Researchers from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and The Cleveland Clinic designed a way to screen brain tumor cells and identify potential drug targets missed by other methods. The team successfully used their technique to find a glioblastoma cancer gene that, when blocked, extends mouse survival rates. In a study published in Nature, the...
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New research offers hope to neuro-tumor patients
New research published today, 10th July 2017, online in the journal Oncogene could offer hope to the thousands of, mainly young, people affected by the hereditary condition Neurofibromatosis 2 (NF2). This condition is characterised by the development of multiple tumours of the nervous system such as schwannomas, meningiomas and ependymomas, each associated with mutations in a gene...
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Cancer vaccines help patients get tumor-free in 2 studies
Cancer vaccines — which are intended to help patients fight cancer by enlisting the individuals’ own immune systems to attack cancer cells —showed promise in two small new studies. In both studies, researchers used experimental cancer vaccines to treat patients who had the deadly skin cancer melanoma . And in both studies, tumors completely disappeared...
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Using Light to Activate Genes and Kill Cancer
Scientists at Kyoto University in Japan have developed a gene delivery system, involving gold nanorods and a near infrared laser, which can transport a gene into cells and activate it. Changing gene expression is a powerful way to affect cell behavior, and scientists hope to use this approach to treat a variety of diseases. Researchers...
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Chemotherapy could cause cancer to SPREAD and grow back even more aggressive, new study claims
The drug is often regarded as the first option for breast cancer patients But scientists at New York’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine have found evidence that this is only a short-term solution – and can be dangerous While shrinking the tumors, it opens a gateway for tumors to spread, they said Cancer becomes almost impossible...
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Chemotherapy before breast cancer surgery might fuel metastasis
When breast cancer patients get chemotherapy before surgery to remove their tumor, it can make remaining malignant cells spread to distant sites, resulting in incurable metastatic cancer, scientists reported last week. The main goal of pre-operative (neoadjuvant) chemotherapy for breast cancer is to shrink tumors so women can have a lumpectomy rather than a more...
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Stem cell-based therapy for targeting skin-to-brain cancer
Investigators from Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute have a potential solution for how to kill tumor cells that have metastasized to the brain. The team has developed cancer-killing viruses that can deliver stem cells via the carotid artery, and applied them to metastatic tumors in the brain of clinically...
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‘Educating’ patients’ immune cells may help combat diabetes
New research reveals that a treatment called Stem Cell Educator therapy is safe and effective for treating type 1 and type 2 diabetes. The therapy cultures the patient’s immune cells with cord blood stem cells and returns only the “educated” immune cells to the patient’s circulation. The strategy may provide benefits because abnormalities in multiple...
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Cultured epidermal stem cells in regenerative medicine
Abstract Transplantation of cultured epidermal cell sheets (CES) has long been used to treat patients with burns, chronic wounds, and stable vitiligo. In patients with large area burns this can be a life-saving procedure. The ultimate goal, however, is to restore all normal functions of the skin and prevent scar formation. Increased focus on the...
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Directed Differentiation of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells to Microglia
Highlights Efficient protocol to generate human microglia from PSCs iPSC-derived microglia have ramified morphology and motile processes Expression and cytokine profiles of iPSC-derived microglia resemble primary microglia iPSC-derived microglia can phagocytose beads and respond to ADP Summary Microglia, the immune cells of the brain, are crucial to proper development and maintenance of the CNS, and...