Tag Archives: human

Researchers discover how cancer hides

"In recent years, several therapeutic medicines have been developed that spur a person’s own immune system to fight cancer," said Raul Torres, PhD, professor of immunology at National Jewish Health, and senior author on the paper, published in the October issue of Cancer Immunology Research. "Our findings suggest new targets and strategies for enlisting the immune system’s help in fighting cancer." Scientists believe the human immune system recognizes and destroys many cancerous cells before they develop into dangerous tumors. However, tumors also employ strategies to evade detection by the immune system…

Zebrafish useful tool in prostate cancer stem cell study

Prostate cancers are suggested to contain self-renewing tumor stem cells that have the ability to grow uncontrollably and spread. Identified as tumor-initiating cells (TICs), research has shown that these cells are found to be resistant to standard chemotherapy. A desirable treatment strategy is to develop therapies that would effectively target the self-renewing capabilities of the TICs, which requires better identification of TICs themselves. Utilizing prostate cancer samples from patients diagnosed at the Cancer Institute of New Jersey between 2008 and 2012, Cancer Institute investigators used mouse and zebrafish models to identify the frequencies of TICs from each patient’s prostate cancer cells. …

Multiple, distinct Y chromosomes associated with significant excess risk of prostate cancer

The study identified multiple, distinct Y chromosomes associated with a significant excess risk of prostate cancer, said Lisa Cannon-Albright, Ph.D., Professor and Chief of the Division of Genetic Epidemiology at the University of Utah School of Medicine. Dr. Cannon-Albright, who headed the study and presented the results today, said that her lab plans to search these Y chromosomes for the genetic mutations that can predispose a man to develop prostate cancer, the second most frequently diagnosed cancer in the U.S. …

Gene variant that raises risk for colorectal cancer from eating processed meat present in one-in-three people

In addition to identifying a gene that raises risk for colorectal cancer from eating red or processed meat, the study — the first to identify the interactions of genes and diet on a genome-wide scale — also reveals another specific genetic variation that appears to modify whether eating more vegetables, fruits and fiber actually lowers your colorectal cancer risk. …

Patients report not being told of risk of overdiagnosis in cancer screenings

Cancer screenings can find treatable disease at an earlier stage but they can also detect cancers that will never progress to cause symptoms. Detection of these early, slow-growing cancers can lead to unnecessary surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, the authors write in the study background. Researchers conducted an online survey of 317 U.S. …

New imaging technique can identify breast cancer subtypes, early treatment response

"The process of targeted drug development requires assays that measure drug target engagement and predict the response (or lack thereof) to treatment," said Alex Walsh, a graduate student in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. "We have shown that optical metabolic imaging (OMI) enables fast, sensitive, and accurate measurement of drug action. Importantly, OMI measurements can be made repeatedly over time in a live animal, which significantly reduces the cost of these preclinical studies." Human cells undergo extensive chemical reactions called metabolic activity to produce energy, and this activity is altered in cancer cells. When cancer cells are treated with anticancer drugs, their metabolic activity changes. …

Anesthesia technique may reduce breast cancer recurrence, death

"Surgery has long been the most effective treatment for solid cancer tumors," said Palle S. Carlsson, M.D., Ph.D., of the Department of Anaesthesiology, Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark. "However, it has been theorized that the long-term effect of anesthetic method, drugs used and the pain therapy applied after surgery can influence how the disease progresses — whether the cancer comes back or the patient dies." During cancer surgery, tumor cells released into the bloodstream can transfer from the original tumor area and implant in lymph nodes and other organs far from the primary tumor, according to Dr. Carlsson. …