Half of patients in Cedars-Sinai glioblastoma study still alive after 5 years
11/26/2013
Eight of 16 patients participating in a study of an experimental immune system therapy directed against the most aggressive malignant brain tumors - glioblastoma multiforme - survived longer than five years after diagnosis, according to Cedars-Sinai researchers, who presented findings at the Fourth Quadrennial Meeting of the World Federation of Neuro-Oncology.
'Deformability cytometry' improves accuracy, ease of cancer diagnosis
11/26/2013
A team of researchers from UCLA and Harvard University have demonstrated a technique that, by measuring the physical properties of individual cells in body fluids, can diagnose cancer with a high degree of accuracy.
Researchers from the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) in Barcelona, Spain, have studied the role of a peculiar class of small non-coding RNAs that are mainly expressed in the human male germline.
Task Force updates oral cancer screening recommendations
11/25/2013
The United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) found insufficient evidence to recommend for or against screening for oral cancer by primary care physicians in asymptomatic adults, according to an article published in Annals of Internal Medicine. Oral cancer and pharyngeal cancer include cancer of the lip, oral cavity, and pharynx.
Gut bacteria can boost chemo drug's effect on immune system
11/25/2013
The chemotherapy drug cyclophosphamide is recognized for its ability to stimulate anti-tumor responses in the immune system. Now, a new study recently published in Science suggests it gets help from gut bacteria to do this.There are more than 100,000 billion bacteria in the gut - which collectively behave like an organ. They are crucial to our health.
Enhancing treatments for drug-resistant melanoma
11/25/2013
Melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer, killing more than 8,000 in the U.S. each year. Approximately 40 percent of advanced melanoma tumors are driven to grow by the presence of mutations in a gene known as the BRAF gene.
Discovery of genomic variant associated with sun sensitivity, freckles
11/25/2013
Researchers have identified a genomic variant strongly associated with sensitivity to the sun, brown hair, blue eyes - and freckles. In the study of Icelanders the researchers uncovered an intricate pathway involving the interspersed DNA sequence, or non-coding region, of a gene that is among a few dozen that are associated with human pigmentation traits.
Insights into the movement of cancer cells provided by study on cell migration
11/25/2013
The migration of groups of cells in order to form tissues is common during the development of an organism. Discovering how these multiple movements are achieved is not only crucial to understand the basic principles of development but provides new information and insights for further research into processes associated with the spread of cancer.
New side-effect of crizotinib for ALK positive NSCLC
11/25/2013
A University of Colorado Cancer Center study published in the journal Cancer shows that using crizotinib to treat ALK positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) appears to reduce kidney function when assessed by one of the most commonly used clinical methods.
Findings suggest anticancer drugs may have implications for oncology, diabetes drug development
11/25/2013
Drugs that inhibit the activity of enzymes called histone deacetylases (HDACs) are being widely developed for treating cancer and other diseases, with two already on the market.