Category Archives: Cancer Treatment

Findings bolster fiber’s role in colon health

The finding helps explain why a high-fiber diet reduces the risk of colon problems and indicates that when fiber is lacking, niacin, or vitamin B3, just may help keep the colon healthy as well, said Dr. Vadivel Ganapathy, Chairman of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University and a corresponding study author. The study found that mice lacking the receptor, Gpr109a, were prone to inflammation and cancer of the colon, said Dr. Nagendra Singh, MCG immunologist, member of the Cancer Immunology, Inflammation and Tolerance Program at the GRU Cancer Center, and a corresponding study author. …

Cervical, vaginal cancer higher in women previously treated for pre-cancerous cells on cervix, study finds

Cytology screening to prevent cervical cancer is a medical success story and examinations have proven to be an effective way to reduce deaths from cervical cancer. However, the risk of cervical cancer is not eliminated when abnormal cells are detected and removed and as such women are asked to participate in follow-up programs. No prior study has investigated how aging affects the risk of death from cervical cancer after treatment of CIN3. Researchers from Sahlgrenska University Hospital and Karolinska Institute in Sweden therefore aimed to investigate how age affected this risk…

Cell division discovery could offer fresh insight into cancer

Scientists have explained a key part of the process of cell division, by which cells are able to keep our organs functioning properly. They discovered a set of proteins that stabilise the sequence of events in which cells duplicate their DNA and then separate into two new cells, each identical to the original. Flaws in this delicate, complex operation can lead to cancer. The findings help explain a fundamental process in all living things, in which cells must continually divide to keep the organism alive and well…

Small molecule shows promise as anti-cancer therapy

In a study described in the January 13 issue of Cancer Cell, Marikki Laiho, M.D., Ph.D., and her colleagues say their work focused on the ability of a chemical dubbed BMH-21 to sabotage the transcription pathway RNA Polymerase pathway (POL I), shutting down the ability of mutant cancer genes to communicate with cells and replicate. Laiho’s research linked the pathway to p53 gene activity. P53 is a tumor suppressor gene, a protein that regulates cell growth, and it is the most frequently mutated suppressor gene in cancer…

Study questions anti-cancer mechanisms of drug tested in clinical trials

But new research appearing the week of Jan. 13 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) suggests that activation of AMPK may actually fuel cancer growth. Researchers from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center who led the study also recommend that clinicians testing metformin for cancer treatment consider a careful re-evaluation of their clinical data. The researchers report on extensive laboratory tests that conclude metformin does stop cancer, although not by activating AMPK…

New horizons in radiotherapy?

This work, which sheds new light on the behavior of matter at the atomic scale and which could have important benefits in medicine, is published in the journal Nature. The radiotherapy currently used in nearly half of cancer treatments irradiates biological tissue using a radiation with a wide energy spectrum in order to destroy the cancerous cells. The work of the international team headed by two CNRS researchers from the Laboratoire de Chimie Physique — Matière et Rayonnement (CNRS/UPMC) should make it possible to improve the precision and quality of treatment by more finely targeting the range of energy used. …