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Positive results from Alnylam's ALN-VSP Phase I trial for liver cancer

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading RNAi therapeutics company, announced today that it has completed its Phase I study with ALN-VSP, a systemically delivered RNAi therapeutic for the treatment of advanced solid tumors with liver involvement.

1 Aug 2011

Artificial nanoparticles have direct effect on heart rate and rhythm

Artificial nanoparticles are becoming increasingly pervasive in modern life. However, their influence on our health and the mechanisms by which they affect the human body remain largely shrouded in mystery.

1 Aug 2011

ORENCIA SC formulation receives FDA approval for treatment of adults with RA

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a subcutaneous formulation of ORENCIA (abatacept) for the treatment of adults with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis.

30 Jul 2011

Scientists discover gene pattern that distinguishes severe from less aggressive bone cancer

A new University of Minnesota discovery may help bone cancer patients fight their disease more effectively, according to new research published in the September issue of Bone.

29 Jul 2011

Studies reveal new set of mutations linked with head and neck cancer

Powerful new technologies that zoom in on the connections between human genes and diseases have illuminated the landscape of cancer, singling out changes in tumor DNA that drive the development of certain types of malignancies such as melanoma or ovarian cancer.

29 Jul 2011

NanoString introduces new assay for leukemia fusion gene analysis

NanoString Technologies, Inc., a privately held provider of life science tools for translational research and developer of molecular diagnostics, today announced the availability of a comprehensive multiplexed assay for the simple and cost-effective analysis of fusion genes linked to leukemia.

From NanoString Technologies 29 Jul 2011

'Systems biology' study of breast cancer

Using a "systems biology" approach - which focuses on understanding the complex relationships between biological systems - to look under the hood of an aggressive form of breast cancer, researchers for the first time have identified a set of proteins in the blood that change in abundance long before the cancer is clinically detectable.

29 Jul 2011

Introducing maspin protein into tumor nucleus can stop growth and spread of cancer

According to the Canadian Cancer Society, one in four Canadians will die of cancer. This year alone, the disease will kill an estimated 75,000 people. With incidence rates on the rise, more cancer patients are facing grave prognoses.

29 Jul 2011

Cigarette smoke exposure alters airway tissue in people with COPD

Cigarette smoke exposure fundamentally alters airway tissue from people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) at the cellular level, laying the groundwork for airway thickening and even precipitating precancerous changes in cell proliferation that may be self-perpetuating long after cigarette smoke exposure ends, according to Australian researchers.

28 Jul 2011

Scientists show how RET gene in breast cancer cells responds to estrogen

Using human breast cancer cells and the protein that causes fireflies to glow, a Johns Hopkins team has shed light on why some breast cancer cells become resistant to the anticancer effects of the drug tamoxifen. The key is a discovery of two genetic "dimmer switches" that apparently control how a breast cancer gene responds to the female hormone estrogen.

28 Jul 2011

Invadopodia could help survival of cancer cells

Delicate, threadlike protrusions used by cancer cells when they invade other tissues in the body could also help them escape control mechanisms supposed to eliminate them, a research group led by led by Bradley Davidson in the University of Arizona's department of molecular and cellular biology reports in Nature Cell Biology.

28 Jul 2011

Insect virus holds key to safer stem cell therapy: Singapore scientists

The future of regenerative medicine lies in harnessing the potential of the human body to renew and repair itself. Now, scientists at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN), the world's first bioengineering and nanotechnology research institute, have developed a new genetic engineering technique that promises safer stem cell therapy for cancer patients. Using an insect virus, the team of researchers successfully inserted a therapeutic gene into a safe site in the DNA of human embryonic stem cells without compromising the functionality of the engineered cells.

28 Jul 2011

Breast cancer survival and lymph nodes

A large new study has found that a lymph node-sparing test hailed as revolutionary for its conservative approach does not lead to longer survival times for women undergoing lumpectomies whose early-stage breast cancer has spread microscopically.

27 Jul 2011

No link between cell phone use and increased risk for brain cancer: European study

A new study that looked at cell phone users under the age of 20 found no link between cell phone use and an increased risk for brain cancer. Researchers from the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute in Basel, Switzerland, studied data collected in Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland.

27 Jul 2011

MR-guided focused ultrasound prior to radiation therapy could treat cancer

Hypoxic tumor cells usually resist radiation and chemotherapy, making them a key challenge in treating cancer. Researcher Xin Chen, Ph.D. believes that MR-guided focused ultrasound could reduce this problem, benefiting patients with malignant solid tumors in areas such as the liver, prostate and breast.

27 Jul 2011

Carcinogenesis is just another form of speciation, proposes new theory

Cancer patients may view their tumors as parasites taking over their bodies, but this is more than a metaphor for Peter Duesberg, a molecular and cell biology professor at the University of California, Berkeley.

27 Jul 2011

Women with early-stage breast cancer do not benefit from lymph node removal

A new study shows that removing lymph nodes due to the presence of occult, or microscopic, cancer cells found in the sentinel lymph node - the one closest to the tumor -- has no impact on survival outcomes of women with early-stage breast cancer.

27 Jul 2011

Study reveals several compounds that block cancer cell invasion

Metastasis-the spread of cancer from the place where it first started to another place in the body-is the most common reason that cancer treatments fail. To metastasize, some types of cancer cells rely on invadopodia, cellular membrane projections that act like feet, helping them "walk" away from the primary tumor and invade surrounding tissues.

27 Jul 2011

Lipid-based nanocarrier can improve cancer treatments

Scientists seeking to improve cancer treatments have created a tiny drug transporter that maximizes its ability to silence damaging genes by finding the equivalent of an expressway into a target cell.

27 Jul 2011

Racal differences in breast cancer survival: Study

Black women are more likely to die from breast cancer than white women with obesity considered a significant factor. But a new study shows that that the cause of the difference does not lie in obesity alone. As a group, black women in the U.S. tend to be heavier than whites and researchers had thought that might explain why only 78 percent survive five years after diagnosis, compared to 90 percent of white women.

26 Jul 2011