http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. A new study describes a therapeutic approach to halting cancer progression by exploiting a previously unrecognized "addiction" of leukemia cells to specific signaling molecules. The research, published by Cell Press online on April 16th in the journal Cancer Cell, identifies non-classical oncogenes critical for tumor development and survival, and describes a potentially less toxic strategy that selectively targets these molecules. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-therapy-exploits-addiction-leukemia-cells.html Cancer Mon, 16 Apr 2012 13:45:03 EST news253802693 A recent study conducted at Marshall University may eventually help scientists develop new treatments for prostate cancer, the most common malignancy in American men. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-treatments-prostate-cancer.html Cancer Wed, 21 Mar 2012 11:36:38 EST news251548587 Highly elevated platelet levels fuel tumor growth and reduce the survival of ovarian cancer patients, an international team of researchers led by scientists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer center reports in the New England Journal of Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-high-platelets-ovarian-cancer-patients.html Cancer Wed, 15 Feb 2012 17:00:10 EST news248544367 Scientists at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) have identified nearly 200 genes in the healthy prostate tissue of men with low-grade prostate cancer that may help explain how physical activity improves survival from the disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-vigorous-linked-gene-prostate.html Cancer Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:00:01 EST news247333376 Smoking doubles the risk of developing oesophageal cancer in people with Barrett's Oesophagus, according to scientists at Queen's University Belfast and the Northern Ireland Cancer Registry. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-barrett-patients-oesophageal-cancer.html Cancer Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:15:39 EST news247144530 (AP) -- The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new Pfizer drug for patients with advanced kidney cancer that has spread to other parts of the body despite treatment with at least one previous drug. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-fda-pfizer-drug-advanced-kidney.html Medications Fri, 27 Jan 2012 12:59:15 EST news246891541 Could preventing colon cancer be as simple as developing a taste for yerba mate tea? In a recent University of Illinois study, scientists showed that human colon cancer cells die when they are exposed to the approximate number of bioactive compounds present in one cup of this brew, which has long been consumed in South America for its medicinal properties. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-compounds-tea-death-colon-cancer.html Cancer Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:25:22 EST news246547517 Ben Stanger, MD, PhD, assistant professor of Medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, and Andrew Rhim, MD, a Gastroenterology Fellow in the Stanger lab, discovered that pancreatic cancer cells in an animal model begin to spread before clinically obvious tumor tissue is detected. What's more, they showed that inflammation enhances cancer progression in part by facilitating a cellular transformation that leads to entry of cancer cells into the circulation. They report their findings this week in Cell. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-metastasis-pancreatic-cancer-action.html Cancer Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:49:52 EST news246199703 A new study finds that a group of little-explored cells in the tumor microenvironment likely serve as important gatekeepers against cancer progression and metastasis. Published in the January 17 issue of Cancer Cell, these findings suggest that anti-angiogenic therapies – which shrink cancer by cutting off tumors' blood supply – may inadvertently be making tumors more aggressive and likely to spread. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-tumor-cells-cancer.html Cancer Tue, 17 Jan 2012 13:20:02 EST news246027782 A key protein potentially involved in regulating breast cancer progression has been identified by researchers at Clarkson University in Potsdam, N.Y. Led by professor Costel Darie, the team worked to identify the binding partner of Tumor Differentiating Factor (TDF), a pituitary hormone that had previously been shown to reduce cancer progression in breast cancer cells. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-receptor-key-breast-cancer.html Cancer Fri, 13 Jan 2012 16:02:17 EST news245692913 New research demonstrates that previous models used to examine cancer may not be complex enough to accurately mimic the true cancer environment. Using oral cancer cells in a three-dimensional model of lab-made tissue that mimics the lining of the oral cavity, the researchers found that the tissue surrounding cancer cells can epigenetically mediate, or temporarily trigger, the expression or suppression of a cell adhesion protein associated with the progression of cancer. These new findings support the notion that drugs that are currently being tested to treat many cancers need to be screened using more complex tissue-like systems, rather than by using conventional petri dish cultures that do not fully manifest features of many cancers. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-lab-made-tissue-slack-petri-dishes.html Cancer Wed, 11 Jan 2012 10:11:48 EST news245499079 Fibroblasts, cells that play a role in the structural framework of tissues, play an apparent role in melanoma tumor growth. Fibroblasts also contribute to melanoma drug resistance and may also facilitate the "flare" response when a tumor's metabolism is enhanced following a patient being removed from a targeted therapy, said researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-fibroblasts-contribute-melanoma-tumor-growth.html Cancer Thu, 05 Jan 2012 11:50:09 EST news244986594 Targeted drugs, which block or disrupt particular molecules involved in the growth of tumors, have been shown to be effective treatments against many types of cancer. A new phase 3 clinical trial conducted by the Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG) showed that a targeted therapy called bevacizumab (Avastin) effectively delayed the progression of advanced ovarian cancer. Patients with newly diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer now typically undergo surgery and chemotherapy, but the new research suggests an additional avenue of treatment. The results of the trial appear in the December 29 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-therapy-progression-free-survival-patients-advanced.html Cancer Wed, 28 Dec 2011 17:00:01 EST news244292529 (Medical Xpress) -- A Queensland University of Technology (QUT) PhD student has developed a potential breakthrough test for predicting the likelihood of the spread or return of breast cancer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-recurrence-breast-cancer.html Cancer Wed, 14 Dec 2011 07:50:02 EST news243070378 (AP) -- A panel of advisers to the Food and Drug Administration voted Wednesday that the benefits of a Pfizer kidney cancer drug outweigh its risks, according to a company spokeswoman. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-fda-panel-pfizer-drug-kidney.html Medications Wed, 07 Dec 2011 13:18:25 EST news242486289 The spread of breast cancer is responsible for more than 90 percent of breast cancer deaths. Now, the process by which it spreads -- or metastasizes -- has been unraveled by researchers at Johns Hopkins. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-breast-cancer-lung.html Cancer Wed, 16 Nov 2011 09:27:56 EST news240658068 A low-fat diet with fish oil supplements eaten for four to six weeks prior to prostate removal slowed down the growth of prostate cancer cells -- the number of rapidly dividing cells -- in human prostate cancer tissue compared to a traditional, high-fat Western diet. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-fat-diet-fish-oil-growth.html Cancer Tue, 25 Oct 2011 13:27:08 EST news238768020 The invasion of a new species into an established ecosystem can be directly compared to the steps involved in cancer metastasis. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Theoretical Biology and Medical Modelling uses the Tilman model of competition between invasive species to study the metastasis of prostate cells into bone. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-cancer-ecological-principles.html Cancer Mon, 03 Oct 2011 03:55:13 EST news236832784 Researchers are working to discover how genes interact with each other to lead to cancer progression. This research is expected to lead the way toward the discovery of new targeted therapies against breast cancer, according to a study presented at the Second AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Basic Cancer Research, held here Sept. 14-18, 2011. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-pathways-cancer-identification-therapies.html Cancer Thu, 15 Sep 2011 14:10:42 EST news235314614 Research led by Dr. Suresh Alahari, the Fred Brazda Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans and its Stanley S. Scott Cancer Center, has found that a protein discovered by his laboratory can inhibit the growth of breast cancer cells. The research will be published September 14, 2011 online in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-protein-suppress-breast-cancer-growth.html Cancer Wed, 14 Sep 2011 16:30:53 EST news235236613 A research team led by Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center has discovered proteins in the blood that are associated with early lung cancer development in mice and humans. The advance brings the reality of a blood test for the early detection and diagnosis of lung cancer a step closer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-blood-proteins-early-lung-cancer.html Cancer Mon, 12 Sep 2011 12:29:32 EST news235049316 A protein critical in heart development may also play a part in colon cancer progression. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-bves-butts-colorectal-cancer.html Cancer Mon, 12 Sep 2011 12:29:25 EST news235049294 Short-term hormone therapy (androgen deprivation therapy: ADT) given in combination with radiation therapy for men with early-stage prostate cancer increases their chance of living longer and not dying from the disease, compared with that of those who receive the same radiation therapy alone, according to a Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) study published in the July 14 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. This largest randomized trial of its kind enrolled nearly 2,000 men at low and intermediate risk of prostate cancer progression and followed their health status for more than nine years (October 1994 to April 2001) at 212 centers in the United States and Canada. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-short-term-hormone-therapy-survival-men.html Cancer Wed, 13 Jul 2011 17:29:13 EST news229796939 A new study from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and University of California, San Francisco, researchers suggests that men with prostate cancer who smoke increase their risk of prostate cancer recurrence and of dying from the disease. A link also was found between smoking at the time of prostate cancer diagnosis and aggressive prostate cancer, overall mortality (death) and cardiovascular disease mortality. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-prostate-cancer-recurrence-death.html Cancer Tue, 21 Jun 2011 16:26:17 EST news227892240 Bevacizumab (Avastin) in combination with chemotherapy resulted in a clinical benefit for patients with recurrent ovarian cancer, according to a new study. Results from the phase III "OCEANS" trial were presented today by the lead author, Carol Aghajanian, MD, of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, at the 2011 annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-drug-combination-tumor-growth-recurrent.html Cancer Mon, 06 Jun 2011 11:40:01 EST news226576145 A protein activated by certain drugs already approved for treating Type II diabetes may slow or stop the spread of breast tumors. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-diabetic-drug-cancer.html Cancer Tue, 31 May 2011 16:20:00 EST news226077579 With an increase in abdominal imaging over the past decade, there has been an increase in the detection of incidental kidney cancer, which has led to concerns that we may be over-treating indolent disease. As part of this effort, clinicians have started to investigate the effectiveness of active surveillance (AS), or close observation as opposed to immediate surgery, for select patients with small renal masses (SRMs). Today, Fox Chase Cancer Center researchers will announce the results of its systematic review and pooled analysis, which for the first time combined several institutions' experience with active surveillance of small renal masses. Their goal was to identify trends in radiographic tumor growth rates and progression to either treatment or metastasis, and found that in select patients, active surveillance may be a viable option when surgery is risky due to poor health or advanced age. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-rapid-growth-trigger-treatment-patients.html Cancer Mon, 16 May 2011 09:57:47 EST news224758655 Even when treated with hormone therapy to suppress tumor growth, obese men face an elevated risk of their prostate cancer worsening, researchers at Duke University Medical Center have found. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-obesity-linked-higher-prostate-cancer.html Cancer Sun, 15 May 2011 16:09:18 EST news224694537