Cancer News and Research

Latest Cancer News and Research

Potential new biomarker for colon cancer

Cincinnati scientists have identified a new biomarker that could help predict a person's risk of developing colon cancer and how aggressive it may become.

19 Jan 2009

Researchers find novel use for old compound in cancer treatment

The compound, alpha-difluoromethylornithine or DFMO, targets the activity of a specific enzyme and, even in very limited doses, is effective in protecting against the malignancy in animal models.

19 Jan 2009

Exercise after menopause lowers breast cancer risk

Several studies had previously suggested that regular physical exercise reduces the breast cancer risk of women.

19 Jan 2009

E. coli persists against antibiotics through HipA-induced dormancy

Bacteria hunker down and survive antibiotic attack when a protein flips a chemical switch that throws them into a dormant state until treatment abates, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report in the Jan.16 edition of Science.

19 Jan 2009

Genetic variations in DNA repair patterns may increase risk of pancreatic cancer

Genetic variations in DNA repair patterns may increase risk of pancreatic cancer by as much as threefold or decrease it by as much as 77 percent, depending on the genes involved, according to a report published in the January 15, 2009, issue of Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

19 Jan 2009

Cancer survivor needs examined beyond specialized care

According to the National Cancer Policy Board, it is estimated that by the year 2050 there will be more cancer survivors in the United States than those newly diagnosed with the disease.

19 Jan 2009

Defects in critical DNA repair genes may predict pancreatic cancer risk

Abnormalities in genes that repair mistakes in DNA replication may help identify people who are at high risk of developing pancreatic cancer, a research team from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center reports in the Jan. 15 issue of Clinical Cancer Research .

19 Jan 2009

New approach to treat advanced melanoma

Skin cancer patient Debra Gardocki receives an injection from oncologist Dr. Sanjiv Agarwala as part of a study exploring a new approach to treat advanced melanoma -- an often fatal form of cancer for which there are limited effective treatment options.

19 Jan 2009

Nanotubes sniff out cancer agents in living cells

A multidisciplinary team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has developed carbon nanotubes that can be used as sensors for cancer drugs and other DNA-damaging agents inside living cells. The sensors, made of carbon nanotubes wrapped in DNA, can detect chemotherapy drugs such as cisplatin as well as environmental toxins and free radicals that damage DNA.

18 Jan 2009

Artificial antibody delivers nanoparticles to tumors

Antibodies that target epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) have proven themselves as potent anticancer drugs. Now, a team of investigators led by Shuming Nie, Ph.D., and Lily Yang, Ph.D., both at the Emory University School of Medicine and members of the Emory-Georgia Tech Nanotechnology Center for Personalized and Predictive Oncology, is aiming to capitalize on this targeting ability, using a modified anti-EGFR antibody to delivery nanoparticles into tumor cells.

18 Jan 2009

Toxin-nanoparticle combo inhibits brain cancer invasion while imaging tumors

Working with a nanoparticle designed to target and image glioblastoma, a form of brain cancer, investigators at the University of Washington in Seattle have found that these same nanoparticles inhibit tumor cell invasion, one of the key events that leads to the metastatic spread of cancer. The investigators have also determined how the nanoparticles exert this potentially beneficial effect.

18 Jan 2009

Microfluidic devices capture and analyze single cancer cells

One of the grand goals in nanotechnology is to develop a single microfluidic device that integrates all of the components needed to perform polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based nucleic acid analyses. Experts predict that such a device would enable researchers to develop rapid assays for cancer and other life-threatening diseases while a patient is in the doctor's office.

18 Jan 2009

Biodegradable nanoprobe images new blood vessel growth

Angiogenesis, the growth of new blood vessels, plays a critical role in several chronic human diseases, including metastatic cancer. In fact, several new anticancer therapies are designed to starve tumors by shutting down angiogenesis, but the lack of a good assay for quantifying angiogenesis in the body has hampered the development of effective antiangiogenesis therapies.

18 Jan 2009

Polymer nanoparticle for oral anticancer drug delivery

One of the problems that cancer patients face is that many of the most potent anticancer therapies can be administered only by injection, which means that cancer patients must travel to receive their medication. But thanks to a new type of nanoparticle developed by researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, future cancer patients may be able to receive their medication in pill form.

18 Jan 2009

Study shows surgery provides good long-term outcomes for patients with gastrointestinal cancers

New research published in the January issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons shows that laparoscopic removal of gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) is safe and effective, with a disease-free survival rate of nearly 80 percent after an average follow-up time of three and a-half years.

15 Jan 2009

Study shows how defective DNA repair triggers 2 neurological diseases

Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have teased apart the biological details distinguishing two related neurological diseases-ataxia telangiectasia-like disease (ATLD) and Nijmegen breakage syndrome (NBS).

15 Jan 2009

Stem cells could be used for personalized cancer treatment

Using cancer cells from an ovarian cancer patient and human embryonic stem cells, Israeli researchers have created a cancerous tumor in a mouse that mimics the way the tumor would develop in the patient's body.

15 Jan 2009

Discovery of new protein that triggers breast cancer

Canadian researchers have identified a new protein in the progression of breast cancer.

15 Jan 2009

Discovery of protein that amplifies cell death

Scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have identified a small intracellular protein that helps cells commit suicide.

15 Jan 2009

Morbidly obese patients face high risk for complications after colectomy

New research published in the January issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons shows that morbidly obese patients are at higher risk than normal weight patients for complications after colectomy ¨C surgical removal of all or part of the colon ¨C for the treatment of cancer.

15 Jan 2009