by Emily Caldwell, The Ohio State University New research suggests that both tumors and chemotherapy could be linked to the cognitive problems experienced by cancer patients because each affects the circadian clock, throwing off cellular processes related to behavior and memory. Scientists found that mice with breast cancer tumors were less likely than healthy mice...
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Another way to detect lymphedema
by Sanjay Mishra, Vanderbilt University Bioimpedance spectroscopy (BIS) is a noninvasive technology that measures the amount of fluid in a limb. It works by sending low level electrical current through the arm or leg and measuring the resistance to current (impedance). In this way, BIS can detect lymphedema, swelling caused by a lymphatic system blockage...
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Senescent cells feed on their neighbours
Chemotherapy-treated cancer cells that enter a non-dividing state called senescence can nevertheless boost cancer growth. The finding that these cells eat neighbouring cells reveals a mechanism that enables senescent cells to persist. Michael Overholtzer Multicellular life requires individual cells to cooperate in a way that benefits the organism. Cells that are uncooperative because they are damaged or dysfunctional, and...
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Teamwork by different T-cell types boosts tumour destruction by immunotherapy
Jonathan L. Linehan & Lélia Delamarre Immune cells called CD8 (or cytotoxic) T cells can target and kill cancer cells, and immunotherapies that boost this process are in clinical use. However, for reasons that are not fully clear, it is hard to predict whether a person will respond to this treatment. Writing in Nature, Alspach...
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New Nanotube Drug Delivery Shows Promise
A new drug delivery method designed by researchers at PNNL and Washington State University (WSU) has shown it can target and kill lung cancer cells. The research, led by Chun-Long Chen, a senior research scientist at PNNL and a joint faculty fellow at the University of Washington, and research partner Yuehe Lin, a professor at...
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Clues to improve cancer immunotherapy revealed
Cancer immunotherapy drugs trigger the body’s immune system to attack tumors and have revolutionized the treatment of certain cancers, such as lymphoma, lung cancer, and melanoma. Yet, while some patients respond well to the drugs, others don’t respond at all. Cancer immunologists want to change that. A new study by researchers at Washington University School...
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A New Actor in Cancer Immunity
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 a host of regulatory genes that calibrate the immune response. When this calibration goes awry, the immune system...
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ANTIVIRAL DRUG REALLY WORKS AT FIGHTING FLU VIRUS
A new antiviral drug that induces mutations in the genetic material of influenza virus is highly effective in treating infection in animals and human airway tissue, a new study shows. The antiviral drug blocks RNA polymerase, the enzyme that plays a central role in replicating the genome of influenza virus, causing mutations in the viral...
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Advanced cancer drug shrinks and intercalates DNA
Experiments and statistical models reveal that the recently developed cancer drug Pixantrone forces itself inside the double helix structure of DNA molecules, then shrinks their backbones SPRINGER Because of the harmful side-effects of chemotherapy, and the increasing resistance to drugs found in many cancer cells, it is critical for researchers to continually search for new...
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New clues as to why mutations in the MYH9 gene cause broad spectrum of disorders in humans
Researchers use in vivo imaging to watch how cells move and generate forces inside living tissues, study sheds new light on how motor proteins generate forces inside living tissues and how genetic factors alter these forces to result in disease COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND APPLIED SCIENCE New York, NY–October 28, 2019–Myosins are motor proteins that...