Cancer News and Research

Latest Cancer News and Research

Researchers create hiPS-RPE cells to treat age-related macular degeneration

The notion of transplanting adult stem cells to treat or even cure age-related macular degeneration has taken a significant step toward becoming a reality. In a study published today in Stem Cells, Georgetown University Medical Center researchers have demonstrated, for the first time, the ability to create retinal cells derived from human-induced pluripotent stem cells that mimic the eye cells that die and cause loss of sight.

24 Mar 2011

Study demonstrates superiority of Spiriva over salmeterol in reducing risk of exacerbations in COPD

Results of the one-year Prevention Of Exacerbations with Tiotropium in COPD (POET-COPD®) study, published today by the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), demonstrate that Spiriva® (tiotropium), is superior to salmeterol, in reducing the risk of exacerbations in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).

24 Mar 2011

John Muir Health provides new cancer treatment using Varian's RapidArc radiation therapy

John Muir Health is offering a new cancer treatment option using the latest technology from Varian Medical Systems - The Trilogy Linear Accelerator with RapidArc Technology. The new accelerator, located at John Muir Medical Center, Concord, significantly shortens treatment sessions from 15-20 minutes to 2-5 minutes, while improving the precision of the radiotherapy.

24 Mar 2011

Kentucky, Minn., Florida, Texas facing tough Medicaid, budget decisions

Governor Steve Beshear of Kentucky has given lawmakers less than two weeks to approve his plan to come up with $165 million for Medicaid or he'll cut payments. The first-term Democrat, who took office in January 2008, faces a local variation on a problem vexing governors across the U.S.: when Kentucky lawmakers approved an $18 billion biennial budget last year, they overestimated federal Medicaid funding.

24 Mar 2011

Zebrafish model of human melanoma reveals new cancer gene

Looking at the dark stripes on the tiny zebrafish you might not expect that they hold a potentially important clue for discovering a treatment for the deadly skin disease melanoma. Yet melanocytes, the same cells that are are responsible for the pigmentation of zebrafish stripes and for human skin color, are also where melanoma originates.

24 Mar 2011

Early diagnosis of colorectal cancer can minimize treatment side effects in survivors

Renato Lenzi, M.D., medical oncologist at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and colon cancer survivor, knows only too well how important preventive methods are to beating colorectal cancer. After all, a routine colonoscopy saved his life.

24 Mar 2011

Scientists reveal protein target that can trigger myocarditis

People with type 1 diabetes, whose insulin-producing cells have been destroyed by the body's own immune system, are particularly vulnerable to a form of inflammatory heart disease caused by a different autoimmune reaction.

24 Mar 2011

Rexahn completes 33% of 300 patient enrollment in Serdaxin Phase IIb clinical trial for major depressive disorder

Rexahn Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical stage pharmaceutical company developing and commercializing potential best in class oncology and CNS therapeutics, today announced that it has enrolled 33 percent of the total projected patients required for its Phase IIb clinical trial of Serdaxin to treat major depressive disorder (MDD).

24 Mar 2011

Roundup: Calif. lawmakers mull bill to tighten hospital security; abortion measures continue to advance in various states

A California legislative committee gave preliminary approval Tuesday to a bill that would tighten security at hospitals and increase their requirements for reporting violent acts to the state.

24 Mar 2011

Individuals who smoke mentholated cigarettes do not develop lung cancer

Individuals who smoke mentholated cigarettes are no more likely to develop lung cancer or to die from the disease than smokers of non-mentholated cigarettes, according to a new study led by William Blot, Ph.D., professor of Medicine, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville, Tenn., and colleagues at VICC, Meharry Medical College, Nashville, and the International Epidemiology Institute, Rockville, Md.

24 Mar 2011

MicroRNAs may play a key role in future medicine

Since their discovery in the 1990s, microRNAs have proven to play a complex role in normal and abnormal functioning of many organ systems. In the April issue of Translational Research, entitled "MicroRNAs: A Potential New Frontier for Medicine," an international group of medical experts explores several themes related to our current understanding of microRNAs and the role they may play in the future of medicine.

24 Mar 2011

KaloBios commences KB004 Phase 1 trial in patients with leukemia

KaloBios Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a privately held biopharmaceutical company, today announced treatment of the first patient in a Phase 1 clinical trial of KB004, its first-in-class Humaneered™ monoclonal antibody, in EphA3-expressing hematologic malignancies.

24 Mar 2011

Contrast agent for tumor diagnostics

X-rays are not the only way: visible and especially infrared light can also be used to image human tissue. The effectiveness of optical imaging processes can be significantly improved with suitable dyes used as contrast agents. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, a team led by Wenbin Lin at the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill, USA) has now introduced a novel contrast agent that marks tumor cells in vitro. The dye is a phosphorescent ruthenium complex incorporated into nanoparticles of a metal–organic coordination polymer, which allows an extraordinarily high level of dye loading.

23 Mar 2011

New insights into cancer genome may lead to designer drugs for myeloma

Patients with myeloma could benefit from ‘designer’ drugs in the future after new genome-mapping technology has allowed scientists to identify a full genetic blueprint of the mutations which drive the bone marrow cancer.

23 Mar 2011

NephRx receives new U.S. patent for NX002 to treat oral mucositis

NephRx Corporation today announced issuance of a new U.S. patent for its novel peptide NX002, which currently is in preclinical development for the treatment of oral mucositis.

23 Mar 2011

FDA approves Nordion's TheraSphere IDE for Phase III trial to treat HCC

Nordion Inc., a leading provider of products and services to the global health science market, today announced that it has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval to conduct a Phase III clinical trial for TheraSphere® under an Investigational Device Exemption.

23 Mar 2011

Study finds novel physical mechanism behind cancer migration

Ninety percent of cancer deaths resulted from metastasis, the spread of cancer to different areas in the body, yet scientific exploration of the possible mechanical factors that promote metastasis has been limited.

23 Mar 2011

MnSOD oral drug can protect against lung cancer radiation therapy

Patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer can safely take an experimental oral drug intended to protect healthy tissue from the effects of radiation, according to a study led by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and published in this month's issue of Human Gene Therapy.

23 Mar 2011

$Cancer patients with spinal fractures can benefit from Kyphon Balloon Kyphoplasty$

Cancer patients with spinal fractures can benefit from Kyphon Balloon Kyphoplasty

Medtronic of Canada Ltd. today announced the results of the first randomized, controlled trial comparing Kyphon Balloon Kyphoplasty with non-surgical care in treating spinal fractures in cancer patients.

23 Mar 2011

SCCA, ProCure to open new proton therapy center for cancer treatment

Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, together with ProCure Treatment Centers Inc., today held its ceremonial groundbreaking on a new proton therapy center in north Seattle that will provide a first-of-its-kind treatment option for cancer patients throughout the Northwest.

23 Mar 2011