Colon Cancer May Yield To Cellular Sugar Starvation

Scientists have discovered how two cancer-promoting genes enhance a tumor's capacity to grow and survive under conditions where normal cells die. The knowledge, they say, may offer new treatments that starve cancer cells of a key nutrient -- sugar. However, the scientists caution that research does not suggest that altering dietary sugar will make any difference in the growth and development of cancer.
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Unraveling How Cells Respond To Low Oxygen

Scientists have elucidated how the stability of the REDD1 protein is regulated. The REDD1 protein is a critical inhibitor of the mTOR signaling pathway, which controls cell growth and proliferation.
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Scientists Find Cells Responsible For Bladder Cancer's Spread

Scientists have tracked down a powerful set of cells in bladder tumors that seem to be primarily responsible for the cancer's growth and spread using a technique that takes advantage of similarities between tumor and organ growth. The findings could help scientists develop new ways of finding and attacking similar cells in other types of cancer.
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Older Cancer Patients Have More Frailty Than Other Seniors

Older people with a history of cancer are more likely to have disabilities and be frail and vulnerable than older adults who have not had cancer, according to a new study.
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Antibody Linked To Chemotherapy Drug Inhibits Ovarian Cancer In Lab

A novel anticancer agent, consisting of a monoclonal antibody linked to a chemotherapy drug, showed substantial anti-tumor activity in ovarian cancer cell lines and in mice, according to a new study.
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Tumor Mutations Can Predict Chemo Success

Cancer biologists show that the interplay between two key genes that are often defective in tumors determines how cancer cells respond to chemotherapy. The findings should have an immediate impact on cancer treatment, according to researchers. The work could help doctors predict what types of chemotherapy will be effective in a particular tumor, which would help tailor treatments to each patient.
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Crystal Ball For Brain Cancer? New Method Predicts Which Brain Tumors Will Respond To Drug

Researchers have uncovered a new way to scan brain tumors and predict which ones will be shrunk by the drug Avastin -- before the patient ever starts treatment. By linking high water movement in tumors to positive drug response, the scientists predicted with 70 percent accuracy which patients' tumors were the least likely to grow six months after therapy.
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Cost-effectiveness of cetuximab in metastatic colorectal cancer

From a health-care system perspective, it may be more efficient to use the drug cetuximab only in colorectal cancer patients whose tumors have a wild-type KRAS gene, according to a study published online August 7 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
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Key To Strengthening Immune Response To Chronic Infection Found

A team of researchers has identified a protein that could serve as a target for reprogramming immune system cells exhausted by exposure to chronic viral infection into more effective "soldiers" against certain viruses like HIV, hepatitis C and hepatitis B, as well as some cancers, such as melanoma.
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Finding Key To Cancer Drug Gleevec's Limitations

Researchers have learned why imatinib, marketed as Gleevec, helps patients with chronic myeloid leukemia survive longer, but does not keep the disease from returning if treatment ends. The team is now combining imatinib with other drugs in mouse studies to find ways to sensitize resistant leukemia-initiating cells to imatinib and enhance its power.
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Moving To The US Increases Cancer Risk For Hispanics

Results of a new study confirm trends that different Hispanic population groups have higher incidence rates of certain cancers and worse cancer outcomes if they live in the United States, than they do if they live in their homelands.
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Women Often Opt To Surgically Remove Their Breasts, Ovaries To Reduce Cancer Risk

Many women at high risk for breast or ovarian cancer are choosing to undergo surgery as a precautionary measure to decrease their cancer risk, according to a new report.
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Sensitizing Tumor Response To Cancer Therapy

Researchers are working to find natural, biologically active compounds that will sensitize cancerous tumors to therapy without damaging normal tissue.
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Common Trigger In Cancer And Normal Stem Cell Reproduction Found

Researchers have discovered, for the first time, a common molecular pathway that is used by both normal stem cells and cancer stem cells when they reproduce themselves.
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Gene Shut-down May Offer Early Warning Of Chronic Leukemia

A new study shows that certain genes are turned off early in the development of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), before clinical signs of the disease appear. The study examined cancer cells from CLL patients and from a new strain of mice that develops a very similar disease. The findings suggest that epigenetic alterations might serve as markers for detecting CLL early and for monitoring progression, and that their reversal might delay or prevent progression.
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Delays in UK child brain tumor diagnosis

Significant numbers of children in the UK are suffering from preventable levels of disability, particularly blindness, and premature death because of poor diagnosis of brain tumours.
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Advances in lung cancer research announced at conference

Dr. Glen Weiss of the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) and Scottsdale Healthcare this week announced two significant advances in treating lung cancer at an international cancer research conference.
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Protein Complex Key In Avoiding DNA Repair Mistakes, Cancer

Lymphoma and other cancers may occur when a delicate gene recombination process in antibody-making cells goes awry, according to preliminary studies in mice at the University of Michigan.
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The Way You Eat May Affect Your Risk For Breast Cancer

How you eat may be just as important as how much you eat, if mice studies are any clue. Cancer researchers have long studied the role of diet on breast cancer risk, but results to date have been mixed. New findings suggest the method by which calories are restricted may be more important for cancer protection than the actual overall degree of calorie restriction.
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Decoding Leukemia Patient Genome Leads Scientists To Mutations In Other Patients

Scientists have sequenced the complete genome of a patient with acute myeloid leukemia, discovering a suite of genetic changes in the cancer cells. Their research has revealed that one of these mutations also is common in certain brain tumors called gliomas and that another occurred in a second patient with the same type of leukemia. Neither mutation had been previously linked to leukemia.
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Structure Of An Entire HIV Genome Decoded

The structure of an entire HIV genome has been decoded for the first time. The results have widespread implications for understanding the strategies that viruses, like the one that causes AIDS, use to infect humans. The study also opens the door for further research which could accelerate the development of antiviral drugs.
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Moving to the US increases cancer risk for Hispanics

Results of a new study confirm trends that different Hispanic population groups have higher incidence rates of certain cancers and worse cancer outcomes if they live in the United States, than they do if they live in their homelands.
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Scientists find cells responsible for bladder cancer's spread

Johns Hopkins scientists have tracked down a powerful set of cells in bladder tumors that seem to be primarily responsible for the cancer's growth and spread using a technique that takes advantage of similarities between tumor and organ growth. The findings, reported in the July Stem Cells, could help scientists develop new ways of finding and attacking similar cells in other types of cancer.
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Bcl6 Gene Sculpts Helper T Cell To Boost Antibody Production

Expression of a single gene programs an immune system helper T cell that fuels rapid growth and diversification of antibodies in a cellular structure implicated in autoimmune diseases and development of B cell lymphoma, scientists report in Science.
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Nerve-block Anesthesia Can Improve Surgical Recovery, Even Outcomes

When planning for surgery, patients too often don't consider the kind of anesthesia they will receive. In fact, the choice of anesthesia can improve recovery, even outcomes.
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Promising Candidate Protein For Cancer Prevention Vaccines

Researchers have learned that some healthy people naturally developed an immune response against a protein that is made in excess levels in many cancers, including breast, lung, and head and neck cancers. The finding suggests that a vaccine against the protein might prevent malignancies in high-risk individuals.
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Tumors Effectively Treated With Use Of Nanotubes

By injecting man-made, microscopic tubes into tumors and heating them with a quick, 30-second zap of a laser, scientists have discovered a way to effectively kill kidney tumors in nearly 80 percent of mice. Researchers say that the finding suggests a potential future cancer treatment for humans.
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One Force Behind The MYC Oncogene In Many Cancers Uncovered

DLX5, a gene crucial for embryonic development, promotes cancer by activating the expression of the known oncogene, MYC, according to researchers. Since the DLX5 gene is inactive in normal adults, it may be an ideal target for future anti-cancer drugs, they reason.
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Silenced Genes As Warning Sign Of Blood Cancer

In the genetic material of cancer cells, important growth inhibitors are often switched off by chemical labels in the DNA. How this happens has now been investigated. Scientists discovered in mice that cancer-typical DNA labeling occurs long before the first symptoms of leukemia appear. A test for the genetic label might therefore help to detect a developing cancer at an early point.
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Finding key to cancer drug Gleevec's limitations

University of Michigan researchers have developed an animal model that provides strong evidence why imatinib, marketed as Gleevec, helps patients with chronic myeloid leukemia survive longer, but does not keep the disease from returning if treatment ends.
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Forecasting Cancer Recurrence With New Computer Model

Two people with the same kind of cancer who receive the exact same treatment may nevertheless have different chances of their tumors coming back years later. Now a team of scientists has developed a computer model that predicts cancer recurrence in an individual based on how her tumor changes size in response to the first rounds of radiation therapy.
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Scientists Discover Bladder Cancer Stem Cell

Researchers have identified the first human bladder cancer stem cell and revealed how it works to escape the body's natural defenses.
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Stem Cell 'Daughters' Lead To Breast Cancer

Scientists have found that a population of breast cells called luminal progenitor cells are likely to be responsible for breast cancers that develop in women carrying mutations in the gene BRCA1.
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Heavy Drinkers Face Significantly Increased Cancer Risk

Heavy drinkers of beer and spirits face a much higher risk of developing cancer than the population at large, say epidemiologists and cancer researchers. Heavy consumption of beer and spirits have now been linked to 6 different cancers. People in the highest consumption category increased their risk of developing esophageal cancer sevenfold, colon cancer by 80 percent and even lung cancer by 50 percent.
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Common Household Pesticides Linked To Childhood Cancer Cases In Washington Area

Researchers find a higher level of common household pesticides in the urine of children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a cancer that develops most commonly between three and seven years of age. The findings should not be seen as cause-and-effect, but suggests an association between pesticide exposure and development of childhood ALL.
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Nanoparticles Cross Blood-brain Barrier To Enable 'Brain Tumor Painting'

Fluorescent nanoparticles are able to illuminate brain tumors in mice. The particles can safely cross the blood-brain barrier, an almost impenetrable barrier that protects the brain from infection.
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Critical Link In Cell Death Pathway Revealed

The role of a protein called XIAP in the regulation of cell death has been identified by researchers and has led them to recommend caution when drugs called IAP inhibitors are used to treat cancer patients with underlying liver conditions.
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Mathematical Modeling Predicts Response To Herceptin

Cancer researchers are turning to mathematical models to help answer important clinical questions, and a new article illustrates how the technique may answer questions about Herceptin resistance.
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New Tool May Help With Early Detection Of Deadly Pancreatic Cancer

A new diagnostic tool has shown promising results when used with patients of pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest forms of cancer due to the difficulty of diagnosing it in its early stages. The method, which studies carbohydrate structures in the bloodstream, could lead to the development of blood tests that can detect cancer more effectively.
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Promising candidate protein for cancer prevention vaccines found

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have learned that some healthy people naturally developed an immune response against a protein that is made in excess levels in many cancers, including breast, lung, and head and neck cancers. The finding suggests that a vaccine against the protein might prevent malignancies in high-risk individuals.
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Silenced genes as a warning sign of blood cancer

In many types of cancer, parts of the genetic material of tumor cells are switched off by chemical labels called methyl groups. This kind of methyl labeling ranges among the epigenetic changes that do not change the sequence of DNA building blocks. Such labels are found particularly often in genes which act as important inhibitors of pathogenic cell growth.
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The way you eat may affect your risk for breast cancer

How you eat may be just as important as how much you eat, if mice studies are any clue.
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Yeast Cancer Model For Mapping Cancer Genes

Researchers have devised a scheme for identifying genes in yeast that could lead to the identification of new cancer genes in humans.
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Ovarian Cancer Tests 'Woefully Ineffective' According To Researchers

Current diagnostic tests for ovarian cancer are woefully ineffective for early detection of the disease, say researchers. A new study finds that in order to make a significant dent in the mortality rate for the deadly cancer, the tests would have to be able to detect tumors of less than 1 cm in diameter, or about 200-times smaller in mass than those currently used to assess potential new tests.
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Targeted Therapy Delivers Chemo Directly To Ovarian Cancer Cells

With a novel therapeutic delivery system, scientists have successfully targeted a protein that is over-expressed in ovarian cancer cells. Using the EphA2 protein as a molecular homing mechanism, chemotherapy was delivered in a highly selective manner in preclinical models of ovarian cancer.
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Exercise Benefits Leukemia Patients

A new study suggests that exercise may be an effective way to combat the debilitating fatigue that leukemia patients experience.
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Groundbreaking study shows exercise benefits leukemia patients

One of the most bothersome symptoms of leukemia is extreme fatigue, and asking these patients to exercise doesn't sound like a way to help them feel better.
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PET can help guide treatment decisions for a common pediatric cancer

A new study published in the August issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine shows that positron emission tomography (PET) is an important tool for depicting the extent of neuroblastoma in some patients, particularly for those in the early stages of the disease. Neuroblastoma accounts for six to ten percent of all childhood cancers in the United States and 15 percent of cancer deaths in children. Accurately identifying where in the body the disease is located and whether it is spreading is critical for choosing appropriate types of treatment, which can include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation and -in the most advanced cases -a combination of all of these treatments along with bone marrow transplant or investigational therapies.
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Heavy drinkers face significantly increased cancer risk

Heavy drinkers of beer and spirits face a much higher risk of developing cancer than the population at large, says a group of Montreal epidemiologists and cancer researchers. Their findings show that people in the highest consumption category increased their risk of developing oesophageal cancer sevenfold, colon cancer by 80% and even lung cancer by 50%.
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Switch to digital mammography leads to increased cancer detection rates

The use of digital mammography equipment alone is responsible for an increased number of breast cancers detected at a community-based mammography facility, according to a study performed at San Luis Diagnostic Center in San Luis Obispo, CA.
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Viral mimic induces melanoma cells to digest themselves

Recent research has uncovered an unexpected vulnerability in deadly melanoma cells that, when exploited, can cause the cancer cells to turn against themselves. The study, published by Cell Press in the August issue of the journal Cancer Cell, identifies a new target for development of future therapeutics aimed at selectively eliminating this aggressive skin cancer which is characterized by a notoriously high rate of metastasis and treatment-resistance.
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Researchers identify new method to selectively kill metastatic melanoma cells

An international team of researchers has identified a new method for selectively killing metastatic melanoma cells, which may lead to new areas for drug development in melanoma - a cancer that is highly resistant to current treatment strategies.
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New tool may help with early detection of deadly pancreatic cancer

A new diagnostic tool developed by Van Andel Research Institute (VARI) scientists has shown promising results when used with patients of pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest forms of cancer due to the difficulty of diagnosing it in its early stages. The method, which studies carbohydrate structures in the bloodstream, could lead to the development of blood tests that can detect cancer more effectively.
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New Drug Target For Kaposi's Sarcoma

Researchers have identified a new potential drug target for the herpes virus that causes Kaposi's sarcoma, re-opening the possibility of using the class of drugs called protease inhibitors against the full herpes family of viruses, which for 20 years has been deemed too difficult to attain.
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Antibody Targeting Of Glioblastoma Shows Promise In Preclinical Tests

Cancer researchers have successfully tested a small, engineered antibody they say shuts down growth of human glioblastoma tumors in cell and animal studies. Glioblastoma is the deadliest of brain cancers; there is no effective treatment.
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Epigenetic Signature Changes In Low Oxygen Levels May Contribute To Prostate Cancer Development

Researchers have characterized epigenetic signature changes in prostate cells under conditions of low oxygen levels that may lead to tumor development. The results of the study may provide important targets for the early detection and manipulation of prostate cancer.
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Common Diabetic Therapy Reduces Risk Of Pancreatic Cancer

Taking the most commonly-prescribed anti-diabetic drug, metformin, reduces an individual's risk of developing pancreatic cancer by 62 percent, according to new research.
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Nutritional Supplement, SAMe, Effective In Preventing Formation Of Primary Liver Cancer In Rats

A new study investigated the effectiveness of S-adenosylmethionine in the prevention and treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma or primary liver cancer. SAMe, a widely available nutritional supplement, with little known side effects, was found to be effective in preventing the formation of HCC in rats. However, high enough levels of SAMe were not attainable to successfully treat established HCC.
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Differences identified in treatments of of patients with second primary lung cancers versus primary lung cancer

Patients with second primary lung cancers (SPLC), when compared to those with one primary lung cancer (OPLC), are more likely to have localized disease at the time of diagnosis and are more likely to receive surgical treatment rather than radiation treatment. However, patients with SPLC have a 12% higher lung cancer specific mortality, Fox Chase Cancer Center researchers reported today at the annual meeting of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer.
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Study finds that lung cancer patients respond to erlotinib following cetuximab therapy

Non-small cell lung cancer patients who have progressed on a cetuximab-containing regimen may respond to erlotinib, Fox Chase Cancer Center researchers reported today at the annual meeting of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer.
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Stem cell 'daughters' lead to breast cancer

Walter and Eliza Hall Institute scientists have found that a population of breast cells called luminal progenitor cells are likely to be responsible for breast cancers that develop in women carrying mutations in the gene BRCA1.
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Breast Cancer Hormone Receptor Status And Risk Of A Second Primary Tumor

Women with hormone receptor negative first tumors have twice as much risk for developing a second breast cancer as women with HR-positive tumors, according to a new study.
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New Location Found For Regulation Of RNA Fate

Thousands of scientists and hundreds of software programmers studying the process by which RNA inside cells normally degrades may soon broaden their focus significantly. Researchers have discovered that the RNA degradation, which, when improperly regulated can lead to cancer and other diseases, can be launched in an unexpected location.
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Virus Linked To Some Cases Of Common Skin Cancer

A virus discovered in a rare form of skin cancer has been found in people with squamous cell carcinoma, a common skin cancer. Researchers identified the virus in more than a third of 58 SCC patients and in 15 percent of their tumors. Virus found in tumor cells had a mutation that could enable it to integrate into the host cell DNA, suggesting that the virus might help cause some cases of SCC.
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Altered micriobiome prevalent in the diseased esophagus

Gastroesophageal reflux diseases , or GERD, affects about 10 million people in the United States, yet the cause and an unexpected increase in its prevalence over the last three decades remains unexplainable. Now, researchers have discovered that GERD is associated with global alteration of the microbiome in the esophagus. The findings, reported in the August 1, 2009 issue of Gastroenterology, may provide for the foundation for further study of the condition as a microecological disease with new treatment possibilities.
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Common diabetic therapy reduces risk of pancreatic cancer, study finds

Taking the most commonly-prescribed anti-diabetic drug, metformin, reduces an individual's risk of developing pancreatic cancer by 62 percent, according to research from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, published in the Aug. 1 issue of Gastroenterology.
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