Tag Archives: division

Finding keys to glioblastoma therapeutic resistance

“There is a growing interest to guide cancer therapy by sequencing the DNA of the cancer cell,” said Clark Chen, MD, PhD, vice-chairman of Research and Academic Development, UC San Diego Division of Neurosurgery and the principal investigator of the study. “Our study demonstrates that the sensitivity of glioblastoma to a drug is influenced not only by the content of its DNA sequences, but also by how the DNA sequences are organized and interpreted by the cell.” The team of scientists, led by Chen, used a method called comparative gene signature analysis to study the genetic profiles of tumor specimens collected from approximately 900 glioblastoma patients. …

Ovarian Cancer: Know your body, know your risk

“There is no effective surveillance technique for the detection of early stage ovarian cancer, so the only effective way to prevent it and save lives is to identify women at risk,” said David A. Fishman, MD, Director of the Mount Sinai Ovarian Cancer Risk Assessment Program and Professor and Fellowship Director in the Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He recommends that women with a family history of ovarian and breast cancers get a formal genetic evaluation by a board-certified genetic counselor. For women who have tested positive for a BRCA mutation or are identified to be at a high risk for developing ovarian cancer, preventive surgery should be considered to remove the ovaries and fallopian tubes before ovarian cancer can develop…

Adding element to standard treatment in post-gemcitabine metastatic pancreatic cancer improves survival

“Patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer or pancreatic cancer in general have very limited options,” said study author Andrea Wang-Gillam, assistant professor in the Division of Oncology at Washington University in St. Louis, USA. “These patients just simply don’t do well. …

Multiple myeloma, myeloid leukemia therapies could be enhanced by experimental drug

“Although dinaciclib has shown promising pre-clinical activity against a variety of tumor cells, and is currently undergoing phase I/II clinical trials in several malignancies, the mechanisms responsible for its anti-tumor activity are not fully understood,” says the study’s lead investigator Steven Grant, M.D., associate director for translational research, co-leader of the Developmental Therapeutics research program and Shirley Carter Olsson and Sture Gordon Olsson Chair in Oncology Research at Massey. …

Marginal life expectancy benefit from contralateral prophylactic mastectomy — ScienceDaily

To assess the survival benefit of CPM, Pamela R. Portschy, of the Department of Surgery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, and colleagues, developed a model simulating survival outcomes of CPM or no CPM for women with newly diagnosed stage I or II breast cancer, using data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) registry and large meta-analyses. Survival benefit projections were made for women by age (40, 50, or 60 years), breast cancer stage (I or II), and estrogen receptor (ER) status (positive or negative). Women with BRCA mutations were excluded from the analysis because they have a much higher risk of developing contralateral breast cancer. …

Metastatic brain tumor treatment could be on the horizon with use of SapC-DOPS — ScienceDaily

However, a new Cincinnati Cancer Center (CCC) study, published in the advance online edition of the journal Oncotarget, provides hope that previously studied SapC-DOPS could be used for treatment of brain cancer that has spread. Xiaoyang Qi, PhD, member of the CCC, associate director and associate professor in the division of hematology oncology at the University of Cincinnati (UC) College of Medicine and a member of the UC Cancer and Neuroscience Institutes and the Brain Tumor Center, says this critical data shows promise for finding treatment for one of the deadliest cancers. A lysosomal protein saposin C (SapC), and a phospholipid, known as dioleoylphosphatidylserine (DOPS), can be combined and assembled into tiny cavities, or nanovesicles, to target and kill many forms of cancer cells…

Metastatic brain tumor treatment could be on the horizon with use of SapC-DOPS

However, a new Cincinnati Cancer Center (CCC) study, published in the advance online edition of the journal Oncotarget, provides hope that previously studied SapC-DOPS could be used for treatment of brain cancer that has spread. Xiaoyang Qi, PhD, member of the CCC, associate director and associate professor in the division of hematology oncology at the University of Cincinnati (UC) College of Medicine and a member of the UC Cancer and Neuroscience Institutes and the Brain Tumor Center, says this critical data shows promise for finding treatment for one of the deadliest cancers…