Tag Archives: institute

Precursor of multiple myeloma more common in blacks than whites

The findings, which appear in the journal Leukemia, are from the first nationwide study to look at the precursor of multiple myeloma in blacks, whites, and Hispanics and could point the way toward tailored screening and preventive strategies for different racial groups. The study also uncovered different rates of the condition in different parts of the country, suggesting an environmental component to the racial disparities. “We have known for a long time that there is a marked racial disparity in multiple myeloma, but the big question has been why that disparity exists,” says the study’s senior author, Vincent Rajkumar, M.D., a hematologist/oncologist at Mayo Clinic…

Pathways that direct immune system to turn ‘on’ or ‘off’ found

This research focused on the immune system’s dendritic cells (DCs), crucial cells that initiate and regulate immune responses. For example, the dendritic cells activate T lymphocytes to fight an infection or cancer. Curiously, they are also known to suppress the immune response. Determining when DCs turn the immune response “on” or “off” is a major question in immunology. …

Scientists engineer nanoparticles to prevent bone cancer, strengthen bones

The study is published the week of June 30, 2014 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “Bone is a favorable microenvironment for the growth of cancer cells that migrate from tumors in distant organs of the body, such as breast, prostate and blood, during disease progression,” said Archana Swami, PhD, BWH Laboratory of Nanomedicine and Biomaterials, co-lead study author. …

Synthetic triterpenoids show promise in preventing colitis-associated colon cancer

The molecules, known as synthetic triterpenoids, appear to achieve their positive effect in two ways. First, they impede inflammation, often a flashpoint that contributes to the development of colon cancer. Second, they increase 15-hydroxyprostaglandin dehydrogenase (15-PGDH), a gene product that is known at high levels to protect against colon cancer. …

People with HIV with early-stage cancers are up to four times more likely to go untreated for cancer

Life expectancy for HIV-infected people is now similar to uninfected people, but survival for HIV patients who develop cancer is not. While many studies have attempted to understand why HIV-infected cancer patients have worse outcomes, the new study, the largest of its size and scope, examined differences in cancer treatment as one potential explanation. For early-stage cancers that have the highest chance of cure with appropriate treatment, those with HIV were twice to four times as likely to not receive appropriate cancer treatment, the researchers found…

HPV testing: Benefit in primary screening

HPV testing is not reimbursed by SHI funds In screening for cervical cancer, the German statutory health insurance (SHI) funds currently offer an annual cytologic examination of mucosal cells from a smear taken from the neck of the womb (cervix). This test is called a Pap smear. Since it became known that infection with HPV is the main risk factor for developing cervical cancer, experts have been discussing whether HPV testing is also a suitable screening method or is even superior to a cytologic test…

15-year overall survival benefit lacking in older men treated with hormone therapy for early-stage prostate cancer — ScienceDaily

The research utilized information from 66,717 Medicare patients aged 66 and older diagnosed with clinical stage T1-T2 prostate cancer (cancer that did not spread beyond the prostate) between 1992 and 2009. These men did not have surgery or radiation treatment within six months of their diagnosis. The data were compiled from the population-based Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database linked to Medicare files. Grace Lu-Yao, PhD, MPH cancer epidemiologist at the Cancer Institute of New Jersey and professor of medicine at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, is the lead author…