and could identify new targets for cancer medications. Throughout the human body, certain signalling chemicals--known as hormones--tell various cells
leading to cancer. To look into the responses of different cells, the U of T team harnessed the emerging power of digital microfluidics,
or proteins that could be targeted by drugs, eventually leading to new medicines to fight cancer.
Heather and Melanie Muss Endowed Chair and a principal investigator in the UCSF Brain tumor Research center and the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research. t may be unwelcome
for example, diabetes, cancer, multiple sclerosis, and osteoporosis. Now Microchips Biotech will begin co-developing microchips with Teva Pharmaceutical, the world largest producer of generic drugs,
#Microarray for Research into Haematological and Solid Cancers Oxford Gene Technology (OGT) released a new microarray designed to improve the accuracy and efficiency of cancer research.
The Cytosure Cancer+SNP array (4x180k) combines long oligo array comparative genomic hybridisation (acgh) probes with fully validated single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) content
The array has been optimized in collaboration with Professor Jacqueline Schoumans from the Lausanne University Hospital in Switzerland, an expert in both acgh and cancer genomics.
Unique to the proprietary Cytosure Cancer+SNP array any reference sample can be used for analysis without changes to the standard acgh protocol and, thanks to novel SNP probe chemistry,
The capacity to use matched samples is a particular advantage for research into genetic aberrations in cancer,
such as the B-allele frequency plot, that have been optimized for the identification of biologically relevant genomic variants in tumor samples s
because theye so hard to study, said Tony Hunter, American Cancer Society Professor, holder of the Dulbecco Chair in the Salk Molecular and Cell biology Laboratory and senior author of the new paper.
#Scientists Use Nanoparticles to Shut down Mechanism that Drives Cancer Growth When scientists develop cancer therapies,
they target the features that make the disease deadly: tumor growth, metastasis, recurrence and drug resistance.
In epithelial cancers cancers of the breast, ovaries, prostate, skin and bladder, which begin in the organslining these processes are controlled by a genetic program called epithelialesenchymal transition.
Epithelialesenchymal transition is regulated by a protein called Twist, which means that Twist directly influences the development of cancer, its spread to other organs and its return after remission.
In a major step toward developing a novel therapy that targets epithelialesenchymal transition, scientists from UCLA and City of Hope have become the first to inhibit the mechanism of Twist using nanoparticles to deliver a nucleic acid called small interfering RNA,
or sirna, into tumor cells. In mouse models, delivering sirna into cancer cells inhibited the expression of Twist,
and dramatically reduced the size of tumors. The study, which was published online in the journal Nanomedicine:
Nanotechnology, Biology and Medicine, was led by Jeffrey Zink and Fuyu Tamanoi, both members of the California Nanosystems Institute and Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCLA,
and Carlotta Glackin of City of Hope Cancer Center. e were surprised truly by the dramatic effect of delivering Twist sirna,
immunology and molecular genetics and a director of the signal transduction and therapeutics program at the Jonsson Cancer Center. his demonstrates the effectiveness of our treatment
and encourages us to explore further what is happening to the tumor. In previous studies
sirna has been shown to effectively shut down gene expression in tumor cells grown in the laboratory. But the technique had not been effective in living organisms
because enzymes in the blood called nucleases degrade sirna before it can reach tumor cells.
the nanoparticles could accumulate in the tumor cells and the sirna could go to work inhibiting the cellsexpression of Twist.
The study found that giving mice sirna-loaded nanoparticles once a week for six weeks inhibited tumor growth,
which promotes tumor invasion and metastasis in many cancers, said Glackin, an associate professor at the City of Hope who has been studying the function of Twist for 20 years.
Twist is reactivated in a number of metastatic cancers including triple-negative breast cancer melanoma and ovarian cancer.
By shutting down the epithelialesenchymal transition process, Zink and Tamanoi may develop new therapy options for these cancers.
Another important finding was that shutting down Twist expression enabled cancer cells to overcome their resistance to cancer drugs.
The researchers now are working to design a next-generation nanoparticle that will enable delivery of Twist sirna
#Optical og Nosedeveloped to Detect Cancer, Other Diseases Researchers at the University of Adelaide in Australia are using optical spectroscopy to develop a quick,
including diabetes, infections and cancers. The research team, led by Dr. James Anstie, Australian Research Council (ARC) Research Fellow with the University Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing (IPAS), compared the instrument to an ptical dog nosewhich uses a special laser to measure the molecular content
which show that diseases like lung and oesophageal cancer, asthma and diabetes can be detected in this way,
#Immunotherapy Show Promise In fighting Blood Cancer In recent years, immunotherapy has emerged as a promising treatment for certain cancers.
genetically engineered to target tumors, has shown significant success against multiple myeloma, a cancer of the plasma cells that is largely incurable.
The results appeared in a study published online in Nature Medicine. Patients received an infusion of altered immune cells known as T-cells roughly 2. 4 billion of them after undergoing a stem cell transplantation of their own stem cells.
where myeloma tumors typically are showed found, and a long-term ability to fight the tumors. Relapse was associated generally with a loss of the engineered T-cells. his study suggests that treatment with engineered T-cells is not only safe
but of potential clinical benefit to patients with certain types of aggressive multiple myeloma, says first author Aaron P. Rapoport, M d,
. the Gary Jobson Professor in Medical Oncology at the University of Maryland School of medicine. ur findings provide a strong foundation for further research in the field of cellular immunotherapy for myeloma to help achieve even better
The approach has been used to treat leukemia as well as lymphoma, according to Dr. Rapoport, who is the Director of the Blood and Marrow Transplant Program at the University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center.
More than 77,000 people in the United states have multiple myeloma, with about 24,000 new cases diagnosed each year.
Dr. Rapoport and co-authors Edward A. Stadtmauer, M d.,of the University of Pennsylvania Abramson Cancer Center,
In the clinical study, patientst-cells were engineered to express an affinity-enhanced T-cell receptor (TCR) specific for a type of tumor antigen,
or protein, known as a cancer-testis antigen (CT antigen). The target CT antigens were NY-ESO-1
and LAGE-1. Up to 60 percent of advanced myelomas have been reported to express NY-ESO-1 and/or LAGE-1,
which correlates to tumor proliferation and poorer outcomes. According to Adaptimmune, the trial is published the first study of lentiviral vector mediated TCR gene expression in humans.
Half the patients were treated at the University of Maryland Greenebaum Cancer Center and half at the University of Pennsylvania Abramson Cancer Center.
or CARS) used to treat other cancers. The study was developed originally by Carl H. June, M d.,of the University of Pennsylvania Abramson Cancer Center,
and Dr. Rapoport, who have been research collaborators for 18 years. ultiple myeloma is a treatable but largely incurable cancer.
This study reveals the promise that immunotherapy with genetically engineered T-cells holds for boosting the body ability to attack the cancer
and provide patients with better treatments and control of their disease, said E. Albert Reece, M d..,Ph d.,MBA,
said Dr. Hauser, also a member of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University.
and doctors together online, applying massive computing power to analyze DNA and even developing ingestible"smart"pills for detecting cancer.
Because these immune-system cells play important roles in a wide range of diseases, from diabetes to AIDS to cancer, the achievement provides a versatile new tool for research on T cell function,
a protein that has attracted intense interest in the burgeoning field of cancer immunotherapy, as scientists have shown that using drugs to block PD-1 coaxes T cells to attack tumors.
The CRISPR/Cas9 system has captured the imagination of both scientists and the general public, because it makes it possible to easily
#Cell Structure Discovery Advances Understanding Of Cancer Development, University of Warwick Study University of Warwick researchers have discovered a cell structure
which could help scientists understand why some cancers develop. For the first time a structure called he meshhas been identified
which is found to change in certain cancers, such as those of the breast and bladder.
associate professor and senior Cancer Research UK Fellow at the division of biomedical cell biology at Warwick Medical school.
and support from Cancer Research UK and North West Cancer Research. Dr Royle said: e had been looking in 2d
TACC3, is overproduced in certain cancers. When this situation was mimicked in the lab, the mesh and microtubules were altered
Dr Emma Smith, senior science communications officer at Cancer Research UK, said: roblems in cell division are common in cancer cells frequently end up with the wrong number of chromosomes.
and it might be a crucial insight into why this process becomes faulty in cancer
North West Cancer Research (NWCR) has funded the research as part of a collaborative project between the University of Warwick and the University of Liverpool,
which could potentially better inform future cancer therapies. s a charity we fund only the highest standard of research,
Major human diseases such as cancer inflammation, neurodegeneration and bacterial/viral infection are primarily diseases of cells.
#"Pill On A String"Could Help Spot Early Signs Of Cancer Of The Gullet, University of Cambridge Study A ill on a stringdeveloped by researchers at the University of Cambridge could help doctors detect oesophageal cancer cancer of the gullet at an early stage,
helping them overcome the problem of wide variation between biopsies, suggests research published today in the journal Nature Genetics.
Oesophageal cancer is preceded often by Barrett oesophagus, a condition in which cells within the lining of the oesophagus begin to change shape
Between one and five people in every 100 with Barrett's oesophagus go on to develop oesophageal cancer in their life-time,
a form of cancer that can be difficult to treat, particularly if not caught early enough.
At present, Barrett's oesophagus and oesophageal cancer are diagnosed using biopsies which look for signs of dysplasia, the proliferation of abnormal cancer cells.
Understanding how oesophageal cancer develops and the genetic mutations involved could help doctors catch the disease earlier, offering better treatment options for the patient.
An alternative way of spotting very early signs of oesophageal cancer would be to look for important genetic changes.
developed by Professor Rebecca Fitzgerald at the Medical Research Council Cancer Unit at the University of Cambridge. he trouble with Barrett oesophagus is that it looks bland
and oesophageal cancer samples taken at one point in time from 23 patients, as well as 73 samples taken over a three-year period from one patient with Barrett oesophagus.
for example from A c to a t that provided a ingerprintof the causes of the cancer. Similar work has been done previously in lung cancer,
and oesophageal cancer, suggest that these changes occur very early on the process. Even in areas of Barrett oesophagus without cancer, the researchers found a large number of mutations in their tissue on average 12,000 per person (compared to an average of 18,000 mutations within the cancer.
Many of these are likely to have been ystanders genetic mutations that occurred along the way but that were implicated not actually in cancer.
The researchers found that there appeared to be a tipping point, where a patient would go from having lots of individual mutations,
but no cancer, to a situation where large pieces of genetic information were being transferred not just between genes but between chromosomes.
e know very little about how you go from pre-cancer to cancer and this is particularly the case in oesophageal cancer.
Barrett oesophagus and the cancer share many mutations, but we are now a step closer to understanding
which are the important mutations that tip the condition over into a potentially deadly form of cancer.
The research was funded by the Medical Research Council and Cancer Research UK. The Cytosponge was trialled in patients at the NIHR Clinical Investigation Ward at the Cambridge Clinical Research Facility
#Smartphone-Based Device That Reads Medical Diagnostic Tests Quickly And Accurately Created, University of California,
as well as the California Nanosystems Institute and the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. The other authors on the paper were UCLA graduate students Bingen Cortazar, Derek Tseng, Haydar Ozkan, Raymond Yan-Lok Chan, and Steve Feng;
and 10 mg (lenvatinib mesylate, Lenvima) as a treatment for unresectable thyroid cancer in Japan on May 20, 2015.
Lenvima is the first molecular targeted treatment in Japan approved with an indication for unresectable thyroid cancer
which covers differentiated thyroid cancer as well as medullary thyroid carcinoma and anaplastic thyroid carcinoma. Discovered at Eisai's Tsukuba Research Laboratories
which are involved especially in tumor angiogenesis and proliferation of thyroid cancer. Furthermore, Lenvima has been confirmed through X-ray co-crystal structural analysis to demonstrate a new binding mode (Type V) to VEGFR2,
#Oncosil Medical introduces new device that treats cancer The global market for Pancreatic cancer is $1 billion,
and for HCC Liver Cancer an additional $1. 4 billionsingapore: Australia-based lifesciences company Oncosil Medical recently announced the commercialization of its device-Oncosil in the European union.
Oncosil is device that provides localized radiation treatment for cancer, and is the company's lead product candidate.
Oncosil, implantable nuclear medicine (radiotherapy) device, has been piloted successfully for treating pancreatic and liver cancer. The device was found to be safe and effective in laboratory studies
and has demonstrated clinically target tumor regression (tumour shrinkage) in both solid tumor indications of pancreatic and liver cancer.
We are excited very to be in the forefront of potentially a new radiation treatment for the dreaded disease of pancreatic and liver cancer."
"The company also announced the appointment of Professor Pierce Chow as chairman to lead primary liver cancer-hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)- Scientific Advisory board d
#Detecting potent tumors using a smartphone! Ms Maryam Sadeghi shows off an early version of Molescope (Picture courtesy:
an innovative hand-held tool that uses a smartphone to monitor skin for signs of cancer.
#New device promises to detect cancer in 3 min! Singapore: Japanese researchers claim that they have developed a new device that can detect cancer from a drop of blood in just three minutes!
The device developed as a result of collaboration between Kobe-based medical device manufacturer My Tech researchers from Showa University uses a biochip,
The chip, known as proteo, functions by attracting a faintly luminous substance found in cancer patients,
even when the cancer is at a very early stage.""We diagnosed without any errors
whether the tumor is benign or malignant in a study of 20 patients,"said Mr Yuki Hasegawa of My Tech.
"Currently, blood testing can only detect around 10 to 20 percent of cancers. In contrast, we are expecting to detect as much as 90 percent.""
""Most cancers are detectable only after they have developed for 15 to 20 years. Our technology allows diagnosing much earlier than that,
and malignant tumors on hormone-producing organs such as the parathyroid gland, the pancreas and the pituitary gland. Animal studies previously linked this gene mutation with breast cancer;
Besides skin cancer, it is the most commonly diagnosed cancer; breast cancer is also the 2nd deadliest type of cancer, right behind lung cancer.
About 85%of breast cancers occur in women who have no family history of breast cancer. Even though this study does not offer a cure,
Dr. Elsken van der Wall, a medical oncologist working for the UMC Utrecht Cancer Center e
Roche agreed to support a new BIO-X project run by Karolinska Institutet spin out Liquid Biopsy in cancer diagnostics.
including circulating tumor cells from blood, paving the way for better cancer treatments. The project will get access both to the BIO-X process support
and Roche global R&d capabilities, offering access to equipment, services, reagents and know-how, as well as financial support for the project for up to two years f
"My Phd supervisor, she found her melanoma when she was designing the device, just testing the image quality,"said Sadeghi."
and doctors together online, applying massive computing power to analyze DNA and even developing ingestible"smart"pills for detecting cancer.
Moderate-quality findings suggest that cannabinoids may be beneficial for the treatment of chronic neuropathic or cancer pain,
a cough-suppressant that may also fight cancer, as well as improved plant strains with higher yields of morphine.
The ultra-high field MRI SCANNERS are around ten times more powerful than current models. hese new machines will allow scientists to make a very early diagnosis of cancer
or agic bulletto describe new drugs he was working on to cure syphilis and cancer. In theory, such drugs would leave healthy tissue intact
The National Institute on Drug abuse and the National Cancer Institute supported this work r
#Tiny laresshow when RNA goes off track A new technology called ticky-flaresoffers the first real-time method to track
such as mental disability, autism, and cancer. Sticky-flares have the potential to help scientists understand the complexities of RNA better than any analytical technique to date
which was the first genetic-based approach that is able to detect live circulating tumor cells out of the complex matrix that is human blood.
The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin diseases and the Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence initiative of the National institutes of health supported the work.
which could make it easier to pinpoint the causes of cancer. In many cases, genetic mutations that cause cancer involve chemical changes to individual building blocks of DNAREATING DNA ADDUCTS."
"Natural products can be a source of effective cancer drugs, and several are being used for treating a variety of cancers,
"Gavin Robertson says.""Over 60 percent of anticancer agents are derived from plants, animals, marine sources, or microorganisms.
it may therefore be possible to expand DNA sequencing from the four basic DNA building blocks to include adducts. he scientific community would have an important tool for making a detailed analysis of the molecular mechanisms involved in the initiation of cancer
whether the inflammation is coming from cancer or arthritis, we could deliver the drug there,
Low Vitamin d linked to aggressive prostate cancer The development of effective cellular backpacks has broad potential,
and shrink tumor growth. Jerry W. Shay, Ph d.,professor and vice chairman of cell biology at UT Southwestern,
and colleague, Woodring E. Wright, M d.,Ph d.,professor of cell biology and internal medicine, found that 6-thio-2'-deoxyguanosine could stop the growth of cancer cells in culture and decrease the growth of tumors in mice.
Shay and Wright are co-senior authors of the study nduction of Telomere Dysfunction Mediated by the Telomerase Substrate Precursor 6-Thio-2deoxyguanosineappearing in Cancer Discovery. reatment with 6-thio
6-thio-dg caused a decrease in the tumor growth rate superior to that observed with 6-thioguanine treatment.
In addition, 6-thio-dg increased telomere dysfunction in tumor cells in vivo. These results indicate that 6-thio-dg may provide a new telomere-addressed telomerase-dependent anticancer approach."
as well as tumor burden shrinkage in mice,"noted Dr. Shay, who is also associate director of the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Cancer cells are protected from apoptosis by telomerase, which ensures that telomeres do not shorten with every division.
Telomerase has therefore been the subject of intense research as a target for cancer therapy.
but these drugs have to be administered for long periods of time to successfully trigger cell death and shrink tumors,
because cells in any one tumor have chromosomes with different telomere lengths and any one cell's telomeres must be shortened critically to induce death. 6-thiodg is used preferentially as a substrate by telomerase
"Since telomerase is expressed in almost all human cancers, this work represents a potentially innovative approach to targeting telomerase-expressing cancer cells with minimal side effects on normal cells,"continued Dr. Shay."
"We believe this small molecule will address an unmet cancer need in an underexplored area that will be rapidly applicable to the clinic
funded by the Movember Foundation and conducted by scientists at The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) in London,
in addition to uncovering a gene that may aid tumors in promoting resistance to existing drug therapies.
According to the authors, this is the first study of its kind to use whole-exome sequencing to probe testicular germ cell tumors,
examined tumor samples from 42 patients with testicular cancer. They report previously unidentified chromosome duplications and confirmed data from earlier findings that associated these tumors with the KIT gene,
which has been linked to an array of other cancerous tissues.""Our study is the largest comprehensive sequencing study of testicular tumors published to date,
describing their mutational profile in greater detail than has been possible using previous technologies, says Clare Turnbull, Ph d.,senior author and team leader in predisposition and translational genetics at ICR.
Their preliminary finding of a link between XRCC2 and platinum drug resistance was validated once they sequenced a sample from an additional platinum-resistant tumor. e have identified new potential driver mutations for this type of cancer
whose cancer progresses in spite of the best available treatments,"said Dr. Turnbull Despite the fact that testicular cancer responds well to chemotherapy,
This study provides essential general knowledge concerning testicular germ line cell tumor development but more importantly, valuable insight into the genetic underpinnings as to why certain patients develop resistance to chemotherapy h
#New Microchip Design Captures Circulating Tumor Cells Circulating tumor cells (CTCS) represent the metastatic seed that can break away from the primary tumor site,
and spread to other parts of the bodyften causing more pathological symptoms than the primary cancer from which the CTCS were derived.
which could yield important new insights into how different cancers spread.""Very little is known about CTC clusters and their role in the progression and metastasis of cancer.
This unique technology presents an exciting opportunity to capture these exceptionally rare groups of cells for further analysis in a way that is minimally-invasive,
"This is the kind of breakthrough technology that could have a very large impact on cancer research."
"The findings from this study were published recently in Nature Methods through an article entitled"A microfluidic device for label-free, physical capture of circulating tumor cell clusters."
and melanoma cancers. The researchers observed CTC clusters ranging from 2-19 cells among 300%of the patients."
Dr. Toner and his colleagues went on to test the technique in a small trial of 60 patients with metastatic cancer.
31%of prostate and 30%of melanoma patientsuggestive of a greater role for CTC clusters in metastatic cancers than previously thought.
Interestingly, the data from this small study also showed a rare presence of non-tumor derived immune cells within clusters,
"Given the increasing number of cancer therapies that engage the immune system, the ability to monitor tumor-immune cell interactions via the blood could be of great value."
"Dr. Toner and his colleagues anticipate that the Cluster-Chip will have an increasingly important role in stimulating new research on CTC cluster biology,
and to develop even better technologies to understand their biology in cancer metastasis. t
#Inexpensive Technique Developed to Manufacture Nanofibers Scientists at the University of Georgia say they have developed an inexpensive way to manufacture nanofibers,
#New Gene Subgroup Driving Aggressiveness in Prostate Cancer Identified Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed malignancy among males within developed countries.
Most often the majority of prostate cancer is thought of as an organ-confined disease with little genetic variation.
However, data in recent years is beginning to bring into focus that many prostate tumors display substantial amounts of genetic heterogeneity, leading to differential mortality rates.
Now, prostate cancer researchers in Canada have sketched a molecular portrait providing a complete picture of
as well as identifying a new gene subgroup acting as a molecular driver for tumor progression. ur research shows how prostate cancers can vary from one man to anotherespite the same pathology under the microscopes well as how it can vary within one man who may have multiple
tumor types in his prostate, "explained Robert Bristow, M d.,Ph d.,clinician-scientist at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre,
Toronto and senior author on the study. hese sub-types may be important to determining the response to surgery or radiotherapy between patients."
"The findings from this study were published recently in Nature Genetics through an article entitled patial genomic heterogeneity within localized, multifocal prostate cancer.
The investigators carefully analyzed the genetic backgrounds of each tumor sample, assigning individual aggression scores to the discreet cancer foci regions they identified.
The data revealed that even small cancers within the prostate can contain very aggressive cells capable of varying long term disease prognosis.
Dr. Bristow and his colleagues identified two members of the MYC oncogene family that played essential roles in tumor development.
which has already been implicated in lung cancer development, playing a critical role in tumor progression.""This discovery of a new prostate cancer-causing gene gives researchers a new avenue to explore the biology of the disease
and improve treatment,"stated Paul Boutros, Ph d, . principal investigator at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research and lead author on the current study."
"By showing that mutations in prostate cancer vary spatially in different regions of a tumor,
this study will aid in the development of new diagnostic tests that will improve treatment by allowing it to be personalized further."
Dr. Bristow thinks that this study takes an important step forward in identifying new biomarkers for prostate cancer and developing novel treatment options for patients."
"Our findings suggest we are getting closer to subtyping prostate cancer based on which gene is present to determine a patients'disease aggression in terms of the risk of spread outside the prostate gland at time of treatment,
we hope to inform doctors and patients about specialized treatments for each prostate cancer patient. e
Overtext Web Module V3.0 Alpha
Copyright Semantic-Knowledge, 1994-2011