Tag Archives: dna

Sunscreens do not fully protect against the development of melanoma, mouse study suggests

The study demonstrates that sunscreen, even with a sun protection factor (SPF) 50, may not fully protect against the development of melanoma. According to the researcher at the UMH Berta López Sánchez-Laorden, sunscreen protects against immediate radiation damage including sunburn, but the radiation can still penetrate and damage the DNA of cells and cause cancer. Through the use of genetically modified mice particularly susceptible to melanoma, the researcher discovered that ultraviolet light causes mutations in the DNA of melanocytes in a gene called p53. …

Cancer mutations identified as targets of effective melanoma immunotherapy

“This study provides the technical solution to identify mutated tumor targets that can stimulate immune responses, which is one of the major bottlenecks in developing a new generation of adoptive T-cell therapy,” said Steven A. Rosenberg, MD, PhD, chief of surgery at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Bethesda, Maryland. “The two targets identified in this study play important roles in cancer cell proliferation…

Sun exposure, vitamin D levels and mortality

Encouraging sun exposure to get vitamin D to try to live longer is highly irresponsible. It is a well-established fact that UV radiation from sun or indoor tanning can cause cancer and numerous studies have demonstrated that exposure to UV radiation causes DNA damage in skin cells that can lead to skin cancer (melanoma and non-melanoma). 1,2 In fact, the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine (IOM) has concluded that while evidence links a person’s vitamin D level to their bone health, the evidence linking vitamin D with other health benefits is inconsistent, inconclusive, and insufficient.3 Vitamin D can be safely and easily obtained from a healthy diet that includes foods naturally rich in vitamin D, foods/beverages fortified with vitamin D, and/or vitamin D supplemets. …

New combination therapy developed for multiple myeloma

While several drugs are effective against multiple myeloma, including the proteasome inhibitor bortezomib, multiple myeloma cells are often able to survive by increasing the production of a protein known as Mcl-1. Mcl-1 regulates a number of processes that promote cell survival and has been implicated in resistance to anti-myeloma drugs that were initially effective. However, a team of researchers led by Xin-Yan Pei, M.D., Ph.D., and Steven Grant, M.D., recently published the findings of a study in the journal PLoS ONE demonstrating that a novel drug combination both reduces Mcl-1 expression and disrupts its interactions with other proteins to effectively kill multiple myeloma cells. …

Gut microbes turn carbs into colorectal cancer, study shows

“Because hereditary colorectal cancer is associated with aggressive and rapid tumor development, it is critical to understand how major environmental factors such as microbes and diet interact with genetic factors to potentially affect disease progression,” says senior study author Alberto Martin of the University of Toronto. “Our study provides novel insights into this question by showing that gut bacteria interact with a carbohydrate-rich diet to stimulate a prevalent type of hereditary colon cancer.” Carbohydrates account for about half of the daily caloric intake of adults on a western-style diet, and previous studies have linked carbohydrate-rich diets to colorectal cancer in humans. This type of cancer is also frequently associated with mutations in a tumor suppressor gene called APC as well as the MSH2 gene, which plays a critical role in repairing DNA damage…

Genetic profile predicts which bladder cancer patients will benefit from early chemotherapy — ScienceDaily

During the study, 36 patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer received chemotherapy before surgery, consisting of an accelerated regimen of methotrexate, vinblastine, doxorubicin, and cisplatin (AMVAC). By the time surgery rolled around, 14 patients appeared cancer-free. All but one of these patients carried mutations in at least one of three specific genes; none of these mutations were present in any of the people who still harbored traces of cancer after AMVAC. …

Why don’t genetically identical cells behave identically? Cellular noise

Dohlman, a professor of biochemistry and biophysics in the UNC School of Medicine, is like a mechanic for cells. He takes them apart to see how they function. He can tell you what part is like a gas pedal — a protein that pushes a brain chemical into action, for instance. And he can tell you which part is like the brakes — a protein that counteracts the effect of the gas pedal…

Natural products from plants protect skin during cancer radiotherapy

Writing in the International Journal of Low Radiation, Faruck Lukmanul Hakkim of the University of Nizwa, Oman and Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan, and colleagues there and at Macquarie University, New South Wales, Australia, Bharathiar University, India and Konkuk University, South Korea, explain how three ubiquitous and well-studied natural products derived from plants can protect the skin against gamma radiation during radiotherapy. Hakkim and colleagues discuss the benefits of the organic, antioxidant compounds caffeic acid (CA), rosmarinic acid (RA) and trans-cinnamic acid (TCA) used at non-toxic concentrations. They tested the radio protective effect of these compounds against gamma-radiation in terms of reducing levels of reactive oxygen species generated in skin cells by clinical relevance dose of gamma ray in the laboratory and in terms of the damage to the genetic material DNA, specifically double strand breaks in laboratory samples of human skin cells (keratinocytes). …