The authors used a standard definition of overdiagnosis to refer to a cancer that would not have become symptomatic or clinically identifiable if it had not been detected by screening. Overdiagnosed cancers do not pose a risk to the patient and do not require treatment, which is associated with significant risks of impotence and incontinence. …
A CWRU research team led by Analisa DiFeo, an assistant professor of General Medical Science-Oncology at the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, found that the biomarker miR-181a is a molecular driver of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). The research team also found that elevated levels of miR-181a in ovarian tumors are associated with chemotherapy resistance and disease progression. "By looking at the expression of this microRNA in tumor samples, we get an idea which women may respond to standard chemotherapy and which are at a high risk for recurrence," DiFeo said. "This helps guide treatment decisions and improve survival rates." In the past, researchers have been unable to predict how EOC patients will respond to treatment…
The discovery offers hope for treating many types of cancer that are driven to grow and spread through the actions of a cancer-causing protein called MYC. Up to 70 per cent of human cancers, including many leukemias and lymphomas, have unusually high levels of MYC, which causes cancerous changes in cells by forcing them into abnormally rapid growth…
Many research teams have found activation and increased signaling of a protein known as Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription 3 (STAT3) in different kinds of cancers, and it is associated with poor prognosis, said senior author Jennifer Grandis, M.D., Distinguished Professor of Otolaryngology, Pitt School of Medicine, and director of the Head and Neck Program at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI), partner with UPMC CancerCenter. In adult tissues, STAT3 triggers the production of other proteins that promote the growth and survival of cancer cells. "Until now, the question of why STAT3 could be hyperactivated has gone unanswered," Dr…
The study used mathematical models to calculate the long-term effect of the seminal report, and subsequent anti-smoking measures, over the past half-century. These cumulative efforts have significantly reshaped public attitudes and behaviors concerning cigarettes and other forms of tobacco, note the researchers. First author Theodore R…
"Genetic mutations do not drive this mechanism," said Alana Welm, PhD, senior author of the study, associate professor in the Department of Oncological Sciences, and an investigator at Huntsman Cancer Institute. "Instead, it’s improper regulation of when genes turn on and off." The new discovery focuses on a protein called RON kinase (RON), which signals some areas of tumor cell DNA to become active…
The therapy emerged from a sophisticated effort to reverse-engineer gene networks to identify genes that drive cancer. The same strategy could lead to many new therapies that disable cancer-causing genes no current drugs can stop, and it also can be used to find therapies for other diseases…
The method uses a drug which breaks down the protective barrier surrounding pancreatic cancer tumors, enabling cancer-attacking T cells to get through. The drug is used in combination with an antibody that blocks a second target, which improves the activity of these T cells. Initial tests of the combined treatment, carried out by researchers at the University’s Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, resulted in almost complete elimination of cancer cells in one week. The findings, reported in the journal PNAS, mark the first time this has been achieved in any pancreatic cancer model. …
"Understanding who is at risk for post-treatment fatigue, and why, is the first critical step in the development of personalized, targeted interventions for the treatment and prevention of breast cancer-related fatigue," said Arash Asher, MD, director of cancer rehabilitation and survivorship at the Cedars-Sinai Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute and the medical center’s primary investigator on the study. …
In clinical trials, ibrutinib has often shown exceptional activity in people with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). …