Tag Archives: king

Simple method turns human skin cells into immune strengthening white blood cells

The work, as detailed in the journal Stem Cells, shows that only a bit of creative manipulation is needed to turn skin cells into human white blood cells. “The process is quick and safe in mice,” says senior author Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, holder of Salk’s Roger Guillemin Chair. “It circumvents long-standing obstacles that have plagued the reprogramming of human cells for therapeutic and regenerative purposes.” Those problems includes the long time — at least two months — and tedious laboratory work it takes to produce, characterize and differentiate induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, a method commonly used to grow new types of cells. …

First clinical trial on HER-2-negative breast cancer with nintedanib shows promising results

According to Miguel Ángel Quintela, head of the Unit: “The drug combination of paclitaxel and nintedanib has turned out to be a complete success, given that it is proved to be safe and that the pathologic complete response [rate of complete recovery] was 50%, which doubles the response compared to patients treated with standard therapy with paclitaxel.” The trial has also included 10 HER-2-negative breast cancer patients, all of them in early stages of the disease. In light of the results, the CNIO Breast Cancer Clinical Research Unit has already launched a large-scale Phase II Clinical Trial to validate the results in a large group of patients. These results, including biomarker studies that will facilitate advances in personalised medicine, will be released by early 2015. …

Researchers unlock genetic code of cancer-causing liver fluke parasite

GIS’s DNA analysistechnique has allowed the researchers to further study the biology of Opisthorchis viverrini to understand the cause and the eventual development of treatments for bile duct cancer, a condition caused by the parasite. The breakthrough was published in the scientific journal Nature Communications. Opisthorchis viverrini is a trematode that infects millions in Asia, and it is classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). …

New antifungal as effective as existing drugs with fewer adverse events

“There is a growing need for new antifungal therapies like isavuconazole because serious fungal infections caused by Aspergillus and other molds are on the rise due to the increasing numbers of immunosuppressed patients, including those with active cancer. These infections are associated with high morbidity and mortality. If approved, isavuconazole has the potential to be an important new option for the treatment of these life-threatening fungal infections,” says Andrew Ullman of Julius Maximilians University in Wuerzburg, Germany, one of the researchers presenting data. Invasive fungal infections are important causes of morbidity and death for patients with hematological malignancies…

Newest precision medicine tool: Prostate cancer organoids

The researchers, whose results were published today in Cell, successfully grew six prostate cancer organoids from biopsies of patients with metastatic prostate cancer and a seventh organoid from a patient’s circulating tumor cells. Organoids are three-dimensional structures composed of cells that are grouped together and spatially organized like an organ. The histology, or tissue structure, of the prostate cancer organoids is highly similar to the metastasis sample from which they came. Sequencing of the metastasis samples and the matched organoids showed that each organoid is genetically identical to the patient’s cancer from which it originated. …

Study identifies gene network behind untreatable leukemia, possible treatment target

Scientists from the Cancer and Blood Diseases Institute (CBDI) at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center report their results in a study posted online Sept. 4 by Cell Reports. The specific forms of AML and MDS in the current study involve deletions on the arm of a specific chromosome in blood cells (del(5q)…

‘Prepped’ by tumor cells, lymphatic cells encourage breast cancer cells to spread — ScienceDaily

Writing in the Sept. 2 issue of Nature Communications, the researchers describe animal and cell-culture experiments that show increased levels of so-called signaling molecules released by breast cancer cells. These molecules cause lymphatic endothelial cells (LECs) in the lungs and lymph nodes to produce proteins called CCL5 and VEGF. CCL5 attracts tumor cells to the lungs and lymph nodes, and VEGF increases the number of blood vessels and makes them more porous, allowing tumor cells to metastasize and infiltrate the lungs. …