The rates of apoptosis, or programmed cell death, were higher in the mice treated with the experimental agent than in the untreated animals that also had high-grade glioblastomas, said Johanna Joyce, Ph.D., of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in New York City. …
"People don’t always understand genetic information, so there’s confusion," says study author Mary B. Daly, MD, PhD, chair of the Department of Clinical Genetics at Fox Chase. …
Results showed that through deep genome sequencing, a reduction in the most commonly mutated genes in breast cancer could be observed after just one dose of preoperative therapy. Deep sequencing is a process that involves sequencing the same region multiple times to identify mutations within tumors that have an importance in cancer evolution. These new findings were presented during the 2013 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. "Genomics is the new frontier of cancer research, and this study shows that we may be able to accurately determine what treatment methods will and will not be effective for individual patients after just one dose of medicine," said Lyndsay Harris, MD, study investigator and Director, Breast Cancer Program, UH Seidman Cancer Center and Professor of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. …
The new findings explain partially why cancer cells, unlike normal cells, fail to die as a result of DNA damaging insults, and how this mechanism causes new genetic mutations in cancer cells. This new information directly benefits cancer research. Now that scientists understand the repair mechanism, they are better equipped to develop drug therapies that specifically target cancerous cells. …
The research, published in the online issue of Cancer Cell, found that when the NCOA5 gene, present in both men and women, was altered in male mice to a deficient level, a spontaneous reaction occurred producing cells that can lead to hepatocellular carcinoma, a type of liver cancer found to be two-to-four times more prevalent in men than women. Findings also showed that prior to cancer development there were occurrences of glucose intolerance, a prediabetic condition that is believed to increase the risk of type 2 diabetes in humans. …
The study was published online November 30, 2013 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. …
The immune system is complex and a number of genetic diseases are attributed to defects in the cells that form its origins. The study from Lund and Oxford University presents unique findings on the formation of these cells. We know that the first blood stem cells are formed in the aorta region and then travel to the liver, which is the body’s major blood-forming organ during the fetal stage…
The team, led by Professor Yoshiaki Ito of CSI Singapore, showed that RUNX3 is a major component in a well-established tumor suppression mechanism involving p53, a tumor suppressor protein that regulates cell proliferation and prevent cancer. In addition, the research team also demonstrated that RUNX3 plays a pivotal role in preventing early tumor formation. Although the current study focused on lung cancer, the results help to explain the development of other types of human cancers. These novel findings were published in leading scientific journal Cancer Cell on 11 November 2013. …
Published ahead of print in the online edition of the journal PNAS, the study establishes using segments of genetic material called antisense oligonucleotides — ASOs — to block the buildup and selectively degrade the toxic RNA that contributes to the most common form of ALS, without affecting the normal RNA produced from the same gene. …
tumors with lower levels of oxygen — known as hypoxia — often respond less well to radiation therapy. There are several agents that can be given to patients before radiotherapy to reduce hypoxia, but these are not given as standard. Being able to measure how well-oxygenated an individual’s tumor is would give doctors a valuable way of identifying which patients might benefit from treatment with hypoxia reducing agents before radiotherapy. Hypoxia has previously been investigated by looking at the expression of certain genes, and Manchester researchers have come up with a genetic profile for tumors that should indicate the overall level of oxygenation…