Category Archives: Cancer Treatment

Novel study charts aggressive prostate cancer

Investigators in the Cedars-Sinai Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute have made extensive progress in understanding the molecular mechanisms of disease progression. These results may help scientists better understand the prognosis of patients diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer. The study, published in the journal Cell Cycle and led by Dolores Di Vizio, MD, PhD, may ultimately lead to the development of new biomarkers for not only prognosis, but also a patient’s potential response to therapy. "One of the long-standing difficulties in treating men with advanced prostate cancer has been predicting the response to given therapies or treatments," said Di Vizio, associate professor in the Department of Surgery, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and Department of Biomedical Sciences. …

Surprising role of gene regulator protein in development of skin tumors

Skin tumors — when healing of scratches and cuts goes wrong The skin is the largest organ of the human body, protecting us from dehydration and external impacts. It’s a self-renewing tissue, meaning that if we hurt ourselves for example by scraping or cutting our skin, new skin cells will replace the old damaged ones and our wound will heal. On a molecular level this process is controlled by a wide range of factors, ensuring that the right number of undifferentiated progenitor cells differentiate into skin cells and make their way to replace the old damaged ones. If something goes wrong during this process, pathologies, including skin tumors, can be the consequence…

Bitter melon extract may have potential to fight head, neck cancer

Preliminary findings of the research were published in the Public Library of Science One Journal by Ratna Ray, Ph.D. associate professor of pathology at Saint Louis University. Ray found that bitter melon extract, a vegetable commonly used in Indian and Chinese diets, reduces the head and neck cancer cell growth in the animal model. "We wanted to see the effect of the bitter melon extract treatment on different types of cancer using different model systems," said Ray, who first tested the extract in breast and prostate cancer cells. …

Childhood cancer treatment takes toll on hearts of survivors

Cancer is the leading cause of disease-related death among U.S. children, but the rate of survival has increased significantly from a 5-year survival rate of 58.1 percent in 1975-77 to 83.1 percent in 2003-09. "Research has shown childhood cancer survivors face heart and other health problems decades after treatment," said Donald R. …

Multicenter study underscores need for uniform approach to bladder cancer

According to the lead author, Dr. Francesco Atzori, progress in developing new effective drugs in bladder cancer has been stagnant in the last decades. "In patients who recur or who are refractory to first-line therapy, response rates and outcomes are grim, and to date, no second-line therapy has been clearly established," he explained…

Biologists ID new cancer weakness

A new study from MIT biologists has found that tumor cells with mutated p53 can be made much more vulnerable to chemotherapy by blocking another gene called MK2. In a study of mice, tumors lacking both p53 and MK2 shrank dramatically when treated with the drug cisplatin, while tumors with functional MK2 kept growing after treatment. The findings suggest that giving cancer patients a combination of a DNA-damaging drug and an MK2 inhibitor could be very effective, says Michael Yaffe, the David H. Koch Professor in Science and senior author of a paper describing the research in the Nov…

Researchers test bandaging for swollen arm

But there’s no difference if simple compression bandages or a complicated daily lymphatic massage are used as treatment, McMaster University researchers have found. "In the future, patients who receive or can only afford elastic sleeves and gloves should be comforted knowing that their care has not been compromised," said Dr. Ian Dayes, associate professor of oncology for the Michael G…

Pioneers in the fight against ‘The Big One’: Proton therapy for lung cancer

Physicians at The University of Texas MD Anderson Proton Therapy Center are leaders in the research and treatment of lung cancer and pioneers in developing proton therapy for lung cancer patients. With its advanced image guidance and ability to precisely target tumors in the lungs, the powerful radiation of protons can be delivered with optimal accuracy — sparing critical nearby structures, such as the esophagus, heart and spinal cord. …