Tag Archives: cancer

Soy and tomato may be effective in preventing prostate cancer

"In our study, we used mice that were genetically engineered to develop an aggressive form of prostate cancer. Even so, half the animals that had consumed tomato and soy had no cancerous lesions in the prostate at study’s end. All mice in the control group — no soy, no tomato — developed the disease," said John Erdman, a U of I professor of food science and nutrition. From the time they were 4 to 18 weeks old, the animals were fed one of four diets: (1) 10 percent whole tomato powder; (2) 2 percent soy germ; (3) tomato powder plus soy germ; and (4) a control group that ate neither tomato nor soy. …

Immune cells that suppress genital herpes infections identified

The discovery of this subtype of immune cells, called CD8+ T cells, opens a new avenue of research to develop a vaccine to prevent and treat herpes simplex virus type 2, or HSV-2. Identifying these T cells’ specific molecular targets, called epitopes, is the next step in developing a vaccine. The findings are described in the May 8 advance online edition of Nature…

Activity of cancer inducing genes can be controlled by the cell’s skeleton

In the latest issue of the journal Oncogene, Florence Janody and her team at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (IGC, Portugal), identified a novel mechanism by which the activity of Src is limited by the cell’s skeleton (cytoskeleton) limiting the development of tumours. Using the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, as a model, Florence Janody and her team were able to stop the tumour development induced by the high activity of Src through the genetic manipulation of the cytoskeleton in fly tissues. A major component of the cytoskeleton, the actin protein, form cables that crisscross the cell, creating a network, where molecules can move, inside the cell. …

Focus on STD, not cancer prevention, to promote HPV vaccine use

These results go against the conventional wisdom that scaring women about the possibility of cancer is the best way to get them vaccinated. The failure of that cancer-threat message may be one reason that fewer than 20 percent of adolescent girls in the United States have received the HPV vaccine, said Janice Krieger, lead author of the study and assistant professor of communication at The Ohio State University…

New target for personalized cancer therapy

The research team has pinpointed the cancer abnormality to a mutation in a gene called PIK3CA that results in a mutant protein, which may be an early cancer switch. By disrupting the mutated signaling pathway, the Case Western Reserve team, led by John Wang, PhD, inhibited the growth of cancer cells, opening the possibility to new cancer therapies. Their findings, "Gain of interaction with IRS1 by p110 helical domain mutants is crucial for their oncogenic functions," was published on May 2 in the journal Cancer Cell. Cancer arises from a single cell, which has mutated in a small number of genes because of random errors in the DNA replication process…

Discovery helps show how breast cancer spreads

It has long been known that women with denser breasts are at higher risk for breast cancer. This greater density is caused by an excess of a structural protein called collagen. "We have shown how increased collagen in the breasts could increase the chances of breast tumors spreading and becoming more invasive," says Gregory D. …

Discovery may help prevent chemotherapy-induced anemia

Constantly regenerating and maturing, the hematopoietic (blood-producing) stem cells in our bone marrow produce billions of red blood cells (RBC) every day. Cancer chemotherapy is notorious for injuring the bone marrow, leading to anemia, or low RBC counts. But just how chemotherapy harms the bone marrow has not been clear. …

Protein complex may play role in preventing many forms of cancer

The broad reach of the effect of mutations in the complex, called BAF, rivals that of another well-known tumor suppressor called p53. It also furthers a growing notion that these so-called chromatin-regulatory complexes may function as much more than mere cellular housekeepers. "Although we knew that this complex was likely to play a role in preventing cancer, we didn’t realize how extensive it would be," said postdoctoral scholar Cigall Kadoch, PhD…