IN BRIEF Researchers from Duke University’s Cancer Institute have published a study explaining how a modified poliovirus is able to effectively treat cancer patients. They discovered that the virus compels the body’s own immune system to join the fight against the cancer cells. LOCKING ON CANCER CELLS Since 2011, researchers have been conducting clinical trials involving a...
Category: <span>Cancer</span>
Post
Researchers develop new strategy to target KRAS mutant cancer
Although KRAS is one of the major oncogenes associated with aggressive cancers, drugs designed to block KRAS function have not been able to halt cancer progression in a clinical setting. Until now, KRAS has remained infamously “undruggable.” In a new study, published this month in Cancer Discovery, University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers...
Post
Lower thyroid stimulating hormone levels elevate risk of thyroid cancer
There is an increased risk of thyroid cancer associated with lower-than-normal thyroid hormone levels, a finding that could have a major impact on patients fighting the disease. The Yale-led study, published in American Association for Cancer Research journal examined the effect of Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) on the development of human papillary thyroid cancer (PTC). Study findings were based...
Post
New research on probiotics in the prevention and treatment of colon cancer
In an innovative approach to colorectal cancer (CRC) prevention and treatment, scientists are studying ways to replace missing metabolites in patients prone to gut inflammation and CRC. A new study in The American Journal of Pathology describes how administration of histamine-producing gut microbes to mice lacking the enzyme histidine decarboxylase (HDC) reduced inflammation and tumor formation. These...
Post
Scientists combine antimalarial drug with light sensitive molecules for promising treatment of cancer
Artemisinin, a potent anti-malarial drug, has been widely hailed as a promising alternative cancer treatment. Scientists from the National University of Singapore (NUS) recently showed that its anti-cancer properties could be enhanced by 10 fold when used in combination with aminolevulinic acid (ALA), a photosensitiser which, upon exposure to light, leads to generation of free...
Post
A new paradigm for treating transcription factor-driven cancers
In the current issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from Nationwide Children’s Hospital describe a new paradigm for treating transcription factor-driven cancers. The study focuses on Ewing sarcoma and how the EWS/FLI transcription factor drives the malignancy – and suggests ways to disrupt the process. Transcription factors are involved in the process...
Post
Altitude training for cancer-fighting cells
Mountain climbers and endurance athletes are not the only ones to benefit from altitude training – that is, learning to perform well under low-oxygen conditions. It turns out that cancer-fighting cells of the immune system can also improve their performance through a cellular version of such a regimen. In a study published in Cell Reports, Weizmann...
Post
Theranostics: Paintball targeting of cancer cells combined with precision therapy
The Journal of Nuclear Medicine‘s September 2017 supplement shines a spotlight on theranostics and its increasingly important role in the delivery of precision medicine. Theranostics refers to the combination of a predictive biomarker, identified through diagnostic imaging using radiolabeled ligands (which lock onto the specific cancer cell receptor/biomarker), with precise therapy targeted on the now-marked...
Post
Jet lag drug may aid cancer patients
Painful side effects from cancer medicines could be tackled with a drug that eases the effects of jet lag, research suggests. The drug – known as melatonin – appeared to prevent pain caused by chemotherapy damage to nerves. It blocked harmful effects on nerve health, the study with rats shows. Experts say the findings help scientists understand...
Post
FDA approves first biosimilar drug for cancer
Mvasi (bevacizumab-awwb) was found to be biosimilar to the drug Avastin (bevacizumab), the FDA said Thursday in a news release. Avastin was approved in 2004. Mvasi is approved to treat certain colorectal, lung, brain, kidney, and cervical cancers. The most common side effects of Mvasi include epistaxis, headache, hypertension, rhinitis, proteinuria, changes in taste, and...