Tag Archives: performance

Pathology specialist contributes to debate on breast cancer gene screening — ScienceDaily

Glenn E. Palomaki, PhD, associate director of the Division of Medical Screening and Special Testing in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island has recently published an invited commentary in the November issue of Genetics in Medicine…

Quality of biopsy directly linked to survival in patients with bladder cancer — ScienceDaily

The two-year study found that about half of bladder cancer patients who were biopsied had insufficient material — meaning there was no bladder wall muscle retrieved — to accurately stage the cancer. Additionally, the UCLA research team found that a suboptimal biopsy and incorrect tumor staging was associated with a significant increase in deaths from bladder cancer, said study first author Dr…

Treatment breakthrough for advanced bladder cancer — ScienceDaily

Published today in Nature, the study examined an antibody (MPDL3280A) which blocks a protein (PD-L1) thought to help cancer cells evade immune detection. In a phase one, multi-centre international clinical trial, 68 patients with advanced bladder cancer (who had failed all other standard treatments such as chemotherapy) received MPDL3280A, a cancer immunotherapy medicine being developed by Roche. In addition, patients were all tested for the protein PD-L1 and around 30 were identified as having PD-L1 positive tumours. After six weeks of treatment, 43 per cent of PD-L1-positive patients found their tumour had shrunk…

Why patients respond to a life-saving melanoma drug

The study, led by UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center members Drs. Paul Tumeh and Antoni Ribas, primary investigator of pembrolizumab, is the first of its kind since the FDA approved the use of Keytruda in September and could lead the way for more effective use of the drug in patients with melanoma and other cancers. A protein known as PD-1 puts the immune system’s brakes on, preventing T cells from attacking cancer cells. Pembrolizumab removes the brake lines, freeing up the immune system to kill cancer cells. …

Saving ovaries does not help prevent prolapse for women after menopause

Whether to remove ovaries at hysterectomy for reasons other than cancer is a subject of hot debate. Removing them reduces the risk of breast cancer and dramatically reduces the risk of ovarian cancer. On the other hand, studies have associated removing ovaries with increased risk of death, cardiovascular disease, lung cancer, and osteoporosis and with declines in cognitive ability and sexual function. And many assumed that removing ovaries would also increase the risk of pelvic organ prolapse. …

‘Off switch’ for pain discovered: Activating the adenosine A3 receptor subtype is key to powerful pain relief

The scientific efforts led by Salvemini, who is professor of pharmacological and physiological sciences at SLU, demonstrated that turning on a receptor in the brain and spinal cord counteracts chronic nerve pain in male and female rodents. Activating the A3 receptor — either by its native chemical stimulator, the small molecule adenosine, or by powerful synthetic small molecule drugs invented at the NIH — prevents or reverses pain that develops slowly from nerve damage without causing analgesic tolerance or intrinsic reward (unlike opioids). An Unmet Medical Need Pain is an enormous problem…

Vaccines may make war on cancer personal

Like flu vaccines, cancer vaccines in development are designed to alert the immune system to be on the lookout for dangerous invaders. But instead of preparing the immune system for potential pathogen attacks, the vaccines will help key immune cells recognize the unique features of cancer cells already present in the body. …

Treatment breakthrough for advanced bladder cancer

Published today in Nature, the study examined an antibody (MPDL3280A) which blocks a protein (PD-L1) thought to help cancer cells evade immune detection. In a phase one, multi-centre international clinical trial, 68 patients with advanced bladder cancer (who had failed all other standard treatments such as chemotherapy) received MPDL3280A, a cancer immunotherapy medicine being developed by Roche. In addition, patients were all tested for the protein PD-L1 and around 30 were identified as having PD-L1 positive tumours. After six weeks of treatment, 43 per cent of PD-L1-positive patients found their tumour had shrunk…

Experimental Ebola vaccine appears safe, prompts immune response

“The unprecedented scale of the current Ebola outbreak in West Africa has intensified efforts to develop safe and effective vaccines, which may play a role in bringing this epidemic to an end and undoubtedly will be critically important in preventing future large outbreaks,” said NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. …