Category Archives: Cancer

Ebola whole virus vaccine shown effective, safe in primates

The vaccine, described today (March 26, 2015) in the journal Science, was developed by a group led by Yoshihiro Kawaoka, a University of Wisconsin-Madison expert on avian influenza, Ebola and other viruses of medical importance. It differs from other Ebola vaccines because as an inactivated whole virus vaccine, it primes the host immune system with the full complement of Ebola viral proteins and genes, potentially conferring greater protection. “In terms of efficacy, this affords excellent protection,” explains Kawaoka, a professor of pathobiological sciences in the UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine and who also holds a faculty appointment at the University of Tokyo…

Bio-marker set forms the basis for new blood test to detect colorectal cancer

Max Mazzone (VIB/KU Leuven): “This research demonstrates how important it is to gain a thorough understanding of the role of our immune system in cancer. In this case, this knowledge will hopefully result in a new, more sensitive test to detect colorectal cancer at an early stage, so that more patients can be cured. I hope that we can soon find an industrial partner to help us achieve the following step, which is the development of the test.” Colorectal cancer: a growing medical problem In 2012, a total of 1.4 million people worldwide were diagnosed with colorectal cancer, this figure is expected to increase to 2.4 million by 2035. This is a condition that affects a growing number of people each year. …

Switch that might tame most aggressive of breast cancers

The Sydney-based research team has found a gene that drives the aggressive disease, and hopes to find a way to ‘switch it off’. The aggressive form of triple-negative breast cancer appears to arise from stem cells, while the more benign form appears to arise from specialised cells. …

Natural extract shows promise for preventing breast cancer, study suggests

“Doctors, patients and researchers are looking for alternative treatments for triple negative breast cancer, and people are always looking for ways to prevent cancer,” said Patrick Martin, Ph.D., associate professor at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and leader of the study. “How awesome would it be to be able to say: Here, take a daily vitamin tablet from the rose plant to possibly help prevent or treat cancer? It’s a natural product that we found to be effective, with no known side effects.” Triple negative breast cancer draws its name from the fact that the cancer cells in these tumors lack the three growth factor receptors that are normally targeted during breast cancer treatment. …

Immunotherapy delays recurrence for stage III and IV ovarian cancers

“This is cutting edge medicine for ovarian cancer,” said Jonathan Oh, MD, a gynecologic oncologist at Texas Oncology, P.A., in Dallas. Dr. Oh presented the results of a preliminary study on the vaccine at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer on March 28 in Chicago…

New therapeutic target may improve treatment for brain cancer

The research will be presented at the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET) Annual Meeting during Experimental Biology 2015. Monteagudo’s research indicates a new possible chemotherapeutic target for treating GBM: transglutaminase 2 (TG2), a multifunctional protein that can regulate cell adhesion and motility. Given these documented functions of TG2, Monteagudo and her colleagues in the laboratory of Gail Johnson, Ph.D., at the University of Rochester, were interested in determining if TG2 played an important role in GBM cell growth. …

Stress management techniques improve long-term mood and quality of life for women with breast cancer

At the turn of the century, 240 women with a recent breast cancer diagnosis participated in a randomized trial that tested the effects of a stress management intervention developed by Michael Antoni, PhD, of the University of Miami. Dr. Antoni and his team found that, compared with patients who received a one-day seminar of education… Read More »

Sweeping prostate cancer review upends widely held view on radiation

“The common teaching has been, without clear evidence, that urinary incontinence and erectile function are worse when radiation is delivered earlier rather than later, but we didn’t see any protective effect of delayed radiation compared to earlier radiation,” said radiation oncologist Timothy N. Showalter, MD, of the UVA Cancer Center. “It contradicts the clinical principle… Read More »