adult stem cells that give rise to the two major types of liver cells.

13 Aug 2010

Amorfix first-quarter fiscal 2011 net loss from operations increases to $1,724,745

Amorfix Life Sciences, a product development company focused on misfolded protein diseases, today announced its operational and financial results for the three months ended June 30, 2010.

12 Aug 2010

Clinical cases that use IQQA-Liver for operative assessments exceed 1000: EDDA Technology

EDDA Technology announced today that the number of clinical cases evaluated for pre- and post- operative assessment using IQQA-Liver in hospitals has exceeded 1000 examinations, since the first commercial system installation in Q2 2009. EDDA's IQQA-Liver, now marketed worldwide, is a comprehensive workflow solution supporting modern multidisciplinary liver imaging evaluation and management.

12 Aug 2010

Vertex reports results from Phase 3 ILLUMINATE study of telaprevir-based therapy for hepatitis C

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated today announced results from the Phase 3 ILLUMINATE study, which was designed to evaluate whether there was any benefit to extending therapy from 24 to 48 weeks in people whose hepatitis C virus (HCV) was undetectable at weeks 4 and 12 of treatment (extended rapid viral response or eRVR).

10 Aug 2010

Anti-viral drug addition to standard treatment regimen increases cure rate for hepatitis C

Adding a direct acting anti-viral drug to the standard treatment regimen for hepatitis C significantly increases the cure rate in the most difficult to treat patients, according to a research report published Monday in the online edition of the journal The Lancet.The research team, led by Paul Kwo, M.D., of Indiana University School of Medicine, reported that adding the drug nearly doubled the treatment's effectiveness when given for 48 weeks in one treatment arm of the study.

9 Aug 2010

Merck's two pivotal boceprevir Phase III registration studies for chronic HCV meet primary endpoint

Merck reported that two pivotal Phase III registration studies for boceprevir, its investigational oral hepatitis C protease inhibitor, have been completed and met the primary endpoints: in both studies in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 1 infection, the addition of boceprevir to treatment with PEGINTRON® and REBETOL® significantly increased the number of patients who achieved sustained virologic response, compared to control groups that received Peg/riba plus placebo.

5 Aug 2010

Alnylam second-quarter revenues increase to $26.6 million

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading RNAi therapeutics company, today reported its consolidated financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2010, and company highlights.

5 Aug 2010

NCI panel recommends Celsion's Phase III ThermoDox HEAT Study as Priority Clinical Trial for HCC

Celsion Corporation announced today that the consensus recommendations of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Clinical Trials Planning Meeting (CTPM) for Hepatocellular Carcinoma have been released and published in the August 2010 issue of Journal of Clinical Oncology, the official publication of American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). In addition to evaluating the current standard of care, the NCI panel also recommended Celsion's Phase III ThermoDox ® HEAT Study as a Priority Clinical Trial for HCC.

4 Aug 2010

Celsion reports net loss of $2.6M for second-quarter 2010

Celsion Corporation, a biotechnology drug development company, today announced financial results for the second quarter and six months ended June 30, 2010 and addressed the progression of the clinical trials of ThermoDox, Celsion's heat activated liposomal encapsulation of doxorubicin. ThermoDox is currently being evaluated in the Phase III HEAT trial for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma and in a Phase I/II trial for patients with recurrent chest wall breast cancer.

3 Aug 2010

New trend in management of post-liver transplantation biliary strictures

Endoscopic intervention has emerged to become the first line treatment for benign biliary strictures following liver transplantation. The current endoscopic approach involves repetitive dilatation of the stricture and placement of multiple large-diameter parallel plastic stents with frequent stent exchange to prevent biliary infection.

3 Aug 2010

VBDS secondary to nevirapine use in HIV-positive, pregnant female: Report

Vanishing bile duct syndrome refers to a group of disorders characterized by destruction and disappearance of intrahepatic (inside the liver) bile ducts. Multiple causes have been identified including infections, malignancies, autoimmune conditions and adverse effects of medications. The usual course of this condition is variable and many patients with VBDS respond to treatment of the underlying condition and/ or removal of the offending agent. However, others progress to cirrhosis and end stage liver disease requiring liver transplantation.

31 Jul 2010

Exposure of mBM-MSCs to VPA increases hepatic differentiation

Recent studies suggest that MSCs possess a greater differentiation potential than once thought and several hepatic differentiation protocols from bone marrow cells have been established. However, the incidence of bone marrow-derived hepatocytes was low. Moreover, a long culture period is needed in most cases.

31 Jul 2010

Patients with malignant gastrointestinal disease show high prevalence of malnutrition

Malnutrition is an important factor, influencing both morbidity and recovery after surgery. The early detection of nutritional risk would allow early intervention, which may prevent later complications. A traditional nutritional assessment often includes dietary and medical evaluations to identify significant weight loss over time, significantly low or high body weight(BW), skinfold thickness, serum nutritional factor levels and functional measurements of muscle strength.

31 Jul 2010

Galangin mediates apoptosis of hepatocellular carcinoma cells through mitochondrial pathway: Study

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common cancers worldwide, particularly in China. However, HCC remains one of the more difficult cancers to treat. It is important to screen for new anti-cancer drugs. A number of dietary compounds possess anti-cancer properties. These dietary compounds may modify the activity of specific targets that control cell proliferation and apoptosis. Galangin could inhibit the methoxyresorufin O-demethylase activity of CYP1A2, CYP1A1 and P-form phenolsulfotransferase.

31 Jul 2010

CD74 can serve as prognostic marker for colorectal cancer

CD74 is a protein that is expressed in and on cells of the immune system, such as B lymphocytes and antigen presenting cells. This protein is known for its function in facilitating antigen presentation enabling the immune response. Additionally, Professor Shachar's lab has previously shown that CD74 serves as a survival receptor on cells of the immune system, and that its stimulation by its natural ligand -migration inhibitory factor (MIF)- prevents apoptosis (self destruction) of these cells. It was shown that CD74 is markedly expressed on numerous tumors - hematologic as well as epithelial, and can serve as a prognostic marker. CD74's expression and function on colon intestinal epithelial cells is controversial.

31 Jul 2010

Microsulis launches Acculis percutaneous microwave tissue ablation system at ECIO

Microsulis Medical Ltd (MML), the leading company in microwave technology for medical devices, has successfully launched the Acculis percutaneous microwave tissue ablation system, Accu2i pMTA, at the second European Conference on Interventional Oncology (ECIO) in Florence, Italy. A revolutionary new device for destroying tumours, the system is a 1.8mm diameter closed water-cooled needle, with performance matching the existing Acculis open surgery MTA system.

31 Jul 2010

Functional MRI can be used to assess tumor viability

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (the disease commonly referred to as pancreatic cancer) carries the worst prognosis of any cancer. As current treatments offer minimal benefit, entirely new approaches are needed. Given the success of local therapies, as opposed to intravenous systemic therapies, for liver diseases (such as hepatocellular carcinoma), it is thought that similar local therapies may benefit patients with pancreatic cancer. To develop such therapies, it would be useful to devise targets that are easy to obtain and can indicate the efficacy of these new therapies in models of pancreatic cancer.

31 Jul 2010

Liver Cancer News and Research

Further Reading

Interinvest acquires common shares of Amorfix Life Sciences

FDA grants Microsulis Medical 510(k) clearance for Acculis Accu2i percutaneous microwave tissue ablation system

August is National Immunization and Cataract Awareness Month

Merlin protein controls adult cell activity to cause liver cancer

Amorfix first-quarter fiscal 2011 net loss from operations increases to $1,724,745

Clinical cases that use IQQA-Liver for operative assessments exceed 1000: EDDA Technology

Vertex reports results from Phase 3 ILLUMINATE study of telaprevir-based therapy for hepatitis C

Anti-viral drug addition to standard treatment regimen increases cure rate for hepatitis C

Merck's two pivotal boceprevir Phase III registration studies for chronic HCV meet primary endpoint

Alnylam second-quarter revenues increase to $26.6 million

NCI panel recommends Celsion's Phase III ThermoDox HEAT Study as Priority Clinical Trial for HCC

Celsion reports net loss of $2.6M for second-quarter 2010

New trend in management of post-liver transplantation biliary strictures

VBDS secondary to nevirapine use in HIV-positive, pregnant female: Report

Exposure of mBM-MSCs to VPA increases hepatic differentiation

Patients with malignant gastrointestinal disease show high prevalence of malnutrition

Galangin mediates apoptosis of hepatocellular carcinoma cells through mitochondrial pathway: Study

CD74 can serve as prognostic marker for colorectal cancer

Microsulis launches Acculis percutaneous microwave tissue ablation system at ECIO

Functional MRI can be used to assess tumor viability

Industry Focus eBook - Cell biology (5th edition) eBook

Bringing real-time analytics to downstream bioprocess monitoring

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

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