by University of Southern California Most cancers kill because tumor cells spread beyond the primary site to invade other organs. Now, a USC study of brain-invading breast cancer cells circulating in the blood reveals they have a molecular signature indicating specific organ preferences. The findings, which appear in Cancer Discovery, help explain how tumor cells in the blood target a particular organ and may enable the development of treatments to...
Tag: <span>Tumor</span>
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Cell stiffness may indicate whether tumors will invade
Posted Yesterday Engineers at MIT and elsewhere have tracked the evolution of individual cells within an initially benign tumor, showing how the physical properties of those cells drive the tumor to become invasive, or metastatic. The team carried out experiments with a human breast cancer tumor that developed in the lab. As the tumor grew...
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Study fingers new player in cancer immunity
Deleting immune-regulatory gene boosted tumor-fighting capacity in the immune cells of mice with colon cancer, melanoma HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL The immune system must strike an exquisite balance between vanquishing infections and cancer, while at the same time restraining its activity to avoid inadvertently attacking the body’s healthy tissues and organs. This balancing feat is accomplished by...
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How cancer breaks down your muscles
by Steinar Brandslet, Norwegian University of Science and Technology A solid tumor can cause muscle cells in the body to self-destruct. Many cancer patients die from the consequences. Now researchers are discovering more about how cancer cells in a tumor can take control of muscle cell wasting and trigger a chronic, serious condition. This type of cancer-related muscle wasting is due to...
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Natural killers’ may help treat advanced solid cancerous tumors
by Chris Adam, Purdue University An internal battle over oxygen can lead to major setbacks for people battling solid malignant tumors such as lung and brain cancers. Many solid tumors develop a severe lack of oxygen because they grow into large masses where the blood supply becomes progressively impaired. Cancer cells have adapted to grow in these situations, but immune cells have...
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UC San Diego Cancer Scientists Identify New Drug Target for Multiple Tumor Types
Posted Today A research team headed by scientists at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research at UC San Diego has identified an enzyme involved in remodeling the plasma membrane of multiple cancer cell types that is critical to both survival of tumors and their uncontrolled growth. The...
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Anti-worm drug inhibits tumour growth and spread in mice
Posted Today Researchers at UNSW Sydney have discovered that a drug used for almost 40 years to treat worm infections in humans and animals can be used to inhibit melanoma growth and spread in mice. The drug, which is available over-the-counter in Europe, is a so-called anthelmintic used to control parasitic infections. The researchers found that...
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No tumor is an island
by Dr Kat Arney, Cancer Research UK For decades tumors have been viewed as ‘other’—malignant, unruly growths that are distinctly separate from the ordered physiological system within which they live. This view has shaped our approach to treat cancer: cut it out if it’s small enough, zap it with radiotherapy, or attack it with ever-more-precisely targeted drugs. However,...
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Drug makes tumors more susceptible to chemo
Many chemotherapy drugs kill cancer cells by severely damaging their DNA. However, some tumors can withstand this damage by relying on a DNA repair pathway that not only allows them to survive, but also introduces mutations that helps cells become resistant to future treatment. Researchers at MIT and Duke University have now discovered a potential drug compound that can...
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Magnetic Beads Strip Blood Samples to Allow Circulating Tumor Cell Isolation
Researchers at the University of Georgia have developed a microfluidic chip to isolate circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from bloodsamples. Unlike other devices, this new chip uses magnetic microbeads to strip all the cells from the blood, leaving only the CTCs, in a technique the researchers have called “integrated ferrohydrodynamic cell separation”. The device is highly efficient and isolates almost all the CTCs in a blood sample (over 99%)....