Each time a cell divides, chromosomes, the long DNA molecules that encode our genes, must be duplicated. But the machinery that does this replication is imperfect, failing to perform duplication all the way to the ends of chromosomes. How living cells divide and how this process is accurately achieved are among the deepest questions scientists have been addressing for decades. …
“Local delivery of therapeutic agents into the breast, through intra-nipple injection, could diminish the side effects typically observed with systemic chemotherapy—where the toxic drugs pass through all of the tissues of the body,” said Dr. Silva Krause, one of the researchers behind the experiment, “It also prevents drug breakdown by the liver, for example, which can rapidly reduce effective drug levels.” According to Silva, she and her colleagues have already begun experimentation in applying the method. “The authors have utilized this technique to inject a new nanoparticle-based therapeutic that inhibits a specific gene that drives breast cancer formation,” said Silva, “This targeted treatment was shown to prevent cancer progression in mice that spontaneously develop mammary tumors, [and] is currently in review in Science Translational Medicine.” In order to better communicate their procedure, Silva and her colleagues decided to publish with JoVE. …
“This is exciting because we’ve found what we believe to be a ‘drugable target’ here,” says George Vasmatzis, Ph.D., a Mayo Clinic molecular medicine researcher and senior author on the study. “It’s a clear biomarker for aggressive adenocarcinomas. …
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in many industrialized countries. Most deaths are due to long-term exposure to cigarette smoke, but non-smokers account for 10 — 15% of cases. …
Genes that suppress tumors can be deactivated by the attachment of a methyl group to a specific DNA sequence — cytosine next to guanine — in their promoter region. The methyl group prevents the gene from being used as a template for protein synthesis and reduces the capacity of the cell to control its own proliferation…
Researchers from the University of Nottingham have shown that H. …
To look at the relationship between breast cancer and certain aspects of pregnancy and breastfeeding, Emilio González-Jiménez, PhD, of the University of Granada in Spain, and his colleagues analyzed the medical records of 504 female patients who were 19 to 91 years of age and who had been diagnosed and treated for breast cancer from 2004 to 2009 at the San Cecilio University Hospital in Granada. …
"Fusobacteria may provide not only a new way to group or describe colon cancers but also, more importantly, a new perspective on how to target pathways to halt tumor growth and spread," says senior study author Wendy Garrett of the Harvard School of Public Health and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States. …
In the June 2013 issue of Experimental Biology and Medicine, Zagon and colleagues demonstrate that exposure of human breast cancer cell lines to OGF in vitro repressed growth within 24 hr in a receptor-mediated and reversible manner. Treatment with low dosages of the opioid antagonist naltrexone (LDN) provoked a compensatory elevation in endogenous opioids (i.e., OGF) and receptors that interact for 18-20 hr daily following receptor blockade to elicit a robust inhibition of cell proliferation. Because OGF is an endogenous neuropeptide, there are minimal or no side effects. The mechanism of action for OGF is upregulation of the p21 cyclin-dependent inhibitory kinase pathway that delays passage through the cell cycle…
"Our results reveal that the Ret enzyme (Ret kinase) may be an attractive and novel therapeutic target in selected groups of breast cancer patients," says Lukas Kenner from the Clinical Institute of Pathology at the MedUni Vienna and Head of the Vienna team, summarising the results of the study that have now been published in the magazine "EMBO Molecular Medicine." Initial trials with specific Ret inhibitors have shown that the spread of cancer and the number of metastases in the lungs can be reduced if the activity of the Ret enzymes in tumour cells is blocked. The tests so far have used two blocking substances that are already known. Blockade of the Ret enzyme reduces tumour growth The scientists investigated tumour tissue from more than 80 breast cancer patients, using antibodies to quantify the Ret protein in the samples. …