Colorectal Cancer Risk Associated With Inflammatory Bowel Disease
7/10/2012
Inflammatory bowel disease is caused by chronic inflammation , which leads to damage of the intestinal epithelium. Patients with inflammatory bowel disease have an elevated risk for developing colorectal cancer because of this chronic inflammation. In an effort to develop strategies to break the cycle of inflammation, Dr...
Discovery Of Molecule In Immune System That Could Help Treat Melanoma
7/10/2012
Researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) have made a groundbreaking discovery that will shape the future of melanoma therapy. The team, led by Thomas S. Kupper, MD, chair of the BWH Department of Dermatology, and Rahul Purwar, PhD, found that high expression of a cell-signaling molecule, known as interleukin-9, in immune cells inhibits melanoma growth...
For Production Of Early T-Cell Progenitors, Transcription Factor Lyl-1 Is Critical
7/10/2012
A transcription factor called Lyl-1 is necessary for production of the earliest cells that can become T-cells, critical cells born in the thymus that coordinate the immune response to cancer or infections, said a consortium of researchers led by those from Baylor College of Medicine in a report in the journal Nature Immunology...
What Improves Quality Of Life For Dying Cancer Patients?
7/10/2012
Patients with advanced cancer who are reaching the end of their lives have a better quality of life if they are not hospitalized, are not in an intensive care unit, are being visited by a pastor if they are hospitalized or in a clinic, can worry less, have the opportunity to meditate or pray, and have a therapeutic alliance with their doctor, say researchers from the Dana-Farbe...
Genetic Test To Decide Whether Erbitux Works For Colon Cancer Patients Approved By FDA
7/09/2012
Up until now, some colorectal cancer (CRC) patients and their doctors had no way of determining whether the drug Erbitux (cetuximab) would be a helpful treatment based on the absence of a KRAS gene mutation. On July 6, 2012, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first genetic test to help doctors decide which colon cancer patients might respond well to cetuximab...
Sanofi Cancels Heparin Substitute Semuloparin
7/09/2012
The experimental drug Semuloparin which acts to prevent blood clots and was considered as an alternative to standard heparins, has been withdrawn by it's European based manufacturer Sanofi. They have announced today that they will no longer be seeking marketing approval for the experimental medication...
The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the Society for Surgical Oncology (SSO) have issued their first evidence-based clinical practice guideline on the use of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) to stage patients with newly diagnosed melanoma...
Do Fertility Drugs Alter Risk For Cancer? Researchers Say Yes
7/09/2012
According to a study published in the July 6 edition of the Journal of The National Cancer Institute, the risk of breast cancer in women who failed to conceive at least a 10-week pregnancy and were using fertility drugs was statistically considerably lower than in those who did not use fertility drugs...
HPV Vaccine Reduces Spread Even In Unvaccinated
7/09/2012
The Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center published a study in Pediatrics today showing that non immunized teens were showing a lower infection rate of the human papillomavirus. Usually, in large populations, vaccination tends to reduce the spread of a disease even in those without the vaccine...
Drinking Coffee: More Good Than Harm?
7/09/2012
There was a time when the only news about coffee and health was how it was bad for the heart, likely to give us ulcers and aggravate our nerves, but now it seems this popular beverage is receiving a more favorable kind of press...