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Nanoparticle drug delivery system for brain tumor therapy shows promise

A nanoparticle drug delivery system designed for brain tumor therapy has shown promising tumor cell selectivity in a novel cell culture model devised by University of Nottingham scientists.

24 Aug 2007

Potential new leukemia drug

In a new study, Danilo Perrotti and colleagues from Ohio State University, Columbus, show that treatment with a drug known as FTY720 prevents disease in a mouse model of many leukemias caused by the cancer protein BCR-ABL (nearly all cases of blast crisis chronic myeloid leukemia [CML-BC] and some cases of acute lymphocytic leukemia [ALL]).

24 Aug 2007

In the junk lies treasure when it comes to DNA

Three micro RNA genes appear to be key partners of protective gene p53; their loss is linked to common type of lung cancer

24 Aug 2007

Study looks at large burns

Large burns can trigger cardiac problems and enhanced inflammatory and hypermetabolic responses in patients, a study in the online open access journal Critical Care suggests.

24 Aug 2007

Rapamycin study is first stage in development of new treatment

Rapamycin isn't your ordinary potential anti-cancer drug…It had a long and somewhat exotic history before undergoing preclinical (laboratory-based) studies at St. Jude as part of a national Pediatric Preclinical Testing Program (PPTP) investigation of its anticancer activity.

23 Aug 2007

Cancer stem cell scientists get $1.7 million to develop new leukemia drugs

"Modern cancer treatments fail to get to the root of the cancer - the stem cells - which is why many cancers recur despite aggressive treatment."

23 Aug 2007

Cell-based sensor for analysis of EGFR biomarker expression in oral cancer

Using a microfluidic device designed to capture and enrich cells from biological samples, a research team at The University of Texas at Austin has developed a test that can detect an important early marker for oral squamous cell carcinoma, which accounts for more than 90 percent of oral cancers. Oral cancer is the sixth most common cancer worldwide and is difficult to detect early enough to treat successfully.

22 Aug 2007

Near-infrared resonant nanoshells for combined optical imaging and photothermal cancer therapy

Using metal nanoshells designed to both absorb and scatter near-infrared light, a team of investigators at Rice University has shown that such nanoparticles can both image and treat tumors in animals. Their experiments revealed complete tumor destruction in more than 80 percent of animals treated with these nanoshells.

22 Aug 2007

Nanotubes offer new approach to cancer radiotherapy

Radioactive elements, or radionuclides, are well-established anticancer agents whose main limitation is that they kill healthy cells almost as easily as they do tumors. But because nanoparticles can be targeted to tumors, researchers have seized on the idea of using nanoparticles to deliver radionuclides to tumors, thus sparing healthy tissues from radiation-induced damage.

22 Aug 2007

Multifunctional nanoparticles for combining ultrasonic tumor imaging and targeted chemotherapy

A new targeted drug delivery method, which combines two nanoparticles into one larger one, uses ultrasound to image tumors and release the anticancer drug doxorubicin from "nanobubbles" into the same tumors.

22 Aug 2007

Targeted quantum dot conjugates for siRNA delivery

Take a quantum dot, add a coating of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG), and attach a homing peptide and a piece of small interfering RNA (siRNA), and the result is a targeted nanoparticle that can stop the production of a specific protein by a targeted cell.

22 Aug 2007

Cranberries, chemo and ovarian cancer

Compounds in cranberries may help improve the effectiveness of platinum drugs that are used in chemotherapy to fight ovarian cancer, researchers have found in a laboratory study that will be reported at the 234 th national meeting of the American Chemical Society.

22 Aug 2007

Tumors use enzyme to recruit regulatory T-cells and suppress immune response

One way tumors fly under the radar of the immune system is by using IDO, an enzyme used by fetuses to help avoid rejection, to recruit powerful regulatory T cells that turn down the immune response, researchers say.

17 Aug 2007

We need to treat cancer like an infectious disease

Among the many medical miracles produced by science over the years, vaccines and antibiotics have undoubtedly saved the most lives.

17 Aug 2007

Drug topotecan shows promise against Wilms tumor

St. Jude researchers have shown that the drug topotecan holds promise as a treatment for the recurrent form of a kidney cancer called Wilms tumor, a solid tumor of the kidney that arises from immature kidney cells, and the fifth most common tumor among children.

17 Aug 2007

Reactivating a critical gene lost in kidney cancer reduces tumor growth

Researchers at Mayo Clinic Jacksonville, have found that a key gene is often silenced in clear cell renal cell carcinoma, the most common type of kidney cancer, and when they restored that gene in human kidney cancer cells in culture and animal experiments, tumors stopped growing and many disappeared.

17 Aug 2007

Prophylactic cranial irradiation in small cell lung cancer significantly increases survival

Prophylactic cranial irradiation after chemotherapy significantly reduces the risk of brain metastasis and doubles one-year survival in small-cell lung cancer (SCLC), according to the results of the multicenter phase III randomized EORTC trial 08993-22993, published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

17 Aug 2007