Tag Archives: energy

Study questions anti-cancer mechanisms of drug tested in clinical trials

But new research appearing the week of Jan. 13 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) suggests that activation of AMPK may actually fuel cancer growth. Researchers from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center who led the study also recommend that clinicians testing metformin for cancer treatment consider a careful re-evaluation of their clinical data. The researchers report on extensive laboratory tests that conclude metformin does stop cancer, although not by activating AMPK…

New horizons in radiotherapy?

This work, which sheds new light on the behavior of matter at the atomic scale and which could have important benefits in medicine, is published in the journal Nature. The radiotherapy currently used in nearly half of cancer treatments irradiates biological tissue using a radiation with a wide energy spectrum in order to destroy the cancerous cells. The work of the international team headed by two CNRS researchers from the Laboratoire de Chimie Physique — Matière et Rayonnement (CNRS/UPMC) should make it possible to improve the precision and quality of treatment by more finely targeting the range of energy used. …

Partially blocking blood vessels’ energy source may stop cancer growth, blindness, other conditions

"Our findings reveal a new strategy to block blood vessel growth in various pathological conditions by depriving them of energy and building blocks necessary for growth," says senior author Dr. Peter Carmeliet of the University of Leuven and the Vesalius Research Center, VIB in Belgium. While current strategies to thwart pathological blood vessel formation focus primarily on inhibiting vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), this latest research centers around blocking glycolysis, the process that endothelial cells rely on for generating most of the energy they need to multiply and migrate. …

Scientists call for action to tackle cervical cancer in Kenya

Results from the research, which looked retrospectively at the treatment of women diagnosed with cervical cancer during a two year period, showed 18% of cervical cancer patients in the East African country died within two years of a diagnosis. Dr Ian Hampson, from The University of Manchester’s Institute of Cancer Sciences who oversaw the research, said the findings, published in PLOS One this week, add further weight to the call to spend more on cancer screening and prevention in Kenya…

Forcing cancer to digest itself

Cells are able to degrade damaged molecules as well as entire areas of cells by self-digestion and use the resulting degradation products to gain energy and to produce new molecules or parts of cells. This process of self-digestion is called autophagy and can be considered a renovation of the cell. Energy production through autophagy plays an important role for cells when they are lacking nutrients, oxygen or growth factors. A team of researchers of the University of Bern under the direction of Hans-Uwe Simon of the Institute of Pharmacology has now found out that a reduced self-digestion of tumour cells may contribute to the development of a melanoma…