by Nagoya University A research team led by Nagoya University has revealed that cells containing a protein called Meflin have a role in restraining the progression of pancreatic cancer, a type of cancer that is hard to treat with traditional anti-cancer drugs. The team has also shown that cancer progression can be limited by artificially...
Tag: <span>cancer cells</span>
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Scientists discover the structure of cancer molecule
By Maria Cohut Fact checked by Jasmin Collier Alternative splicing is a complex but insufficiently understood process. It is crucial to the production of proteins necessary to cell health. Researchers now believe that cancer cells also use this process to their own advantage. Proteins are large molecules that are absolutely crucial to the health of every single...
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Liquid biopsy chip detects tumor cells in 100 percent of blood samples from breast cancer patients
by Michael W. Dorsey, Worcester Polytechnic Institute Researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) have developed a chip made of carbon nanotubes that can capture circulating tumor cells (CTCs) of all sizes and types, and can do so with far greater sensitivity than existing technologies. The unique design of the device makes it possible to easily...
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Coating immune cells in nanoparticles helps seek and destroy rogue cancer cells
Michael Irving One of the main reasons cancer can be so difficult to beat is because of its ability to spread through the body, even after the primary tumor has been surgically removed. But now researchers from Vanderbilt University have developed a new technique that uses nanoparticles to enhance immune cells, helping them hunt down...
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Study ties unhealthy gums to liver cancer risk
By Catharine Paddock PhD Fact checked by Isabel Godfrey A large study of people living in the United Kingdom found that those who reported having poor oral health, such as sore or bleeding gums or loose teeth, had a 75% higher risk of developing liver cancer. Previous studies have already established that gums and teeth that are...
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Drug-resistant cancer cells create own Achilles heel
by Nicole Giese Rura, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research The cells of most patients’ cancers are resistant to a class of drugs, called proteasome inhibitors, that should kill them. When studied in the lab, these drugs are highly effective, yet hundreds of clinical trials testing proteasome inhibitors have failed. Now scientists may have solved the mystery of these cells’ surprising hardiness....
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Researchers report a new targetable vulnerability in breast cancer cells
by University of Helsinki New study reveals that FGFR4 phosphorylates the essential proteins (MST1/2) of Hippo tumor suppressor pathway preventing their activation and induction of programmed cell death in breast cancer cells. Cell death program can be reactivated by blocking FGFR4 function with a speficic inhibitor. These findings suggest new options for eradicating cancer cells...
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Are all cancer cells the same?
Take two cancer cells and compare their genomes. Surprisingly, they can be quite different. This genetic variation is one of the hallmarks of cancer, and one reason why treating cancer is so hard. If a tumour is made up of cells with many different genomes, a single drug might not kill them all. But knowing...
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First-in-class DNA-encoded monoclonal antibody therapy rapidly advances into the clinic
The Wistar Institute, along with partners Penn Medicine and Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc., announce that the FDA has approved the initiation of a first-in-human clinical trial investigating the safety and tolerability of a novel synthetic DNA-encoded monoclonal antibody (DMAb) therapeutic technology for the prevention of Zika virus infection. DMAb therapeutic technology is unlike all known conventional...
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Electric fields: cancer killers?
Pulsing cells with electric fields can force calcium diffusion into cells. Researchers have now optimized this technique in an attempt to kill cancer cells and leave healthy cells intact. Researchers from the Bioelectrics Department of Kumamoto University (Japan) have identified the optimal pulsed electric field (PEF) conditions for the maximum calcium cell membrane permeability. There...