A photomicrograph of Epstein-Barr virus, which can cause nasopharyngeal cancer.CDC Gut Check is a periodic look at health claims made by studies, newsmakers, or conventional wisdom. We ask: Should you believe this? The claim: A blood test can detect DNA associated with nasopharyngeal cancer in seemingly healthy people, leading to earlier diagnosis and saving lives, researchers...
Category: <span>Cancer</span>
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Identification of essential genes for cancer immunotherapy
Abstract Somatic gene mutations can alter the vulnerability of cancer cells to T-cell-based immunotherapies. Here we perturbed genes in human melanoma cells to mimic loss-of-function mutations involved in resistance to these therapies, by using a genome-scale CRISPR–Cas9 library that consisted of around 123,000 single-guide RNAs, and profiled genes whose loss in tumour cells impaired the...
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Prostate cancer testing: has the bubble burst?
In 2010, I wrote a free book on prostate cancer testing with two colleagues, Alex Barratt (an epidemiologist) and Martin Stockler (a clinical oncologist), Let sleeping dogs lie? What men should know before getting tested for prostate cancer. It has been downloaded just short of 38,000 times, the highest of any item in Sydney University’s open access...
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Discovery points to drugs that would ‘short-circuit’ deadly leukemia
Researchers at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have discovered that survival of a particularly aggressive form of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) depends on production of a small molecule called heme that is a kind of molecular “battery.” The researchers said discovery of this vulnerability points the way to new targeted drug therapies that block heme...
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How a chemo drug can help cancer spread from the breast to the lungs
COLUMBUS, Ohio -The very same treatment that thwarts breast cancer has a dark side—it can fuel the spread of the disease to the lungs. Researchers at The Ohio State University studied the cascade of events that lead to metastatic cancer and found clues to why it happens, opening up the possibility of one day interfering with the...
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Drug hope for acute myeloid leukemia
A new drug that strips cancer cells of their “immortality” could help to treat patients suffering from one of the most aggressive forms of leukaemia. The drug candidate, called HXR9, works by preventing the cancer cells from sidestepping the natural process that causes unhealthy and damaged cells to die, known as apoptosis. Researchers at the University...
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Prostate cancer cells become ‘shapeshifters’ to spread to distant organs
Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center scientists report they have discovered a biochemical process that gives prostate cancer cells the almost unnatural ability to change their shape, squeeze into other organs and take root in other parts of the body. The scientists say their cell culture and mouse studies of the process, which involves a cancer-related...
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Osteoporosis medications improve bone health in men with prostate cancer receiving androgen deprivation therapy
Both biophosphonates and denosumab improve bone mineral density (BMD) in men with nonmetastatic prostate cancer who are receiving androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). The results from a systematic review and meta-analysis are published in Annals of Internal Medicine. One in two men with prostate cancer receives ADT at some point after diagnosis. While ADT has been the mainstay of...
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Researchers discover potential cancer treatment breakthrough
Patients undergoing conventional chemotherapy for certain cancers could potentially receive more effective and less toxic drug treatment. In a July issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Dong Zhang Ph.D., associate professor of Biomedical Sciences at New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine (NYITCOM) and a team of researchers...
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Molecules that could help to prevent the development of brain tumors
Researchers from the University of Portsmouth’s Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence have identified molecules which are responsible for metastatic lung cancer cells binding to blood vessels in the brain. In order for a cancer cell to enter the brain, it must first bind to the cells which line the structure separating the blood from...