Tag Archives: professor

Bio-inspired ‘nano-cocoons’ offer targeted drug delivery against cancer cells

“This drug delivery system is DNA-based, which means it is biocompatible and less toxic to patients than systems that use synthetic materials,” says Dr. Zhen Gu, senior author of a paper on the work and an assistant professor in the joint biomedical engineering program at NC State and UNC Chapel Hill. …

Tumor registry data find acadiana colon cancer rates among America’s highest

The study was led by Dr. Jordan Karlitz, Division of Gastroenterology at Tulane University School of Medicine who is also adjunct faculty at the LSU Health New Orleans School of Public Health, Dr. Xiao-Cheng Wu, Professor of Public Health and Director of the LSU Health New Orleans Louisiana Tumor Registry, Dr…

Circulating tumor cells provide genomic snapshot of breast cancer — ScienceDaily

“Counting the number of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) can tell us whether a patient’s cancer is aggressive, or whether it is stable and responding to therapy,” says the article’s first author Sandra V. Fernandez, Ph.D., assistant professor of Medical Oncology at Thomas Jefferson University. “Our work suggests that these cancer cells in the blood also accurately reflect the genetic status of the parent tumor or its metastases, potentially giving us a new and easy to source of genomic information to guide treatment.” First discovered for their diagnostic potential in 2004, circulating tumor cells are beginning to be used in the clinic to help guide treatment decisions and track a patient’s progress as the cancer progresses. …

Elevated cholesterol, triglycerides may increase risk for prostate cancer recurrence — ScienceDaily

“While laboratory studies support an important role for cholesterol in prostate cancer, population-based evidence linking cholesterol and prostate cancer is mixed,” said Emma Allott, PhD, postdoctoral associate at Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, North Carolina. “Understanding associations between obesity, cholesterol, and prostate cancer is important given that cholesterol levels are readily modifiable with diet and/or statin use, and could therefore have important, practical implications for prostate cancer prevention and treatment. “Our findings suggest that normalization, or even partial normalization, of serum lipid levels among men with dyslipidemia [abnormal lipid profile] may reduce the risk of prostate cancer recurrence,” said Allott. Allott, Stephen Freedland, MD, associate professor of surgery at Duke University School of Medicine, and colleagues, analyzed data from 843 men who underwent radical prostatectomy after a prostate cancer diagnosis and who never took statins before surgery. …

Unusual skin cancer linked to chronic allergy from metal orthopedic implant

Metal alloys help make orthopedic implants stronger and more durable. But people with sensitivity to these metals, which include nickel, cobalt and chromium, can develop chronic inflammation that promotes the development of skin cancers, report researchers at Washington University School of Medicine and Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis…

RNA molecules found in urine, tissue that detect prostate cancer

According to the American Cancer Society, prostate cancer is the second most common type of cancer in American men (behind skin cancer), and the second-leading cause of cancer death in men (after lung cancer). In 2014, more than 230,000 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed…

Access to minimally invasive colon cancer surgery varies by location

A new study by researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center finds that in some parts of the country, about two-thirds of colon cancer patients will receive laparoscopic colectomy, a minimally invasive procedure to remove part of the colon. In other parts of the country, the rate was zero. …