Tag Archives: european

Evidence of harmful effect of bisphenol A-based plastics

Complex mechanism of action "Our research provides further evidence that the physiological effects of bisphenol A may be even more complex than previously assumed," says Prof Dr Raphael Stoll, head of Biomolecular Spectroscopy at the Ruhr-Universität. "However, we have also discovered other related compounds that indicate which path the future development of pharmaceutically effective substances against GTPase-mediated tumours may take," adds synthetic chemist Prof Dr Jürgen Scherkenbeck from Wuppertal. Bisphenol A impairs the function of GTPases Small GTPases are enzymes that occur in two states within the cell: in the active form when bound to the GTP molecule; and in the inactive form when bound to GDP, a lower-energy form of GTP. …

First breast biopsy system offering real-time monitoring, guidance

First diagnostic tool is clinical imaging (mainly Mammography and Ultrasound) but suspicious findings usually require a biopsy to confirm the diagnosis; 2% of women who undergo a screening mammogram will require some type of breast biopsy (1,3 million women each year in Europe). Breast biopsy is an image-guided procedure that can use different imaging technologies. Apart from US-guided biopsy, which is a manual procedure with limited indications, all current solutions are based on discrete scans of static images taken at different steps during the procedure. …

Exercise training as ‘prehabilitation’ before surgery

CPET is a non-invasive measurement of the cardiovascular and respiratory system during exercise to assess exercise capacity and cardiopulmonary fitness. According to the researchers, the role of exercise training or ‘prehabilitation’ for optimising preoperative physiological function to counter catabolic effects of surgery has received little attention in cancer patients…

Study unveils potential of re-activating tumor fighting proteins within cell

According to the researchers, the human nuclear export protein chromosomal region maintenance/exportin 1/Xpo1 (CRM1) is the sole exportin mediating transport of many multiple tumor suppressor proteins out of the nucleus. Their study aimed to verify the hypothesis that CRM1 inhibition could be beneficial for the treatment of prostate cancer metastases, which was achieved by testing the effects of the orally available, potent and selective, clinical stage SINE compound KPT 330. "Although the class of compounds used in our studies — SINEs or Selective Inhibitors of Nuclear Export — have just recently entered early clinical testing, our results suggest that these agents could be active in patients with androgen-independent prostate cancer," commented study’s lead author Dr. …

Multicenter study underscores need for uniform approach to bladder cancer

According to the lead author, Dr. Francesco Atzori, progress in developing new effective drugs in bladder cancer has been stagnant in the last decades. "In patients who recur or who are refractory to first-line therapy, response rates and outcomes are grim, and to date, no second-line therapy has been clearly established," he explained…

Prognostic value of baseline survival determined for 11 types of cancer

Dr. Andrew Bottomley, EORTC Headquarters Associate Director says, "This study utilized a single standardized and validated patient self-assessment tool, the EORTC Core Quality of Life Questionnaire, or the QLQ-C30 for short. We selected thirty EORTC randomized controlled trials which involved eleven different cancer sites for this study. …

Change in circulating tumor cells detection has potential in prediction of prostate cancer

"The research of the circulating tumour cells (CTC) is of utmost importance, because nowadays there is no reliable marker of both cancer-specific or overall survival in castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) patients," explained the lead author of the study, Dr. …

Genetic variant that increases testicular cancer risk in caucasians evolved to protect light skin

"The genetic risk factor we identified is associated with one of the largest risks ever reported for cancer," says study author Douglas Bell of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences at the National Institutes of Health. "We think it might prove useful for identifying individuals at the highest risk for cancer or who might benefit from preventive or therapeutic treatments." About half of human cancers are associated with mutations in the p53 gene, which regulates vital cell functions as well as tumor formation in many tissues. Because p53 must activate a wide range of genes to influence cancer-related signaling pathways, Bell and Gareth Bond of the University of Oxford and the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research speculated that cancer risk could be associated with genetic variation in p53-binding sites. …

Treating chest lymph nodes in early breast cancer improves survival without increasing side effects

Dr Philip Poortmans, a radiation oncologist from the Institute Verbeeten, Tilburg, The Netherlands, and a member of the EORTC Radiation Oncology and Breast Cancer Groups, said that results from the international randomised trial, which involved 4004 patients from 43 centres, were convincing. "Our results make it clear that irradiating these lymph nodes give a better patient outcome than giving radiation therapy to the breast/thoracic wall alone…