Tag Archives: number

Changing chemo not beneficial for metastatic breast cancer patients with elevated circulating tumor cells

"We concluded that CTCs are not a good marker in helping to decide when to switch between chemotherapies," said Jeffrey B. Smerage, M.D., Ph.D., clinical associate professor at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center in Ann Arbor. "It had been hoped that switching would both increase the chances of being on an effective therapy and decrease the exposure to toxicity from less effective or ineffective therapies, and as a result it had been hoped that this early switching would result in improved survival and time to progression. "The most important implication is that we have validated that the group of patients with elevated CTCs at both baseline and 21 days [after starting their first chemotherapy] has a worse prognosis with regard to both time to progression and overall survival," added Smerage…

Fungus-fighting drug may make mild flu meaner

The findings suggest that patients receiving the antifungal therapy may be functionally immunocompromised and more vulnerable to influenza and other viral infections, the researchers said. "Many critically ill cancer and bone marrow transplant patients are treated with Amphotericin B-based therapies each year," said Abraham Brass of the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS)…

How protein suicide assure healthy cell structures

PLK4 is one of the key proteins required to control centriole formation: in its absence centrioles fail to form, while in excess PLK4 induces the formation of an extra number of those structures. Bettencourt-Dias’ team has now identified how PLK4 controls its levels, and ultimately the number of centrioles. By performing different biochemical assays, the researchers observed that PLK4 is capable of auto-regulating its levels by adding chemical groups of phosphate to itself, which will act as a signal for destruction. However, if PLK4 kills itself too early this will prevent it from ensuring the control of centriole number. …

Mechanisms, potential biomarkers of tumor cell dormancy

A study published online October 27 by Nature Cell Biology by Bragado et al. reveals that bone marrow contains high levels of TGFβ2, which activates the tumor suppressor gene p38 in tumor cells and triggers a cascade of events that renders tumor cells dormant and keeps HNSCC growth in check. In the lungs, where TGFβ2 is in short supply, these cells rapidly form tumors…