#Scientists dramatically improve method for finding common genetic alterations in tumors St jude Children's Research Hospital scientists have developed a significantly better computer tool for finding genetic alterations that play an important role in many cancers
whole-genome sequencing to better understand the genetic landscape of cancer genomes and lay the foundation for the next era of cancer therapy,
"said corresponding author Jinghui Zhang, Ph d.,a member of the St jude Department of Computational biology.""In this study of the tumor and normal genomes of 43 patients, CONSERTING identified copy number alterations in children with 100 times greater precision and 10 times greater precision in adults."
scientists can upload data for analysis. Work on CONSERTING began in 2010 shortly after the St jude Children's Research Hospital--Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project was launched.
The Pediatric Cancer Genome Project used next-generation, whole-genome sequencing to study some of the most aggressive and least understood childhood cancers.
and provide insight into the origins of a patient's cancer. CONSERTING has now been used to analyze next-generation,
whole-genome sequencing data for the Pediatric Cancer Genome Project. The project includes the normal and cancer genomes of 700 pediatric cancer patients with 21 different cancer subtypes.
CONSERTING combines a method of data analysis called regression tree, which is a machine learning algorithm, with next-generation,
Diseases like cancer and AIDS propagate throughout the body by hijacking exosomes.""Exosomes are engineered by nature to be the perfect delivery vehicles for proteins and genetic material,
"We could completely inhibit tumor growth after just one dose of the cancer vaccine in the animal model,
"Cancer vaccines are designed to turn a patient's own immune system more strongly against cancer cells, and have been an area of recent and intense interest among oncologists.
Since 2010, the FDA has approved vaccines and other immunotherapy drugs for melanoma, prostate cancer, and lung cancer.
There are currently dozens of active clinical trials evaluating vaccines for cancer therapy. Approximately 235,000 new diagnoses of breast cancer were made last year,
"An important aspect of PSM function is stimulating the body's own immune system to fight cancer,
"Shen said the use of PSMS could work for any variety of cancer antigens and cancers,
"This is a technology platform that can be applied by other scientists to develop vaccines for other types of cancers, ultimately helping,
we hope, more types of cancer patients.""Before human clinical trials can begin, Shen said the researchers must evaluate the toxicity of antigen-loaded PSMS s
Implications for Cancer, Materialsthe success of this research, which was done on a CLS prototype, has led to the commissioning of the first commercial device.
and dark-field CT in preclinical studies--an approach that could help visualize cancer.""We work closely together with two clinics to study tumors,
(or'organoids')derived from the tumors of cancer patients closely replicate key properties of the original tumors,
and pave the way for personalized treatment approaches that could optimize clinical outcomes in cancer patients."
"This is the first time that a collection of cancer organoids, or a living biobank, has been derived from patient tumors,
"We believe that these organoids are an important new tool in the arsenal of cancer biologists
and may ultimately improve our ability to develop more effective cancer treatments.""To study the causes of cancer
and develop new cancer treatments, many laboratories use experimental model systems such as cells grown from patient tumors.
However, currently available cell lines have been derived under suboptimal conditions and therefore fail to reflect important features of tumor cells.
whether these cultures could potentially bridge the gap between cancer genetics and patient outcomes. In the new study, the researchers grew 22 organoids derived from tumor tissue from 20 patients with colorectal cancer
and then sequenced genomic DNA isolated from these cultures. The genetic mutations in the organoid cultures closely matched those in the corresponding tumor biopsies and agreed well with previous large-scale analyses of colorectal cancer mutations.
These findings confirm that the cultures faithfully capture the genomic features of the tumors from
which they are derived as well as much of the genomic diversity associated with colorectal cancer. To link drug sensitivity to genetic changes,
indicating that the subset of cancer patients with RNF43 mutations would strongly benefit from a drug that inhibits a protein called porcupine."
"At some point in the future, this approach may be suitable for modeling individual patient response to cancer therapies to inform clinical treatment,
"Cancer is a diverse and complex disease and having a large collection of organoids is necessary to encompass this diversity to enable scientists
#Urine test for early stage pancreatic cancer possible after biomarker discovery A team at Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, has shown that the three-protein'signature'can both identify the most common
--and distinguish between this cancer and the inflammatory condition chronic pancreatitis, which can be hard to tell apart.
while patients suffering from chronic pancreatitis had significantly lower levels than cancer patients. When combined, the three proteins formed a robust panel that can detect patients with stages I-II pancreatic cancer with over 90 per cent accuracy.
when the cancer has already spread. This means they are not eligible for surgery to remove the tumour--currently the only potentially curative treatment.
The five-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer in the UK is the lowest of any common cancer, standing at 3 per cent.
if the 3-biomarker signature is present during the latency period--the time between the genetic changes that will cause the cancer to develop and the clinical presentation."
"For a cancer with no early stage symptoms, it's a huge challenge to diagnose pancreatic cancer sooner,
"says co-author and Director of Barts Cancer Institute, Professor Nick Lemoine.""With pancreatic cancer, patients are diagnosed usually
when the cancer is already at a terminal stage, but if diagnosed at stage 2,
Early diagnosis is an important part of our overall efforts against this aggressive cancer, alongside developing new treatments to tackle the disease once diagnosis is made.
whether liver cancers tend to originate in these replicating cells, as opposed to more mature hepatocytes,
#Scientists determine how antibiotic gains cancer-killing sulfur atoms In a discovery with implications for future drug design,
This new discovery could open the way to incorporating sulfur into other natural products, potentially advancing new therapies for indications beyond cancer."
A number of compounds that contain sulfur have proven useful in the treatment of conditions ranging from acne and eczema to arthritis and cancer."
Researchers at the Center for Molecular biology of Heidelberg University, the German Cancer Research center and the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies collaborated on the project,
Dr. Bernd Bukau, Director of the Center for Molecular biology of Heidelberg University (ZMBH), who is also a researcher at the German Cancer Research center (DKFZ.
However, from a clinical standpoint, this discovery could lead to more effective cancer immunotherapies, better drugs for autoimmune conditions and new ways to expedite recovery from sepsis.
While immunotherapies might fight cancer, they may also open the door to opportunistic infections.""This was shown in mice which,
"In addition to illuminating how T cells respond to cancer immunotherapy, the study also provides insights into autoimmune disorders.
"Skin malignant melanoma is a particularly aggressive cancer associated with quick blood vessel growth which means early diagnosis is vital for a good prognosis.
#New synthetic tumor environments make cancer research more realistic University of Illinois researchers have developed a new technique to create a cell habitat of squishy fluids, called hydrogels,
we could be taking samples of different components of a cancer patient's mammary gland and building a model of their tissue to use as a personalized drug screening platform.
it sets the stage for cancer.""But studying how the cells of complex tissues like the mammary gland self-organize,
but also to experiment with specifically adding in a single cell with a known cancer mutation to different parts of the organoid to observe its effects.
or more cells expressing low levels of the cancer gene Rasg12v affected the cells around them.
Such mutations have been linked not only with cancer but a host of other illnesses, including autism and schizophrenia.
"If you're going to treat cancer, you need to diagnose exactly what subclass of cancer you have."
"Simultaneously employing different drugs to target different cancer subclasses could prevent remission, scientists have proposed. One powerful single-cell analytic technique for exploring CNV is whole genome sequencing.
The challenge is that, before sequencing can be done, the cell's DNA has to be amplified many times over.
He adds that CSHL has collaborations with many hospitals, notably Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and the North Shore-LIJ Health System,
"says Dan Theodorescu, MD, Phd, director of the University of Colorado Cancer Center.""Bill Petri and I had been social friends for years--Christmas parties, that kind of thing.
MD, Phd, chief of the Division of Infectious diseases & International Health at the University of Virginia led to the idea of applying an innovative cancer science technique to the study of infectious disease.
She took a library of cells that Dan had developed in his work with bladder cancer
"We do this all the time in cancer research, "Theodorescu says.""Commonly, we're looking for genes that,
but also proof that this cancer-science approach can be used to explore genetic mechanisms of resistance in the field of infectious disease,
but it can also help prevent the cancer from spreading. Now a new study by UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers and collaborators helps explain the conflicting role of the surrounding tissue known as stroma.
In the study, the researchers revealed that based on molecular characteristics, there are two subtypes of pancreatic cancer stroma.
while for some other cancers, we personalize treatment based on an individual patient's tumor genetics or other characteristics,"said the study's senior author Jen Jen Yeh, MD, a UNC Lineberger member and an associate professor and the vice chair for research in the UNC School of medicine Department of Surgery."
"The issue is that pancreatic cancer is a particularly difficult cancer to analyze because of its confounding stroma,
"In addition, the basal-like subtype is very similar to basal breast and bladder cancers, which respond to therapies differently than other tumor subtypes,
"With this cancer, you don't have a lot of time to try different therapies. If a patient is given a therapy that is unsuccessful, that is time in
#New drug-like compounds may improve odds of men battling prostate cancer, researchers find Researchers at Southern Methodist University,
Dallas, have discovered three new drug-like compounds that could ultimately offer better odds of survival to prostate cancer patients.
and developed into medicines that target a protein in the human body that is responsible for chemotherapy resistance in cancers,
So far there's no approved drug on the market that reverses cancer chemotherapy resistance caused by P-glycoprotein
"The problem when a person has cancer is that the treatment itself is composed of cellular toxins--the chemotherapeutics that prevent the cells from dividing.
Usually upon the first chemo treatment the cancer responds well, and initially goes away. Ideally it doesn't come back,
"Sometimes, however, the cancer returns,"she said.""The reason often is that some of the cancer cells"learn,"after the first rounds of chemotherapy,
"As a result, P-gp causes resistance of the diseased cells to a majority of drugs currently available for the treatment of cancer,
commonly used to treat prostate cancer patients. Also, each was tested on a companion cell line already multi-drug resistant,
they were able to push back the sensitivity of the resistant cancer line to the level of the non-resistant one."
just as if the cancer was seeing the chemotherapy for the first time, "Vogel said. About 14 percent of men will be diagnosed over their lifetime with prostate cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute.
Survival is diagnosed highest if early before it has spread, the institute reports s
#New drug-like compounds may improve odds of men battling prostate cancer, researchers find Researchers at Southern Methodist University,
Dallas, have discovered three new drug-like compounds that could ultimately offer better odds of survival to prostate cancer patients.
The drug-like compounds can be modified and developed into medicines that target a protein in the human body that is responsible for chemotherapy resistance in cancers,
said biochemist Pia D. Vogel, lead author on the scientific paper reporting the discovery. So far there's no approved drug on the market that reverses cancer chemotherapy resistance caused by P-glycoprotein
or P-gp for short, said Vogel, a biochemistry professor at SMU. One potential drug, Tariquidar, is currently in clinical trials,
"The problem when a person has cancer is that the treatment itself is composed of cellular toxins--the chemotherapeutics that prevent the cells from dividing.
Usually upon the first chemo treatment the cancer responds well, and initially goes away. Ideally it doesn't come back,
"Sometimes, however, the cancer returns,"she said.""The reason often is that some of the cancer cells"learn,"after the first rounds of chemotherapy,
"As a result, P-gp causes resistance of the diseased cells to a majority of drugs currently available for the treatment of cancer,
commonly used to treat prostate cancer patients. Also, each was tested on a companion cell line already multi-drug resistant,
they were able to push back the sensitivity of the resistant cancer line to the level of the non-resistant one."
just as if the cancer was seeing the chemotherapy for the first time, "Vogel said. About 14 percent of men will be diagnosed over their lifetime with prostate cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute.
Survival is diagnosed highest if early before it has spread, the institute reports s
#Nano-dunes with the ion beam Many semiconductor devices in modern technology--from integrated circuits to solar cells and LEDS--are based on nanostructures.
which then increases the risk of infection and cancer. These immune processes are therefore very important and contribute to the outlook where only five out of ten patients will survive for at least five years."
if switched on, causes more aggressive cancer in a fifth of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients, according to a Cancer Research UK study published in the journal Cancer cell, today.
The FOXC1 gene is switched normally on during embryonic development and is needed to turn cells into specialised tissues,
But this new research found that in certain patients with AML--a type of blood cancer that affects white blood cells
This triggers the cancer to be more aggressive, as young cells are able to replicate more than mature cells--causing cancer cells to grow faster
Of these, around 20 per cent would have had the FOXC1 gene wrongly switched on in their cancer.
Dr Tim Somervaille, lead author from the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute at The University of Manchester,
which makes the cancer grow more rapidly.""There are certain situations where this gene is necessary,
"Nell Barrie, senior science communication manager at Cancer Research UK, said:""It's essential that we continue to research basic biology to further understand how cells become cancerous.
The better we understand the nuts and bolts of each cancer, the sooner we can find new ways to stop it
#Research breakthrough in fight against muscle wasting diseases It is estimated that half of all cancer patients suffer from a muscle wasting syndrome called cachexia.
Cancer cachexia impairs quality of life and response to therapy, which increases morbidity and mortality of cancer patients.
Currently, there is no approved treatment for muscle wasting but a new study from the Research Institute of the Mcgill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) and University of Alberta could be a game changer for patients, improving both quality of life and longevity.
Recent studies show that muscle wasting is much more common in cancer than we think."
In addition, they looked at USP19 levels in human muscle samples from the most common cancers that cause muscle wasting:
and from 60 to 80 per cent in advanced cancer. In all of these chronic conditions, muscle wasting predicts earlier death."
"Cancer patients often present with muscle wasting even prior to their initial cancer diagnosis, ''says Dr. Antonio Vigano, director of the cancer rehabilitation program and cachexia clinic at the MUHC."
"In cancer, cachexia also increases your risk of developing toxicity from chemotherapy and other oncological treatments, such as surgery and radiotherapy.
At the Mcgill Nutrition and Performance Laboratory we specialize in cachexia and sarcopenia. By treating these two pathologic conditions through inhibiting the USP19 gene, at an early,
rather than late, stage of the cancer trajectory, not only can we potentially improve the quality of life of patients,
"This finding could be helpful for developing strategies to target cancer and inflammatory diseases,"said TSRI Assistant professor of Immunology Young Jun Kang,
Their research suggests that RIPK3 regulates the activation of natural killer T cells (NKTS), the immune cells that play dual roles in the development of autoimmune diseases and the destruction of cancers.
either hone the pathway's cancer-killing role or reduce its role in inflammation. In addition to Kang and Lerner, authors of the study,"Regulation of NKT cell-mediated immune responses to tumours and liver inflammation by mitochondrial PGAM5-Drp1 signaling,"were Bo-Ram Bang, Kyung Ho Han
or tissue which are telltale signs of DNA mutation or the presence of cellular malfunctions such as cancer.
The absence of light sources that cover enough of the infrared spectrum with sufficient brilliance to detect minute concentrations originating from onco-metaboloids has been the main challenge in cancer detection.
Jens Biegert and his colleagues at ICFO are currently investigating molecular sensitivity for the identification of cancer biomarkers on the single cell level using all optical techniques in the mid-wave infrared wavelength range g
and destroy cancers, Swartz said. For Swartz and his principal collaborator, Yuan Lu, now a pharmacology researcher at the University of Tokyo, the result is a vindication.
"But I believe we can use this smart particle to deliver cancer-fighting immunotherapies that will have minimal side effects."
while treating cancer. Looking for a model in nature, many researchers focused on viruses, which target specific cells,
Swartz said the next step is to attach cancer tags to the outside of this smart particle,
to use it to train the immune system to recognize certain cancers. Those experiments would likely occur in mice.
The findings were published recently in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute by a group that includes Rony A. François, an M d./Ph d. student working with Maria Zajac-Kaye, Ph d.
and have a five-year survival rate of about 42 percent, according to the National Cancer Institute.
These colonizers may bloom into deadly metastatic cancer right away or lie dormant for years, only to trigger a recurrence decades after the primary tumor is removed.
Metastases cause the vast majority of cancer deaths, but their tiny seeds are so difficult to track that few researchers have managed to study them.
The findings, published online Sept. 23,2015 in Nature, could change the way researchers think about how cancer spreads
but then the cancer comes back 20,30, 40 years later because there were just a few metastatic cells sitting around."
"It's a big black box in the cancer field--mostly because it's very difficult to study,
only about 7 percent of all breast cancer funding goes to studying metastatic cancer, despite the fact that it causes virtually all breast cancer deaths.
"Preventing metastatic cells from invading other parts of the body has been a priority for cancer researchers for many years,
including in cancer research, "said Levi Garraway, an institute member of the Broad Institute, and the inaugural director of the Joint Center for Cancer Precision Medicine at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Brigham and Women's Hospital,
and the Broad Institute. Garraway was involved not in the research. Zhang, Broad Institute, and MIT plan to share the Cpf1 system widely.
#Cabozantinib improves survival in patients with advanced kidney cancer: Results from the METEOR trial Patients with advanced kidney cancer live for nearly twice as long without their disease progressing
if they are treated with cabozantinib, a drug that inhibits the action of tyrosine kinases--enzymes that function as an"on
"or"off"switch in many cellular processes, including cancer. In the second of two late-breaking presentations of research that is predicted to change the way kidney cancer patients are treated,
Professor Toni Choueiri will tell the presidential session of the 2015 European Cancer Congress 1,
about results from the first 375 patients out of a total of 658 patients recruited to the phase III clinical METEOR trial comparing cabozantinib with everolimus,
Analysis of results in July 2015 showed that the estimated median (average) progression-free survival time for patients with advanced clear cell kidney cancer,
who is Associate professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical school and Clinical Director and Kidney Cancer Center Director at The Lank Center for Genitourinary Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute,
since the results may change the standard of care in patients with advanced kidney cancer who have received prior standard therapy that targets the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR)."
"Although treatment with VEGFR-targeted drugs has been very effective in the first line of therapy for patients with advanced kidney cancer,
Regaining tumour control after prior targeted therapy may reduce symptoms related to kidney cancer and eventually help patients live longer."
Overall, these results should give new hope to patients diagnosed with advanced kidney cancer as cabozantinib may become a new treatment option."
"Clear cell kidney cancer (or renal cell carcinoma) is one of the commonest kidney cancers--70-80%of kidney cancer patients have this type.
or resistance to standard therapies is critical for improving long-term outcome for our patients with advanced kidney cancer.
Further studies include a randomised phase II study of cabozantinib versus standard of care with sunitinib as a first treatment for advanced renal cell cancer.
and an early stage clinical trial combining cabozantinib with immune checkpoint inhibitors has been initiated in urological cancers,
including patients with kidney cancer.""The trial has stopped recruiting patients and researchers are hoping that cabozantinib may become available to patients with advanced kidney cancer some time in 2016.
In the USA, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has designated it as a breakthrough therapy,
who will be reporting results from the Checkmate 025 randomised phase III trial of nivolumab versus everolimus in advanced kidney cancer r
#Possible new treatment for bladder cancer using a mycobacterium Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona researchers have found a mycobacterium that is more effective in treating superficial bladder cancer
Mycobacteria are the only bacteria used in cancer treatment. The administration of the bacterium Mycobacterium bovis (BCG), is the current treatment for superficial bladder cancer.
It is inserted directly into the bladder through a catheter. BCG prevents new tumours from appearing,
Preclinical studies using mouse models of bladder cancer have demonstrated the efficacy of the mycobacterium M. brumae in the treatment of this disease.
which is given significant that in the last few years BCG production problems have led to supply issues for certain bladder cancer patients."
"Our results suggest that Micobacterium brumae is an ideal candidate to replace the current BCG treatment for superficial bladder cancer,
#Groundbreaking computer program diagnoses cancer in two days In by far the majority of cancer cases, the doctor can quickly identify the source of the disease, for example cancer of the liver, lungs, etc.
However, in about one in 20 cases, the doctor can confirm that the patient has cancer
and attempts to locate the origin of the cancer before starting any treatment. Now, researchers at DTU Systems Biology have combined genetics with computer science
Each year, about 35,000 people are diagnosed with cancer in Denmark, and many of them face the prospect of a long wait until the cancer has been diagnosed and its source located.
However, even after very extensive tests, there will still be 2-3 per cent of patients where it has not been possible to find the origin of the cancer.
In such cases, the patient will be treated with a cocktail of chemotherapy instead of a more appropriately targeted treatment
are based on analyses of DNA mutations in cancer tissue samples from patients with metastasized cancer,
i e. cancer which has spread. The pattern of mutations is analysed in a computer program which has been trained to find possible primary tumour localizations.
whether an individual cancer patient will benefit from a specific type of medicine. This is a very effective method,
and it is becoming increasingly common to conduct such sequencing for cancer patients. Associate professor Aron Eklund from DTU Systems Biology explains:"
"We are pleased very that we can now use the same sequencing data together with our new algorithms to provide a much faster diagnosis for cancer cases that are difficult to diagnose,
and thus also as an effective and easy way of monitoring people who are at risk of developing cancer.
Tumor tracer A diagnostic method for determining the primary site of the cancer. The method combines genetics and computer science,
and on this basis provide a number of possible scenarios for where the cancer may have developed
The team's results uncover a previously unknown, complex genomic landscape of this cancer, which can be used to design new personalized drug regimens for SS patients based on their unique genetic makeup.
drugs that are approved currently for treatment of other hematologic cancers such as polycythemia vera and myelofibrosis."
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