Hedgehog Signaling News and Research

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Phase I clinical trial data of GDC-0449 published in the New England Journal Of Medicine

Curis, Inc. (NASDAQ: CRIS), a drug development company focused on developing proprietary targeted medicines for cancer treatment, today announced that two publications describing clinical data generated with GDC-0449 were published in the current edition of The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).

3 Sep 2009

Study reports a potential new investigational therapy for skin cancer

A study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine reports a potential new investigational therapy for advanced and metastatic basal cell skin cancer tested at the Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center at Scottsdale Healthcare and other sites appears to demonstrate tumor shrinkage and limited side effects in patients.

3 Sep 2009

GDC-0449 inhibits the Hedgehog signaling pathway

The Hedgehog signaling pathway is involved in a preliminary study and case report describing positive responses to an experimental anticancer drug in a majority of people with advanced or metastatic basal cell skin cancers. One patient with the most common type of pediatric brain cancer, medulloblastoma, also showed tumor shrinkage.

3 Sep 2009

New therapy for advanced and metastatic basal cell skin cancer

3 Sep 2009

Scientists discover a new way for preventing liver metastases

Scientists in Switzerland have discovered a way to block the growth of human colon cancer cells, preventing the disease from reaching advanced stages and the development of liver metastases. The research, published today in EMBO Molecular Medicine, shows that blocking the so-called Hedgehog-GLI pathway can prevent the growth of tumours, metastatic lesions and cancer stem cells, the cells thought to lie at the root of cancer growth.

27 Aug 2009

Elevated levels of GLI1 protein linked to unfavorable prognosis and progressive stages in human breast cancer

Elevated levels of GLI1 (glioma-associated oncogene homolog 1) protein in human breast cancer are associated with unfavorable prognosis and progressive stages of disease. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Cancer found increased expression of GLI1 in samples taken from more advanced and less survivable tumors.

25 Aug 2009

Primary cilia can suppress or promote skin cancer

Tiny, solitary spikes that stick out of nearly every cell in the body play a central role in a type of skin cancer, new research has found. The discovery in mice shows that the microscopic structures known as primary cilia can either suppress or promote this skin cancer, depending on the mutation triggering the disease.

24 Aug 2009

Tiny filaments extending from cells may play a role in common malignant brain tumors

UCSF scientists have discovered that a tiny filament extending from cells, until recently regarded as a remnant of evolution, may play a role in the most common malignant brain tumor in children.

24 Aug 2009

Discovery of new molecular pathway for targeting cancer

A UCLA study has identified a way to turn off a key signaling pathway involved in physiological processes that can also stimulate the development of cancer and other diseases. The findings may lead to new treatments and targeted drugs using this approach.

20 Jul 2009

Scientists shed new light on why pancreatic cancer drugs can fail

Cancer Research UK scientists led an international team of investigators who have discovered a new mechanism that may explain why pancreatic cancer patients are often resistant to a common chemotherapy treatment called gemcitabine, according to a study published in Science.

22 May 2009

Study sheds light on inflammatory bowel disease

Scientists have uncovered vital clues about how to treat serious bowel disorders by studying the behaviour of cells in the colon.

8 Dec 2008

Researchers discover how Sonic hedgehog gene controls brain development

University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine researchers have discovered how the expression of the Sonic hedgehog gene is regulated during brain development and how mutations that alter this process cause brain malformations. The results appear online this month in Nature Genetics.

28 Oct 2008

New properties of skin stem cells

Recent research from the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet reveals completely new properties of the skin's stem cells - discoveries that contradict previous findings.

13 Oct 2008

Medulloblastoma in children - two studies find clues to treatment

Medulloblastoma is one of the most common and most malignant brain tumours among children and teenagers. These tumours grow very rapidly, and fifty percent of patients in the long term die from the condition. The details of the processes that lead to the growth of these tumours have remained unknown until now.

12 Aug 2008

Researchers identify molecular mechanism underlying a genetic brain malformation called holoprosencephaly

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists have identified one of the molecular mechanisms underlying the genetic brain malformation called holoprosencephaly (HPE).

11 Aug 2008

Medulloblastoma originates in normal brain "stem" cells that turn malignant

An aggressive childhood brain tumor known as medulloblastoma originates in normal brain "stem" cells that turn malignant when acted on by a known mutant, cancer-causing oncogene, say researchers from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).

11 Aug 2008

Hedgehog signaling is critical for maintenance of the adult coronary vasculature

A set of promising new anticancer agents could have unforeseen risks in individuals with heart disease, suggests research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

23 Jun 2008

Most comprehensive kinome collection

Scientists from University of Helsinki, Institute of Molecular Medicine in Finland and OriGene Technologies joined effort in creating the most comprehensive kinome collection of nearly all predicted human protein kinases, including the functional kinases and their kinase-deficient counterparts. Equipped with this collection, the authors successfully identified novel kinase regulators in Hedgehog signaling pathway and in activation of Karposi's Sarcoma herpesvirus.

5 May 2008

Cells lining milk ducts hold key to spread of ductal carcinoma in situ

When a form of cancer that begins in the milk ducts of the breast invades neighboring tissue to spread to other parts of the body, the cause lies not in the tumor cells themselves but in a group of abnormal surrounding cells that cause the walls of the duct to deteriorate like a rusty pipe, according to a new study led by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute researchers.

5 May 2008

Researchers report the cloning of a key group of human genes, the protein kinases

Although the human genome has been sequenced, research into mechanism of action of genes has been hampered by the fact that most human genes have not been isolated.

2 May 2008