Tag Archives: gent

Study could lead to ‘liquid biopsy’ tests for bladder cancer

Bladder cancer is the fourth most common non-skin cancer. But there is no good screening test for it, and there has been limited progress in characterizing how aggressive an individual’s bladder cancer will be. Loyola researchers studied microscopic droplets, called exosomes, that are shed by cancer cells and are found in urine. Understanding the biology of exosomes could lead to the development of a screening test, which would require a simple urine sample, said lead researcher Gopal Gupta, MD. …

Study could aid in development of ‘liquid biopsy’ screening, diagnostic tests for bladder cancer

Bladder cancer is the fourth most common non-skin cancer. But there is no good screening test for it, and there has been limited progress in characterizing how aggressive an individual’s bladder cancer will be. Loyola researchers studied microscopic droplets, called exosomes, that are shed by cancer cells and are found in urine. Understanding the biology of exosomes could lead to the development of a screening test, which would require a simple urine sample, said lead researcher Gopal Gupta, MD…

Development of a novel dual JAK/Src kinase inhibitor

The research article by Liu et al describes MLS-2384 which is a synthetic derivative of amarine natural product, 6-bromoindirubin-3′-oxime. MLS-2384 exhibits a dual JAK/Src kinase inhibitory activity, blocks downstream signaling into the STAT3 pathway, and has anti-cancer activity in various human cancer cell lines. These findings have important clinical implications for understanding the mechanisms of action of bromoindirubin derivatives. The findings also indicate that this new 6-bromoindirubin derivative, MLS-2384, has potential as an anti-tumor therapeutic agent targeting JAK and Src kinases upstream of STAT3 in a wide variety of human cancer cells…

Blocking tumor-associated macrophages decreases glioblastoma’s growth, extends survival in mice

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. …

High levels of immune cells in breast tumors may help ID patients who benefit from trastuzumab

"We have previously shown that high levels of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes [immune cells in a tumor] are predictive of response to trastuzumab and chemotherapy administered after surgery for early-stage, HER2-positive breast cancer using samples from patients enrolled on the randomized, adjuvant phase III clinical trial called the FinHER study," said Sherene Loi, M.D., Ph.D., medical oncologist and head of the Translational Breast Cancer Genomics Lab at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne, Australia. "Our new data further support the positive relationship between tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes and better outcomes with trastuzumab therapy, this time in a cohort of patients with newly diagnosed HER2-positive breast cancer who received the therapy before surgery. …

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…

Antibody-drug conjugate may provide new treatment option for pancreatic cancer patients

Antibody-drug conjugates are a new type of targeted anticancer therapy, which use an antibody to deliver an attached drug directly to those cells that display the antibody’s target on their surfaces. This precision reduces the side effects of the attached drug compared with conventional systemic administration. Currently, there are two U.S…