Cancer

Changing cancer's environment to halt its spread
05/21/2013 - 15:24

By studying the roles two proteins, thrombospondin-1 and prosaposin, play in discouraging cancer metastasis, a trans-Atlantic research team has identified a five-amino acid fragment of prosaposin that significantly reduces metastatic spread in mouse models of prostate, breast and lung cancer. The findings suggest that a prosaposin-based drug could potentially block metastasis in a variety of cancers.

 

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Nano-messenger opens way for new cancer treatment
05/21/2013 - 09:25

A new study from Karolinska Institutet shows that exosomes, nanoparticles that transmit information between cells, constitute a potential new treatment strategy for several cancers. The study, which was conducted on mice, was published recently online in the scientific journal Cancer Research.

 

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PARP Inhibitor Shows Activity in Pancreatic, Prostate Cancers Among Patients Carrying BRCA Mutations
05/17/2013 - 13:00

In the largest clinical trial to date to examine the efficacy of PARP inhibitor therapy in BRCA 1/2 carriers with diseases other than breast and ovarian cancer, the oral drug olaparib was found to be effective against advanced pancreatic and prostate cancers. Results of the study, led by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer, Israel, will be presented during the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting in Chicago in early June (Abstract #11024).

 

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Researchers Identify Four New Genetic Risk Factors for Testicular Cancer
05/13/2013 - 09:58

A new study looking at the genomes of more than 13,000 men identified four new genetic variants associated with an increased risk of testicular cancer, the most commonly diagnosed type in young men today. The findings from this first-of-its-kind meta-analysis were reported online May 12 in Nature Genetics by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

 

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Endometrial cancer findings emerge from genome sequencing study
05/10/2013 - 11:23

Investigators from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) Research Network, including several scientists from the Broad Institute, have published the most comprehensive genomic analysis of endometrial cancer to date. Their study, which appeared in the May 2 issue of Nature, classified the tumors into four novel sub-types and identified molecular similarities between some of these sub-types and other forms of cancer, including ovarian, breast, and colorectal cancers. The findings provide new clues about the molecular pathways that may contribute to the disease, and could help identify which patients might benefit from aggressive treatment.

 

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Team Finds Dissimilar Proteins Evolved Similar 7-Part Shape
05/09/2013 - 09:31

Solving the structure of a critical human molecule involved in cancer, scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have found what they call a good example of structural conservation—dissimilar genes that keep very similar shapes.

 

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