EurekAlert! - Cancer

NLST: CT detects twice as many lung cancers as X-ray at initial screening exam

Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(American College of Radiology) Low-dose CT scans detected twice as many early-stage lung cancers as chest X-ray on initial screening exam, according to additional National Lung Screening Trial results. Investigators say the 20 percent lung cancer mortality reduction previously reported in the NLST is achievable at experienced screening centers in the United States.

Overcoming resistance to anti-cancer drugs by targeting cell 'powerhouses'

Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(American Chemical Society) Re-routing anti-cancer drugs to the "power plants" that make energy to keep cells alive is a promising but long-neglected approach to preventing emergence of the drug-resistant forms of cancer -- source of a serious medical problem, scientists are reporting. That's the conclusion of a new study published in the journal ACS Chemical Biology.

Progress after recent breakthrough which opened new chapter in anti-cancer cell therapies

Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(John Theurer Cancer Center) John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center, one of the nation's top 50 cancer centers, will bring together leading cancer experts, for presentation and discussion of the latest developments and implications of cell therapy and interventional immunology in oncology, on Friday, June 7 from 7:00am to 1:30pm.

Research offers promising new approach to treatment of lung cancer

Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(Oregon State University) Researchers have developed a new drug delivery system that allows inhalation of chemotherapeutic drugs to help treat lung cancer, and in laboratory and animal tests it appears to reduce the systemic damage done to other organs while significantly improving the treatment of lung tumors -- the tumors virtually disappeared.

Study details genes that control whether tumors adapt or die when faced with p53 activating drugs

Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(University of Colorado Denver) When turned on, the gene p53 turns off cancer. However, when existing drugs boost p53, only a few tumors die -- the rest resist the challenge. A study published in the journal Cell Reports shows how: tumors that live even in the face of p53 reactivation create more of the protein p21 than the protein PUMA; tumors that die have more PUMA than p21. And, for the first time, the current study shows a handful of genes that control this ratio.

UCI chemists devise inexpensive, accurate way to detect prostate cancer

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(University of California - Irvine) Early screening for prostate cancer could become as easy for men as personal pregnancy testing is for women, thanks to UC Irvine research published today in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Small increase in cancer risk following CT scans in childhood and adolescence

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(University of Melbourne) A study of more than 600,000 Australians has found people are at slightly greater risk of cancer after having a CT scan. For every 1,800 people who underwent computed tomography (CT) scans before the age of 20, there was one extra case of cancer over the following 10 years.

Changing cancer's environment to halt its spread

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(Boston Children's Hospital) By studying the roles two proteins, thrombospondin-1 and prosaposin, play in discouraging cancer metastasis, a trans-Atlantic research team has identified a five-amino acid fragment of prosaposin that significantly reduces metastatic spread in mouse models of prostate, breast and lung cancer. The findings suggest that a prosaposin-based drug could potentially block metastasis in a variety of cancers.

Keeping stem cells strong

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(California Institute of Technology) A team of researchers led by biologists at the California Institute of Technology has found that, in mouse models, the molecule microRNA-146a acts as a critical regulator and protector of blood-forming stem cells (called hematopoietic stem cells, or HSCs) during chronic inflammation, suggesting that a deficiency of miR-146a may be one important cause of blood cancers and bone marrow failure.

Poliovirus vaccine trial shows early promise for recurrent glioblastoma

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(Duke University Medical Center) An attack on glioblastoma brain tumor cells that uses a modified poliovirus is showing encouraging results in an early study to establish the proper dose level, researchers at Duke Cancer Institute report.

MU researchers develop radioactive nanoparticles that target cancer cells

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(University of Missouri-Columbia) Researchers at the University of Missouri have found a way to create radioactive nanoparticles that target lymphoma tumor cells wherever they may be in the body.

UofL scientists uncover how grapefruits provide a secret weapon in medical drug delivery

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(University of Louisville) University of Louisville researchers have uncovered how to create nanoparticles using natural lipids derived from grapefruit, and have discovered how to use them as drug delivery vehicles.

Mayo Clinic: How gold nanoparticles can help fight ovarian cancer

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(Mayo Clinic) Positively charged gold nanoparticles are usually toxic to cells, but cancer cells somehow manage to avoid nanoparticle toxicity. Mayo Clinic researchers found out why, and determined how to make the nanoparticles effective against ovarian cancer cells.

New tumor-killer shows great promise in suppressing cancers

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(Nanyang Technological University) Scientists from Nanyang Technological University and Lund University, Sweden, have bioengineered a novel molecule which has been proven to successfully kill tumor cells.

Warning images for cigarette packs proposed by Europe do not make enough emotional impact

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(University of Granada) Not only are some of the images not perceived as negative -- people actually see them as positive. So, they could have the opposite effect by motivating people to approach the stimulus, that is, tobacco.

Novel RNA-based classification system for colorectal cancer

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(Public Library of Science) A novel transcriptome-based classification of colon cancer that improves the current disease stratification based on clinicopathological variables and common DNA markers is presented in a study published in PLOS Medicine this week.

H. pylori, smoking trends, and gastric cancer in US men

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(Public Library of Science) Trends in Helicobacter pylori and smoking explain a significant proportion of the decline of intestinal-type noncardia gastric adenocarcinoma incidence in US men between 1978 and 2008, and are estimated to continue to contribute to further declines between 2008 and 2040.

Low radiation scans help identify cancer in earliest stages

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(American Thoracic Society) A study of veterans at high risk for developing lung cancer shows that low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) can be highly effective in helping clinicians spot tiny lung nodules which, in a small number of patients, may indicate the earliest stages of the disease. LDCT uses less than a quarter of the radiation of a conventional CT scan.

Racial disparities in the surgical management of non-small cell lung cancer

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(American Thoracic Society) The surgical management of non-small cell lung cancer in US hospitals varies widely depending on the race of the patient, according to a new study.

U of M researchers develop model for better testing, targeting of MPNST

Mon, 20 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(University of Minnesota Academic Health Center) Researchers from the Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, and the University's Brain Tumor Program, have developed a new mouse model of malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNST) that allow them to discover new genes and gene pathways driving this type of cancer.

IMRT may not be more effective than older radiation techniques after prostatectomy

Mon, 20 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(University of North Carolina Health Care) Intensity-modulated radiation therapy has become the most commonly used type of radiation in prostate cancer, but research from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine suggests that the therapy may not be more effective than older, less expensive forms of radiation therapy in patients who have had a prostatectomy.

The compound in the Mediterranean diet that makes cancer cells 'mortal'

Mon, 20 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(Ohio State University) New research suggests that a compound abundant in the Mediterranean diet takes away cancer cells' "superpower" to escape death.

'The Biology of Cancer' by Robert A. Weinberg

Mon, 20 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(Garland Science, Taylor & Francis Group) Garland Science is proud to announce the publication of the much-anticipated Second Edition of The Biology of Cancer by Robert A. Weinberg.

Timing of cancer radiation therapy may minimize hair loss, researchers say

Mon, 20 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(Salk Institute) Discovering that mouse hair has a circadian clock -- a 24-hour cycle of growth followed by restorative repair -- researchers suspect that hair loss in humans from toxic cancer radiotherapy and chemotherapy might be minimized if these treatments are given late in the day.

Media registration for the European Cancer Congress

Mon, 20 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT

(ECCO-the European CanCer Organisation) Media can register now for Europe's premier cancer congress: The European Cancer Congress in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Friday, September 27 to Tuesday, October 1, 2013. Registration for bona fide journalists is free.