Oncogenesis News and Research

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Identifying genetic factors that lead to squamous cell carcinoma

Skin cancer is on the rise in the United States. Squamous cell carcinoma, the second most common form of cancer in the U.S., has the highest mortality rate of all non-melanoma skin cancers. In roughly two to five percent of patients, the disease will metastasize and spread throughout the body, making it difficult to treat.

14 Jan 2019

Bacterial infections may contribute to far more cancers than previously thought, shows study

The Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine announced today the discovery that DnaK, a protein of the bacterium mycoplasma, interferes with the mycoplasma-infected cell's ability to respond to and repair DNA damage, a known origin of cancer.

5 Dec 2018

Study uncovers new mechanism controlling the master cancer regulator

Of the more than 23,000 genes in the human genome, only a handful assume a very central role in signal transduction and growth regulation. Of these, the three genes encoding RAS proteins are particularly important, as they are found mutated in over 25% of human cancers.

20 Nov 2018

Cellular environment affects type of tumor development

Liver cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Two different forms of primary liver cancer cover the majority of cases: About 10 to 20 percent of those affected develop a bile duct carcinoma within the liver (intrahepatic cholangiocellular carcinoma; ICC), the far higher proportion of liver cancers are hepatocellular carcinomas.

12 Sep 2018

ZHX2 protein could offer a new treatment strategy for kidney cancer

University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center scientists have uncovered a potential therapeutic target for kidney cancers that have a common genetic change.

20 Jul 2018

Scientists identify new potential target to combat acute myeloid leukemia

AML is not a single disease. It is a group of leukemias that develop in the bone marrow from progenitors of specialized blood cells, the so-called myeloid cells. Rapidly growing and dividing, these aberrant cells crowd the bone marrow and bloodstream, which can be fatal within weeks or months if the disease is left untreated.

18 May 2018

Researchers target telomerase for killing NRAS-mutant melanoma cells

Targeting telomerase was effective at killing NRAS-mutant melanoma cells, and the impact was further enhanced when the strategy was paired with an inhibitor of mitochondrial function, according to study results by The Wistar Institute published in Oncogene.

26 Apr 2018

Research reveals how mutant p53 enhances tumor metastasis

Scientists at The Wistar Institute have found a novel mechanism through which mutant p53 enhances metastasis by controlling tumor metabolism. The research, published online in Genes & Development, also revealed how this process is influenced by a naturally occurring p53 gene variant.

26 Feb 2018

Researchers use innovative method to screen kinases for cancer drug's effectiveness

In recent years, a powerful suite of drugs known as kinase inhibitors have been developed to treat cancer and other diseases. Primary targets of such drugs include a family of receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) which protrude from cell surfaces like antennae and can activate cancer-related pathways in virtually all types of cancer when signaling molecules bind with them.

5 Feb 2018

Study identifies slowly proliferating and highly invasive melanoma cells

A study conducted at The Wistar Institute has led to the identification of a slowly proliferating and highly invasive melanoma cell subpopulation, characterized by production of a protein associated with invasive behavior. The research was published in the journal Oncogene.

21 Sep 2017

Researchers propose new treatment strategy for colon cancer patients

Colorectal cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. In a new study, researchers demonstrate for the first time that a previously uncharacterized protein is increased in colon cancer. The protein is immunoglobulin containing proline rich receptor-1 (IGPR-1) which was recently identified in the same laboratory as a cell adhesion molecule.

20 Sep 2017

Researchers identify role of tumor-infiltrating B-cells in melanoma progression, resistance to therapy

In a multi-institutional collaborative study, scientists at The Wistar Institute and the Medical University of Vienna, Austria, have identified the role of tumor-infiltrating or tumor-associated B-cells ("TABs") in melanoma progression and resistance to targeted therapy.

20 Sep 2017

Research paves way for new drugs that may prevent tumor repopulation after radiation therapy

Whenever an organism is damaged, the cells surrounding the wound receive signals to proliferate more intensely so as to regenerate the injured tissue.

26 Aug 2017

Researchers describe mechanism linking HPV infection and cancer

Infection with human papillomavirus (HPV) is the primary cause of cervical cancer and a subset of head and neck cancers worldwide.

23 Aug 2017

Kinase-inactive BRAF mutation triggers lung adenocarcinoma development

The initiating oncogenic event in almost half of human lung adenocarcinomas is still unknown, a fact that complicates the development of selective targeted therapies.

2 Aug 2017

Scientist offers evidence to challenge mutation accumulation theory of oncogenesis

What causes cancer? Smoking, certainly, and also things like sun and chemical exposure. Cancer risk also increases with some genetic predispositions and in old age.

1 Aug 2017

New analysis compares emerging algorithms that look for cancer mutations

Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute has undertaken the first-ever comparative analysis of a newly emerging category of algorithms that mine genetic information in cancer databases by focusing on internal gene structure (subgene resolution algorithms), in contrast to classical approaches that focus on genes treated as single units.

17 Jul 2017

Scientists find link between p53 gene in African American women and breast cancer risk

Scientists at The Wistar Institute in collaboration with Roswell Park Cancer Institute found a significant association between a rare genetic variant of the p53 gene present in African American women and their risk of developing breast cancer in premenopausal age. The study was published online by the journal NPJ Breast Cancer.

27 Feb 2017

Sanford study explores protein's role in improving survival of ovarian cancer patients

A Sanford Research lab is studying a protein's role in improving survival in ovarian cancer patients. Findings published in Oncogenesis indicate a higher level of a specific protein correlates with an increased survival rate and decrease in the spreading of cancer cells.

21 Dec 2016

Experimental drug may become key tool to target triple-negative breast cancer with immunotherapy

Previous studies at the University of Colorado Cancer Center show that the experimental drug AMPI-109 potently kills triple-negative breast cancer cells.

30 Aug 2016