News by Subject Medicine & Health

In an editorial to be published on Tuesday June 27, 2017 in the journal ecancermedicalscience, Anthony Hatswell of BresMed and University College London, explores the consequences of a British exit from the European Medicines Agency as a result of Brexit, and what this will mean for pharmaceutical regulation and future access to medicines for UK citizens.

Two challenges in treating patients with estrogen-positive breast cancer (ER+) have been an inability to predict who will respond to standard therapies and adverse events leading to therapy discontinuation. A study at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center revealed new information about how the biomarkers retinoblastoma protein (Rb) and cytoplasmic cyclin E could indicate which patients will respond best to current first-line therapies.

A new analysis shows that septic systems in the United States routinely discharge pharmaceuticals, consumer product chemicals, and other potentially hazardous chemicals into the environment. The study is the most comprehensive assessment to date of septic systems as important sources of emerging contaminants, raising health concerns since many of these chemicals, once discharged, end up in groundwater and drinking water supplies.

Glycosylated proteins are often overexpressed in tumor cells and thus could serve as tumor markers, especially those with the interesting molecule sialic acid as their sugar moiety. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, American scientists now report on a bioorthogonal labeling test for sialylated glycoproteins based on a glycoproteomics approach. This assay not only assesses the level of sialylated glycans in the tumor cell membranes, but also identifies up- or downregulated proteins directly in the prostate cancer tissue.

Researchers compared the thickness of brain cortex in patients with brain tumors before and after radiation therapy was applied and found significant dose-dependent changes in the structural properties of cortical neural networks, at both the local and global level.

An international research team has found a way to improve the anti-cancer effect of a new medicine class called 'Smac mimetics.'

Women in Tennessee who were diagnosed with breast cancer were more likely to be diagnosed with late stage disease after a substantial rollback of Medicaid coverage for adults in the state, according to a new analysis.

Cancer tumours manipulate a natural cell process to promote their survival suggesting that controlling this mechanism could stop progress of the disease, according to new research led by the University of Oxford.