http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. A monoclonal antibody targeting a protein known as SFPR2 has been shown by researchers at the University of North Carolina to inhibit tumor growth in pre-clinical models of breast cancer and angiosarcoma. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-monoclonal-antibody-inhibits-tumor-growth.html Cancer Fri, 19 Apr 2013 15:10:01 EST news285602419 For the first time, scientists have demonstrated the mechanism of action of gossypin, a naturally-occurring substance found in fruits and vegetables, as a treatment for melanoma, which causes the majority of deaths from skin cancer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-naturally-substance-effective-deadly-skin.html Cancer Wed, 10 Apr 2013 14:44:38 EST news284823871 (Medical Xpress)—Porous polymer scaffolds fabricated to support the growth of biological tissue for implantation may hold the potential to greatly accelerate the development of cancer therapeutics. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-realistic-tumor-growth-response-anti-cancer.html Cancer Tue, 02 Apr 2013 05:41:28 EST news284100077 (Medical Xpress)—Most cancer treatments are blunt. In an attempt to eradicate tumors, oncologists often turn to radiation or chemotherapy, which can damage healthy tissue along with the cancerous growths. New research from C. David Allis's laboratory at Rockefeller University may bring scientists closer to designing cancer therapeutics that can target tumors with pinpoint accuracy. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-mechanism-mutant-histone-protein-childhood.html Cancer Mon, 01 Apr 2013 09:10:23 EST news284026194 Erxi Wu, assistant professor of pharmaceutical sciences, co-wrote the article, "Neurotransmitter substance P mediates pancreatic cancer perineural invasion via NK-1R in cancer cells," which was published by Molecular Cancer Research, an American Association for Cancer Research journal.  http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-mechanism-underlying-abdominal-pain-pancreatic.html Cancer Fri, 01 Mar 2013 08:36:53 EST news281349401 (Medical Xpress)—UC Irvine biologists, chemists and computer scientists have identified an elusive pocket on the surface of the p53 protein that can be targeted by cancer-fighting drugs. The finding heralds a new treatment approach, as mutant forms of this protein are implicated in nearly 40 percent of diagnosed cases of cancer, which kills more than half a million Americans each year. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-wide-spectrum-cancers.html Cancer Thu, 31 Jan 2013 08:40:04 EST news278842249 Biomedical researchers studying aging and cancer are intensely interested in telomeres, the protective caps on the ends of chromosomes. In a new study, scientists at UC Santa Cruz used a novel technique to reveal structural and mechanical properties of telomeres that could help guide the development of new anti-cancer drugs. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-technique-reveals-dynamics-telomere-dna.html Medical research Thu, 17 Jan 2013 13:27:22 EST news277651637 (Medical Xpress)—Scientists have identified 46 previously overlooked but potentially 'druggable' cancer targets, using a powerful new online approach that allows researchers to carry out 'virtual experiments' to quickly prioritise which are the best targets for drug discovery. The findings are published in the journal Nature Reviews Drug Discovery today. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-scientists-virtual-uncover-cancer.html Cancer Wed, 02 Jan 2013 08:53:14 EST news276339123 (Medical Xpress)—Researchers from Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) have published findings from a preclinical study assessing the effectiveness of a small-molecule inhibitor, CFAK-Y15, in treating some brain cancers. The paper, published in Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, demonstrates for the first time that inhibiting the protein focal adhesion kinase (FAK) with CFAK-Y15 is an effective approach to controlling growth of glioblastoma tumors, especially in combination with the standard chemotherapy agent temozolomide (Temodar). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-fak-inhibitor-effective-brain-tumors.html Cancer Mon, 24 Dec 2012 07:40:26 EST news275557166 Genomic sequencing has revealed therapeutic drug targets for difficult-to-treat, metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), according to an unprecedented study by the Translational Genomic Research Institute (TGen) and US Oncology Research. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-tgen-us-oncology-treatment-metastatic-triple-negative.html Cancer Thu, 06 Dec 2012 15:19:37 EST news274029561 Epithelial cells are homebodies – they like to attach to things and becoming detached initiates a form of cell suicide known as anoikis (literally "homeless" in Latin). But in order for cancer cells to metastasize they have to leave their homes and to survive while traveling they must resist anoikis – like a third-grader at sleep-away camp. Cancer cells do this by taking a page from the neuron playbook. Neurons are by nature unbound – they grow and link to each other and not to a substrate. Neurons have a protein called TrkB that allows them to survive anoikis; healthy epithelial cells don't have TrkB and so are susceptible to anoikis. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-microrna-triple-negative-breast-cancer-homesick.html Cancer Wed, 21 Nov 2012 16:59:43 EST news272739573 Researchers in France are taking advantage of the progress in genetic and molecular profiling to analyse the make-up of individual cancer patients' tumours and, using this information, assign them to particular treatments and phase I clinical trials—an approach that could become part of everyday clinical practice. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-molecular-portraits-tumours-patients-trials.html Cancer Thu, 08 Nov 2012 18:00:04 EST news271613695 A completely new way of delivering anti-cancer drugs to tumours, using 'minicells' derived from bacteria, has been tested for the first time in humans and found to be safe, well-tolerated and even induced stable disease in patients with advanced, incurable cancers with no treatment options remaining. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-trial-humans-minicells-anti-cancer-drugs.html Cancer Thu, 08 Nov 2012 18:00:03 EST news271613615 Preliminary findings from the first trial of a new drug for patients with mesothelioma show that it has some success in preventing the spread of the deadly disease in patients lacking an active tumour suppressor gene called NF2. The study is presented at the 24th EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics in Dublin, Ireland, today (Friday). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-mesothelioma-drug-disease-patients-inactive.html Cancer Thu, 08 Nov 2012 18:00:02 EST news271613650 Researchers have developed a non-invasive way of predicting how much of a cancer-killing drug is absorbed by a tumour. The preliminary study, which will be reported at the 24th EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics in Dublin, Ireland, today (Thursday), was conducted in lung cancer patients and it also revealed that less than one per cent of the drug, docetaxel, is absorbed by the tumours. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-non-invasive-technique-patients-response-chemotherapy.html Cancer Wed, 07 Nov 2012 18:28:27 EST news271535298 Cancer patients with mutations or variations in two genes -– PIK3CA and PTEN -– who have failed to respond to several, standard treatments, respond significantly better to anti-cancer drugs that inhibit these genes' pathways of action, according to research presented at the 24th EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics in Dublin, Ireland, today. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-patients-aberrations-genes-drugs-blocking.html Cancer Wed, 07 Nov 2012 18:27:28 EST news271535236 Few available treatment options exist once prostate cancer has spread to other parts of the body and has failed to respond to therapies that involve blocking the male hormone androgen. Patients with advanced, hormone-refractory prostate cancer usually die from the disease after 12 to 18 months, so new therapies are desperately needed. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-therapy-advanced-prostate-cancer-anti-tumor.html Cancer Wed, 07 Nov 2012 18:26:19 EST news271535169 A newly developed antibody targeting a signalling pathway that is frequently active in solid tumours has shown encouraging signs of efficacy in its first trial in humans, researchers will report at the 24th EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics in Dublin, Ireland, today (Wednesday). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-monoclonal-antibody-inhibits-tumor-growth.html Cancer Tue, 06 Nov 2012 18:00:03 EST news271440465 Scientists in the United States have tested all possible pairings of the 100 cancer drugs approved for use in patients in order to discover whether there are any combinations not tried previously that are effective in certain cancers. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-scientists-combinations-cancer-drugs-effective.html Cancer Tue, 06 Nov 2012 18:00:01 EST news271440532 The protein transient receptor potential melastatin-like 7 (TRPM7) is a critical determinant of breast cancer cell metastasis, according to study results published in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-trpm7-protein-key-breast-cancer.html Cancer Tue, 07 Aug 2012 13:35:02 EST news263565284 An experimental drug targeting a common mutation in melanoma successfully shrank tumors that spread to the brain in nine out of 10 patients in part of an international phase I clinical trial report in the May 18 issue of The Lancet. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-dabrafenib-melanoma-brain-metastases-phase.html Cancer Thu, 17 May 2012 18:30:01 EST news256493208 Testing patients with non-small cell lung cancer for both mutations and amplifications of the KRAS gene prior to therapy may help to predict response to treatment with antifolates, according to the updated results of a preclinical study presented at the AACR Annual Meeting 2012, held here March 31 - April 4. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-kras-gene-mutation-amplification-status.html Cancer Wed, 04 Apr 2012 10:12:41 EST news252753151 A pair of targeted therapies shrank tumors in some patients with treatment-resistant Ewing's sarcoma or desmoplastic small-round-cell tumors, according to research led by investigators from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center reported at the AACR Annual Meeting 2012. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-therapies-ewing-sarcoma-tumors.html Cancer Sun, 01 Apr 2012 06:11:27 EST news252479461 In the largest study of its kind, researchers have profiled genetic changes in cancer with drug sensitivity in order to develop a personalised approach to cancer treatments. The study is published in Nature on Thursday 29 March 2012. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-path-personalized-cancer-treatment.html Cancer Wed, 28 Mar 2012 13:00:03 EST news252151008 By discovering how a blood clot-busting enzyme is switched on, researchers have unlocked a century-old atomic riddle that could lead to new treatments for clotting and bleeding disorders, and some cancers. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-clot-busting-enzyme-peek-a-boo-blood-clots.html Medical research Thu, 08 Mar 2012 12:05:19 EST news250430712 There is a need to analyze tumor specimens at the time of ovarian cancer recurrence, according to a new study published in Molecular Cancer Therapeutics. Researchers used a diagnostic technology called molecular profiling to examine the differences in the molecular characteristics of primary and recurrent ovarian tumors and found significant changes for some biomarkers. This is the first study that examined potential differences in a broad biomarker panel in patient-matched primary versus recurrent ovarian cancers and underscores the importance of analyzing the most current tumor tissue in order to make the most informed decisions about treatment for recurrence. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-molecular-profiling-reveals-differences-primary.html Cancer Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:06:25 EST news248101576 Finding ways to counteract or disrupt the invasive nature of cancer cells, called "metastasis," has been a long-term goal of cancer researchers. Now, researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla., have identified an interactive pathway that regulates metastases in some cancers that may be vulnerable to chemical targeting in order to prevent cancer cell proliferation and tumor growth. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-potential-metastatic-cancer.html Cancer Tue, 13 Dec 2011 15:57:16 EST news243014139 The trouble with most anti-cancer therapies is that they are lethal to most cells in the body, not just cancer cells. As a result, patients experience side effects like nausea, increased susceptibility to infection, and increased risk of developing secondary cancers later in life. Researchers at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham) are developing techniques to deliver cancer drugs directly to tumors, increasing their effectiveness and decreasing collateral damage. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-tumors-minimize-side-effects-tumor-homing.html Cancer Mon, 21 Nov 2011 15:00:01 EST news241097458 Researchers have developed a new genetic screening tool that will aid in the investigation of possible treatments for patients with melanoma and the unique genetic mutations that may accompany the disease, according to data presented at the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference: Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics, held Nov. 12-16, 2011. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-panel-melanoma-mutations-door-treatment.html Cancer Tue, 15 Nov 2011 16:04:03 EST news240595419 Patients with non-small cell lung cancer who have mutations in the KRAS gene should respond well to the antifolate class of drugs, according to results of a recent study conducted by Quintiles comparing human lung cancer cell lines and patients. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-antifolates-nsclc-subtype.html Cancer Mon, 14 Nov 2011 04:03:52 EST news240465805