Tag Archives: research

One-two punch for brain tumors? New clinical trial opens

The experimental approach, based on U-M research, delivers two different genes directly into the brains of patients following the operation to remove the bulk of their tumors. The idea: trigger immune activity within the brain itself to kill remaining tumor cells — the ones neurosurgeons can’t take out, which make this type of tumor so dangerous. …

Some women still don’t underststand ‘overdiagnosis’ risk in breast screening — ScienceDaily

In a survey of around 2,200 women, Cancer Research UK scientists at University College London (UCL) found that 64 per cent felt they fully understood the information given about overdiagnosis — the chance that screening will pick up cancers that would never have gone on to cause any harm — by the National breast screening programme. Information about overdiagnosis has only been included in the NHS breast screening invitation leaflets since late 2013, meaning that overdiagnosis is likely to be a new concept for many people. But despite uncertainty over the information they were given, intentions to attend breast screening remained high, with only seven per cent of women saying they would be less likely to attend screening after receiving the overdiagnosis information…

Family conflicts, other non-physical worries before cancer surgery raise patients’ complication risk

The findings are published in the Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery. “We know that quality of life is a very complex thing, but we can now measure it and work with it almost like blood pressure,” says lead author Juliane Bingener, M.D., a gastroenterologic surgeon at Mayo Clinic in Rochester. “We can say, ‘This is good, this is in the normal range, but this one here, that is not good, and maybe we should do something.'” Quality of life as measured in the study is about more than happiness and how well people feel physically, Dr…

‘K-to-M’ Histone Mutations: How Repressing Repressors May Drive Tissue-Specific Cancers

In 2012, investigators from multiple research institutions studying the sequence of the genome from cancer patients rocked the “chromatin world” when they independently reported that mutations in the gene that encodes histone H3.3 occurred in aggressive pediatric brain tumors. This finding was stunning, as researchers had never before associated histone mutations with any disease, much less a deadly tumor…

Invisible blood in urine may indicate bladder cancer

Scientists at the University of Exeter Medical School found that one in 60 people over the age of 60 who had invisible blood in their urine (identified by their GP testing their urine) transpired to have bladder cancer. The figure was around half those who had visible blood in their urine — the best known indicator of bladder cancer…

Better classification to improve treatments for breast cancer — ScienceDaily

Cancer arises due to genetic changes which cause normal cells to develop into tumors. As we learn more about breast cancer, we are seeing that it is not one single disease — the mutations in the genes that cause different cancers are not alike, and this is why tumors respond differently to treatment and grow at different rates. Currently, there are two key markers that clinicians use to predict response to treatments. Spotting the trends in tumor genetics and creating a system to diagnose tumor types is a primary objective of cancer scientists. …

Better classification to improve treatments for breast cancer

Cancer arises due to genetic changes which cause normal cells to develop into tumors. As we learn more about breast cancer, we are seeing that it is not one single disease — the mutations in the genes that cause different cancers are not alike, and this is why tumors respond differently to treatment and grow at different rates…