Tag Archives: king

TNF inhibitors may increase cancer risk in the eye, researchers report

Mayo researchers studied three patients — two women and a man — who were treated for inflammatory disease and developed melanoma tumors in one eye within a year to two of taking TNF inhibitors. While this type of condition is probably rare, according to the researchers, there might be an increased risk if the patient has a pre-existing nevus (freckle of the eye). …

Key mechanism, potential target to prevent leukemia found

The studies, in animal models, could lead to new effective treatments for leukemias that are resistant to chemotherapy, said Reuben Kapur, Ph.D., Freida and Albrecht Kipp Professor of Pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine. The research was reported today in the journal Cell Reports. “The issue in the field for a long time has been that many patients relapse even though chemotherapy and other currently available drugs get rid of mature blast cells quite readily,” Dr. Kapur said, referring to the cancerous cells that overrun the blood system in leukemia. …

Technology developed to improve lung cancer detection, treatment

John Roeske, PhD, and colleagues presented how they developed and evaluated the technology at the recent annual meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology. Their approach uses dual-energy imaging combined with fluoroscopy to view tumors during radiation therapy. This technology does not require an X-ray that produces both high-and low-energy images. Existing hardware can be used to eliminate visuals of the ribs and other bones making it easier to see the tumor…

Cutting-edge computer software helps pinpoint aggressiveness of breast cancer tumors

Their findings are published today in the journal, Nature Scientific Reports. “We are using a unique software program in our lab that looks at a type of mutation called a splicing mutation that is typically overlooked using current methods,” said lead author on the study, Stephanie Dorman, a PhD student in the department of biochemistry at Western University’s Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry. She said that where previous genetic studies of 445 tumours detected 429 of these splicing mutations, the Western-developed analysis software was able to find more than 5000. Using this software and human tumour tissue sample genetic data from The Cancer Genome Atlas, the research team pinpointed that mutations in the Neural Cell Adhesion Molecule (NCAM) and other related genes in NCAM biology were present at a much higher rate in tumours which had metastasized to the lymph nodes than those that did not…

Study identifying cell of origin for large, disfiguring nerve tumors lays groundwork for development of new therapies

“This advance provides new insight into the steps that lead to tumor development and suggests ways to develop therapies to prevent neurofibroma formation where none exist today,” said Dr. Lu Le, Assistant Professor of Dermatology at UT Southwestern and senior author of the study, published online and in Cancer Cell…

Common chemotherapeutic agent reduces resistance to virus therapy in brain tumor patients

Preclinical studies of oncolytic virus therapy in malignant glioma are promising; however, a potential problem with this approach is that the body’s own immune system can recognize the virus and clear the infection, resulting in reduced therapeutic effects. For this study, researchers used a mouse model with an intact immune system to mimic what would occur in humans to determine how the immune system clears the oncolytic virus. They found that the area surrounding malignant gliomas has a high number of immune cells called microglial cells and macrophages…

Scientists challenge efficacy of folfiri in a colorectal cancer subtype

Conclusions from the analysis, led by Manuel Hidalgo, Director of the Clinical Research Programme at CNIO, are in response to previous work published in the same journal in March, 2014 (Sadanandam et al). By means of analysing gene expression profiles, Sadanandam’s team designed a classification for colon cancer based on five subtypes, associating one of them, the stemlike subtype, with a better drug response to FOLFIRI; the standard treatment for this tumour type. Specifically, in a 21-patient group, 7 were classified as this subtype, 5 of whom (70%) exhibited a positive response to FOLFIRI. The authors of this article therefore concluded that the classification based on gene expression profiles is directly related to the drug response…