Growth Factor News and Research

RSS

Scientists have uncovered a significant new link in the chain of immune system events through which estrogen prevents bone loss

Through research in mice, the scientists discovered that an immune signaling molecule called type b transforming growth factor (TGFb) is responsible for a cascade of events that leads estrogen to prevent bone loss.

29 Oct 2004

Radiotherapy with cetuximab significantly improves disease control and survival in head and neck cancer

Combination treatment using the monoclonal antibody cetuximab, along with high dose radiotherapy in the treatment of patients with loco-regionally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck results in significant improvements in both loco-regional control and overall survival, according to Dr Jordi Giralt of Val d'Hebron University Hospital.

26 Oct 2004

Potential new treatment strategy against metastatic cancer cells

A team of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has identified a potential treatment strategy against metastatic cancer cells that has never been tried before.

25 Oct 2004

FDA fast tracks Genaera's drug for the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration

Genaera Corporation has announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Fast Track designation to squalamine, an intravenously administered, first in class, small molecule anti-angiogenic drug for the treatment of "wet" age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

4 Oct 2004

Acne-like rash linked to effectiveness of new targeted cancer treatment – cetuximab

Acne is not a condition that anyone would welcome under normal circumstances, but an international study of a new targeted cancer treatment – cetuximab – has shown that patients who developed an acne-like rash responded better to the treatment than those who did not.

30 Sep 2004

Two types of thyroid cancer can be readily identified by differences in only a few genes

Two types of thyroid cancer that are closely related and sometimes difficult to distinguish can be readily identified by differences in only a few genes, new research shows.

29 Sep 2004

Researchers reveal potential new role for Glivec/Imatinib

Imatinib – or Glivec as it also known – looks as if it may become an effective treatment for yet another type of cancer.

28 Sep 2004

Discovery of key molecular step which allows cancer cells to move to different parts of the body

Researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have figured out a key molecular step by which a cancer cell can unhook itself from the mesh weave of other cancer cells in a tumor, and move away to a different part of the body - the process, known as metastasis, that makes cancer so dangerous.

27 Sep 2004

New link in the growth of Ewing’s sarcoma

To develop new therapeutic approaches to cancer, it is essential to understand the long and extremely complex process that underlies it, in other words the various stages of cancer development from the initial mutation to the tumor.

23 Sep 2004

New gene therapy technique may help treat Alzheimer's disease

Investigators at Rush University Medical Center have successfully initiated a new technique that uses gene therapy to deliver nerve growth factor into regions of the brain where neurons are degenerating, in order to prevent cell death and reverse cell atrophy, two hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease.

21 Sep 2004

HER-2 cell surface receptors tun on genes associated with carcinogenesis

Researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center now have evidence that receptors found on tumors that were believed to function only on the surface of cells can actually switch on genes inside a cell's nucleus, thus promoting cancer development in two distinct ways.

21 Sep 2004

New Australian biotech speeds up healing for burns and wounds

A Queensland PhD student’s discovery speeds up tissue growth and repair and sparks off a new listed biotech company.

20 Sep 2004

Drug combo may have a greater impact on cancer development

Cancer researchers have long suggested that new targeted drugs may work best when paired with other therapies. In a new study published today in Cancer Research, scientists have taken some of the first steps to demonstrate this synergy in mouse and cell line models.

16 Sep 2004

Researchers are making inroads to understanding what makes brain tumors so hard to treat

When he's not in the operating room performing surgery, Donald M. O'Rourke, M.D., Associate Professor of Neurosurgery at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine is fighting brain tumors from the research laboratory bench.

16 Sep 2004

New treatment for T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia

IL-7, a hormone-like protein involved in cell-cell interaction, has been associated with increased survival and expansion of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (T-ALL).

9 Sep 2004

Cancers, including colon, prostate, and leukemia, continue to grow unchecked

Many cancers, including colon, prostate, and leukemia, continue to grow unchecked because they do not respond to a signal to die and stop proliferating from Transforming Growth Factor-beta (TGF-b).

8 Sep 2004

Novel disease mechanism underlying rheumatoid arthritis

Investigators at the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (LA BioMed) have identified a novel disease mechanism underlying rheumatoid arthritis that may open the door to new therapies for this and other debilitating autoimmune disorders.

23 Aug 2004