Cancer News and Research

Latest Cancer News and Research

Scientists show nuclear protein Ezh2 helps establish previously unknown signaling pathway in cells

Since 2001, scientists have wrestled with the discovery that there are fewer genes in humans than biological processes linked to those genes over the course of a human lifespan. One way to understand genetically coded events is by studying epigenetics, the regulation and heritability of genes at a cellular level due to molecular changes to the many proteins (called histones) that package DNA in a cell's nucleus.

23 May 2005

High-dose Tamoxifen may prolong survival in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)

Neurologist Benjamin Brooks, who directs the MDA ALS Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, presented results of a trial of tamoxifen, a drug approved for the treatment of breast cancer, at a meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in April. The trial was supported in part by MDA.

23 May 2005

Guyana Health Minister outlines progress at World Health Assembly

Guyana Health Minister Dr. Leslie Ramsammy has outlined health progress being made in his country despite high levels of poverty and major floods that affected hundreds of thousands of people earlier this year.

23 May 2005

Gene keeps neural cells on correct developmental path

23 May 2005

Findings demonstrate that abnormal expression of the BCL6 gene causes lymphoma

This advancement has the potential to significantly speed the development of new, improved therapies for diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL), the most common type of human B cell lymphoma. Human B cell lymphomas cause 85 percent of non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas, the sixth leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States.

23 May 2005

Celebrity UV Guide, using star skin types as a guide to when people should cover up

Britons are missing vital weather warnings that could help reduce their risk of skin cancer. New figures show more than 70% of people questioned in a special survey do not know what the UV Index is despite its frequent appearance on TV weather forecasts and websites.

23 May 2005

Market forces alone are not sufficient to produce new drugs needed for children with cancer

Faced with "a near absence of research in pediatric cancer drug discovery," the IOM report recommends forming new public-private partnerships among government, industry, researchers, advocacy groups and other parties to lead research and development.

23 May 2005

Long-term outcomes studied for stem cell transplant recipients

Improved techniques and supportive care have resulted in a growing number of long-term survivors of stem cell transplants, though little is known about the impact transplants have on patients’ lives long after treatment.

23 May 2005

New polysaccharide may help combat multidrug resistance in cancer

In a recent study published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, scientists report that a molecule previously thought to play a purely structural and inert role in cells is actually involved in multidrug resistance in cancer.

22 May 2005

New insight into the machinery cells use to internalize cell surface receptors

Using state of the art imaging technology a team from Yale School of Medicine has glimpsed one of the cell's most important 'nano-machines' in action. The work, performed in collaboration with English and French scientists, provides new insight into the machinery cells use to internalize cell surface receptors.

22 May 2005

Discovery may lead to new drugs to treat cancer, control fertility

A recent discovery in cellular biology may allow scientists to enhance organ regeneration by stem cells, prevent the progression of cancer, and control fertility.

22 May 2005

Sunshine makes you feel good and may also help fight cancers

Although Vitamin D, the sunshine vitamin, gets little media attention, it is, surprisingly, a good tool in the fight against cancer.

22 May 2005

Novel way of administering an anti-cancer drug to bone-marrow transplant patients using continuous infusion

The new method achieves more predictable, stable drug levels in patients than the current method and could eventually allow doctors to more accurately adjust doses to accommodate individual differences in metabolism, thus increasing treatment effectiveness while avoiding side effects, said University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers.

20 May 2005

Gene keeps neural cells on correct developmental path

Embryonic stem cells with identical genomes grow into distinctive tissues, such as heart, bone, and brain. At one time, scientists believed the differences among cell types arose from various sets of genes switched on inside developing cells. Then, studies showed that adult neurons uniquely lack a protein that permanently turns off neuronal genes in the rest of the body's cells.

20 May 2005

Study holds implications for gene therapy and stem cell biology

The study, conducted by scientists from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, and Hannover Medical School and Hamburg University in Germany, reveals important evidence that tells us more about how blood forming stem cells regenerate. On the other hand, scientists offer caution in regards to the side effects associated with genetic engineering of stem cells.

20 May 2005

Merck cervical cancer virus vaccine performs well

Drugmaker Merck & Co. Inc. on Thursday said its investigational vaccine against a sexually transmitted virus linked to cervical cancer triggered a stronger immune response in young adolescents than in young women in a late-stage trial.

20 May 2005

Researchers find first gene for inherited testicular cancer in mice

In this week's journal Nature, researchers report finding the first gene responsible for inherited susceptibility of testicular cancer in mice. The Ter mutation occurs in a gene called dead end, which is involved in normal testicular development and which may play a role in inherited forms of a testicular cancer occurring in infants.

20 May 2005

CAD system makes breast MRI more effective, efficient

A computer-aided detection (CAD) system is helping radiologists to more quickly and accurately determine the sizes and locations of cancers found on breast MRI—information that could change patients’ treatment, a new study shows.

20 May 2005

Drug used to treat enlarged prostate may improve the accuracy of prostate biopsies

The drug, dutasteride, suppresses blood flow in benign tissue of the prostate, allowing radiologists to better target cancer tissue using Doppler ultrasound, said Elizabeth Ives, MD, a research fellow at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia and lead author of the study.

20 May 2005

Cetuximab (Erbitux) can battle cancer and prolong life in many patients with advanced colorectal cancer

"Even in people who have gone through six or more previous courses of chemotherapy, cetuximab, may fight the growth of cancer, giving patients additional months of life," says study presenter Heinz-Josef Lenz, M.D., associate professor of medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California and USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center.

20 May 2005