Tag Archives: human

Herceptin plus taxol highly effective in low-risk breast cancer

The study is the first major trial to examine the Herceptin-Taxol combination in patients who have a type of breast cancer with the biology known as small, node-negative, HER2+. Results were presented during the 2013 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. "This is great news for patients and their physicians," said Kathy Albain, MD, of Loyola University Medical Center, who is one of the co-authors of the national multicenter study. "This study identifies a new treatment option for this population of patients that is highly effective and has minimal side effects." First author is Sara Tolaney, MD, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute…

More powerful approach to analyze melanoma’s genetic causes

The gene-gene interactions underlying CM had not been fully explored. The usual functional model uses substitution of alleles for estimating genetic effects but the estimators are confounded. The NOIA model estimates population effects of alleles and the resulting estimators are orthogonal and no longer confounded. In simulation studies, the NOIA model had higher power for finding interactions and main effects than the usual model. …

Genetic flaw in males triggers onset of liver cancer, diabetes

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. …

Researchers test cutting-edge treatment for stubborn skin tumors

Paco is a horse, half Thoroughbred/half Percheron, and at the point of his shoulder — withers — he stands 5 feet 7 inches in human terms. Every two weeks this elegant, easygoing equine and his human pal Ferd Powell come to the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech to be treated for sarcoids…

Predicting ovarian cancer survival by counting tumor-attacking immune cells

Scientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have developed a new method for counting a special class of cancer-fighting cells — called tumor-infiltrating T lymphocytes, or TILs — reliably, quickly and cheaply in patients with early stage and advanced ovarian cancer. They describe their findings online Dec. 4 in Science Translational Medicine. …

New means of growing intestinal stem cells

The small intestine, like most other body tissues, has a small store of immature adult stem cells that can differentiate into more mature, specialized cell types. Until now, there has been no good way to grow large numbers of these stem cells, because they only remain immature while in contact with a type of supportive cells called Paneth cells. In a new study appearing in the Dec. …