and smuggle cancer signals their neighbors A new discovery published in the Nov. 2015 issue of The FASEB Journal shows that cancer cells use previously unknown channels to communicate with one another and with adjacent non-cancerous cells.
Not only does this cast an important light on how cancer metastasizes and recruits cellular material from healthy cells,
especially the mouse model, will be used by academics to isolate healthy cells modified by tumors, and by the pharmaceutical industry in the quest for novel anticancer drugs that block tumor-organ communication,
"said Anne Burtey, Ph d.,study author from the Department of Biomedicine, at the University of Bergen in Bergen, Norway."
with increased abilities to diffuse within tumors and even reach the healthy cells involved in tumor progression."
"To make this discovery, Burtey and colleagues studied the exchange of molecules between cells, by color-coding them with red or blue cellular fluorescent'dyes'or'tags.'
suggesting that this protein is a key regulator of cell-cell communication in cancer. Live cell imaging confirmed that the transfer is contact-dependent.
#New research opens door to understanding human tonsil cancer Researchers at Simon Fraser University and the BC Cancer Agency have developed a groundbreaking method to identify
and separate stem cells that reside in the tonsils. Their research, which sheds new light on the fight against oral cancer, is published today in the journal Stem Cell Reports.
While stem cells in many other body tissues have been studied well, little is known about these stem cells,
Ninety per cent of human tonsil cancers show evidence of HPV (human papillomavirus) infection. But little is known about its role in causing these cancers.
Researchers suspect it is a key player, as HPV is the major risk factor for cervical cancer.
Kang, who is working with BPK professor Miriam Rosin, director of the BC Oral Cancer Prevention Program,
and UBC professor Connie Eaves of the Terry Fox Laboratory, was interested in finding out why the tonsil is particularly susceptible to HPV
and made them incorporate a cancer-causing gene normally transmitted by HPV, the cells grew abnormally in a special tissue culture system,
and created what one might imagine what the beginning stages of human tonsil cancer would look like."
as it is the first stage of human cancer development that researchers need to learn how to detect
Cancer of oropharynx, or the tonsils in particular, is an important health concern with rising incidence worldwide, especially in men.
The researchers, including Dr. Raj Kannan of the BC Cancer Agency's Terry Fox Laboratory,
#A newly discovered tumor suppressor gene affects melanoma survival Of the hundreds of genes that can be mutated in a single case of melanoma,
only a handful may be true"drivers"of cancer. In research that appeared today in Nature Genetics,
a Weizmann Institute of Science team has revealed now one of the drivers of a particularly deadly subset of melanomas-one that is still seeing a rise in new cases.
This gene is identified a newly member of a group of genes called tumor suppressor genes.
It is mutated in some 5. 4%of melanomas. Furthermore its expression was found to be lost in over 30%of human melanomas;
and this loss, according to the finding, was associated with reduced patient survival. This discovery might open new doors to understanding how this cancer grows and spreads,
and it may lead in the future to new directions in treating this disease. Prof. Yardena Samuels and her team in the Institute's Molecular Cell biology Department were specifically searching for tumor suppressor genes in their database,
which consists of more than 500 melanoma genomes and exomes-protein-building sequences-making it the largest melanoma dataset to date.
As their name suggests, tumor suppressor genes normally inhibit cell growth, including that of cancer cells.
However, when mutated, they act like defective brakes on cellular proliferation. Thus studying these genes is crucial in cancer biology."
"The identification of targetable alterations in melanoma is need an urgent. An in depth understanding of the functional effects of mutations in these genes is the first step toward revealing the underlying mechanism of melanoma growth,
"says Dr. Nouar Qutob, a postdoctoral fellow in Samuels'lab who participated in this research. Indeed, the melanoma genome sequences contained mutations in known tumor suppressor genes,
but there was also a new gene that stood out in the team's search, named RASA2.
The researchers'next step was to conduct a series of functional experiments to understand exactly what this gene does.
They cloned both the normal protein and the most recurrent mutated versions to see their effects on melanoma cells.
They found that RASA2 regulates a key protein in the cell, called RAS. RAS has been identified as a major oncogene that contributes to the unchecked growth of cells.
When they restored the production of the protein in melanoma cells that harbored RASA2 mutations,
Patients with dysfunctional RAS pathways tend to have a worse prognosis than those with other types of melanoma,
"As the RAS pathway is highly dysregulated in cancer, the discovery of an alternative mechanism for its activation is likely to stimulate an avalanche of further research in this field,
to find out what proteins it communicates with in healthy cells and melanoma, as well as in the cells'response to targeted therapy,
"Most targeted cancer therapies nowadays work by inhibiting the products of oncogenes that are overactive in melanoma cells.
However, loss or mutations in tumor suppressor genes like RASA2 also contribute to melanoma development;
#DNA in blood can track cancer development and response in real time Scientists have shown for the first time that tumour DNA shed into the bloodstream can be used to track cancers in real time as they evolve
and respond to treatment, according to a new Cancer Research UK study published in the journal Nature Communications today (Wednesday).
Over three years, researchers at the University of Cambridge took surgical tumour samples (biopsies) and blood samples from a patient with breast cancer that had already spread to other parts of her body.
and timing of genetic changes appearing as the cancer developed and responded to treatment. The results provide the first proof-of-principle that analysing tumour DNA in the blood can accurately monitor cancer within the body.
Study author Professor Carlos Caldas, senior group leader at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, said:"
"This definitively shows that we can use blood-based DNA tests to track the progress of cancer in real time.
The findings could change the way we monitor patients, and may be especially important for people with cancers that are difficult to reach,
as taking a biopsy can sometimes be quite an invasive procedure.""The patient in the study had had breast cancer that already spread to a number of other organs.
and Nitzan Rozenfeld laboratories at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute-were even able to distinguish between the different secondary cancers
We now need to see if this works in more patients and other cancer types,
"Dr Kat Arney, science information manager at Cancer Research UK, said:""Spotting tumour DNA in the bloodstream is a really promising area of research,
and monitoring cancers. But this work gives us a window into the future, where we'll use less invasive techniques to track the disease in real time
#CWRU researcher lands grant to build stealthy brain tumor treatment A Case Western Reserve University researcher has received a 5-year,
stealth bombs that slip past the brain's defenses to attack an incurable form of cancer.
Efstathios Karathanasis, a biomedical engineer at Case School of engineering, has developed chainlike nanoparticles that can carry drugs across the blood-brain barrier that keeps standard medicines from reaching their target--a highly aggressive brain cancer called
The researchers expect the chemotherapy will destroy the majority of tumor cells and the inhibitor will eliminate cancer cells that are resistant
and can cause brain tumors to reoccur. Their goal is to develop a treatment that eradicates the cancer with one safe dose."
"The grant enables our labs to integrate our technologies, "Karathanasis said.""We need integration to solve this problem."
"Glioblastoma multiforme is the most common and most malignant tumors of glial cells, which provide structure to the brain.
The median survival rate among adults is just under 15 months, according to the American Brain Cancer Association.
when tumors are present, preventing drugs from crossing from the blood stream into the diseased tissue.
"Brain tumor cells are often invasive and spread throughout the normal brain, and drugs--if they get in--do nothing because of resistance that develops."
"To reach inside tumors, Karathanasis'lab developed a short chain of magnetic nanoparticles made of iron oxide
and attach to the tumors'vascular walls. When nanochains congregate inside a tumor, the researchers place a wire coil,
called a solenoid, outside near the tumor. Electricity passed through the solenoid creates a weak radiofrequency field.
The field causes the magnetic tails of the chain to vibrate bursting the liposome spheres,
releasing their drug cargo into the brain tumors. In testing with mouse models of aggressive brain tumors, the technology took out far more cancer cells, inhibited tumor growth better and extended life longer than traditional chemotherapy delivery.
The targeted delivery system also used far less drug than used in traditional chemotherapy, saving healthy tissue from toxic exposure.
and to form tumors. Normal neural cells do not. In testing with mouse models of the cancer, models injected with an inducible nitric acid synthase inhibitor had fewer and smaller tumors compared to control models.
In addition to the grant money, the researchers will have access to the National Cancer Institute's Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer,
and will exchange ideas and resources, Karathanasis said. The Karathanasis and Rich labs will work with Mark Griswold, professor of radiology at Case Western Reserve School of medicine,
Strangely shaped cells often indicate cancer. While this old, simple technique may seem a quaint throwback in the age of high-technology health care tools like genetic sequencing
"It has been known that circulating glycosidase enzyme levels are altered in diseases such as sepsis, diabetes, cancer and various inflammatory conditions.
steel braces straighten crooked teeth, steel scalpels remove tumors. Most of the goods we consume are delivered by ships
and skin cancers Scientists from the University of Granada (UGR) have patented an effective drug for treating cancer stem cells (CSCS) in breast, colon, and skin cancers.
The researchers have proved the anti-tumor effects of the drug on immunodeficient mice. The new compound and its derivatives enabled the researchers to reduce tumor activity by 50 percent after 41 days of treatment with the drug,
administered twice a week, to mice with induced tumors. They have managed also to successfully describe the mechanisms by which the drug acts on the cancer stem cells (CSCS.
This crucial scientific breakthrough has been made by the UGR research groups"Research and development of Pharmaceutical Drugs, "directed by Professor Joaquín Campos Rosa, and"Advanced Therapies:
Differentiation, Regeneration and Cancer",directedby Professor Juan Antonio Marchal Corrales. The Córdoba-based company Canvax Biotech has participated also in the development of the patent.
A nontoxic drug One of the major advantages of the drug is that it is nontoxic.
Moreover, from a pharmaceutical perspective this anti-tumor drug can be produced successfully in large quantities. The researchers were able to obtain the required amount of the synthesis in just five days.
the scientists had managed already to create an effective drug (called Bozepinib) for treating cancer stem cells,
which maintains the biological activity of its predecessor as an effective anti-tumor drug, but which can also be synthesized
In order to be able to test the new drug on mice and gauge its effectiveness on human tumors,
first of all they had to inject human tumor cells into immunodeficient mice (to ensure they did not reject these cancerous cells).
they discovered that some of the compounds effectively inhibited the growth of the tumor cells and the migration ability of these cells to other healthy tissues,
a huge advantagewhen compared to other cancer treatments such as chemotherapy. Althoughcscs are only found in small quantities in tumors,
from a clinical perspective the ability to target them directly is of fundamental importance, given that they are responsible for originally causing the tumor, relapses and resistance to anticancer treatments.
The next step: Lungs and pancreas Having proved the preclinical effectiveness of the new drug in treating cancer stem cells in breast, colon,
and skin cancers, the scientists will proceed now to study the drug's effect on lung and pancreas cancers, two of the most aggressive types.
They must also complete further ADME-Tox("absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion and toxicity")studies of the compound's behavior within the organism, a necessary step before carrying out clinical trials.
and certain forms of cancer may also prove to be responsive to Vasotide, "said Sidman."
#New genetic discovery advances understanding of prostate cancer A new and important genetic discovery, which sheds light on how prostate cancers develop
and spread, has been made by an international research team led by scientists at The University of Nottingham.
Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers affecting men. In the UK about one in eight men will develop it at some point in their lives, with older men and those with a family history of prostate cancer most at risk.
It is not yet possible to accurately distinguish between'indolent'prostate cancers, which need little, if any treatment,
and'aggressive'cancers, which require intensive interventions. Now in new research published in Oncotarget, a multi-disciplinary team at Nottingham, Weill Cornell Medical school,
Lund University in Sweden and Copenhagen University in Denmark, have identified a significant gene called mir137 that is switched off in prostate cancer cells.
"With many men continuing to die from metastatic prostate cancer, there is an urgent need to develop new ways to enable the early identification of aggressive cancers
when such tumours remain localised within the prostate gland when surgery is most effective. We also need to make sure that men with indolent disease do not receive unnecessary treatment
"The researchers studied the role of androgens in prostate cancer. Androgens are important signaling molecules,
However defective and amplified androgen signaling can trigger prostate cancer and its spread. For this reason, many available prostate cancer treatments are aimed at blocking androgen signaling.
However, resistance to such therapies is a major clinical challenge. The gene identified by the team,
In prostate cancer where mir137 is switched off, the effect of androgen signaling is increased. Therefore the loss of mir137 leads to enhanced androgen signaling which contributes to prostate cancer initiation and progression.
The study has identified also many new potential targets for the next generation of drugs to treat prostate cancer.
New research is now underway in the Mongan's laboratory at Nottingham to test the effect of various pharmacological treatments in preclinical prostate cancer studies
#Study finds how Alzheimer's-associated protein tangles spread through the brain Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators have discovered a mechanism behind the spread of neurofibrillary tangles-one of the two hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease-through the brains
Future applications of such a DNA walker might include a cancer detector that could roam the human body searching for cancerous cells
constantly computing whether a cancer is present.""More immediate practical applications may include deploying the DNA walker in the body
Although it may be a long march from diagnosing cancer to curing it, "All breakthroughs begin with baby steps.
So just as nude mice can be really good models for cancer research, 'nude'versions of crop plants could also speed up agricultural research,
ENT surgeons commonly use endoscopic approaches to remove brain tumors through the nose by making a window through the blood-brain barrier to access the brain.
#A possible broad spectrum cancer cure is in the offing, but human trials could be up to 4 years away For almost
cancer has been nipping at our heelsnd brains, stomachs, kidneys, and so on. The fossil record indicates humanity embittered relationship with the disease extends even to prehistoric times.
Over the centuries, cancer has proven a most intractable foe. One reason for this is that cancer is a big family, with numerous subtypes and categories,
a veritable medusa head which immensely complicates finding a universal cure. A remedy for one cancer is no guarantee that it will work against another type of cancer.
Worse the treatments that work against multiple types of cancer like chemotherapy and radiation are often so harsh and hazardous that doctors hesitate to prescribe them.
Badly needed is a broad spectrum cancer cure that doesn ruin the human body in the process.
Thanks to a research group studying malaria, such a cure now looks to be in the offing.
what appears to be broad spectrum cancer cure in the form of a modified malaria strain.
the Malaria virus, may contain the mechanism for curing an even worse nemesis cancer. Ali Salanti, a researcher behind the possible cancer cureor decades, scientists have been searching for similarities between the growth of a placenta
and a tumor, says Ali Salanti, who headed up one of the teams responsible for the discovery. he placenta is an organ,
which within a few months grows from only a few cells into an organ weighing approximately two pounds,
In a manner of speaking, tumors do much the same; they grow aggressively in a relatively foreign environment. hile studying the placenta,
Ali Salanti noticed that a carbohydrate the malaria parasite attaches itself to in the placenta of pregnant women is identical to a carbohydrate found in many cancers.
Aside from the obvious tremendous benefit that would come from a broad spectrum cancer cure, these developments highlight another nemesis to human health:
With 7. 6 million people dying of cancer a year, in the four years it will likely take to bring this cancer treatment to market,
this discovery of potential broad spectrum cancer cure would seem to make it r
#Big data driving market disruption, leaving many organizations fearing irrelevance: Study A global report by Capgemini, provider of consulting, technology and outsourcing services, in partnership with EMC Corporation, reveals that amid the market disruption being driven by Big data,
#Vaccine might replace surgery for cervical cancer A genetically engineered cervical cancer vaccine performed well in a clinical trial,
and can lead to cervical cancer, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Infection. very standard therapeutic option for women with these lesions destroys part of the cervix,
Despite dramatic progress in recent decades, about 12,000 women still develop cervical cancer in the United states each year, and about 4
Because the lesions can progress to cancer, they are removed today usually by surgery, freezing, or laser treatment.
They pose less of a cancer risk and usually regress on their own. CLEARS OUT THE VIRUS
the slow development of cervical cancer would leave an opening for patients to try it. t typically takes about 10
or more years for precancerous cells to become cancer, so there is a window of opportunity to intervene with nonsurgical approaches,
She is also studying other types of vaccines to prevent high-grade cervical lesions from developing into cancer.
Those with mutations in polycystic kidney disease genes formed balloon-like, fluid-filled sacks, called cysts, from kidney tubules.
#Drug combo shows promise for skin cancer n transitnew melanoma research finds a combination therapy is highly effective at treating patients with skin metastases.
t unclear if the recently developed targeted melanoma therapies that have revolutionized management of patients with internal melanoma metastases are useful in patients with metastatic disease limited of the skin,
Although intralesional IL-2 has recently been included in the US National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines for management of melanoma metastases of the skin
About 10 percent of patients with advanced melanoma develop what are called cutaneous metastases, often located n-transitto the patientslymph nodes.
or stage IV melanoma who had history of treatment with IL-2 therapy combined with imiquimod and a topical retinoid.
and seven were alive at the conclusion of the study without melanoma recurrence. The remaining five patients died from unrelated causes. he favorable outcomes in these patients are encouraging
and demonstrate for opioid pain relievers can be adapted to produce many plant-derived compounds to fight cancers,
and easily repeatable test for pancreatic cancer, scientists at Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University, have developed a three-protein biomarker panel that can screen urine samples to identify pancreatic cancer
The scientists settled on just three proteins after conducting proteomic analyses of 488 urine samples92 from patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC
Patients suffering from chronic pancreatitis had significantly lower levels than cancer patients. Combining the three proteins
The panel performance was described August 3 in the journal Clinical Cancer Research, in an article entitled, dentification of a Three-Biomarker Panel in Urine for Early Detection of Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma. hen comparing
The biomarker panel established by the Barts Cancer Institute scientists, however, shows promise. e've always been keen to develop a diagnostic test in urine as it has several advantages over using blood.
if the three-biomarker signature is present during the latency periodhe time between the genetic changes that will cause the cancer to develop and the clinical presentation.
when the cancer has already spread. This means they are not eligible for surgery to remove the tumorurrently the only potentially curative treatment.
when the cancer is already at a terminal stage, but if diagnosed at stage II,
the survival rate for patients with very small tumors can increase up to 60%.%It is hoped that with early detection,
or even cancer in minutes from the comfort and privacy of your home sound like science fiction?
Surprisingly, this same residue has been seen to cluster on the surface of various cancers. Now a collaborative team of researchers from the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGEN), University of Copenhagen, University of British columbia (UBC), Vancouver Coastal Health and the BC Cancer Agency, found that the malaria protein,
called VAR2CSA, could be used to target anticancer drugs and carry them to tumors expressing the specific carbohydrate residue."
"Based on our clinical data, we helped validate that this could be applied to melanoma and lung cancers,"explained co-author Nhan Tran, Ph d.,associate professor in TGEN's Cancer and Cell biology Division."
"This specific type of developmental proteinncofetal chondroitin sulfates expressed in the placenta, and is expressed also in lung cancer and melanoma."
"The findings from this study were published recently in Cancer cell through an article entitled argeting Human Cancer by a Glycosaminoglycan Binding Malaria Protein."
"Scientists have spent decades trying to find biochemical similarities between placenta tissue and cancer, but we just didn't have the technology to find it,"noted project leader Mads Daugaard, Ph d.,assistant professor of urologic science at UBC and a senior research scientist at the Vancouver Prostate Centre, part of the Vancouver Coastal
Health Research Institute.""When my colleagues discovered how malaria uses VAR2CSA to embed itself in the placenta,
we immediately saw its potential to deliver cancer drugs in a precise, controlled way to tumors."
"The researchers created a recombinant VAR2CSA protein that was fused with either diphtheria toxin or conjugated to hemiasterlin (a microtubule inhibitor) and saw strong inhibition of tumor cell growth and metastasis in vivo."
"This is an extraordinary finding that paves the way for targeting sugar molecules in pediatric and adulthood human cancer,
and our groups are vigorously pursuing this possibility together, "said co-senior investigator Poul Sorensen, M d.,Ph d.,UBC professor of pathology and laboratory medicine.
and scientists in the field quickly detect certain types of cancer or bacterial and respiratory infections or monitor toxin levels in water.
which is a marker for cancer, "Brennan explained.""We can print the letter'A'for ATP and'P'for PDGF,
#MIT's acoustic tumor cell sorting method is now up to 20 times faster A team of researchers from MIT,
The team also tested the improved method on blood samples obtained from three breast cancer patients, isolating one, eight and 59 tumor cells.
for both basic research into the complex topic of circulating tumor cells and for clinical assessment of different types of cancer,"said Carnegie mellon president Subra Suresh.
With the speed improvements in mind, the method is now approaching a state viable for widespread medical use.
#Modified Salmonella eats away at cancer, without a side order of food poisoning Though generally a bacteria we'd associate with a severe bout of food poisoning,
But now, researchers have developed genetically modified salmonella that turns toxic only after it enters a tumor.
This strain has been demonstrated to colonize tumors and attack the cancer cells. It was the group's thinking that altering part of the bacteria's outer membrane called the lipopolysaccharide structure (LPS) could serve to improve its safety.
They then tested variants of the newly modified Salmonella strains both in the lab with human cancer cells and in mice with tumors.
and shrinking the tumors when injected into the mice, without the typical negative impacts on the surrounding healthy cells.
when it arrives at the tumor is attributed to how Salmonella develops in different environments. In regular cells, Salmonella will divide only once or twice each day,
while inside a tumor it divides hourly.""This transition from a benign, invasive Salmonella that doesn't hurt normal cells to the toxic type occurs very rapidly (time wise) in the tumor due to the very rapid growth
and cell division that occurs when Salmonella enters a tumor, "says Dr. Roy Curtiss, one of the study's researchers and Professor of Microbiology at Arizona State university.
Curtiss says that when the technique finds it way into human trials, it will most likely be used in conjunction with chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
Overtext Web Module V3.0 Alpha
Copyright Semantic-Knowledge, 1994-2011