Pancreatic cancer cellsANNE WESTON/WELLCOME IMAGES Pancreatic cancer is deadly: It’s difficult to detect and bedeviling to treat. Just 20 percent of patients survive a year after diagnosis. Less than 10 percent make it to the five-year mark. But recent discoveries — both in the lab and in patients — are raising hope. They’re still early stage....
Category: <span>Cancer</span>
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UVA researchers discover a new target for ‘triple-negative’ breast cancer
So-called “triple-negative” breast cancer is a particularly aggressive and difficult-to-treat form. It accounts for only about 10 percent of breast cancer cases, but is responsible for about 25 percent of breast cancer fatalities. Triple-negative breast cancer earns its name because, unlike other breast cancer subtypes, its cells test negative for estrogen and progesterone receptors, as...
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Breast cancer recurrence risk lingers years after treatment ends
Daniel F. Hayes, M.D. Even 20 years after a diagnosis, women with a type of breast cancer fueled by estrogen still face a substantial risk of cancer returning or spreading, according to a new analysis from an international team of investigators published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Standard treatment for estrogen receptor-positive, or...
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New way to shut down cancer cells’ ability to consume glucose
Cancer cells consume exorbitant amounts of glucose, a key source of energy, and shutting down this glucose consumption has long been considered a logical therapeutic strategy. However, good pharmacological targets to stop cancers’ ability to uptake and metabolize glucose are missing. In a new study published in Cell Reports, a team of University of Colorado Cancer...
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Cancer immunotherapy uses melanin against melanoma
Researchers have developed a melanin-enhanced cancer immunotherapy technique that can also serve as a vaccine, based on early experiments done in a mouse model. The technique is applied via a transdermal patch (shown here) and is made more …more Researchers have developed a melanin-enhanced cancer immunotherapy technique that can also serve as a vaccine, based...
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Epigenetic editing reveals surprising insights into early breast cancer development
Micrograph showing a lymph node invaded by ductal breast carcinoma, with extension of the tumour beyond the lymph node. Changing the epigenetic code of a single gene is enough to cause a healthy breast cell to begin a chain reaction and become abnormal, according to research by Queen Mary University of London (QMUL). The...
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Deadly brain tumors halted by blocking telomere protein
Glioblastoma brain tumors are notoriously difficult to treat, and the prognosis is poor for people with this type of brain cancer. However, a new study may have discovered a way to halt glioblastoma growth and increase patient survival. Blocking a protein called TRF1 could halt the growth of glioblastomas, say researchers. By inhibiting a...
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Scientists link pancreatic cancer survival to four genes
Alterations in four main genes are responsible for how long patients survive with pancreatic cancer, according to a new study in JAMA Oncology. Before now, the presence and patterns between the genes and disease progression was not clearly established. One key difference in this study is the relatively large size: it involved 356 patients who all had pancreatic adenocarcinoma that...
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The bacteria in your gut could help determine if a cancer therapy will work
Why does cancer immunotherapy work for some patients, but not others? Gut biodiversity could play a decisive role, two new studies in Science suggest. A lush microbiome populated with “good bacteria” can boost the power of the treatments, one paper found. On the other hand, certain immunotherapies were less effective in patients who were taking...
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Two Important Signalling Pathways in Cancer And Ageing Are Connected for the First Time
The structure of proteins that protect telomeres (shelterin proteins, from “protective shield”) are promising targets to combat cancer but to date there has been no effective form for attacking them. In the absence of drugs that destroy telomeres, cancer retains one of its most terrible properties, which is the ability of its cells to perpetually...