Scientists from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center report that their experimental combination treatment strategy — using a small molecular inhibitor along with chemotherapy — was particularly effective at stopping a stubborn leukemia called T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, or T-ALL. …
Reporting this week in the journal Cell, the researchers describe the first compound that directly binds to and blocks Skp2, a protein they previously showed both turns off a cellular defense against cancer and switches on a cancer-feeding metabolic pathway. "The beauty of this study is we identified an inhibitor and showed how it functions to block Skp2. Inhibitors often are discovered without an initial understanding of how they work," said co-senior author Hui-Kuan Lin, Ph.D., associate professor of Cellular and Molecular Oncology at MD Anderson. …
As described in the journal Biomicrofluidics, which is produced by AIP Publishing, a team led by Gang Li, Ph.D., from Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is developing a portable device for point-of-care diagnostic testing to detect cancer at its earliest stages. It identifies cancer biomarkers, which are biological indicators of the disease that often circulate in the blood prior to the appearance of symptoms. The new device is based on microfluidics — a technology that has rapidly expanded over the past decade and involves miniature devices that tightly control and manipulate tiny amounts of fluids for analysis through channels at the micro- and nano-scales…
Some people develop invasive bladder cancer, which is where the cancer has grown through the muscle layer of the bladder. When this occurs, there is a higher risk that the cancer will spread to other areas of the body and it is much more difficult to treat…
The treatment exploits a novel link, identified by the scientists, between sugar processing in the cells and their growth and division. This approach to treating breast cancer offers a real alternative to chemotherapy as it targets the active cancer cells and not normal cells, reducing the risk of side effects that affect thousands of women undergoing treatment. Breast Cancer Campaign funded scientist, Dr Jeremy Blaydes at the University of Southampton, has shown for the first time that chemicals called cyclic peptide inhibitors can stop ‘sweet toothed’ cancer cells from growing and multiplying by blocking proteins in the cells called CtBPs (C-terminal binding proteins). …
The study that was recently published in Chemotherapy Research and Practice, reviews cases of eight patients who underwent this therapy at Saint Louis University. John Richart, M.D., associate professor of internal medicine at SLU and principal investigator of the study, first treated a patient with the disease using the HD IL-2 treatment in 1999. "Traditionally, melanoma patients with brain metastases have not been considered for HD IL-2 because treatment was thought to be futile," Richart said. "Our study shows that having this condition does not exclude a patient from getting this treatment and can in fact improve the length of their life." Melanoma is the most dangerous form of skin cancer that begins in the melanin-producing cells called melanocytes…
The paper, titled ‘Coronary Artery Disease in Women: A 2013 Update’, is by Dr Kavita Sharma and Dr Martha Gulati, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA. …
Out of the 1.5 million women diagnosed with breast cancer in the world annually, nearly one in seven of these is classified as triple negative. Patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) have tumours that are missing three important proteins that are found in other types of breast cancer. The absence of these three proteins make TNBC patients succumb to a higher rate of relapse following treatment and have lower overall survival rates. …
Cancer Research UK scientists at the University of Southampton found that this molecule targets the master switch — HIF-1 — that cancer cells use to adapt to low oxygen levels, a common feature in the disease. …
In the September issue of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer’s journal, the Journal of Thoracic Oncology (JTO), researchers conclude that Ephrin (EPH) B2 seems to play an important role in malignant pleural mesothelioma cell lines and tumors. Using expression arrays, researchers from the New York University Langone Medical Center looked at EPHB2 in 34 malignant pleural mesothelioma tumors , and found it significantly elevated in tumor tissue compared with matched normal peritoneum. They found EPHB2 overexpressed in all malignant pleural mesothelioma cell lines, but not in benign mesothelial cells…