Tag Archives: programme

Scientists challenge efficacy of folfiri in a colorectal cancer subtype

Conclusions from the analysis, led by Manuel Hidalgo, Director of the Clinical Research Programme at CNIO, are in response to previous work published in the same journal in March, 2014 (Sadanandam et al). By means of analysing gene expression profiles, Sadanandam’s team designed a classification for colon cancer based on five subtypes, associating one of them, the stemlike subtype, with a better drug response to FOLFIRI; the standard treatment for this tumour type. Specifically, in a 21-patient group, 7 were classified as this subtype, 5 of whom (70%) exhibited a positive response to FOLFIRI. The authors of this article therefore concluded that the classification based on gene expression profiles is directly related to the drug response…

Simple blood test could be used as tool for early cancer diagnosis

A simple blood test could identify those with hypercalcaemia, prompting doctors to investigate further. The research, published in the British Journal of Cancer, analysed the electronic records of 54,000 patients who had elevated levels of calcium and looked at how many of them went on to receive a cancer diagnosis. Dr Fergus Hamilton, who led the research from the Centre for Academic Primary Care at the University of Bristol, said: “All previous studies on hypercalcaemia and cancer had been carried out with patients who had already been diagnosed with cancer — hypercalcaemia was seen as a late effect of the cancer. “We wanted to look at the issue from a different perspective and find out if high calcium levels in blood could be used as an early indicator of cancer and therefore in the diagnosis of cancer.” Analysis of the data from 54,000 patients found that in men, even mild hypercalcaemia (2.6-2.8 mmol l−1) conferred a risk of cancer in one year of 11.5 per cent. …

Why we should vaccinate boys against HPV as well as girls

Gillian Prue, from the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Queen’s University of Belfast, says that the human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is common in men and can lead to genital warts and the development of some head and neck, anal or penile cancers. She says incidence of this has increased in the past two decades with HPV causing 5% of all human cancers. …

Scientists decipher how the immune system induces liver damage during hepatitis

A study published today in the online edition of The Journal of Clinical Investigation, and carried out by Erwin Wagner’s team, Director of the BBVA Foundation-CNIO Cancer Cell Biology Programme and holder of an ERC Advanced Grant, shows how the immune system ‘attacks’ liver cells during hepatitis by using the AP-1 gene JunB. Latifa Bakiri, one of the study’s authors and a researcher in Wagner’s laboratory details: "The activation of the JunB/AP-1 gene in a subset of immune cells, called NK cells, increases the production of interferon-gamma that attacks liver cells while the organ is suffering from hepatitis." With this discovery, the study’s authors propose a new mechanism by which AP-1 acts as a double-edged sword in the liver: it’s a first line of defence against viruses that cause the disease, but also encourages liver damage depending on the diet or genetics of the patient. …

Stem cell scarring aids recovery from spinal cord injury

Spinal cord injuries sever nerve fibres that conduct signals between the brain and the rest of the body, causing various degrees of paralysis depending on the site and extent of the injury. Functional impairment is often permanent, since the cut nerve fibres do not grow back. The lack of regeneration has been attributed to a blockage from scar tissue that forms at the lesion. …

Evolutionary history of a cancer-related gene

A study published today by scientists from the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) describes how a genetic duplication that took place in the vertebrate ancestor some 500 million years ago encouraged the evolution of the ASF1b gene; a gene essential for proper cell division and related to some types of cancer such as breast cancer. The results of the study are published in Molecular Biology and Evolution. The conclusions of the study are the result of collaboration between the team led by Alfonso Valencia, Vice-Director of Basic Research and Director of CNIO’s Structural Biology & Biocomputing Programme, and the team led by Genevieve Almouzni, a member of CNIO’s Scientific Advisory Committee, at the Institut Curie in Paris, France. Valencia says that: "When proteins have such a close similarity as the one that exists between the two human copies of the ASF1 gene — ASF1a and ASF1b — it is commonly assumed that they have similar functions in cells; in this case related to fundamental processes such as DNA remodelling and repair, cell division, cell proliferation and genetic transcription or activation." The Genomic Environment, Key to Success in Separating Functions Almouzni’s team discovered several years ago that, despite the similarity in structure, the two copies of ASF1 were not redundant, but rather had divided up their ancestral functions…