Cancer Biologists Determine How Platelets In The Bloodstream Help Cancer Cells Form New Tumors.
11/17/2011
About 90 percent of cancer deaths are caused by secondary tumors, known as metastases, which spread from the original tumor site. To become mobile and break free from the original tumor, cancer cells need help from other cells in their environment. Many cells have been implicated in this process, including immune system cells and cells that form connective tissue...
Lung Cancer Diagnosis Through Early COPD Detection
11/17/2011
Early screening of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) may help to detect lung cancer at an earlier stage, according to a new study. The research, published online in the European Respiratory Journal, suggests that if COPD can be detected at an earlier stage, this will also aid the early detection of lung cancer...
Novel Biosensor Benefits From Melding Of Carbon Nanotubes, DNA
11/17/2011
Purdue University scientists have developed a method for stacking synthetic DNA and carbon nanotubes onto a biosensor electrode, a development that may lead to more accurate measurements for research related to diabetes and other diseases. Standard sensors employ metal electrodes coated with enzymes that react with compounds and produce an electrical signal that can be measured...
Alcoholism Linked To Higher Rates Of General And Cancer-Related Deaths
11/17/2011
Alcohol consumption causes approximately four percent of all deaths worldwide and is responsible for roughly five percent of global diseases. A study of alcohol consumption in Tuscany, Italy has found that alcoholics have significantly higher rates of both general and cancer mortality when compared to the general population...
Gene Discovery Could Lead To Prevention Of Skin Cancer
11/17/2011
An extraordinary breakthrough in understanding what stops a common form of skin cancer from developing could make new cancer treatments and prevention available to the public in five years...
Atrophy Associated With Chronic Illness May Soon Have First Treatment
11/17/2011
Patients with cancer, heart disease and other chronic illness struggle not only with complications inherent to their disease, they also experience an involuntary loss of weight and muscle mass triggered by the body's natural response to infection and inflammation. Increasing nutrition intake does not mitigate the process and there is no treatment...
New Cancer-Causing Virus Confirmed By Researchers
11/17/2011
An important new study from the Laboratory for Developmental Genetics at USC has confirmed cytomegalovirus (CMV) as a cause of the most common salivary gland cancers. CMV joins a group of fewer than 10 identified oncoviruses - cancer-causing viruses - including HPV...
About 10% of breast cancers are due to mutations in genes called BRCA1 and BRCA2. However, the molecular mechanism by which alteration of these genes greatly increases the risk of cancer is not fully understood...
Drug-Related Side Effects A Problem For Male Breast Cancer Patients Taking Tamoxifen
11/17/2011
The largest study to investigate the tolerability of the breast cancer drug tamoxifen in male breast cancer patients has shown that men stop taking their prescribed therapy early because of problems with side effects caused by the drug...
Discovery Of Key Aspect Of Process That Activates Breast Cancer Genes
11/17/2011
Researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) have discovered key processes by which estrogen, the female sex hormone, activates genes in breast-cancer cells. Greater understanding of how this occurs is expected to eventually lead to new treatments for the disease. Michael R. Stallcup, Ph.D...