Tag Archives: major

Stopping tumors in their path

A GBM tumour contains a complex combination of different cell types, including ‘stem-like’ cells that are able to initiate brain tumour growth, even when present in very small numbers. These cells, known as brain-tumour initiating cells (BTICs), are believed to be among the cells that can re-initiate GBM if they are not completely eradicated through surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. Thus, BTICs represent an important therapeutic target for GBM treatment strategies. "We wanted to find out how GBM-derived BTICs are able to initiate a tumour with the ultimate goal of preventing the re-growth of this deadly form of brain cancer," says Dr…

Chemical imaging brings cancer tissue analysis into digital age

Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) uses technologies that reveal how hundreds or thousands of chemical components are distributed in a tissue sample. Scientists have proposed using MSI to identify tissue types for many years, but until now, no method has been devised to apply such technology to any type of tissue. In this week’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers at Imperial College London have outlined a recipe for processing MSI data and building a database of tissue types…

New data for engineering immune cells shows promise in solid tumors

Chimeric antigen receptor T cells (CAR T cells) are a form of personalized cell therapy that uses immune cells called T cells from patients. After T cells are harvested from a patient, they are engineered to bear a molecule that allows them to attach to a specific protein carried by the patient’s cancer cells and to be triggered to kill the cancer cells when they do so. …

Changes in gene explain more of inherited risk for rare disease

The formation of multiple schwannomas is one sign that a person has the genetic disorder called schwannomatosis, which is one of the three major forms of neurofibromatosis, besides neurofibromatosis types 1 and 2. The condition is so named because the tumors originate in Schwann cells that form in sheaths that insulate nerves to cause severe, chronic pain in many patients. To date, physicians cannot give most patients a confirmed diagnosis for schwannomatosis, even if they show symptoms, because changes in genes linked to the condition by past studies explain only about 50 percent of familial and less than 10 percent of sporadic cases. …

Researchers find potential new treatment approach for pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer is an aggressive cancer with poor prognosis and limited treatment options and is highly resistant to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. But researchers believe they have found an effective strategy for selectively killing pancreatic cancer while sparing healthy cells which could make treatment more effective. …

New compound could reverse loss of muscle mass in cancer, other diseases

"Age-related loss of muscle mass is a major contributing factor to falls, broken bones, and the loss of mobility," says co-corresponding author David Glass of Novartis, Cambridge, MA, one of the compound’s developers, along with first author Estelle Trifilieff, also of Novartis. "This study illustrates that we may have a powerful tool to prevent muscle wasting and promote growth." The new compound (BYM338) acts to prevent muscle wasting by blocking a receptor that engages a cellular signaling system that exists to put the brakes on muscle development when appropriate. But sometimes those brakes are activated inappropriately, or are stuck on. "Our goal was to release the brakes," says Glass…

DNA clamp to grab cancer before it develops

Toward a new generation of screening tests An increasing number of genetic mutations have been identified as risk factors for the development of cancer and many other diseases. Several research groups have attempted to develop rapid and inexpensive screening methods for detecting these mutations. "The results of our study have considerable implications in the area of diagnostics and therapeutics," says Professor Francesco Ricci, "because the DNA clamp can be adapted to provide a fluorescent signal in the presence of DNA sequences having mutations with high risk for certain types cancer. …

Increased survival for metastatic prostate cancer with chemotherapy, hormone therapy together

The independent Data and Safety Monitoring Committee overseeing the trial recommended to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of NIH, that the study results be made public because a recent planned interim analysis showed prolongation in overall survival. Full details from this early analysis will be presented at a scientific meeting in 2014 and in a peer-reviewed publication. The study enrolled 790 men with metastatic prostate cancer between July 2006 and November 2012 in a trial known as E3805. …

Herceptin plus taxol highly effective in low-risk breast cancer

The study is the first major trial to examine the Herceptin-Taxol combination in patients who have a type of breast cancer with the biology known as small, node-negative, HER2+. Results were presented during the 2013 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. "This is great news for patients and their physicians," said Kathy Albain, MD, of Loyola University Medical Center, who is one of the co-authors of the national multicenter study. "This study identifies a new treatment option for this population of patients that is highly effective and has minimal side effects." First author is Sara Tolaney, MD, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute…