Tag Archives: institute

Is a cancer drug working? Modified drug gives a ‘green light’ for its own success

Cancer drugs can be modified to specifically target tumour sites to help personalize cancer treatment. And while it is relatively easy to determine if the drugs have been delivered to the correct location, it is more difficult to monitor their therapeutic success. Now, a team led by Bin Liu from the A*STAR Institute of Materials Research and Engineering in Singapore, in collaboration with Ben Zhong Tang at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, has developed an anticancer drug with an inbuilt mechanism that shows if it is working. Platinum-based drugs are effective against many cancers, killing cells by triggering cellular suicide, or apoptosis…

Conclusive evidence that sunscreen use in childhood prevents development of malignant melanoma in adults

According to senior author John L. VandeBerg, Ph.D., the research was driven by the fact that, despite the increasing use of sunscreen in recent decades, the incidence of malignant melanoma, the most aggressive form of skin cancer, continues to increase dramatically. The American Cancer Society estimates that more than 75,000 new cases of melanoma will be diagnosed in the U.S. this year. …

Combatting drug resistance for melanoma patients

Scientists have made significant strides identifying important molecules that contribute to melanoma growth and metastases, such as the proteins BRAF and MEK. Therapeutic agents that target these molecules have shown promise in the clinic, and many patients have significant reductions in tumor growth and tumor burden. “While targeted therapy drugs, such as BRAF and MEK inhibitors, have been associated with impressive responses in melanoma patients, most patients will eventually fail therapy,” said Keiran Smalley, Ph.D., associate member of the Cancer Biology and Evolution Program at Moffitt. Tumors can develop different resistance mechanisms and adapt to targeted agents in order to survive and continue to grow. …

Cancer mutations identified as targets of effective melanoma immunotherapy

“This study provides the technical solution to identify mutated tumor targets that can stimulate immune responses, which is one of the major bottlenecks in developing a new generation of adoptive T-cell therapy,” said Steven A. Rosenberg, MD, PhD, chief of surgery at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Bethesda, Maryland. “The two targets identified in this study play important roles in cancer cell proliferation…

Sun exposure, vitamin D levels and mortality

Encouraging sun exposure to get vitamin D to try to live longer is highly irresponsible. It is a well-established fact that UV radiation from sun or indoor tanning can cause cancer and numerous studies have demonstrated that exposure to UV radiation causes DNA damage in skin cells that can lead to skin cancer (melanoma and non-melanoma). 1,2 In fact, the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine (IOM) has concluded that while evidence links a person’s vitamin D level to their bone health, the evidence linking vitamin D with other health benefits is inconsistent, inconclusive, and insufficient.3 Vitamin D can be safely and easily obtained from a healthy diet that includes foods naturally rich in vitamin D, foods/beverages fortified with vitamin D, and/or vitamin D supplemets. …

Starving pancreatic cancer before it has a chance to feast

Pancreatic cancer and other cancers can only thrive, grow and spread if they have nutrients from blood, just like other tissues in our bodies. Cancer cells and tumors at first rely on nearby blood vessels to get what they need to survive, but, as tumors grow, they need to form new vessels. These vessels differ from those in regular tissue, Sushanta explained, which is part of the reason cancer can be so difficult to treat. …

Unique study focuses on combined treatment approach for locally advanced pancreatic cancer

Locally advanced pancreatic cancer has the lowest survival rate of any solid tumor, with a cumulative five-year survival rate of only 4 percent for all stages of disease. Surgery is rarely an option for patients because tumors often involve vital blood vessels. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy given concurrently remain the mainstay treatment, yet to-date, no treatment has had a significant impact on improving outcomes. “To move the needle forward toward prolonged survival and better treatment outcomes, our research team created a combined investigational regimen for patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer,” said Richard Tuli, MD, PhD, a radiation oncologist in the Department of Radiation Oncology and a member of the Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute. …

Genetic pathway can slow spread of ovarian cancer

The discovery is in part due to research into the genetics of humans’ most distant mammalian relative, the platypus. In a paper published today in the journal PLOS ONE, researchers characterize a genetic pathway — involving piRNA genes — that is turned on in ovarian cancer. “This pathway is important for the development of the ovaries in drosophila flies but little is known about its role in the mammalian ovary,” says lead author Associate Professor Frank Grützner, Genetics Lecturer and ARC Research Fellow with the University of Adelaide’s Robinson Research Institute and the School of Molecular and Biomedical Science. …