Focusing on PARP-1 Reveals Potential New Drug Targets
5/13/2012
A new study published in Science is shedding light on the molecular details of PARP-1, a DNA damage-detecting enzyme that when inhibited has been shown to be effective in fighting cancer and other diseases. The investigation led by John M. Pascal, Ph.D...
Scientists from the Medical Research Council (MRC) Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine (IGMM) at the University of Edinburgh have discovered an enzyme that corrects the most common mistake in mammalian DNA. The mistake is the inclusion of individual bits of RNA within the DNA sequence, which the researchers found occurs more than a million times in each cell as it divides...
How To Overcome Poor Response To Radiotherapy Caused By Low Haemoglobin Levels
5/13/2012
Patients with head and neck cancer and a low haemoglobin (Hb) level do not respond well to radiotherapy and therefore both control of their tumour and disease-free survival are compromised...
A New Target For Cancer Therapy Could Be An RNA Regulator Of Melanoma
5/13/2012
Melanoma is the most deadly form of skin cancer, estimated by the National Cancer Institute to afflict more than 70,000 people in the United States annually and the incidence rate continues to rise...
Predicting Breast Cancer Response To Chemotherapy
5/12/2012
Chemotherapy is a major first line defense against breast cancer. However a patient's response is often variable and unpredictable. A study published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Medical Genomics shows that 'gene expression signatures' for TOP2A and β-tubulin can be used to predict the outcome of chemotherapy...
Infections Cause Many Cancers Globally
5/11/2012
A new study published Online First in The Lancet Oncology reveals that from 7.5 million cancer deaths in 2008, about 1.5 million were due to infections that could have either been prevented or treated...
Approximately 40% of individuals treated for head and neck cancer experience the distressing adverse-effects of dry mouth syndrome. However, researchers in the Netherlands may have found a way to prevent impairing salivary glands during radiotherapy treatment...
CDC Looks At Sunburn In Young Adults
5/11/2012
More than half of young adults(18-29) interviewed, and 65% of whites, reported at least one sunburn in the last 12 months. The CDC along with the National Cancer Institute analyzed data from The National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), which is an annual, cross-sectional survey of the civilian, non-institutionalized U.S. population...
UV Camera Reveals Cancer-Causing Skin Damage
5/11/2012
With high UV levels continuing in Queensland this autumn, young people are at risk of suffering the worst skin damage they will receive during their lifetime, research from Queensland University of Technology (QUT) has found...
Hysterectomies May Be Avoided For Cervical Cancer Patients Using 3-D Image Guided Brachytherapy
5/11/2012
Delivering radiotherapy directly to cancer of the cervix using 3-D imaging techniques is effective at controlling the return and spread of the disease and, in most cases, avoids the need for hysterectomies, according to research presented at the World Congress of Brachytherapy [1 & 2]...