Tag Archives: professor

Researchers detail possible resistance mechanisms of colorectal cancer to bevacizumab (avastin)

"Think of it like damming a river. Bevacizumab can block the main flow, but then once a tumor’s need builds up behind this dam, water starts to flow around the blockage in the form of streams and tributaries. That’s like these other growth factors — eventually a tumor becomes able to use these tributaries of VEGF-C, VEGF-D and placental growth factor to supply itself with the ‘water’ it needs," says Christopher Lieu, MD, investigator at the CU Cancer Center and assistant professor of Medical Oncology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine…

Researchers discover how cancer hides

"In recent years, several therapeutic medicines have been developed that spur a person’s own immune system to fight cancer," said Raul Torres, PhD, professor of immunology at National Jewish Health, and senior author on the paper, published in the October issue of Cancer Immunology Research. "Our findings suggest new targets and strategies for enlisting the immune system’s help in fighting cancer." Scientists believe the human immune system recognizes and destroys many cancerous cells before they develop into dangerous tumors. However, tumors also employ strategies to evade detection by the immune system…

Zebrafish useful tool in prostate cancer stem cell study

Prostate cancers are suggested to contain self-renewing tumor stem cells that have the ability to grow uncontrollably and spread. Identified as tumor-initiating cells (TICs), research has shown that these cells are found to be resistant to standard chemotherapy. A desirable treatment strategy is to develop therapies that would effectively target the self-renewing capabilities of the TICs, which requires better identification of TICs themselves. Utilizing prostate cancer samples from patients diagnosed at the Cancer Institute of New Jersey between 2008 and 2012, Cancer Institute investigators used mouse and zebrafish models to identify the frequencies of TICs from each patient’s prostate cancer cells. …

HPV strains affecting African-American women differ from vaccines

The findings, presented on Oct. 28, 2013, at the 12th annual International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research hosted by the American Association for Cancer Research, suggest that African-American women may be less likely to benefit from available HPV vaccines to prevent cervical cancer. HPV is a common sexually transmitted infection with more than 40 subtypes. The virus causes nearly all cases of cervical cancer, which begin as precancerous cervical abnormalities. …

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…

Researchers identify molecule that could aid lung cancer detection, treatment

According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among both men and women in the United States, and 90 percent of lung cancer deaths among men and approximately 80 percent of lung cancer deaths among women are due to smoking. The NCI also estimates that approximately 373,489 Americans are living with lung cancer and its treatment costs approximately $10.3 billion in the United States each year…

Positive personal growth following breast cancer diagnosis

"Many women who have breast cancer often experience distress but sometimes are surprised that they also may experience a variety of positive outcomes following diagnosis," said Suzanne Danhauer, Ph.D., associate professor of public health sciences at Wake Forest Baptist and lead author of the study. The study, which is published in the current online edition of the journal Psycho-Oncology, examined change in post-traumatic growth (PTG) over two years in 653 women. PTG is defined as the positive psychological change experienced as a result of a struggle with highly challenging life circumstances. …

Social service barriers delay care among women with abnormal cancer screening

The study, which appears online in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, was led by Sarah Primeau, MSW, research assistant in the department of general internal medicine at BUSM. Previous studies on healthcare barriers have shown that training individuals from the community, known as patient navigators, to provide emotional and logistical support to patients is an effective way to care for patients in a culturally sensitive way. However, these studies have not addressed whether patient navigators are also effective in addressing social service barriers such as financial problems, employment issues, health insurance, housing constraints and adult and child care. "Social barriers are more complex than other obstacles to healthcare such as transportation or language and will likely require interventions that healthcare providers and patient navigators aren’t traditionally trained to provide," said Primeau…