The journal Blood has published a new study on a drug candidate for multiple myeloma, a form of cancer that affects about one per cent of all tumour patients, with some 600 people a year developing the disease in Sweden. …
The nanosponges at the foundation of the experimental "toxoid vaccine" platform are bio-compatible particles made of a polymer core wrapped in a red-blood-cell membrane. Each nanosponge’s red-blood-cell membrane seizes and detains the Staphylococcus aureus (staph) toxin alpha-haemolysin without compromising the toxin’s structural integrity through heating or chemical processing. These toxin-studded nanosponges served as vaccines capable of triggering neutralizing antibodies and fighting off otherwise lethal doses of the toxin in mice. Toxoid vaccines protect against a toxin or set of toxins, rather than the organism that produces the toxin(s)…
"The flu shot is recommended annually for cancer patients, as it is the most effective way to prevent influenza and its complications," said Mollie deShazo, M.D., associate professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology and Oncology and medical director of UAB Inpatient Oncology. "The flu vaccine significantly lowers the risk of acquiring the flu; it is not 100 percent effective, but it is the best tool we have." Flu activity in the United States is low, even after increasing slightly in recent weeks, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, more activity is expected, and people who have not had a flu vaccine this year are advised to do so. "It takes up to two weeks to build immunity after a flu shot, but you can benefit even if you get the vaccine after the flu has arrived in your community," deShazo said…
"This is a major advance," said Claudia Valentim, Ph.D., the primary author of the report, who worked at both institutions. "We were able to identify the critical gene by crossing resistant and sensitive worms in the laboratory and then analyzing the genomes of the progeny. This method is commonly used for fruit flies and other laboratory organisms, but has not previously been possible for schistosome parasites." "This really shows the utility of genome sequencing," says Anderson. "The schistosome genome was published in 2009…
Investigators in the Cedars-Sinai Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute have made extensive progress in understanding the molecular mechanisms of disease progression. These results may help scientists better understand the prognosis of patients diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer. The study, published in the journal Cell Cycle and led by Dolores Di Vizio, MD, PhD, may ultimately lead to the development of new biomarkers for not only prognosis, but also a patient’s potential response to therapy. "One of the long-standing difficulties in treating men with advanced prostate cancer has been predicting the response to given therapies or treatments," said Di Vizio, associate professor in the Department of Surgery, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and Department of Biomedical Sciences. …
Cancer is the leading cause of disease-related death among U.S. children, but the rate of survival has increased significantly from a 5-year survival rate of 58.1 percent in 1975-77 to 83.1 percent in 2003-09. "Research has shown childhood cancer survivors face heart and other health problems decades after treatment," said Donald R. …
Combining the drug gemtuzumab ozogamicin (GO) with conventional chemotherapy may improve the outcome of bone marrow transplantation for some children battling high-risk acute myeloid leukemia (AML), according to a study led by St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The results appear in the current edition of the journal Cancer…
With a New York University Cancer Institute colleague, the researchers report in an upcoming Clinical Chemistry (now online) that the mixture of free-floating blood proteins created by the enzyme carboxypeptidase N accurately predicted the presence of early-stage breast cancer tissue in mice and in a small population of human patients. "In this paper we link the catalytic activity of carboxypeptidase N to tumor progression in clinical samples from breast cancer patients and a breast cancer animal model," said biomedical engineer Tony Hu, Ph.D., who led the project. "Our results indicate that circulating peptides generated by CPN can serve as clear signatures of early disease onset and progression." The technology is not yet available to the public, and may not be for years. More extensive clinical tests are needed, and those tests are expected to begin in early 2014…
Now, a team of researchers led by Mei R. Fu, PhD, RN, ACNS-BC, associate professor of Chronic Disease Management at the New York University College of Nursing (NYUCN), offers supporting evidence for using Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) ratios to assess Lymphedema. The study, "L-DEX Ratio in Detecting Breast Cancer-Related Lymphedema: Reliability, Sensitivity, and Specificity," published in Lymphology, argues because the low frequency electronic current cannot travel through cell membranes, it provides a direct measure of lymph fluid outside the cells. This allows for a more accurate assessment of lymphedema using a Lymphedema Index named L-Dex ratio. …
Now, an ASU research team led by Biodesign Institute executive director Dr. Ray DuBois, M.D., PhD, has shown that a key genetic culprit, called CXCR2, is implicated in the tumor formation, growth and progression in a mouse model of colon cancer. …