Blocking STAT3 could help cancer patients in two ways The STAT transcription factors are involved in the development of many forms of cancer.
so drugs targeting STAT3 could be used in cancer therapy. However STAT3 is also important in the development of the immune system.
Not surprisingly then when something goes wrong with their regulation the consequences can be severe and many types of cancer are known to be associated with increased activities of one or more STAT protein.
Considerable efforts are going into developing inhibitors of STAT3 for use in cancer therapy but it is unclear
The intriguingly named Natural Killer (NK) cells represent the first line of defence against viruses and cancer to
Surprisingly the loss of STAT3 in NK cells of the mouse led not to a decrease but to an increase in killing activity against melanoma cells and leukemia cells.
The decrease in metastasis caused by melanoma cells was especially dramatic and confirmed that NK cells lacking STAT3 are extremely efficient killers of tumour cells.
thus help cancer patients in two ways both stopping the cancer cells from dividing and helping the patients'NK cells to fight them more efficiently.
and development in part because they underpin every part of modern medical practice from surgery to cancer treatment and pretty much everything in between.
These coatings can also help scientists develop highly sensitive multiplex methods of detecting early-stage cancers
They found that after the first genetic mistakes that cause the cancer it can exist undetected for many years until new additional faults trigger rapid growth of the disease.
This research--jointly funded by Cancer Research UK and the Rosetrees Trust--highlights the need for better ways to detect the disease earlier.
Study author Professor Charles Swanton at Cancer Research UK's London Research Institute and the UCL Cancer Institute said:
and despite some positive steps being made against the disease it remains one of the biggest challenges in cancer research with fewer than 10 per cent surviving for at least five years after diagnosis. Building on this research will be a key priority for the recently established Cancer
The Centre--where Professor Swanton is joint centre lead--is a key part of Cancer Research UK's renewed focus to beat lung cancer;
Professor Nic Jones Cancer Research UK's chief scientist said: This fascinating research highlights the need to find better ways to detect lung cancer earlier
Building on this work Cancer Research UK is funding a study called TRACERX which is studying 100s of patient's lung cancers as they evolve over time to find out exactly how lung cancers mutate adapt
The above story is provided based on materials by Cancer Research UK. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
The cancer which had become painful and ulcerated was diagnosed and removed by physicians at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.
The researchers showed in mouse models that chronic skin inflammation caused by continuous skin contact with allergens contributes to tumor development.
The patient's diagnosis with Marjolin's ulcer an invasive and potentially deadly squamous cell cancer surprised physicians.
This type of cancer most often is identified in patients with a previous history of skin cancers
To investigate whether inflammation from the implant contributed to the tumor the researchers studied mouse models of contact allergy.
The new mix of cells and molecules promotes the development of skin tumors. This model supported cancer development so strongly that some mice developed invasive squamous cell skin cancers similar to the patient's tumor said lead author Shadmehr Demehri MD Phd a dermatologist
and postdoctoral fellow. When the researchers examined the cells and molecules involved in chronic contact allergy in mice they identified several that already had been linked to tumor development.
Some of these cells and molecules also were present in biopsy samples from the patient's ankle.
and molecules are most supportive of cancer formation. If you're allergic to something the first thing to do is to avoid it
Similar to metal implants some dental restoration materials and tattoo inks contain substances associated with allergic reactions and cancers on the skin or in the mouth.
"For example, Tian noted, the plasmonic paper can be used to detect target molecules that serve as indicators for diseases such as kidney cancer."
#Gene that drives aggressive brain cancer found by new computational approach Using an innovative algorithm that analyzes gene regulatory and signaling networks,
Columbia University Medical center (CUMC) researchers have found that loss of a gene called KLHL9 is the driving force behind the most aggressive form of glioblastoma, the most common form of brain cancer.
The CUMC team demonstrated in mice transplants that these tumors can be suppressed by reintroducing KLHL9 protein,
the Clyde and Helen Wu Professor of Chemical Biology (in Biomedical Informatics and the Institute for Cancer Genetics), chair of the Department of Systems Biology,
Dr. Califano and his colleagues used high-power computer models to demonstrate that certain types of cancer have conserved highly"master regulators"--genes
which"walks"backward from the master regulators to find the genetic events that drive cancer."
and mutational profile data of more than 250 patients collected by the Cancer Genome Atlas consortium.
C/EBPD, had already been identified by the labs of Dr. Califano and of Antonio Iavarone, MD, professor of neurology and of pathology & cell biology (in the Institute for Cancer Genetics),
which had never been tied to this or any other form of cancer. In subsequent laboratory studies, the researchers reactivated the defective KLHL9 gene in aggressive glioblastoma cells,
their tumors regressed, providing further evidence that KLHL9 mutations (which were found in 50 percent of the mesenchymal glioblastoma patients),
are directly responsible for driving this cancer subtype. DIGGIT may be applicable to other complex diseases. In further studies by the Califano team, the algorithm identified 35 genes as drivers of breast cancer.
confirming that the algorithm is capable of capturing driver mutations in other types of cancer.
what type of chemotherapy you attack a tumor with, many cancer cells resort to the same survival tactic:
"This gives us a therapeutic avenue to target autophagy in tumors, "said Josh Andersen, a BYU chemistry professor."
"The idea would be to make tumors more chemo-sensitive. You could target these proteins and the mechanism of this switch to block autophagy,
they forced tumor cells to undergo autophagy by depriving them of oxygen and glucose. A comparison with a control group let them see that the two proteins hook up only when under attack.
tissue that detect prostate cancer Researchers at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute have identified a set of RNA molecules that are detectable in tissue samples and urine of prostate cancer patients,
The study sets the stage for the development of more-sensitive and specific noninvasive tests for prostate cancer than those currently available,
According to the American Cancer Society, prostate cancer is the second most common type of cancer in American men (behind skin cancer
and the second-leading cause of cancer death in men (after lung cancer. In 2014, more than 230,000 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed.
One in seven American men will get prostate cancer during his lifetime, and one in 36 will die from it.
Since most men with prostate cancer have indolent (nonaggressive) disease for which conservative therapy or surveillance would be appropriate treatment,
the clinical challenge is not only how to identify those with prostate cancer, but also how to distinguish those who would benefit from surgical
or other aggressive treatment from those who would not. Today, prostate cancer is detected primarily and monitored by testing for high concentrations of prostate specific-antigen antigen (PSA) in blood samples.
High PSA levels are followed often by a biopsy to confirm the presence of cancer, and whether it's slow growing or aggressive."
"While elevated PSA can be an alert to a lethal cancer, it can also detect less aggressive cancers that may never do said any harm
Vipul Patel, M d.,medical director of the Global Robotics Institute at Florida Hospital in Orlando."
"Moreover, only 25 percent of men with raised PSA levels that have a biopsy actually have prostate cancer.
Prostate cancer needs to be screened for; we just need to find a better marker.""The researchers believe that they have identified a group of RNA molecules--known as long noncoding RNAS (lncrnas)--that hold the potential for serving as better prognostic markers for prostate cancer. lncrnas are non-coding RNA
molecules that until recently were dismissed by scientists as nonfunctional noise in the genome. Now, lncrnas are thought to regulate normal cellular development
and are reported increasingly as contributing to a range of diseases, including cancer.""We have identified a set of lncrnas that appear to have an important role in prostate cancer diagnostics,
"said Ranjan J. Perera, Ph d.,associate professor and scientific director of Analytical Genomics and Bioinformatics at Sanford-Burnham's Lake Nona campus in Orlando."
"The findings advance our understanding of the role of lncrnas in cancer biology and, importantly, broaden the opportunity to use lncrnas as biomarkers to detect prostate cancer."
"The study profiled the lncrnas in three distinct groups:(1) human prostate cancer cell lines and normal prostate epithelial cells,(2) prostate adenocarcinoma tissue samples and matched normal tissue samples,(3) urine samples
from patients with prostate cancer or benign prostate hypoplasia, and normal healthy individuals. In each case, the lncrnas were elevated in prostate cancer patient samples,
but not in patients with benign prostate hypoplasia or normal healthy individuals. One advantage of lncrnas is that the molecules can be detected in urine samples,
which are more easily available than blood tests. One lncrna, PCA3, was commercialized recently as a urine test to identify which men suspected of having prostate cancer should undergo repeat prostate biopsy.
However discrepancies have been found to exist between PCA3 levels and clinicopathologic features, said Dr. Perera.
In the current study, PCA3 was detected in some, but not all of the study samples, suggesting that reliance on a single biomarker may be insufficient for prostate cancer detection,
while combining additional markers may increase the specificity and sensitivity of the test.""There is a tremendous unmet clinical need for better noninvasive screening tools for early detection of prostate cancer to reduce the overtreatment and morbidity of this disease,"added Dr. Patel."
"Our findings represent a promising approach to meet this demand.""Technical Details of the Study The goal of the first experiment was to see
whether lncrnas are expressed differentially in prostate cancer by measuring total RNA from prostate cancer cell lines
lncrna expression was compared in pooled prostate cancer tissue samples and matched normal tissues from 10 frozen biopsy specimens.
An additional set of 18 prostate cancer tissue samples was analyzed by qpcr and five lncrnas were found to be significantly higher in prostate tumor tissues compared with matched normal tissues.
Researchers used qpcr to analyze total RNA isolated from urine in another experiment. Urine was collected from 13 prostate cancer patients and 14 healthy controls.
All six lncrnas were found to be regulated significantly up in the urine samples from the prostate cancer patients compared with normal patient controls
while there were no differences between normal and benign prostatic hyperplasia patient samples. In other studies focused particularly on SPRY4-IT1.
expression of SPRY-IT1 was found to be increased in 16 of 18 (89 percent) tissue samples from patients with prostatic adenocarcinoma,
Intense staining was seen in all adenocarcinoma samples, but not in normal prostatic tissue. Finally, the investigators showed that reduction of SPRY4-IT1 in prostate cancer cells through the use of small interfering RNA (sirna) leads to decreased cell viability and cellular invasion as well as increased apoptosis similar to
what is seen in melanoma cells s
#Experimental rapid test could tell sinusitis sufferers if they need antibiotics...or just patience It's that time of the year where a perfect storm of fall allergies
In a collaboration among the Jaffe Food Allergy Institute The Mindich Child Health and Development Institute Immunology Institute and Tisch Cancer Institute at The Mount sinai Hospital researchers exposed mice
#Colorectal cancer: New clues for early detection Researchers at the University of Luxembourg have identified potential new ways to test for the first signs of one of the most deadly types of cancer:
colorectal cancer. They have found new biomarkers: molecules whose increased presence or absence in tissue suggests the development of tumorous cells.
These indicators could help detect colorectal cancer at an early stage predict its severity or even offer new treatments.
Colorectal cancer is still one of the most frequent and deadliest cancers worldwide. But diagnosed in time it can be cured in 9 out of 10 cases said Professor Serge Haan from the Life science Research Unit at the University of Luxembourg.
Thus it is highly important to identify more sensitive and specific markers to improve early diagnosis as well as therapeutic strategies.
Serge Haan and Dr. Elisabeth Letellier studied over 800 detailed results of tissue-analysis of both patients with various stages of colorectal cancer and healthy individuals.
They completed this study with original analysis of patient material from the Ontario Tumor Bank in Canada and the Integrated Biobank of Luxembourg.
Further analysis also revealed that this protein could even give an early prediction of the cancer's severity.
There is increasing evidence that the loss of SOCS proteins plays a role in many cancers as this induce uncontrolled cell growth and tumour development.
These findings have been published in The british Journal of Cancer. The research team included several Luxembourg biomedical research institutions:
This study was financed by the Luxembourg Cancer Foundation. Further work is needed now to expand on these findings before they can be used clinically l
#New lab-on-a-chip could revolutionize early diagnosis of cancer Scientists have been laboring to detect cancer and a host of other diseases in people using promising new biomarkers called exosomes.
Indeed Popular Science magazine named exosome-based cancer diagnostics one of the 20 breakthroughs that will shape the world this year.
Exosomes could lead to less invasive earlier detection of cancer and sharply boost patients'odds of survival.
Now Zeng and colleagues from the University of Kansas Medical center and KU Cancer Center have published just a breakthrough paper in the Royal Society of Chemistry journal describing their invention of a miniaturized biomedical testing device for exosomes.
Zeng and his fellow researchers have developed the lab-on-a-chip for early detection of lung cancer--the number-one cancer killer in the U s. Today lung cancer is detected mostly with an invasive biopsy after tumors are larger than 3 centimeters in diameter and even
Unlike some cancer types such as breast or colon cancer no widely accepted screening tool has been available for detecting early-stage lung cancers.
Tumor biopsy is often impossible for early cancer diagnosis as the developing tumor is too small to see by the current imaging tools.
and more sensitive thus suitable for large population screening to detect early-stage tumors. Zeng said the prototype lab-on-a-chip is made of a widely used silicone rubber called polydimethylsiloxane
Beyond lung cancer Zeng said the lab-on-a-chip could be used to detect a range of potentially deadly forms of cancer.
Our technique provides a general platform to detecting tumor-derived exosomes for cancer diagnosis he said.
In addition to lung cancer we've also tested for ovarian cancer in this work. In theory it should be applicable to other types of cancer.
Our long-term goal is to translate this technology into clinical investigation of the pathological implication of exosomes in tumor development.
Such knowledge would help develop better predictive biomarkers and more efficient targeted therapy to improve the clinical outcome.
Cells have adapted further autophagy for other purposes as well including recycling dysfunctional components immune response to pathogen invasion surveillance against cancer
and is very surprisingsaid La Spada. s let-7 is known to be a tumor suppressor its ability to activate autophagy could be a major component of its anti-tumor forming activitythough La Spada noted that autophagy may also contrarily promote tumor progression
by supporting the altered metabolism of growing cancers. With let-7 revealed to be a master regulator of metabolism helping to modulate anabolic growth (the creation of new molecules in cells) with catabolic destruction (the breakdown of molecules in cells) researchers say the overall picture
#Thyroid carcinoma: Biomarker reveals cancer cause The expression of the protein CLIP2*provides information on
whether a papillary thyroid carcinoma was induced by radiation or had a sporadic origin. With this discovery, scientists from the Helmholtz Zentrum München have identified a new biomarker for the diagnosis of the cancer cause.
Their findings have been published in the journal Oncogene. CLIP2 serves as a radiation marker: After exposure to radiation from radioiodine, both the genetic activity and the protein expression are increased,
as the scientists'studies were able to substantiate. CLIP2 appears to be particularly significant in the development of tumours in the thyroid gland after radiation exposure.
Dr. Horst Zitzelsberger from the Radiation Cytogenetics Research Unit at the Helmholtz Zentrum München discovered a connection between high CLIP2 levels and the radiation history of patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma."
"In our study, we were able to verify radiation-associated CLIP2 expression at the protein level in three different cohorts of patients with thyroid carcinoma,"reports first author Selmansberger.
Radiation marker CLIP2 allows distinction of cancer cause and risk assessment"CLIP2 serves as a radiation marker
and allows us to distinguish between radiation-induced and sporadic thyroid carcinomas, "adds study leader Heß.
and to evaluate the risk of thyroid cancer after exposure to high level radiation, for instance, following a radiation accident,"reports Heß.
In addition to diabetes and lung diseases, this also includes cancer. The objective of the Helmholtz Zentrum München is the rapid further development of the results of basic research
*CAP-GLY domain containing linker protein 2. The exact function of CLIP2 in the carcinogenesis of thyroid carcinoma is unknown.
#Non-coding half of human genome unlocked with novel sequencing technique An obscure swatch of human DNA once thought to be nothing more than biological trash may actually offer a treasure trove of insight into complex genetic-related diseases such as cancer
To test this hypothesis the researchers used a device Han had developed previously to capture circulating tumor cells based on their size.
--and cancer Scientists reveal the structure of one of the most important and complicated proteins in cell division--a fundamental process in life
and the development of cancer--in research published in Nature. Images of the gigantic protein in unprecedented detail will transform scientists'understanding of exactly how cells copy their chromosomes
A team from The Institute of Cancer Research London and the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular biology in Cambridge produced the first detailed images of the anaphase-promoting complex (APC/C). The APC/C
Discovering its structure could ultimately lead to new treatments for cancer which hijacks the normal process of cell division to make thousands of copies of harmful cancer cells.
In the study which was funded by Cancer Research UK the researchers reconstituted human APC/C
Dr David Barford who led the study as Professor of Molecular biology at The Institute of Cancer Research London before taking up a new position at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular biology in Cambridge said:
Professor Paul Workman Interim Chief executive of The Institute of Cancer Research London said: The fantastic insights into molecular structure provided by this study are a vivid illustration of the critical role played by fundamental cell biology in cancer research.
The new study is a major step forward in our understanding of cell division. When this process goes awry it is a critical difference that separates cancer cells from their healthy counterparts.
Understanding exactly how cancer cells divide inappropriately is crucial to the discovery of innovative cancer treatments to improve outcomes for cancer patients.
Dr Kat Arney Science Information Manager at Cancer Research UK said Figuring out how the fundamental molecular'nuts and bolts'of cells work is vital
The above story is provided based on materials by Cancer Research UK. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
and for treating complex tumors and degenerative spine problems resulting in fewer complications and better outcomes for patients.
The surgeons said the technology has others applications for treating spinal disorders serving as a tool to remove tumors decompress the spinal column
A third study determined that the image-guided technique can be useful for other minimally invasive procedures including thoracic endoscopic spine surgery to remove tumors infections
hold great promise for treating cancer and other diseases. However, several inefficiencies have limited their translation to the clinic
says Gregory Szeto, a postdoc at MIT Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and the paper lead author.
This research was funded by the Kathy and Curt Marble Cancer Research Fund through the Koch Institute Frontier Research Program, the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute of General medicine Sciences
In addition to the development of effective new drugs and diagnosis methods for diseases including cancer, it could potentially lead to new reenpesticides using pheromones tailored specifically to attract pollinators
and is affiliated with UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and a member of the Broad Stem Cell Research center.
for Integrative Cancer Research. Eliana Martins Lima, of the Federal University of Goiás, is the other co-author.
A multidisciplinary team at Yale, led by Yale Cancer Center members, has defined a subgroup of genetic mutations that are present in a significant number of melanoma skin cancer cases.
Their findings shed light on an important mutation in this deadly disease, and may lead to more targeted anticancer therapies.
The role of mutations in numerous genes and genomic changes in the development of melanoma a skin cancer with over 70
Yet in approximately 30%of melanoma cases the genetic abnormalities are unclear. To deepen understanding of melanoma mutations,
the Yale team conducted a comprehensive analysis using whole-exome sequencing of more than 200 melanoma samples from patients with the disease.
The multidisciplinary team drawing on their expertise in genetics, cancer, computational biology, pharmacology, and other disciplines also tested the response of tumor cells with specific mutations to anticancer drugs.
The researchers confirmed that a gene known as NF1 is a ajor playerin the development of skin cancer. he key finding is that roughly 45%of melanomas that do not harbor the known BRAF or NRAS mutations display loss of NF1 function,
which leads to activation of the same cancer-causing pathway, said Dr. Michael Krauthammer, associate professor of pathology and the study corresponding author.
Additionally, researchers observed that melanoma patients with the NF1 mutation were had older and a greater number of mutations in the tumors.
These include mutations in the same pathway, collectively known as RASOPATHY genes. Yet mutations in NF1 are not sufficient to cause skin cancer,
said Ruth Halaban, senior research scientist in dermatology, a member of Yale Cancer Center, and lead author of the study. oss of NF1 requires more accompanying changes to make a tumor,
she explained. ur study identified changes in about 100 genes that are present only in the malignant cells
and are likely to be causative. This panel of genes can now be used in precision medicine to diagnose malignant lesions
and can be applied to personalized cancer treatment. By testing the response of the melanoma samples to two cancer drugs,
the researchers also determined that, in addition to loss of NF1, multiple factors need to be tested to predict the response to the drugs. t opens the door to more research,
said Halaban, who is also principal investigator at Yale SPORE in Skin cancer. Other Yale authors include Yong Kong
The study was supported by the Yale SPORE in Skin cancer, funded by the National Cancer Institute, U s. National institutes of health, under award number 1 P50 CA121974;
the Melanoma Research Alliance; Gilead sciences, Inc.;the Howard Hughes Medical Institute; the Department of Dermatology;
and the Yale Comprehensive Cancer Center. Publication: Michael Krauthammer, et al, xome sequencing identifies recurrent mutations in NF1 and RASOPATHY genes in sun-exposed melanomas, Nature Genetics, 2015;
doi: 10.1038/ng. 3361 Source: Ziba Kashef, Yale Universit
#First Direct evidence of the Formation Process of Brown dwarfs Using the Very Large Array, an international team of astronomers has discovered jets of material ejected by still-forming young brown dwarfs,
But while those guard against the long-term risks of thyroid cancer linked with chronic radiation exposure
As science links these variants to disease risk, the idea has been that genotypes could predict your chance of getting cancer or heart disease
The studies showed that the method could be used to reduce tumor growth in lung cancer for example.
Treating cancer is one area where RNAI s particular advantages are expected to shine. Conventional chemotherapy affects more than just the target cancer cells it also hurts healthy tissue
which could make cancer treatments far more effective. Lab work like this is far from fruition but if it maintains its momentum the drugs currently in clinical trials could represent just a small portion of the benefits of the discovery of RNAI i
The U k. project will focus on people with cancer, as well as adults and children with rare diseases.
That is because for cancer patients Genomics England intends to obtain the sequence of both their inherited DNA as well as that of their cancers.
Overtext Web Module V3.0 Alpha
Copyright Semantic-Knowledge, 1994-2011