News by Subject Medicine & Health

Researchers at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center, with colleagues from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Fox Chase Cancer Center, have determined that a specific region of the small bowel, called the duodenal-jejunal flexure or DJF, shows a high frequency of gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) with mutations of the NF1 gene.

The field of immunotherapy is moving forward at an unprecedented rate and cancer immunotherapy, in particular, has recently come of age!

Immortalization of cells is a necessary step in the development of cancer, and scientists think that the main cause is turning on an enzyme -- telomerase -- that lengthens chromosomal telomeres and prevents normal cell death. A new study by UC Berkeley scientists shows that turning on telomerase is not a one-step process. In melanoma, and probably other cancers, a mutation turns up telomerase slightly, keeping the cell alive long enough for other changes that up-regulate telomerase.

A study led by Wistar scientists describes a novel immunotherapeutic strategy for the treatment of cancer based on the use of synthetic DNA to directly encode protective antibodies against a cancer-specific protein.

A recent paper published in Age & Ageing, the scientific journal of the British Geriatrics Society, finds that current smoking in older people increases the risk of developing frailty, though former smokers did not appear to be at higher risk.

Women who live in areas with higher levels of outdoor light at night may be at higher risk for breast cancer than those living in areas with lower levels, according to a large long-term study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The link was stronger among women who worked night shifts.