Cancer News and Research

Latest Cancer News and Research

Study reveals new guiding principles for cancer genomics

That our chromosomes can break and reshuffle pieces of themselves is nothing new; scientists have recognized this for decades, especially in cancer cells. The rules for where chromosomes are likely to break and how the broken pieces come together are only just now starting to come into view.

17 Feb 2012

New potential strategy for KRAS-mutant colon cancers

Researchers from the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Cancer Center have identified a new potential strategy for treating colon tumors driven by mutations in the KRAS gene, which usually resist both conventional and targeted treatments.

17 Feb 2012

Study describes how multiple RNA binding proteins cooperatively control genetic splicing code

Understanding how RNA binding proteins control the genetic splicing code is fundamental to human biology and disease - much like editing film can change a movie scene. Abnormal variations in splicing are often implicated in cancer and genetic neurodegenerative disorders.

17 Feb 2012

LUMC named one of the nation's top hospitals in cancer treatment

Loyola University Medical Center has been named one of the nation's top hospitals in cancer research, prevention, treatment and education by Becker's Hospital Review.

17 Feb 2012

Web-based intervention can effectively manage chronic migraine

painACTION.com is a free, non-promotional online program designed to support self-management and improve overall function in people with chronic pain. This study tested painACTION.com's ability to increase the use of self-management skills in people with chronic migraine headaches.

17 Feb 2012

Four new drugs can extend survival and prognosis of prostate cancer

After a decade and a half of near stagnation, four new drugs could help make advanced prostate cancer a chronic illness instead of a terminal disease, a leading Colorado prostate cancer expert says.

17 Feb 2012

New process can transform discarded human fat into soft-tissue substitute

A new process for transforming discarded human fat into a soft-tissue substitute for use in reconstructive surgery is laying the groundwork for creating an Ontario-based regenerative medicine initiative focused on developing products for reconstructive and cosmetic surgery.

17 Feb 2012

Nordion celebrates first anniversary of market launch of TheraSphere

Nordion Inc., a leading provider of products and services to the global health science market, today celebrated the first anniversary of the market introduction of TheraSphere, an innovative radioembolic liver cancer therapy, in the Republic of Turkey.

17 Feb 2012

Shortage looming, drug maker agrees to release emergency supplies of kids' cancer drug

A shortage of a drug used to treat children's cancer seems to have been averted for a time as the Food and Drug Administration says it reached an agreement with the drug supplier to release emergency supplies. Elsewhere, rules sometimes force hospitals to throw away scarce drugs.

17 Feb 2012

Study details how breast tumors may flip TGF-beta signalling switch

Signals can tell cells to act cancerous, surviving, growing and reproducing out of control. And signals can also tell cells with cancerous characteristics to stop growing or to die. In breast cancer, one tricky signal called TGF-beta does both - sometimes promoting tumors and sometimes suppressing them.

17 Feb 2012

Study: 3D organization of chromosomes plays a role in cancer genomics

It is well understood that chromosomal translocation - a process whereby pieces of two chromosomes break off and exchange places - is a hallmark of many cancers including leukemia, thyroid cancer and lymphoma and play an important part in how healthy cells become cancerous. The role spatial proximity plays in why certain chromosomal translocations happen repeatedly, however, has been a long-standing area of debate among scientists.

17 Feb 2012

Researchers sequence genome of Tasmanian devil contagious cancer

Researchers have sequenced the genome of a contagious cancer that is threatening the Tasmanian devil, the world's largest carnivorous marsupial, with extinction. Cataloguing the mutations present in the cancer has led to clues about where the cancer came from and how it became contagious.

17 Feb 2012

Scientists create first 3-D living tissue model of glioma

Brown University scientists have created the first three-dimensional living tissue model, complete with surrounding blood vessels, to analyze the effectiveness of therapeutics to combat brain tumors. The 3-D model gives medical researchers more and better information than Petri dish tissue cultures.

17 Feb 2012

New transfection method changes genetic material of cancer cells

Researchers at Polytechnique Montr-al have succeeded in changing the genetic material of cancer cells using a brand-new transfection method. This major breakthrough in nanosurgery opens the door to new medical applications, among others for the treatment of cancers.

17 Feb 2012

Sebelius: Exchanges will strengthen employer health coverage

The health and human services secretary told Senate Finance Committee members she expects health insurance exchanges to give employers another option to provide coverage to workers. In the meantime, HHS is touting newly covered preventive services it says 86 million Americans have used.

17 Feb 2012

New preclinical data from Regulus' miR-21 study on kidney fibrosis

Regulus Therapeutics Inc., a biopharmaceutical company leading the discovery and development of innovative medicines targeting microRNAs, today announced that new preclinical data investigating the role of microRNA-21 (miR-21) in the treatment of kidney fibrosis has been published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

17 Feb 2012

Viewpoints: Contraception conscience vs. political objections; Is the mandate the 'non-tax' tax?

The president's new birth control plan would insure coverage of women's birth control without copayments or deductibles. Sounds fair, especially given that men's anti-impotence Viagra treatments have been covered by insurance plans for years.

17 Feb 2012

Sandia's decontamination foam now used for meth lab cleanup

Sandia's decontamination foam, developed more than a decade ago and used to decontaminate federal office buildings and mailrooms during the 2001 anthrax attacks, is now being used to decontaminate illegal methamphetamine labs.

17 Feb 2012

New genetic resource to accelerate development of novel treatments for diseases

A new genetic resource from an international research consortium is expected to accelerate the development of new cures and treatments for a wide range of human diseases. This project, called the mouse "Collaborative Cross" (CC) resource, will increase the likelihood that experiments conducted in mice will advance our understanding of human biology.

17 Feb 2012

Collaborative Cross can help fast-track key discoveries about genetics and disease

A series of 15 scientific papers published this week in the journals of the Genetics Society of America (Genetics and G3: Genes|Genomes|Genetics) put North Carolina at the epicenter of a scientific resource called the Collaborative Cross - a "library" of genetic diversity that scientists believe can help fast-track important discoveries about genetics and disease into new discoveries, tests, and treatments that impact human health.

17 Feb 2012