Around 5,000 cases of DCIS, a condition where cancerous cells are contained within the milk ducts of the breast, are diagnosed each year in the UK, with two thirds diagnosed through breast screening. If left untreated, up to half of DCIS cases could progress into invasive breast cancer, but it is not possible to say which ones, so all women are offered treatment. …
Around 5,000 cases of DCIS, a condition where cancerous cells are contained within the milk ducts of the breast, are diagnosed each year in the UK, with two thirds diagnosed through breast screening. If left untreated, up to half of DCIS cases could progress into invasive breast cancer, but it is not possible to say which ones, so all women are offered treatment. This usually involves breast-conserving surgery (lumpectomy) and, to reduce the risk of the cancer returning, radiotherapy to kill any remaining cancer cells. However, even with treatment up to one in five patients will see their DCIS come back, either as DCIS or as invasive breast cancer. …
The researchers identified a protein known as CD47 as a molecular imaging target to distinguish bladder cancer from benign tissues. In the future, this technique could improve bladder cancer detection, guide more precise cancer surgery and reduce unnecessary biopsies, therefore increasing cancer patients’ quality of life. The work is described in a paper that will be published Oct. 29 in Science Translational Medicine…
Enzymes like PRC1 turn on or turn off the activity of genes in a cell by manipulating individual chromosome units called nucleosomes. “The nucleosome is a key target of the enzymes that conduct genetic processes critical for life,” said Song Tan, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Penn State University and the leader of the study’s research team…
“When you take Vitamin D and put it on prostate cancer cells, it inhibits their growth. But it hasn’t been proven as an anti-cancer agent…
Delivering cancer drugs directly to tumors is difficult. Scientists are working on new approaches to overcome the natural limitations of drugs, including loading them into nanoparticles. “The drug is packaged into a lipid ball significantly smaller than the width of a hair to make it soluble in the blood stream and prevent negative side effects. The drug-containing nanoparticle ball then travels in the bloodstream to the tumor, where it accumulates and the drug is released in the tumor to kill the cancer cells,” said Gavin Robertson, professor of pharmacology, pathology, dermatology, and surgery and director of the Penn State Hershey Melanoma Center. …
The researchers produced evidence that stem cells are responsible for maintaining and regenerating the ‘crypts’ that are a feature of the bowel lining, and believe these stem cells are involved in bowel cancer development, a controversial finding as scientists are still divided on the stem cells’ existence. Using 3D imaging technologies, Dr Chin Wee Tan and Professor Tony Burgess from the Structural Biology division at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute showed for the first time the bowel generates new intestinal crypts by a process called ‘budding’. The finding overturns the existing theory of how intestinal crypts form, with significant implications for our understanding of bowel cancer development. Intestinal ‘crypts’ are pocket-like wells in the bowel wall that produce mucous and absorb nutrients and water…
It’s a familiar scenario, played out hundreds of times in the movies. But the dramatic scene is reenacted in real life every time a cell divides. In order for division to occur, our genetic material must be faithfully replicated by a highly complicated machine, whose parts are tiny enough to navigate among the strands of the double helix. The problem is that our DNA is constantly in use, with other molecular machines continually plucking at its strands to gain access to critical genes. …
The team at the Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute at the University of Glasgow, revealed that melanoma cells give themselves the ‘green light’ to move using the molecule — a type of fatty chemical called lysophosphatidic acid (LPA). This signal prompts them to travel and spread in the body. The researchers showed in cancer cell lines and mice that tumour cells start their journey by first breaking down a nearby source of LPA molecules…
Pancreatic cancer is a stealthy cancer that is usually detected at very late stages and has a 5-year survival rate of less than 5 percent. …