http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Cancer cells are a problem for the body because they multiply recklessly, refuse to die and blithely metastasize to set up shop in places where they don't belong. One protein that keeps healthy cells from behaving this way is a tumor suppressor named p53. This protein stops potentially precancerous cells from dividing and induces suicide in those that are damaged beyond repair. Not surprisingly, p53's critical function is disrupted in most cancers. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-reveals-tumor-suppressor-p53-metastatic.html Cancer Thu, 25 Apr 2013 12:53:11 EST news286113174 Collaborative research presented by the University of Colorado Cancer Center, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Harvard Medical School and the University of Pittsburgh, at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Conference, shows that the protein receptor Mer is overexpressed in melanoma and that the investigational drug UNC1062 blocks Mer survival signaling in these cells, killing them. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-drug-equals-death-melanoma-cells.html Cancer Tue, 09 Apr 2013 09:40:48 EST news284719242 Researchers from The Wistar Institute explain a new molecular mechanism behind the phenomenon of oncogene-induced senescence. By depriving the cell of the ability to make new nucleotides—the building blocks of DNA molecules—cells can suppress cancer development by forcing a damaged cell into a senescent state, where the cell remains alive yet cannot reproduce. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-dna-senescence-halts-growth-potential.html Cancer Thu, 04 Apr 2013 12:50:09 EST news284298599 A multi-institutional study has revealed that BRAF-positive metastatic malignant melanomas develop resistance to treatment with drugs targeting the BRAF/MEK growth pathway through a major change in metabolism. The findings, which will be published in Cancer Cell and have been released online, suggest a strategy to improve the effectiveness of currently available targeted therapies. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-braf-inhibitor-treatment-melanoma-cells.html Cancer Fri, 08 Mar 2013 10:51:41 EST news281962294 (Medical Xpress)—Scientists at Queen Mary, University of London have identified a gene present in some melanoma which appears to make the tumour cells more resistant to treatment, according to research published today in the Journal of Experimental Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-gene-melanoma-linked-resistance-treatment.html Cancer Tue, 19 Feb 2013 10:50:01 EST news280490450 Though a small group of proteins, the family called Ras controls a large number of cellular functions, including cell growth, differentiation, and survival. And because the protein has a hand in cellular division, mutated Ras, which can be detected in one-third of all tumors, contributes to many human cancers by allowing for the rapid growth of diseased cells. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-immune-melanoma-proteins-cancer-cells.html Cancer Mon, 04 Feb 2013 11:35:27 EST news279200113 Two new mutations that collectively occur in 71 percent of malignant melanoma tumors have been discovered in what scientists call the "dark matter" of the cancer genome, where cancer-related mutations haven't been previously found. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-mutations-malignant-melanoma.html Cancer Thu, 24 Jan 2013 14:00:12 EST news278258137 Researchers in California and Switzerland have discovered that melanomas that develop resistance to the anti-cancer drug vemurafenib (marketed as Zelboraf), also develop addiction to the drug, an observation that may have important implications for the lives of patients with late-stage disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-drug-resistant-melanoma-tumors-therapy.html Cancer Wed, 09 Jan 2013 13:00:01 EST news276953856 The human body contains immune cells programmed to fight cancer and viral infections, but they often have short lifespans and are not numerous enough to overcome attacks by particularly aggressive malignancies or invasions. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-revolutionary-techniques-harness-patients-immune.html Medical research Thu, 03 Jan 2013 12:00:12 EST news276427204 (Medical Xpress)—A University of Colorado Cancer Center study in this month's edition of the Journal of Investigative Dermatology describes a new target and potential treatment for melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer. MicroRNA can decide which genes in a cell's DNA are expressed and which stay silent. Melanoma tends to lack microRNA-26a, which makes the gene SODD go silent. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-serendipity-potential-therapy-melanoma.html Cancer Thu, 20 Dec 2012 12:24:26 EST news275228659 (Medical Xpress)—Researchers funded by Cancer Research UK have been looking at why new drugs called "MEK inhibitors", which are currently being tested in clinical trials, aren't as effective at killing cancer cells as they should be. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-approach-treatingdeadly-melanoma-scientists.html Cancer Wed, 19 Dec 2012 09:22:21 EST news275131314 UT Southwestern Medical Center scientists led by Dr. Sean Morrison, director of the Children's Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern, have developed an innovative model for predicting the progression of skin cancer in patients. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-human-melanoma-cells-mice-clinical.html Cancer Wed, 07 Nov 2012 14:00:01 EST news271508229 Melanoma is so dangerous because it tends to metastasize early on. New treatment approaches utilize, among other things, the ability of the immune defense to search out and destroy malignant cells. Yet this strategy is often only temporarily effective. A research team under the direction of Bonn University has discovered why this is the case: In the inflammatory reaction caused by the treatment, the tumor cells temporarily alter their external characteristics and thus become invisible to defense cells. This knowledge forms an important foundation for the improvement of combination therapies. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-melanoma-cells-circumvent-immune.html Cancer Wed, 10 Oct 2012 13:00:06 EST news269091890 (Medical Xpress)—RMIT University researchers have designed a peptide that imitates a melanoma-killing virus, in a biomedical engineering advance that could lead to the development of a cream to target and treat Australia's "national cancer". http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-advances-cancer-killing-cream-melanoma.html Cancer Wed, 10 Oct 2012 08:15:58 EST news269075751 (Medical Xpress)—The process of metastasis, by which cancer cells travel from a tumor site and proliferate at other sites in the body, is a serious threat to cancer patients. According to the National Cancer Institute, most recurrences of cancer are metastases rather than "new" cancers. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-melanoma-brain.html Cancer Wed, 19 Sep 2012 09:59:07 EST news267267539 Researchers with UC Irvine's Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center have identified a major reason why melanoma is largely resistant to chemotherapy. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-chemotherapy-resistance-melanoma.html Cancer Mon, 17 Sep 2012 16:31:11 EST news267118263 Melanoma is the most dangerous type of skin cancer and is the leading cause of death from skin disease. Rates are steadily increasing, and although risk increases with age, melanoma is now frequently seen in young people. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-pieces-dna-red-flag-deadly.html Cancer Thu, 13 Sep 2012 12:29:49 EST news266758183 (Medical Xpress)—Cancer stem cells are defined by three abilities: differentiation, self-renewal and their ability to seed a tumor. These stem cells resist chemotherapy and many researchers posit their role in relapse. A University of Colorado Cancer Center study recently published in the journal Stem Cells, shows that melanoma cells with these abilities are marked by the enzyme ALDH, and imagines new therapies to target high-ALDH cells, potentially weeding the body of these most dangerous cancer creators. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-human-melanoma-stem-cells.html Cancer Thu, 23 Aug 2012 15:20:02 EST news264953220 A laboratory study led by UNC medical oncologist Stergios Moschos, MD, demonstrates how a new targeted drug, Elesclomol, blocks oxidative phosphorylation, which appears to play essential role in melanoma that has not been well-understood. Elesclomol (Synta Pharmaceuticals, Lexington, MA) was previously shown to have clinical benefit only in patients with normal serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), a laboratory test routinely used to assess activity of disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-reveals-molecular-melanoma-treatment.html Cancer Fri, 17 Aug 2012 23:17:06 EST news264464196 Researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) have made a groundbreaking discovery that will shape the future of melanoma therapy. The team, led by Thomas S. Kupper, MD, chair of the BWH Department of Dermatology, and Rahul Purwar, PhD, found that high expression of a cell-signaling molecule, known as interleukin-9, in immune cells inhibits melanoma growth. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-scientists-molecule-immune-dangerous-skin.html Immunology Sun, 08 Jul 2012 13:00:07 EST news260951410 (Medical Xpress) -- The very first in the series of mutations causing colon cancer occurs in the beta-catenin gene; this gene is abnormally activated in about 90 percent of colorectal cancer patients, and in a much smaller percentage of people with almost every other type of cancer. Beta-catenin plays a dual role in the cell: it promotes adhesion, or stickiness, between cells, and regulates the expression of genes in the nucleus. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-outwitting-brainy-gene.html Cancer Tue, 01 May 2012 10:40:01 EST news255084489 Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center are in the first phase of creating "designer lymph nodes." Designer lymph nodes are built with specialized gene-modified cells that are injected into patients and produce a pre-planned immunologic response for cancer patients locally and then throughout their bodies. The researchers are examining a cancer vaccine "boosting" effect of the manufactured lymph nodes in patients with advanced melanoma. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-lymph-nodes.html Genetics Sun, 29 Apr 2012 08:10:01 EST news254904107 Mayo Clinic researchers have trained mouse immune systems to eradicate skin cancer from within, using a genetic combination of human DNA from melanoma cells and a cousin of the rabies virus. The strategy, called cancer immunotherapy, uses a genetically engineered version of the vesicular stomatitis virus to deliver a broad spectrum of genes derived from melanoma cancer cells directly into tumors. In early studies, 60 percent of tumor-burdened mice were cured in fewer than three months and with minimal side effects. Results of the latest study appear this week in the journal Nature Biotechnology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-melanoma-vaccine-combat-skin-cancer.html Cancer Mon, 19 Mar 2012 11:13:39 EST news251374412 Metastasis is responsible for 90% of deaths in patients with cancer. Understanding the mechanisms responsible for this process is one of the top goals of cancer research. The metastatic process involves a series of steps chained where the primary tumour invades surrounding tissues and ends spreading throughout the body. Ones of the first tissues undergoing metastasis are the lymph nodes surrounding the tumour. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-loss-protein-tumor-lymph-node.html Cancer Tue, 06 Mar 2012 10:05:21 EST news250250709 Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla., and colleagues in California have found that the XL888 inhibitor can prevent resistance to the chemotherapy drug vemurafenib, commonly used for treating patients with melanoma. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-potential-solution-melanoma-resistance-vemurafenib.html Cancer Tue, 28 Feb 2012 16:33:32 EST news249669204 The National Cancer Institute (NCI) estimates that as many as one in 51 men and women will be diagnosed with melanoma—the deadliest form of skin cancer—at some point during their lifetimes. A research team led by Ze'ev Ronai, Ph.D. at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham) is working to unravel the molecular mechanisms underlying the development and progression of this disease in hopes of improving prevention and treatment strategies. To do this, Ronai's laboratory has been studying a protein named Activating Transcription Factor 2 (ATF2), which is associated with poor prognosis in melanoma. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-scientists-molecular-melanoma-resist-therapy.html Genetics Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:00:07 EST news247403052 Since cancer cells grow indefinitely, it is commonly believed that senescence could act as a barrier against tumor growth and potentially be used as a way to treat cancer. A collaboration between a cancer biologist from the University of Milano, Italy, and two physicists, from the National Research Council of Italy and from Cornell University, has shown that cell senescence occurs spontaneously in melanoma cells, but does not stop their growth, which is sustained by a small population of cancer stem cells. The results, published in the open-access journal PLoS Computational Biology on January 19 explain why it is difficult to treat cancer cells by inducing senescence alone. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-cell-senescence-tumor-growth.html Cancer Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:27:56 EST news246216467 Patients with metastatic melanoma taking the recently approved drug vemurafenib (Zelboraf) responded well to the twice daily pill, but some of them developed a different, secondary skin cancer. Now, researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, working with investigators from the Institute of Cancer Research in London, Roche and Plexxikon, have elucidated the mechanism by which vemurafenib excels at fighting melanoma but also allows for the development of skin squamous cell carcinomas. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-uncovers-mechanism-melanoma-drug-secondary.html Cancer Wed, 18 Jan 2012 17:00:01 EST news246105237 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 A drug commonly used to treat seizures appears to make eye tumors less likely to grow if they spread to other parts of the body, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-drug-deadly-eye-cancer.html Cancer Mon, 28 Nov 2011 16:43:22 EST news241720992