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Heat shock proteins are co-opted for cancer

A Jekyll-Hyde mechanism that both protects healthy cells and enables cancer cells could be the basis for new cancer-fighting drugs.

20 Sep 2007

Some cancer cells mimic stem cells to evade chemotherapy

Anti-cancer treatments often effectively shrink the size of tumors, but some might have an opposite effect, actually expanding the small population of cancer stem cells believed to drive the disease, according to findings presented in Atlanta, Georgia at the American Association for Cancer Research's second International Conference on Molecular Diagnostics in Cancer Therapeutic Development.

20 Sep 2007

DNA microarray chips improved therapy in some patients with incurable cancer

Like many oncologists, Eric P. Lester, M.D., was faced with a dilemma: seven patients with advanced, incurable cancer, an arsenal of drugs that may or may not help them, and not enough solid proof about treatment efficacy to guide him.

20 Sep 2007

Re-engineered human T cells effectively target and kill cancerous B cells

Human white blood cells, engineered to recognize other malignant immune cells, could provide a novel therapy for patients with highly lethal B cell cancers such as acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), according to researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC).

18 Sep 2007

Breakthrough in cardiovascular research

Cholesterol contributes to atherosclerosis - a condition that greatly increases the risk of heart attack and stroke - by suppressing the activity of a key protein that protects the heart and blood vessels, researchers at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine have found.

18 Sep 2007

Liver cancer marker could yield blood test for early detection

In the face of an emerging liver cancer crisis in Asia, researchers at the Chinese University of Hong Kong have developed a test that could help millions.

18 Sep 2007

Helix BioPharma awarded U.S. patent for adjunct chemotherapy applications

Helix BioPharma Corp. has announced the issuance of its second DOS47 patent (U.S. Patent # 7,264,800) from the United States Patent & Trademark Office, describing a method and composition for combining targeted DOS47 therapeutics with weakly basic chemotherapeutic drugs in adjunct treatment applications.

18 Sep 2007

Gene profiling can single out the worst cases of multiple myeloma and guide therapy

Multiple myeloma patients vary widely in how they respond to treatment, but now researchers at the Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences have identified a small subset of genes whose activity could predict high-risk cases and potentially guide therapy in the future.

18 Sep 2007

Black men do not have more aggressive prostate cancer

A University of Minnesota study of prostate cancer tumors from Caucasian and African-American men has shown no evidence that the cancer is more aggressive in black men.

18 Sep 2007

TFAP2C gene may be useful target for new breast cancer therapies

University of Iowa researchers have discovered a gene that plays a linchpin role in the ability of breast cancer cells to respond to estrogen.

17 Sep 2007

Dendritic cells turn T cells into T regs

Regulatory T cells (also known as T regs) suppress some of the immune system's more inappropriate responses, preventing it from attacking the body's own tissues and stifling its activity once invading microbes have been fought off.

17 Sep 2007

Study suggests brain tumors need treatment with multiple 'targeted' drugs

Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have shown that several, rather than just one, cell-growth switches are simultaneously overactive in many brain tumors and other solid tumors, explaining why treatment with just a single "targeted" switch-blocking drug often yields disappointing results.

13 Sep 2007

Platelets help white blood cells fight inflammation

Scientists have shown for the first time that platelets, the cells needed for blood clotting, help white blood cells called neutrophils fight inflammation.

13 Sep 2007

Positron emission tomography reliably identifies dangerous cervical tumors

It doesn't matter how small or large it is, if a cervical tumor glows brightly in a PET scan, it's apt to be more dangerous than dimmer tumors.

13 Sep 2007

RecA family recombinases repair DNA damages

A biochemistry research team led by Dr. Andrew H.-J. Wang and Dr. Ting-Fang Wang at the Institute of Biological Chemistry, Academia Sinica(IBCAS), has discovered that the RecA family recombinases function as a new type of rotary motor proteins to repair DNA damages.

13 Sep 2007

Insight into the role of cancer stem cells in cancer initiation, progression and metastasis

Scientists have identified a distinct subpopulation of cancer stem cells (CSCs) that is responsible for metastasis of a deadly human pancreatic cancer.

13 Sep 2007

New insight into breast cancer development in high-risk women

Physicians who treat women with the breast cancer susceptibility gene BRCA1 often remove their patients' ovaries to eliminate the source of estrogen they believe fuels cancer growth.

12 Sep 2007

Ultraconserved non-coding RNAs may be important in human cancer

Research here shows that an obscure form of RNA, part of the protein-making machinery in all cells, might play an important role in human cancer.

12 Sep 2007

Generic prostate drug finasteride helps find high-risk cancers early

Men now have another good reason to consider taking finasteride, a well-known generic drug that shrinks an enlarged prostate and reduces the risk of getting prostate cancer by 25 percent.

12 Sep 2007

Finasteride unlikely to induce high grade prostate cancers

An increase in high-grade prostate cancer among men taking the drug finasteride is likely caused by an increased detection of cancers, and not by the development of more high-grade cancers, according to two studies published online September 11 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

12 Sep 2007