Tag Archives: program

Triple therapy revs up immune system against common brain tumor

Mice with implanted, mouse-derived glioblastoma cells lived an average of 67 days after the triple therapy, compared with mice that lasted 24 days when they received only the two immunotherapies. Half of the mice who received the triple therapy lived 100 days or more and were protected against further tumors when new cancer cells were re-injected under the animals’ skins. The combination treatment described in the July 11 issue of PLOS One consists of highly focused radiation therapy targeted specifically to the tumor and strategies that lift the brakes and activate the body’s immune system, allowing anti-cancer drugs to attack the tumor…

Master heat-shock factor supports reprogramming of normal cells to enable tumor growth and metastasis

The finding, reported by Whitehead Institute scientists this week in the journal Cell, lends new insights into tumor biology with significant implications for the diagnosis, prognosis, and management of cancer patients. Over the past several years, researchers in the lab of Whitehead Member Susan Lindquist have been investigating the role the transcription factor HSF1 plays in supporting malignancy. In normal cells, stressful conditions, including those caused by heat, hypoxia, and toxins activate HSF1, which serves to maintain protein homeostasis and helps the cells endure tough times. Cancer cells, however, are capable of hijacking this heat-shock response to their own benefit. …

‘Rewired’ mice show signs of longer lives with fewer age-related illnesses

In healthy cells, TRAP-1 is an important regulator of metabolism and has been shown to regulate energy production in mitochondria, organelles that generate chemically useful energy for the cell. In the mitochondria of cancer cells, TRAP-1 is universally overproduced. The Wistar team’s report, which appears in the journal Cell Reports, shows how “knockout” mice bred to lack the TRAP-1 protein compensate for this loss by switching to alternative cellular mechanisms for making energy…

Pathways that direct immune system to turn ‘on’ or ‘off’ found

This research focused on the immune system’s dendritic cells (DCs), crucial cells that initiate and regulate immune responses. For example, the dendritic cells activate T lymphocytes to fight an infection or cancer. Curiously, they are also known to suppress the immune response. Determining when DCs turn the immune response “on” or “off” is a major question in immunology. …

New prostate cancer blood test now available in the U.S. — ScienceDaily

The most widely used screening test for prostate cancer is currently the PSA test, which measures the blood’s level of PSA — a protein that is naturally produced by the prostate gland and is typically increased when cancer is present. However, it is widely recognized that PSA results can often indicate the possibility of prostate cancer when none is present. “The PSA test is based on the fact that men with higher levels of the PSA protein are more likely to have prostate cancer,” said William Catalona, MD, principal investigator on the Prostate Health Index clinical study and urologist at Northwestern Medicine and director of the Clinical Prostate Cancer Program at the Robert H. …

How tumors remodel their surroundings to grow: New study provides insight — ScienceDaily

The findings, published July 3 in Cancer Cell, contribute to the increasing acknowledgement that the cells and tissue surrounding a tumor — the stroma — are an integral part of cancer initiation, growth, and expansion. “Our study reveals a precise mechanism that stromal cells use to encourage the tumorigenesis of epithelial cancer cells,” said Jorge Moscat, Ph.D., director of the Cell Death and Survival Networks Program at Sanford-Burnham. “We have shown that in the stroma, p62 acts as an anti-inflammatory tumor suppressor, controlling the inflammatory environment and the signals that promote cancer…