"Androgen-deprivation therapy will often put cancer in remission, but tumors come back, even without testosterone," said contributor Christopher Evans, professor and chair of the Department of Urology at the UC Davis School of Medicine. "We found that these long non-coding RNAs were activating the androgen receptor. …
The researchers, from the lab of Charles Dann III, assistant professor of chemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences, published their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Dann said the results should help chemists create more effective antifolate drugs, which act by interfering with the ability of folates — also called folic acid or vitamin B9 — to perform tasks that are essential for cell growth. …
Reporting their results July 8 in Cancer Cell, researchers say their successful laboratory tests in human MDS cells and mouse models of MDS provide a molecular target for designing new drugs to battle a syndrome with few effective treatments. "There is an urgent need to develop new targeted therapies that can eliminate MDS-initiating clone cells and provide a durable therapeutic response," said Daniel Starczynowski, PhD, lead researcher and a member of the Division of Experimental Hematology and Cancer Biology at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center…
Metastasis is responsible for 90 percent of cancer-related deaths. More than 575,000 Americans die of cancer each year, the second leading cause of death in the United States after cardiovascular disease. …
Now, new research from the University of Michigan Health System and a major pharmaceutical company has identified a novel approach to moderate and severe pain therapy that paves the way for lower dosage painkillers. The findings appear in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Drugs such as hydrocodone (the main ingredient of Vicodin) and oxycodone (Oxycontin) are often the best options for the treatment of moderate to severe pain for patients facing medical conditions ranging from a wisdom tooth extraction to cancer. The drugs bind to specific molecules (opioid receptors) on nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord to prevent the feeling of pain…
In men with advanced prostate cancer, growth of cancer cells depends on androgen receptor signaling, which is driven by androgens, such as testosterone. To thwart tumor growth, most patients with advanced prostate cancer receive drugs that block the production of androgen or block the receptor where the androgen binds. Unfortunately, such treatments invariably fail and patients die of prostate cancer with their androgen receptor signaling still active and still promoting tumor growth. In the new study, available online at Nature Communications, a team of researchers led by Dr. …