Cancer News and Research

Latest Cancer News and Research

Role of inability to express emotions in cancer

A review published in the current issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics raises the issue of the role of the inability to express emotions in cancer. Several interesting hypotheses emerge such as a possible link between alexithymia and the immune system, between alexithymia and quality of life, or between alexithymia, anxiety and depression.

18 Apr 2012

Tumor size helps predict survival in node-negative breast cancer patients

Research from investigators at The Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ), UMDNJ-School of Public Health (SPH) and UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, indicates that tumor size stratified by age, race and hormone receptor status helps predict survival in node-negative breast cancer patients.

18 Apr 2012

New brain cancer vaccine with material from own tumors proves effective in clinical trial

A new brain cancer vaccine tailored to individual patients by using material from their own tumors has proven effective in a multicenter phase 2 clinical trial at extending their lives by several months or longer. The patients suffered from recurrent glioblastoma multiforme-which kills thousands of Americans every year.

18 Apr 2012

Idera commences IMO-3100 Phase 2 clinical trial for psoriasis

Idera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced the treatment of the first patient in a Phase 2 clinical trial of IMO-3100, the Company's lead Toll-like receptor (TLR) inhibitor for the treatment of autoimmune diseases, in patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis.

18 Apr 2012

High intensity focused ultrasound to treat prostate cancer shows initial success

A new tumor treatment that involves heating it with highly focused ultrasound, may mean men with prostate tumors can be treated without an overnight stay in hospital and avoiding the distressing side effects associated with current therapies.

17 Apr 2012

More insight into tangled proteins in Alzheimer's disease

In Alzheimer's disease, brain neurons become clogged with tangled proteins. Scientists suspect these tangles arise partly due to malfunctions in a little-known regulatory system within cells. Now, researchers have dramatically increased what they know about this particular regulatory system in mice. Such information will help scientists better understand Alzheimer's and other diseases in humans and could eventually provide new targets for therapies.

17 Apr 2012

Tumor microenvironment contributes critically to drug response

It should be possible to significantly improve the response of common cancers to existing "classical" chemotherapy drugs, say scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL), by introducing agents that alter the interaction of cancer cells with their immediate surroundings, called the tumor microenvironment.

17 Apr 2012

Caring for wife with breast cancer can affect men's health

Caring for a wife with breast cancer can have a measurable negative effect on men's health, even years after the cancer diagnosis and completion of treatment, according to recent research.

17 Apr 2012

ImmunoGen commences IMGN529 Phase I trial in NHL

ImmunoGen, Inc., a biotechnology company that develops anticancer therapeutics using its antibody expertise and Targeted Antibody Payload (TAP) technology, today announced the start of clinical testing with its IMGN529 product candidate.

17 Apr 2012

Individuals with low-quality genes may produce offspring with even more inferior chromosomes

Evolutionary biologists at the University of Toronto have found that individuals with low-quality genes may produce offspring with even more inferior chromosomes, possibly leading to the extinction of certain species over generations.

17 Apr 2012

New study describes therapeutic approach to halt cancer progression

A new study describes a therapeutic approach to halting cancer progression by exploiting a previously unrecognized "addiction" of leukemia cells to specific signaling molecules. The research, published by Cell Press online on April 16th in the journal Cancer Cell, identifies non-classical oncogenes critical for tumor development and survival, and describes a potentially less toxic strategy that selectively targets these molecules.

17 Apr 2012

MD Anderson to conduct 15th annual Sprint for Life event on May 5

Ovarian cancer survivors, their friends and families, local businesses, corporate teams and employees of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center will join forces May 5 at the 15th annual Sprint for Life 5K Run/Walk and Sprint for Sprouts Kids' Run. The approximately 3,000 participants will come together for a common cause: to build awareness of ovarian cancer and raise funds for research.

17 Apr 2012

Viewpoints: The missing debate on women; The true cost of care; Fair wages for home health aides

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention just reported that the nation's teen pregnancy rate is at an all-time low. Increased contraceptive use appears to have played a significant role in the decline. The Guttmacher Institute estimates that without Title X services, hundreds of thousands more teenagers would become pregnant every year. Why does GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney think eliminating the federal money for family planning - $327 million annually - is wise?

17 Apr 2012

Study: Kidney cancer growth depends on autophagy

New research at the University of Cincinnati (UC) suggests that kidney cancer growth depends on autophagy, a complex process that can provide cells with nutrients from intracellular sources. Researchers say in certain circumstances autophagy can protect tumor cells from chemotherapy, allowing them to survive for long periods of time in a hidden, dormant, metastatic state.

17 Apr 2012

Brainlab announces first patient procedures with Curve Image Guided Surgery at UCSF

Brainlab, a leader in software-driven medical technology, announced today the first patient procedures with Curve Image Guided Surgery at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Medical Center's Neuro-Oncology Clinic.

17 Apr 2012

UCSF scientists assemble high-value genetic resource to help researchers

One of the ultimate ways of understanding what impact any particular gene has in human health or disease is to disrupt it-knocking it down or wiping it out in a worm, fly or mouse and gauging what happens next. Now scientists at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Diabetes Center and the Gladstone Institute for Cardiovascular Disease have assembled a large publicly available resource to help researchers determine the importance of genes in mice and better gauge what roles they might play in disease.

17 Apr 2012

FDA grants 510(k) clearance for QIAGEN’s molecular detection PCR technology

QIAGEN N.V. today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted two 510(k) clearances for its real-time PCR (polymerase chain reaction) instrument Rotor-Gene Q MDx and a compatible test for the detection of Influenza A/B, the artus Infl A/B RG RT-PCR Kit, for in vitro diagnostic use.

From QIAGEN Manchester Limited 17 Apr 2012

Hydrophilic carbon cluster HADES can selectively kill brain cancer cells

Nanomedicine researchers at the Methodist Neurological Institute and Rice University have developed a way to selectively kill brain cancer cells by using a tiny syringe to deliver a combination of chemotherapy drugs directly into the cells. These findings will be published in the April 24 issue of the American Chemical Society journal ACS Nano.

17 Apr 2012

ThromboGenics resubmits ocriplasmin BLA with FDA to treat symptomatic VMA

ThromboGenics NV, a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing innovative ophthalmic medicines, today announced that it has resubmitted a Biologics License Application (BLA) with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for ocriplasmin intravitreal injection, 2.5 mg/mL, for the treatment of symptomatic Vitreomacular Adhesion (VMA) including macular hole.

17 Apr 2012

Two related enzymes play a key role in development of T-ALL

Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) scientists have demonstrated that two related enzymes - phosphoinositide-3 kinase (PI3K) gamma and delta - play a key role in the development of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL), a highly aggressive childhood leukemia that is difficult to treat.

17 Apr 2012