Ever heard of the interstitium? No? That’s OK, you’re not alone — scientists hadn’t either. Until recently. And, hey, guess what — you’ve got one! The interstitium is your newest organ. Scientists identified it for the first time because they are better able to observe living tissues at a microscopic scale, according to a recent study published in Scientific Reports, Scientists...
Category: <span>Cancer</span>
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Metronomic Chemotherapy: Direct Targeting of Cancer Cells after all?
Trends Initially considered as an antiangiogenic therapy, MC is in fact a multi-targeted anti micro environment therapy. The fact that MC can directly target cancer cells and cancer stem cells has been neglected. MC can impact cancer cell metabolism. Several types of cell death, including immunogenic cell death, can be induced by MC. MC can...
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Glutamine Metabolism in Cancer: Understanding the Heterogeneity
The role of glutamine in cancer metabolism is more complex than previously appreciated. Glutaminase inhibition effectiveness in vivo is highly dependent on tumor cell origin and tumor microenvironment. Animal studies and anchorage-independent cell culture studies can greatly complement monolayer cell culture studies and may reveal unique metabolic patterns. The synthesis or uptake, and the utilization,...
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Getting the ‘Akt’ straight in angiogenesis
LAKE NONA, Fla.—To date, the primary therapeutic focus when it comes to encouraging angiogenesis, or the development of new blood vessels, is vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). But a signaling pathway discovered by researchers at the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) as being pivotal for angiogenesis could offer a better option. This work was detailed...
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New insights into prostate cancer treatment and screening
In four recent publications in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO), Maha Hussain, MD, deputy director of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, detailed new findings related to therapies for advanced prostate cancer, and called for a balanced approach to early detection of the disease. “This represents a good portion of...
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New gene involved in familial breast cancer
An international research consortium led by Dr Jordi Surrallés, director of the Genetics Service at the Hospital de Sant Pau and professor of Genetics at the UAB, and by Dr Miquel Àngel Pujana, director of the ProCURE Research Programme of the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO, IDIBELL), has identified a novel gene involved in this...
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Improved capture of cancer cells in blood could help track disease
Tumor cells circulating throughout the body in blood vessels have long been feared as harbingers of metastasizing cancer — even though most free-floating cancer cells will not go on to establish a new tumor. But if these cast-offs could be accurately counted, they could provide an additional way to track treatment or screen for the...
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Synthetic macro molecules kill multi drug-resistant cancer cells
Cancer continues to be a deadly threat to more than 14 million people who are diagnosed each year around the world. At the same time, five-year survival rates have been steadily improving over the last three decades to nearly 70 percent, according to the American Cancer Society. However, current cancer treatment regimens, such as traditional...
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Immune system ‘double agent’ could be new ally in cancer fight
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital scientists have discovered that an enzyme called TAK1 functions like a “double agent” in the innate immune response, serving as an unexpected regulator of inflammation and cell death. The findings highlight TAK1 inhibition as a potential cancer treatment. TAK1 is a kinase known to promote inflammation. But Thirumala-Devi Kanneganti, Ph.D.,...
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Researchers create a drug to extend the lives of men with prostate cancer
Fifteen years ago, Michael Jung was already an eminent scientist when his wife asked him a question that would change his career, and extend the lives of many men with a particularly lethal form of prostate cancer. “When I turned 55—I’m now 70—my wife, Alice, said to me, ‘What do you want to do for...