Tag Archives: boston

Low-grade prostate cancers may not become aggressive with time — adds support for ‘watch and wait’ approach

Researchers found that after the introduction of widespread prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening, the proportion of patients diagnosed with advanced-stage cancers dropped by more than six-fold in 22 years, but the proportion diagnosed with high Gleason grade cancers did not change substantially. This suggests that low-grade prostate cancers do not progress to higher grade over time. Cancer stage refers to the extent or spread of the disease, and cancer grade, called Gleason grade for prostate cancer, refers to the aggressiveness of the disease…

Location of body fat can elevate heart disease, cancer risk

Death and disease risk associated with excess body weight can vary among individuals with similar BMI. Ectopic fat, or fat located where it is not supposed to be, in this case being visible in the abdominal area, could be the cause of this difference in risk. It’s widely known that abdominal fat can be more dangerous than fat in other areas, but this study is the first to use CT scan to study specifically located fat depots for direct associations with disease risk…

Moms often talk to children about the results of cancer genetic testing

"We know from women we’ve counseled at Georgetown that one of their main considerations of genetic testing for cancer risk is what the results will mean for their children," says the study’s lead author, Kenneth Tercyak, PhD, director of behavioral prevention research at Georgetown Lombardi. …

Researchers pinpoint sources of fibrosis-promoting cells that ravage organs

Findings from research conducted at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston and continued at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center are reported in an advance online publication at Nature Medicine on June 30. "Answering a fundamental question about the origin of these cells by identifying four separate pathways involved in their formation allows us to look at ways to block those pathways to treat fibrosis," said senior author Raghu Kalluri, Ph.D., M.D., MD Anderson chair and professor of Cancer Biology. "It’s highly unlikely that a single drug will work." "In addition to being lethal in its own right, fibrosis is a precursor for the development of cancer and plays a role in progression, metastasis and treatment resistance," Kalluri said. …

Molecule drives aggressive breast cancer

The scientists found that excess activity of this gene — EYA1 — also enhances development of breast cancer stem cells that promote resistance to cancer therapy, recurrence, and poor survival. Because EYA1 is an enzyme, the scientists are now working to identify a natural compound that could shut down EYA1 activity, says Richard Pestell, M.D., Ph.D., Director of Kimmel Cancer Center. …

Gene mutation may have effect on benefit of aspirin use for colorectal cancer

Colorectal cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Randomized controlled trials have demonstrated that aspirin use reduces the risk of colorectal cancer, according to background information in the article. Experimental evidence has suggested that BRAF-mutant colonic cells might be less sensitive to the antitumor effects of aspirin than BRAF-wild-type (the typical form of a gene as it occurs in nature) neoplastic cells. …