Tag Archives: jefferson

HIV drug blocks bone metastases in prostate cancer

“Because this work shows we can dramatically reduce metastasis in pre-clinical models, and because the drug is already FDA approved for HIV treatment- we may be able to test soon whether this drug can block metastasis in patients with prostate cancer,” says Richard Pestell, M.D., Ph.D., MBA, Director of the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University and senior author on the study. The work builds on previous research from Dr. …

Killing cancer by protecting normal cells

“It was a stroke of luck that the drug that most effectively protected normal cells and tissues against radiation also has anti-cancer properties, thus potentially increasing the therapeutic index of radiation therapy,” says Ulrich Rodeck, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Dermatology and Cutaneous Biology and Radiation Oncology at Thomas Jefferson University, and senior author on the study. Together with first author Vitali Alexeev, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Dermatology and Cutaneous Biology, Dr. …

Novel cancer vaccine approach for brain tumors

“In recent years, researchers and the public have begun to realize the role that the immune system plays in both cancer prevention and treatment,” says senior author Craig Hooper, Ph.D., a Professor in the Department of Cancer Biology at Thomas Jefferson University. “The immune system has great potential for helping fight cancer. This study helps give us a roadmap for future brain cancer vaccines.” The study reports on the results of a second phase 1 clinical trial, after the first phase 1 trial in 2001 lead by David Andrews, M.D., Professor of Neurological surgery at Jefferson, saw tumor shrinkage in eight out of 12 patients tested. …

Circulating tumor cells provide genomic snapshot of breast cancer — ScienceDaily

“Counting the number of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) can tell us whether a patient’s cancer is aggressive, or whether it is stable and responding to therapy,” says the article’s first author Sandra V. Fernandez, Ph.D., assistant professor of Medical Oncology at Thomas Jefferson University. “Our work suggests that these cancer cells in the blood also accurately reflect the genetic status of the parent tumor or its metastases, potentially giving us a new and easy to source of genomic information to guide treatment.” First discovered for their diagnostic potential in 2004, circulating tumor cells are beginning to be used in the clinic to help guide treatment decisions and track a patient’s progress as the cancer progresses. …

Gobbling up poison: Method for killing colon cancer

Now researchers at Thomas Jefferson University have discovered the unique biological properties inherent to colon cancer that make it a perfect candidate for immunotoxins — an antibody that won’t attach to normal cells and a toxin-delivery system that takes advantage of a fluke of biology: Colon cancer cells will gobble up poison if it’s attached to a key receptor on the cell’s surface. Indeed, the researchers demonstrated that the novel immunotoxin they created could reduce the lung metastasis in mice, which had grown out from colon cancers, by more than 80 percent with only 6 doses, in research published September 8th, 2014 in the journal Oncotarget. “These studies pave the way for effective antibody-directed therapy for metastatic disease in colorectal cancer, which currently carries a greater than 90 percent chance of mortality” says Scott Waldman, M.D., Ph.D., Chair of the Department of Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics and the Samuel MV Hamilton Professor at Thomas Jefferson University. Dr…

Prostate Cancer: Watchful waiting isn’t right for everyone — ScienceDaily

“We know that African American men have more aggressive prostate cancer than Caucasian men,” says Kosj Yamoah M.D., Ph.D., Chief Resident, Department of Radiation Oncology at Thomas Jefferson University. “Our study shows that African American men who are diagnosed with a low-grade cancer at first — the cancers that are sometimes watched rather than treated — are more likely to develop aggressive disease sooner than Caucasian men.” Dr. Yamoah, together with Timothy Rebbeck and colleagues from the University of Pennsylvania, looked at patients whose cancers were low to intermediate grade and who underwent surgery to remove all or part of their prostate. The surgery was important because often men are given a so called “biopsy” Gleason score of cancer severity based on 12 needle biopsies of the prostate gland…

Protien Cyclin D1 governs microRNA processing in breast cancer

"In addition to its role in regulating the cell cycle, cyclin D1 induces Dicer and thereby promotes the maturation of miRNA," says lead researcher Richard Pestell, M.D., Ph.D., Director of the Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University and Chair of the Department of Cancer Biology. Dicer is a protein that converts inactive hairpin-structured microRNA precursors into their active single stranded form. "The work supports the idea that cancer-causing proteins like cyclin D1 may drive cancer progression in part via miRNA biogenesis." Using antisense RNA, Dr. Pestell’s group was the first to show that cyclin D1 drives mammary tumor growth in vivo. …

New program makes prostate cancer treatment decisions easier

A recent clinical study published in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that mortality rates for early stage prostate cancer were the same for men who choose active surveillance such as periodic PSA testing and biopsy, versus those who chose to treat their disease immediately with radiation or surgery. The research suggested that in cases of low-risk prostate cancer, aggressive treatment may not offer a long term survival benefit, and yet is associated with a number of side effects such as urinary incontinence and sexual problems. However, the vast majority of men diagnosed with low-risk cancer undergo aggressive treatment rather than active surveillance…

Therapy that heats and destroys bone tumors eases patients’ pain

Mark Hurwitz, MD, Director of Thermal Oncology for the Department of Radiation Oncology at Thomas Jefferson University and Hospital reported that the treatment, magnetic resonance image-guided focused ultrasound (MRIgFU) ablation therapy, significantly reduced pain in 67 percent of patients who received the treatment. …