Category Archives: Cancer Treatment

Exercise linked to improved erectile, sexual function in men

While past studies have highlighted the relationship between better erectile function and exercise, African-American men have been underrepresented in this literature. “This study is the first to link the benefits of exercise in relation to improved erectile and sexual function in a racially diverse group of patients,” said Adriana Vidal, PhD, senior author of the… Read More »

Experiments reveal key components of the body’s machinery for battling deadly tularemia

The team, led by Thirumala-Devi Kanneganti, Ph.D., a member of the St. Jude Department of Immunology, found key receptors responsible for sensing DNA in cells infected by the tularemia-causing bacterium, Francisella. Tularemia is a highly infectious disease that kills more than 30 percent of those infected, if left untreated. It can be readily transmitted by… Read More »

Favorable 15-year survival outcomes for older prostate cancer patients with low-risk disease

Previous research by the study’s lead author Grace Lu-Yao, PhD, MPH, cancer epidemiologist at the Cancer Institute of New Jersey and professor of medicine at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, and colleagues examined 10-year outcomes for this population (JAMA, Vol. 302, No. 11). The 2009 research showed men diagnosed with prostate cancer beginning in… Read More »

New insights into survival outcomes of Asian Americans diagnosed with cancer

“What we have found is that Asian Americans are an incredibly diverse group that cannot be indiscriminately combined together,” said Trinh, associate surgeon for the Division of Urology at BWH, faculty at the Center for Surgery and Public Health (CSPH) and lead author of the study. “With Asian Americans, there is important variation in socioeconomic… Read More »

Driving tumor cells to their death

B cells are white blood cells that produce antibodies against antigens, namely substances which the immune system recognises as foreign. Normal B cell development and maturation is regulated by a balance between kinase and phosphatase enzymes. These enzymes phosphorylate or de-phosphorylate the signalling subunits of the B cell antigen receptors (BCR). This means that the… Read More »

Cancer patients want more information about medical imaging risk

In recent years, there have been numerous reports in the media about potential risks of tests that use ionizing radiation. However, benefit-risk discussions about ionizing radiation from medical imaging are rare and seldom initiated by clinicians. For the new study, researchers from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in New York City analyzed over nine… Read More »

Study uncovers mechanisms of cancer-causing mutations

While these mutations were known for quite a long time, the question as to why they cause cancer or make some drugs ineffective was still not answered. The study, called “Molecular Determinants of Drug-Specific Sensitivity for Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) Exon 19 and 20 Mutants in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer,” and published online in the journal Oncotarget, demonstrates how computer modeling of EGFR mutations found in lung cancer can elucidate their molecular mechanism of action and consequently optimize the selection of therapeutic agents to treat patients…