http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. A study published today in the journal Nature Genetics explores a new mechanism that may contribute to the development of several tumours, including Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia, a type of cancer that affects more than a thousand new patients in Spain each year. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-link-cancer-failures-chromosome.html Genetics Tue, 19 Mar 2013 10:35:49 EST news282908142 (Medical Xpress) -- Counting the number of tumour cells in blood samples taken before and after treatment for advanced neuroendocrine tumors could provide a ‘snapshot’ of how well patients are responding within weeks of starting treatment, according to results from a study being presented at the American Society for Clinical Oncology cancer conference today (Monday). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-blood-snapshot-tumor-drug-response.html Cancer Wed, 06 Jun 2012 09:15:39 EST news258192917 Scientists have discovered that a simple blood test could lead to better diagnosis and treatment for early-stage breast cancer patients, according to an Article published Online First in The Lancet Oncology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-blood-diagnosis-treatment-breast-cancer.html Cancer Tue, 05 Jun 2012 18:30:01 EST news258114912 Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death throughout the world. Standard treatment methods do not usually result in long-term recovery. In addition to the proliferation of the tumour cells, the growth of blood vessels controls tumors development. The blood vessel growth is controlled by several signalling molecules. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-scientists-aim-lung-tumors.html Cancer Fri, 04 May 2012 14:10:01 EST news255356979 The combination of two inhibitors of protein mTOR stops the growth of primary liver cancer and destroys tumour cells, according to a study by researchers of the Group of Metabolism and Cancer at Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL). The study results are been published on the online edition of the journal Science Translational Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-combination-drugs-reverses-liver-tumors.html Medications Wed, 02 May 2012 11:50:04 EST news255178094 Researchers from the Research Programme in Biomedical Informatics (GRIB) from the IMIM (Hospital del Mar Research Institute) and the Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) have identified 115 proteins in silico (via computer simulation) that could be highly relevant to treat colon-rectal cancer, since they would make it possible to define the strategy to design new generation anti-cancer drugs. During the last years, it has been proven that drugs are not as selective as it was thought, and that they actually have an affinity for multiple biological targets. For this reason it is important to develop multi-target drugs, meaning drugs that are able to attack several targets simultaneously, that are more effective and with fewer side effects http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-proteins-anti-cancer-drugs.html Cancer Thu, 26 Apr 2012 04:08:53 EST news254592393 New research findings show how it may be possible to render cancer tumours harmless without affecting the other cells and tissues in the body. The findings apply to cancers including breast, lung and bowel cancer. The study was carried out at Lund University in Sweden. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-cancer-treatment.html Cancer Thu, 19 Apr 2012 10:06:36 EST news254048780 The discovery of how a vital immune cell recognises dead and damaged body cells could modernise vaccine technology by 'tricking' cells into launching an immune response, leading to next-generation vaccines that are more specific, more effective and have fewer side-effects. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-immune-next-gen-vaccines.html Immunology Thu, 05 Apr 2012 12:00:06 EST news252844180 A naturally-occurring harmless human virus may be able to boost the effects of two standard chemotherapy drugs in some cancer patients, according to early stage trial data published in Clinical Cancer Research. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-harmless-human-virus-boost-effects.html Cancer Tue, 03 Apr 2012 16:53:50 EST news252690820 Researchers from the Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Gothenburg have managed for the first time to obtain detailed information about the role of the protein metastasin in the spread of tumour cells. Published recently in the renowned Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the study paves the way for the development of new drugs. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-tumor-cells.html Cancer Mon, 02 Apr 2012 12:38:32 EST news252589104 Some breast cancer tumours may be resistant to a common chemotherapy treatment, suggests recent medical research at the University of Alberta. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-breast-cancer-tumors-resistant-common.html Cancer Tue, 27 Mar 2012 15:00:01 EST news252078641 Detecting the presence of circulating tumour cells (CTCs) in the blood of women with early breast cancer after surgery but before the start of chemotherapy can provide useful information about their chances of surviving the disease. CTCs are cancer cells which are detectable in patients with a solid tumour and their value in the prognosis of metastatic breast cancer has been known for a few years. Until now, however, there has been little information about their role in early disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-cancer-cells-blood-chances-survival.html Cancer Thu, 22 Mar 2012 05:15:29 EST news251612123 Retinoic acid (vitamin A) and steroids are hormones found in our body that protect against oxidative stress, reduce inflammation and are involved in cellular differentiation processes. One of the characteristics of tumours is that their cells have lost the ability to differentiate; therefore these hormones have useful properties to prevent cancer. Currently, retinoic acid and steroids are being used to treat some types of leukaemia. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-brg1-mutations-confer-resistance-hormones.html Cancer Thu, 15 Mar 2012 12:00:04 EST news251031006 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 Breast cancer represents about a fifth of all cancers diagnosed in women. The reasons for the rapid progression of the disease remain relatively poorly understood but recent work in the group of Veronika Sexl at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna has pointed the finger strongly at loss or inactivation of the transcription factor STAT1. The results are published in the current issue of the journal Oncotarget. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-two-pronged-loss-stat1-bad-news.html Cancer Wed, 29 Feb 2012 09:10:13 EST news249729003 Free-flowing cancer cells have been mapped with unprecedented accuracy in the bloodstream of patients with prostate, breast and pancreatic cancer, using a brand new approach, in an attempt to assess and control the disease as it spreads in real time through the body, and solve the problem of predicting response and resistance to therapies. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-technology-tackle-treatment-resistant-cancers.html Cancer Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:37:23 EST news247484220 Protein p53 is known for controlling the life and death of a cell and has a key role in cancer research. P53 is known to be inactive in 50 percent of cancer patients. If researchers succeed in re-establishing the presence of p53 in patients, they may hold the key to a promising avenue of research. However, p53 does not act alone. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-magic-chain-reaction-required-tumor.html Cancer Fri, 20 Jan 2012 12:37:12 EST news246285425 A study carried out by Eric Vivier and Sophie Ugolini at the Marseille-Luminy Centre for Immunology has just reveal a gene in mice which, when mutated, can stimulate the immune system to help fight against tumors and viral infections. Whilst this gene was known to activate one of the body's first lines of defense (Natural Killer, or 'NK' cells), paradoxically, when deactivated it makes these NK cells hypersensitive to the warning signals sent out by diseased cells. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-immune-infection.html Medical research Fri, 20 Jan 2012 12:36:17 EST news246285367 An inherited mutation in a gene known as the guardian of the genome is likely the link between exploding chromosomes and some particularly aggressive types of cancer, scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), the German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ) and the University Hospital, all in Heidelberg, Germany, have discovered. Their study, published online today in Cell, also presents the first whole genome sequence of a paediatric tumour: medulloblastoma, a brain cancer which is the second most common cause of childhood mortality in developed countries, where only car accidents cause more deaths in children. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-rigged-inherited-mutation-links-chromosomes.html Cancer Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:52:43 EST news246199952 (Medical Xpress) -- Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have identified a new kind of cancer drug that has been shown to be effective against tumours in different experimental systems. An article published in Nature Medicine shows that the new type of drug blocks the machinery that the cell uses to break down defective proteins. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-substance-interfering-cells-protein-cancer.html Cancer Mon, 07 Nov 2011 09:37:49 EST news239881059 Skin squamous cell carcinomas are amongst the most frequent cancers in humans. Recent studies suggest that skin squamous cell carcinoma, like many other human cancers, contain particular cancer cells, known as cancer stem cells, that present increased self-renewal potential that sustain tumor growth. Little is known about the mechanisms that regulate cancer stem cell functions. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-role-vascular-endothelial-growth-factor.html Cancer Wed, 19 Oct 2011 13:00:01 EST news238247657 A study made by IDIBELL researchers shows that glucose metabolism inhibition with 2-deoxyglucose (2-DG) induces cell death in a type of childhood sarcoma: alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma. The results have been published in the journal Cancer Research. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-treatment-aggressive-childhood-cancer.html Cancer Wed, 14 Sep 2011 11:08:27 EST news235217285 Like snakes, tumour cells shed their skin. Cancer is not a static disease but during its development the disease accumulates changes to evade natural defences adapting to new environmental circumstances, protecting against chemotherapy and radiotherapy and invading neighbouring organs, eventually causing metastasis. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-cancer-cells.html Cancer Fri, 02 Sep 2011 09:19:11 EST news234173936 Until a decade, it was believed that differences between people were due solely to the existence of genetic changes, which are alterations in the sequence of our genes. The discoveries made during these last ten years show that beings with the same genetics like the twins and cloned animals may have different characteristics and disease due to epigenetic changes. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-characterize-epigenetic-fingerprint-people.html Genetics Thu, 02 Jun 2011 06:45:38 EST news226215920 An international research team led by Dr. Tak Mak, Director, The Campbell Family Institute for Breast Cancer Research at Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH), has discovered a new aspect of "metabolic transformation", the process whereby tumour cells adapt and survive under conditions that would kill normal cells. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-cancer-scientists-breast-cells-environmental.html Cancer Sun, 15 May 2011 11:38:25 EST news224678285 Researchers of Apoptosis and Cancer Group of the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) have found that a small molecule, Nutlin-3a, an antagonist of MDM2 protein, stimulates the signalling pathway of another protein, p53. By this way, it induces cell death and senescence (loss of proliferative capacity) in brain cancer, a fact that slows its growth. These results open the door for MDM2 agonists as new treatments for glioblastomas. The study has been published at the journal PLoS ONE. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-04-molecule-nutlin-3a-cell-death-senescence.html Cancer Wed, 20 Apr 2011 10:32:27 EST news222514326 The dog may be man's best friend but even so it comes as a surprise that the two species share a common tumor marker. This finding comes from a joint study between scientists of the Vetmeduni Vienna and the MedUni Wien. The researchers uncovered a molecule, the CEA (carcinoembryonic antigen) receptor, that is almost identical in the two species. The result could lead to the rapid development of new therapies for dogs and humans. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-04-friend-joint-tumor-marker-dog.html Cancer Mon, 18 Apr 2011 09:36:01 EST news222338108