Tag Archives: texas

Protein ZEB1 promotes breast tumor resistance to radiation therapy

One protein with the even more out-there name of ZEB1 (zinc finger E-box binding homeobox 1), is now thought to keep breast cancer cells from being successfully treated with radiation therapy, according to a study at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Li Ma, Ph.D., an assistant professor of experimental radiation oncology at MD Anderson, reported in this month’s issue of Nature Cell Biology that ZEB1 may actually be helping breast tumor cells repair DNA damage caused by radiation treatment by ramping up a first-line of defense known as DNA damage response pathway. …

New myeloma-obesity research shows drugs can team with body’s defenses

And with current obesity trends in the United States and especially in South Texas, that’s ominous. “I’m predicting an increase in multiple myeloma,” said Edward Medina, M.D., Ph.D., “and with the obesity problems we see in the Hispanic population, there could be a serious health disparity on the horizon.” Dr. Medina, a hematopathologist and assistant professor in the Department of Pathology at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, is looking at exactly how obesity causes an increased risk for myeloma…

Diagnosing physicians influence treatment decisions for prostate cancer patients, study finds — ScienceDaily

The findings, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, sought to examine why active surveillance, a management program for low-risk disease, which includes repeat PSAs, prostate exams and biopsies, is underused in this patient population. According to the American Cancer Society, 233,000 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed this year, making it the most common non-skin cancer in men…

New prostate cancer blood test now available in the U.S. — ScienceDaily

The most widely used screening test for prostate cancer is currently the PSA test, which measures the blood’s level of PSA — a protein that is naturally produced by the prostate gland and is typically increased when cancer is present. However, it is widely recognized that PSA results can often indicate the possibility of prostate cancer when none is present. “The PSA test is based on the fact that men with higher levels of the PSA protein are more likely to have prostate cancer,” said William Catalona, MD, principal investigator on the Prostate Health Index clinical study and urologist at Northwestern Medicine and director of the Clinical Prostate Cancer Program at the Robert H. …