http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. For years researchers have been trying to identify the molecular changes that occur in tumour-initiating cells from the very first oncogenic mutation to the development of invasive tumors. The most frequently diagnosed skin cancer in humans is basal cell carcinoma, with over a million such cases reported each year. An EU-funded team of researchers led by Prof. Cédric Blanpain of the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) has identified the molecular events that occur during basal cell carcinoma initiation. This study was recently published in the journal Nature Cell Biology and it was partially supported by the European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant worth EUR 1.6 million awarded to Prof. Blanpain. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-scientists-uncover-cells-basal-cell.html Cancer Fri, 21 Dec 2012 06:36:54 EST news275294208 (Medical Xpress)—The protein kinase Akt is a key regulator of cell growth, proliferation, metabolism, survival, and death. New work on Akt's role in cancer stem cell biology from the lab of senior author Honglin Zhou, MD, PhD and Weihua Li, co-first author, both from the Center for Resuscitation Sciences, Department of Emergency Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, and Xiaowei Xu, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, appears in Molecular Cell. The findings were also highlighted in Nature and Science reviews. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-protein-kinase-akt-arbiter-cancer.html Cancer Thu, 20 Dec 2012 07:15:51 EST news275210140 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 Powdered turmeric has been used for centuries to treat osteoarthritis and other illnesses. Its active ingredient, curcumin, inhibits inflammatory reactions. A new study led by a research team at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) in Munich now shows that it can also inhibit formation of metastases. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-prostate-cancer-curcumin-curbs-metastases.html Cancer Fri, 12 Oct 2012 11:34:26 EST news269260459 ADAM28, a metalloproteinase belonging to the ADAM gene family, cleaves the von Willebrand factor (VWF) and inhibits VWF-mediated cancer cell apoptosis, thereby enhancing lung metastases, so inhibiting its expression gives a substantial reduction in lung metastases, according to a study published June 8 in the Journal of The National Cancer Institute. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-probing-mechanism-adam28-mediated-cancer-metastasis.html Cancer Fri, 08 Jun 2012 18:07:58 EST news258397672 The dietary supplement gamma-linoleic acid can inhibit the growth of a subset of pancreatic cancer cells and selectively promote cancer cell death in mice, a Mayo Clinic study has found. The supplement, a fatty acid also known as GLA, worked particularly well when combined with the chemotherapy drug gemcitabine, the researchers say. The findings were presented today by Mayo Clinic pathologist Ruth Lupu, Ph.D., at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2012. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-nutritional-supplement-pancreatic-cancer-cells.html Cancer Tue, 03 Apr 2012 09:47:47 EST news252665248 Nearly 12,000 people will die of head and neck cancer in the United States this year and worldwide cases will exceed half a million. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-grape-seed-neck-cancer-cells.html Cancer Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:39:06 EST news246879534