Tag Archives: germany

Is Europe equipped with enough medical oncologists? Horizon still unknown

But the society has also warned that a worrying lack of information about the situation in Eastern Europe must be urgently addressed. Published in the Annals of Oncology this week, the survey provides the first detailed information on the current number of medical oncologists in 12 European Union countries, mostly in Western Europe, and their predicted availability by 2020. Around the world countries are struggling to ensure their medical oncology systems can deal with the increase in cancer cases, says ESMO Press Officer Solange Peters, a lung cancer expert from the university of Lausanne, Switzerland. Until now, nobody could say what the situation was in Europe. …

Research uncovers key difference between our bodies’ fight against viruses and bacteria

The study, published in the journal Nature Immunology and led by Professor Uwe Vinkemeier in the University’s School of Life Sciences, centred on STAT1, a protein that can bind DNA and hence plays a vital role in regulating genes in the body. STAT1 responds to interferon signals, hormone-like molecules which control communication between cells to trigger defensive action by the body’s immune system when pathogens such as bacteria, viruses, or parasites are detected. …

Malignant cells adopt different pathway for genome duplication

For one of our cells to give birth to two daughter cells, it must first replicate its DNA which consists of around 6.4 billion pairs of nucleotides. The double-stranded DNA opens up like a zipper, producing a ‘replication fork’ upon which a group of enzymes move about. Present in different regions in the DNA, the forks move with the progression of the replication. Cell proliferation is controlled in particular by specific genes known as proto-oncogenes…

Chemotherapy drug improves survival following surgery for pancreatic cancer

"Pancreatic cancer is a disease with a poor prognosis, mainly because of the inability to detect the tumor at an early stage, its high potential for early dissemination, and its relatively poor sensitivity to chemotherapy or radiation therapy," according to background information in the article. Even after complete removal of the tumor, the vast majority of patients relapse within 2 years, leading to a 5-year survival rate of less than 25 percent. No consensus has been reached on a standard treatment approach for additional therapy…

New method for tracking cell signaling

The technique, named cell type specific labeling using amino acid precursors (CTAP), exploits the inability of vertebrate cells to synthesize essential amino acids normally required for growth and homeostasis. The research was published online in the journal Nature Methods on June 30, 2013. This technological advance will provide investigators with a new tool for comprehensive mapping of cell-cell communication, which is important in all aspects of cancer development, maintenance, and response to therapy. For example, this method could be used to study cell signaling events between normal and malignant cells in order to better understand the molecular mechanisms by which surrounding normal cells alter tumor growth and response to treatment…