Tag Archives: cancer-center

Olive oil component investigated for breast cancer prevention

Tejal Patel, M.D., breast medical oncologist with Houston Methodist Cancer Center, leads the clinical study of hydroxytyrosol’s effects in pre- and postmenopausal women. Recent studies have linked breast density and breast cancer risk, and the primary objective of this study is to show a significant decrease in breast density. …

Scientific first allows doctors to ‘see’ radiation treatment in body

Dartmouth began to investigate a scientific phenomenon called the Cherenkov effect in 2011. Our scientists and engineers theorized that by using Cherenkov emissions the beam of radiation could be "visible" to the treatment team. The ability to capture a beam of radiation would show: • how the radiation signals travel through the body • the dose of radiation to the skin • any errors in dosage…

Team discovers key mechanisms to inhibit triple negative breast cancers

“In previous findings published over the past 10 years, our teams have described key mechanisms in these critical proteins,” said Khalid Sossey-Alaoui, PhD, Department of Molecular Cardiology, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic. “A key component in the deadly metastatic potential of TNBC tumors is that they spread through tissues outside the breast very quickly. The two proteins that we studied, WAVE3 and TGF-β, when together, promote tumor aggressiveness.” “We found important biological implications,” said William Schiemann, PhD, an associate professor, Division of General Medical Sciences-Oncology, Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, and co-leader of the Breast Cancer Program at the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center…

New analysis shows fewer years of life lost to cancer

"We have made steady progress against the burden of many cancers for decades," said principal investigator Samir Soneji, PhD, assistant professor for Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth and the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, a member of Norris Cotton Cancer Center. "As fewer and fewer people die from heart disease, stroke, and accidents, more and more people are alive long enough to be at risk of developing and dying from cancer." Between 1970 and 2008, mortality rates from heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, and accidents declined 62 percent, 73 percent, and 38 percent, respectively. In the same period, cancer mortality rates declined just 12 percent…

Study finds known lung cancer oncogenes also drive colorectal cancer

"When you have known oncogenes that are already targeted by FDA-approved drugs, it just made sense to look for these oncogenes in other cancers," says Marileila Varella Garcia, PhD, investigator at the CU Cancer Center and professor at the CU School of Medicine. "By rethinking the way we understand cancers — as their genetic mutations and not just as the sites where they live in the body — we see that a therapy that targets a specific mutation may show benefit in treating any other cancer that shares the same mutation," says Dara Aisner, MD, PhD, investigator at the CU Cancer Center and molecular pathologist at the CU School of Medicine…

Changing chemo not beneficial for metastatic breast cancer patients with elevated circulating tumor cells

"We concluded that CTCs are not a good marker in helping to decide when to switch between chemotherapies," said Jeffrey B. Smerage, M.D., Ph.D., clinical associate professor at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center in Ann Arbor. "It had been hoped that switching would both increase the chances of being on an effective therapy and decrease the exposure to toxicity from less effective or ineffective therapies, and as a result it had been hoped that this early switching would result in improved survival and time to progression. "The most important implication is that we have validated that the group of patients with elevated CTCs at both baseline and 21 days [after starting their first chemotherapy] has a worse prognosis with regard to both time to progression and overall survival," added Smerage…