A new study examines the behavior of a cancer-killing virus that fits tumor cells perfectly and leaves healthy cells intact. Virus illustration Can we tame viruses to use them as a treatment for cancer? Cancer is a chronic disease that kills millions of people worldwide. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), cancer is the...
Tag: <span>Tumor</span>
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Brain-derived compounds show surprising — and beneficial — results for cancer in lab studies
A lab team led by Nobel Prize winner Dr. Andrew Schally at the Miami Veterans Affairs Healthcare System and the University of Miami showed that a synthetic compound based on a brain hormone spurred the growth of cancer cells in Petri dishes but enigmatically had the opposite effect in mice. IMAGE: DR. ANDREW SCHALLY (RIGHT) IS...
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Breakthrough biomarker discovery reveals whether metastatic breast cancer is dormant or deadly
In an outstanding breakthrough, an international team of scientists has discovered a protein biomarker than can predict whether a patient’s metastasized breast cancer is dormant or about to turn deadly. The research will not only help doctors better treat patients suffering from breast cancer, but also points to new treatments that may be able to...
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Magnetoferritin: a new effective marker for tumor diagnosis and treatment?
A novel magnetoferritin-based method allows doctors to more accurately diagnose malignant cells, providing additional opportunities for cancer treatments. One major problem in diagnostic radiology today is the lack of accuracy due to insufficient contrast between the cells of interest and the background environment. Before taking MRIs, small quantities of ‘contrast agents’ are typically added to...
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Scientists find old antibiotic may selectively kill dangerous skin cancer cells
An old antibiotic, called nifuroxazide, could selectively kill dangerous cells within melanomas, the deadliest type of skin cancer, scientists from the Medical Research Council (MRC) Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine at the University of Edinburgh have found. The study, published in the journal Cell Chemical Biology, found the drug showed promise for complementing existing...
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Turning off protein could boost immunotherapy effectiveness on cancer tumors
Researchers at the Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy in the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center discovered inhibiting a previously known protein could reduce tumor burdens and enhance the effectiveness of immunotherapy treatments. In order to investigate the role of the Yes-associated protein, or YAP, in T-cells in the cancer setting, scientists used mice genetically engineered to lack YAP in several...
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Targeting headaches and tumors with nano-submarines
New method of transporting drugs published in Nature Nanotechnology JOHANNES GUTENBERG UNIVERSITAET MAINZ Scientists at the Mainz University Medical Center and the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research (MPI-P) have developed a new method to enable miniature drug-filled nanocarriers to dock on to immune cells, which in turn attack tumors. In the future, this may...
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A new therapy proves effective against brain metastasis
A study published in Nature Medicine by a team led by Manuel Valiente, head of the Brain Metastasis Group at the Spanish National Cancer ResearchCentre (CNIO), shows that the administration of silibinin in patients with brain metastasis reduces lesions without causing any adverse effects. This preliminary trial provides proof of concept that this compound could be a new...
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Cell surface protein plays an integral role in tumor growth and sustenance
Researchers at Okayama University describe in the journal Scientific Reports the role of an extracellular protein, versican, in regulating tumor growth and providing a newly formed network of blood vessels to further nourish the tumor. Angiogenesis is the creation of new blood vessels from the branching of pre-existing ones. This phenomenon is especially important in the context...
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Gallbladder cancer: Pharmacist finds protein that drives tumor growth
Patients with gallbladder cancer often show few or no symptoms for long periods of time. As a result, the tumours are only detected at a late stage of the disease when treatment is often no longer possible. Working in collaboration with pathologists at the University of Magdeburg, Sonja M. Kessler, a research pharmacist in the...