http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. A multi-institutional team of researchers have pinpointed the genetic traits of the cells that give rise to gliomas – the most common form of malignant brain cancer. The findings, which appear in the journal Cell Reports, provide scientists with rich new potential set of targets to treat the disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-06-genetic-signature-deadly-brain-cancer.html Cancer Mon, 03 Jun 2013 13:01:53 EST news289483305 Proteins that control cell growth are often mutated in cancer, and their aberrant signaling drives the wild proliferation of cells that gives rise to tumors. One such protein, the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), fuels a wide variety of cancers—including a highly malignant brain cancer known as glioblastoma. Yet drugs devised to block its signaling tend to work only for a short while, until the cancer cells adapt to evade the therapy. So far, much of the research examining such drug resistance has focused on how mutations of other proteins in cancer cells allow them to resist drugs. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-hijacking-healthy-cellular-circuits.html Cancer Mon, 08 Apr 2013 16:26:19 EST news284657171 For the first time, researchers have demonstrated that the response of natural killer (NK) cells is detrimental to glioblastoma virotherapy, a novel way of treating malignant brain cancer by injecting a virus into the tumor. A number of clinical trials are currently underway to test whether glioblastoma virotherapy will facilitate antitumor efficacy, but research led by E. Antonio Chiocca, MD, PhD, chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and published in Nature Medicine, shows that in pre-clinical models, NK cells are killing off the virus – infected cells, thus rendering the therapy less effective. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-immune-response-detrimental-brain-cancer.html Cancer Tue, 04 Dec 2012 12:10:39 EST news273845431 (Medical Xpress)—Since stem cells and progenitor cells are regulated by different growth factors, brain tumors arising from these cells might respond differently to different therapies. Researchers at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute found that basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) induces stem cell growth, but inhibits neuronal progenitor growth. bFGF also blocks the growth of tumors that originate from progenitors. This study suggests bFGF-like molecules might be used to treat medulloblastoma—but only tumors with the appropriate origins. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-brain-tumors.html Cancer Tue, 13 Nov 2012 14:53:05 EST news272040578 Children diagnosed with the most common paediatric malignant brain cancer, medulloblastoma, will benefit from more targeted treatment following the identification of genetic mutations in the cancer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-treatment-common-childhood-brain-cancer.html Cancer Tue, 26 Jun 2012 07:30:01 EST news259913506 A study revealed at the Society of Nuclear Medicine's 59th Annual Meeting provides some hope for those with a malignant brain cancer called glioma.A method of molecular imaging that mimics an essential amino acid in the brain can now gauge whether the cancer is still active as early as two weeks after the start of treatment without requiring an invasive biopsy. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-pet-quickly-success-brain-cancer.html Cancer Mon, 11 Jun 2012 13:50:01 EST news258639782 Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common malignant brain cancer in humans. Patients with GBM have a poor prognosis because it is a highly aggressive form of cancer that is commonly resistant to current therapies. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-glioblastoma-multiforme-dock.html Cancer Mon, 14 Nov 2011 12:32:01 EST news240496299