Tag Archives: materials

Cancer exosome ‘micro factories’ aid in cancer progression — ScienceDaily

“Exosomes derived from cells and blood serum of patients with breast cancer, have been shown to initiate tumor growth in non-tumor-forming cells when Dicer and other proteins associated with the development of miRNAs are present,” said Raghu Kalluri, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the department of cancer biology at MD Anderson. “These findings offer opportunities for the development of exosomes-based biomarkers and shed insight into the mechanisms of how cancer spreads.” Exosomes are small vesicles consisting of DNA, RNA and proteins enclosed in a membranes made up of two lipid layers…

Early palliative care can cut hospital readmissions for cancer patients

The Duke researchers shared their findings at the Palliative Care in Oncology Symposium sponsored by the American Society of Clinical Oncology. In the new treatment model, medical oncologists and palliative care physicians partnered in a “co-rounding” format to deliver cancer care for patients admitted to Duke University Hospital’s solid tumor unit. The Duke model fostered collaboration and communication between the specialists, who met several times a day to discuss patient care…

How lymph nodes expand during disease

The immune system defends the body from infections and can also spot and destroy cancer cells. Lymph nodes are at the heart of this response, but until now it has never been explained how they expand during disease. The researchers — at Cancer Research UK’s London Research Institute — found that when a type of immune cell, called dendritic cells, recognises a threat they make a molecule called CLEC-2 that tells the cells lining the lymph nodes to stretch out and expand to allow for an influx of disease fighting cells. It’s long been known that these same dendritic cells patrol the body searching for threats and call for reinforcements to tackle them…

Head injury causes immune system to attack brain, new study finds

To date, there are no effective treatments to prevent or reverse the damage sustained after brain injury. The researchers were testing the theory that blows to the head cause brain damage, in part, because of the breakdown of the blood-brain barrier, allowing the immune cells in the blood to come into contact with brain cells and destroy them. They hypothesized that mice missing a vital immune component would have less brain damage from trauma, and that a treatment which blocks a component of the immune system would prevent damage. …

Biomarkers uPA/PAI-1 in breast cancer: Benefit, harm of test unclear

Adjuvant systemic treatments aim to prolong survival Even if the breast cancer was completely removed in surgery, the tumour can come back. The risk of such a recurrence can be low, intermediate or high. Adjuvant systemic treatments including chemotherapy are used to lower the risk of recurrence and prolong survival. …

Selenium effective treatment against breast cancer, study suggests

Julian Spallholz, a professor of nutritional sciences at Texas Tech University, has studied the effects of selenium on several types of cancer. His research on attaching selenium to the leading clinical chemotherapeutic monoclonal antibody for a type of breast cancer shows it can more effectively kill the cancer cells, he reports. About 20 percent of breast cancer patients have overexpressed growth receptors, known as Her2+ receptors, on the cancer cells, which cause uncontrolled tumor growth…

Selenium effective treatment against breast cancer, study suggests — ScienceDaily

Julian Spallholz, a professor of nutritional sciences at Texas Tech University, has studied the effects of selenium on several types of cancer. His research on attaching selenium to the leading clinical chemotherapeutic monoclonal antibody for a type of breast cancer shows it can more effectively kill the cancer cells, he reports…