Human papillomaviruses (HPV) infect epithelial cells in the skin and mucosal tissue and can cause tumor-like growth. Some of these viruses also develop malignant tumors, especially cervical cancer in women…
Sonic Hedgehog belongs to a family of proteins that gives cells the information needed for the embryo to develop properly. It also plays a significant role in tumorigenesis, the process that transforms normal cells into cancer cells…
A drug resulting from the research, published in the journal Neurobiology of Disease, would offer new hope to sufferers of chronic pain conditions such as traumatic nerve injury, for which few effective painkillers are currently available. The work, led by Dr Lucy Donaldson in the University’s School of Life Sciences, in collaboration with David Bates, Professor of Oncology in the University’sCancer Biology Unit, focuses on a signal protein called vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). …
The aim of the research was to develop an improved tyrosine kinase inhibitor that is actually inactive and which is only activated selectively in the malignant tissue. This is intended to prevent damage to healthy tissue and therefore minimise side effects for patients. As part of the paper published in the journal Angewandte Chemie [Applied Chemistry], International Edition, a new inhibitor has been successfully synthesised and coordinated to cobalt(III). …
“Anthrax toxin is a professional at delivering large enzymes into cells,” says Bradley Pentelute, the Pfizer-Laubauch Career Development Assistant Professor of Chemistry at MIT. “We wondered if we could render anthrax toxin nontoxic, and use it as a platform to deliver antibody drugs into cells.” In a paper appearing in the journal ChemBioChem, Pentelute and colleagues showed that they could use this disarmed version of the anthrax toxin to deliver two proteins known as antibody mimics, which can kill cancer cells by disrupting specific proteins inside the cells…
“There is this group of people who think they don’t need to worry about getting cancer and believe they don’t have a high family risk of getting cancer, but unfortunately do,” said Mahon, a professor in internal medicine at Saint Louis University. Mahon says her requests for genetic testing for breast cancer have more than tripled since 2013, when actress Angelina Jolie announced she had a double mastectomy because she was at genetic risk of developing breast cancer…
“HPV is responsible for almost all cases of cervical and anal cancers, as well as 64 percent of vaginal cancers, 36 percent of penile cancers and 51 percent of vulvar cancers,” said Susan T. Vadaparampil, Ph.D., M.P.H., senior faculty member in the Health Outcomes and Behavior Program at Moffitt. “Women tend to be afflicted by HPV-induced cancer more than men; however, more men have genital and oral HPV infections than women.” These observations helped scientists characterize the biology of HPV infection at each anatomic site and aid in the development of HPV prevention strategies, including the vaccines Cervarix� and Gardasil�. Cervarix and Gardasil are approved for HPV prevention in young females aged 9 to 26 years…
“Our study found an increased risk for aggressive prostate cancer only in men with a very specific pattern of hair loss, baldness at the front and moderate hair-thinning on the crown of the head, at the age of 45. But we saw no increased risk for any form of prostate cancer in men with other hair-loss patterns,” said senior study author Michael B. Cook, PhD, an investigator in the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, MD…
“Our study found an increased risk for aggressive prostate cancer only in men with a very specific pattern of hair loss, baldness at the front and moderate hair-thinning on the crown of the head, at the age of 45. …
Previous research has shown that hospitals are often ill-prepared to provide care for dying patients. To investigate whether the circumstances for dying on cancer center wards allow for a dignified death, Karin Jors, MA, of the University Medical Center Freiburg, and her colleagues surveyed physicians and nurses in 16 hospitals belonging to 10 cancer centers in Baden-W�rttemberg, Germany. The survey addressed topics regarding end-of-life care including structural conditions such as rooms and staff, education/training, working environment, family/caregivers, medical treatment, communication with patients, and dignified death. Among 1131 survey respondents, 57 percent believed that patients could die with dignity on their ward. …