Tag Archives: research

Improved risk identification will aid fertility preservation in young male cancer patients

By clarifying which patients are at highest risk for reduced sperm production as adults, researchers expect the findings to eventually increase use of pre-treatment fertility preservation methods such as sperm banking. The study involved drugs called alkylating agents that are widely used to treat a variety of pediatric cancers. …

New knowledge of genes driving bladder cancer points to targeted treatments — ScienceDaily

Specifically, the study examined a mutation-rich layer of the genome called the exome of 54 bladder tumors from primarily Caucasian patients. The study is the first to show alterations in the gene BAP1 in 15 percent of tumors; the gene is a likely tumor suppressor and so bladder cancers with alterations in this gene may be without an important check on the growth and survival of bladder cancer tissue…

New therapeutic target may prevent blindness in premature babies at risk of retinopathy

“This study shows that a single receptor may play various roles depending on whether its site of action is in the nucleus or on the cell membrane,” states Dr. Jean-S�bastien Joyal, MD, PhD, a pediatric intensivist at the Sainte-Justine UHC and an assistant professor at the Universit� de Montr�al. The groundbreaking discovery has significant clinical implications, since many drugs act on this family of receptors irrespective of their site of action in the cell. “Our results are extremely encouraging. …

Study estimates number of U.S. women potentially impacted by breast density notification legislation — ScienceDaily

Now for the first time, a new study published in the September 2014 Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI) and led by Brian Sprague, Ph.D., a University of Vermont assistant professor of surgery and member of the Vermont Cancer Center, estimates the number of women in the United States for whom breast density notification legislation would potentially impact. The study was conducted with the National Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium and utilizes data from breast cancer screening registries based at the University of Vermont, the Group Health Research Institute (Seattle, WA), the University of North Carolina, Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine, the University of California-San Francisco, and the University of New Mexico. Given their findings, Sprague and his research team are asking policy makers to consider the large number of women who fall into the category of having mammographically-dense breasts in the U.S…

Study estimates number of U.S. women potentially impacted by breast density notification legislation

Now for the first time, a new study published in the September 2014 Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI) and led by Brian Sprague, Ph.D., a University of Vermont assistant professor of surgery and member of the Vermont Cancer Center, estimates the number of women in the United States for whom breast density notification legislation would potentially impact. The study was conducted with the National Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium and utilizes data from breast cancer screening registries based at the University of Vermont, the Group Health Research Institute (Seattle, WA), the University of North Carolina, Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine, the University of California-San Francisco, and the University of New Mexico. Given their findings, Sprague and his research team are asking policy makers to consider the large number of women who fall into the category of having mammographically-dense breasts in the U.S. as they debate breast density notification legislation and screening recommendations…

Non-toxic strategy to treat leukemia proposed by researchers

Harvard Stem Cell Institute scientists at the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Regenerative Medicine and the Harvard University Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology led the work, published in the journal Cell, in collaboration with researchers at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “It’s been known for decades that cancer cells use energy differently than most cell types,” said senior author David Scadden, MD. “So we thought, maybe there are metabolism differences between blood stem cells and their immediate descendants; and are they so different from cancer that you might able to manipulate energy sources with something that could have an effect on cancer and not harm normal cells?” Scadden’s team began by examining blood stem cells and their direct offspring — blood progenitor cells that have a more limited ability to differentiate. The researchers modified the way the cells take up nutrients in two ways: via a glucose (sugar) on-off switch, and through subtle adjustments that raise or lower glucose, like a volume dial. …