Oncology & Cancer

New drug target discovered for aggressive form of prostate cancer

Scientists have discovered that a protein linked to prostate cancer is associated with more aggressive disease—it could be a new target for treatment and be used to help predict who will become resistant to hormone therapy.

Medications

Weight loss drugs could help fight fatty liver disease

In the fight against fatty liver disease, researchers are looking for any and all possible solutions. But to combat the disease, which is also known as metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease, or MASLD, scientists ...

Oncology & Cancer

Lowering cancer drug dose could open tumors to immunotherapy

Research undertaken at the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research in Perth has shown that administering anti-cancer drugs at a hundred-fold lower dose than standard protocols could improve the tumor's response to immunotherapy.

Oncology & Cancer

How AI can help researchers make esophageal cancer less deadly

Approximately 600 times a day, the esophagus ferries whatever is in your mouth down to your stomach. It's usually a one-way route, but sometimes acid escapes the stomach and travels back up. That can damage the cells lining ...

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Cancer /ˈkænsər/ ( listen), known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a broad group of various diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the body through the lymphatic system or bloodstream. Not all tumors are cancerous. Benign tumors do not grow uncontrollably, do not invade neighboring tissues, and do not spread throughout the body.

Determining what causes cancer is complex. Many things are known to increase the risk of cancer, including tobacco use, certain infections, radiation, lack of physical activity, poor diet and obesity, and environmental pollutants. These can directly damage genes or combine with existing genetic faults within cells to cause the disease. Approximately five to ten percent of cancers are entirely hereditary.

Cancer can be detected in a number of ways, including the presence of certain signs and symptoms, screening tests, or medical imaging. Once a possible cancer is detected it is diagnosed by microscopic examination of a tissue sample. Cancer is usually treated with chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery. The chances of surviving the disease vary greatly by the type and location of the cancer and the extent of disease at the start of treatment. While cancer can affect people of all ages, and a few types of cancer are more common in children, the risk of developing cancer generally increases with age. In 2007, cancer caused about 13% of all human deaths worldwide (7.9 million). Rates are rising as more people live to an old age and as mass lifestyle changes occur in the developing world.

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