Tag Archives: study

Breakthrough in understanding how cancer cells metastasize

The study examined the function of a protein called DENND2B. During childhood development, DENND2B likely plays a role in the normal migration of cells. In adults, cell migration is greatly reduced, but in the case of cancer, there is unwanted cell migration, contributing to one of the most puzzling aspects of cancer cells — metastasis to new locations. “DENND2B activates another protein in the cell called Rab13, which is an enzyme that promotes cell migration,” says Dr. …

Chemotherapy after bladder cancer surgery may improve survival

Clinical trials have established the benefit of giving chemotherapy prior to surgery (neoadjuvant chemotherapy) for patients with bladder cancer. However, clinical trials exploring giving chemotherapy after surgery (adjuvant chemotherapy) have been difficult to interpret and many of the trials closed early due to poor accrual without providing an answer. Lead researcher Matthew Galsky, MD and colleagues used a large database of patients diagnosed with cancer in the United States. Specifically, the study found that patients receiving adjuvant chemotherapy after surgical treatment had improved overall survival when compared to patients that received surgical treatment alone with only post-surgical observation. …

Gene that pushes normal pancreas cells to change shape identified

Their findings, reported in Nature Communications, suggest that inhibiting the gene, protein kinase D1 (PKD1), and its protein could halt progression and spread of this form of pancreatic cancer, and possibly even reverse the transformation. “As soon as pancreatic cancer develops, it begins to spread, and PKD1 is key to both processes. Given this finding, we are busy developing a PKD1 inhibitor that we can test further,” says the study’s co-lead investigator, Peter Storz, Ph.D., a cancer researcher at Mayo Clinic…

Women back idea of more breast screens for those at high risk of cancer

Fewer women (60 per cent) would be happy to be screened less often if they were found to be at lower risk. More than 940 women from across the UK were asked for their views on the possibility of tailoring breast screening to people’s genetic risk in a study funded by Cancer Research UK and The Eve Appeal…

Certain factors influence whether cancer patients involve family members in treatment decisions

For the study, Gabriella Hobbs, MD, and Nancy Keating, MD, MPH, of Harvard Medical School, and their colleagues surveyed 5284 patients with a new diagnosis of lung or colon cancer, and asked participants how they involved their families in decisions about their care. Only 1.5 percent of patients reported family-controlled decisions. Among the remaining patients, 49.4 percent reported equally sharing decisions with family, 22.1 percent reported some family input, and 28.5 percent reported little or no input from their families. Non-English speaking Asian patients and Spanish-speaking Hispanic patients were more likely to report equally shared decisions with their families than other patients. …

Cancer experience presents time for lifestyle changes in both survivors and family members

“A window of opportunity exists during the post-treatment transition period for oncology clinicians to reach out to patients and their caregivers who want to have a healthy start on life after cancer,” said Susan Mazanec, PhD, RN, AOCN, assistant professor at Case Western Reserve’s Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing. Mazanec, also a nurse scientist at University Hospitals Case Medical Center’s Seidman Cancer Center, was lead investigator of the study, “Health Behaviors in Family Members of Patients Completing Cancer Treatment,” recently reported in Oncology Nursing Forum. Mazanec and colleagues surveyed and interviewed 50 patients diagnosed with breast, colorectal, head and neck, lung or prostate cancers and 38 caregivers within three week of a patient’s last treatment. The questions were designed to gauge family members’ intention, perceived benefit and confidence about eating a healthy diet, physical activity and smoking cessation…

Cancer’s ability to ‘hijack’ regulatory mechanism increases metastasis

Scientists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) have found that one component of this human scaffolding called collagen “cross-links” can determine a tumor’s ability to grow and spread. These cross-links of protein complexes enable connective tissue cells known as “stroma” to stiffen, stimulating tumor cell invasion and metastasis. Study results were published in today’s online edition of the Journal of Clinical Investigation…

Could there be a gleevec for brain cancer?

A similar drug might be able to tame some brain cancers, new research from Columbia University Medical Center has shown. A team led by Antonio Iavarone, MD, professor of neurology and of pathology and cell biology, Institute for Cancer Genetics, previously discovered that a fusion of two proteins (present only in cancer cells and different from the two in CML) drives some cases of glioma, a common form of brain cancer. The team’s most recent study, published in Clinical Cancer Research, looked closely at two patients affected by recurrent glioblastoma with the fused proteins, in a first in-human trial of a drug that targets half of the fusion protein. Those patients, the researchers found, responded particularly well to the drug, with clinical improvement and radiological tumor reduction…