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Medicineworld.org: Archives of cancer-blog
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Archives Of Cancer-blog From Medicineworld.Org
Targeted Virus Eat Cancer Cells
The modified adenovirus homed in on cancerous glioma cells in mice and induced enough self-cannibalization among the cancer cells -- a process called autophagy -- to reduce tumor size and extend survival, says senior author Seiji Kondo, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at M. D. Anderson. ''This virus uses telomerase, an enzyme found in 80 percent of brain tumors, as a target,'' Kondo says. ''Once the virus enters the cell, it needs telomerase to replicate. Normal brain tissue does not have telomerase, so this virus replicates only in cancer cells.''. Other cancers are telomerase-positive, and the scientists showed in lab experiments that the virus kills human prostate and human cervical cancer cells while sparing normal tissue. In addition to demonstrating the therapeutic potential of the virus, called hTERT-Ad, Kondo says the international research team also clarified the mechanism by which such conditionally replicating adenoviruses (CRAs) infect and kill cancer cells......... Posted by: Janet Permalink Source Biomarker For Persistent Fatigue From Breast Cancer
Dr. Michael Irwin of the University of California, Los Angeles' Semel Institute and his colleagues have discovered a biological marker to identify breast cancer survivors at risk for long-term persistent fatigue. It is estimated that about one third of breast cancer survivors experience disabling fatigue that lasts for years. Breast cancer survivors who suffer from persistent, disabling fatigue may have immune systems that don't shut down following therapy. Dr. Irwin says that this newly discovered biomarker could identify and predict which women would develop long-term persistent fatigue. Currently we have no available therapy for cancer related fatigue. Dr. Irwin hopes that this finding will lead to development of drugs that would one day be used to treat persistent fatigue among breast cancer survivors. The study included blood samples from 32 breast cancer survivors with persistent fatigue and this was compared to blood samples from 18 breast cancer survivors who did not suffer from fatigue......... Posted by: Janet Permalink Arthritis For Fatigue In Cancer Patients
The findings of the preliminary study with 24 patients are published in the April 20 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology. "Even though this was a small study, we found that we could deliver more chemotherapy when combined with the drug etanercept," said lead author Miguel A. Villalona-Calero, an associate professor of hematology and oncology and of pharmacology at Ohio State. "This shows promise in helping reduce fatigue in cancer patients while increasing their ability to tolerate higher doses of chemotherapy on a more frequent basis," said Villalona-Calero, who is also researcher at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC - James). Patients' fatigue - the state of overwhelming and sustained exhaustion that is not relieved by rest - often hinders physicians' ability to deliver chemotherapy to them on schedule because of their weakened state. The fatigue and muscle wasting that are associated with cancer are largely caused when immune cells release a substance known as tumor necrosis factor (TNF). Eventhough TNF historically has been studied for its anticancer properties, recent studies indicate that TNF probably promotes tumor growth instead of hindering it......... Posted by: Janet Permalink Source Cure for cancer worth $50 trillion
"We distinguish two types of health improvements - those that extend life and those that raise the quality of life," explain the authors. "As the population grows, as incomes grow, and as the baby-boom generation approaches the primary ages of disease-related death, the social value of improvements in health will continue to rise." A number of critiques of rising medical expenditures focus on life-extending procedures for persons near death. By breaking down net gains by age and gender, Murphy and Topel show that the value of increased longevity far exceeds rising medical expenditures overall. Gains in life expectancy over the last century were worth about $1.2 million per person to the current population, with the largest gains at birth and young age. "An analysis of the value of health improvements is a first step toward evaluating the social returns to medical research and health-augmenting innovations," write the authors. "Improvements in life expectancy raise willingness to pay for further health improvements by increasing the value of remaining life."........ Posted by: Janet Permalink Source Predicting Success In Cancer Treatment
Intravenous infusions rely on the bloodstream to carry drugs to where they are needed. Normally, a material such as a chemotherapy drug crosses into a tissue on the principle of concentration equalization -- the material diffuses from an area of high concentration to one of low concentration until the concentrations become equal all around. However, in some cancers, even though the material "wants" to spread out evenly, fluids inside the tumor may be exerting pressure to prevent this. When the internal pressure created by these fluids rises above a certain level, it acts as a barrier that keeps drugs and other materials from entering the tumor......... Posted by: Janet Permalink Source Pioneer Of Angiogenesis Reports Panel Of Biomarkers For Early Cancer Diagnosis
Judah Folkman
Dr. Folkman described the work April 2 in the keynote lecture of the American Association of Anatomists meeting, part of Experimental Biology 2006 in San Francisco. The finding of selective uptake of angiogenesis regulatory proteins secreted by tumors also marks a novel function of platelets, the blood cells responsible for blood coagulation and repair of damaged blood vessels. The "platelet angiogenesis proteome" provides a stable, sensitive, and reliable biomarker for very early diagnosis of cancer, says Dr. Folkman. It could be used to detect recurrence of cancer or to diagnose a new primary tumor, for example in women with the mutated breast cancer gene who have still not developed a clinically detectable cancer......... Posted by: Janet Permalink Source Chemotherapy Gel To Fight Breast Cancer And Reduce Breast Deformity
"Although radiation therapy is the standard treatment for breast cancer following surgery, it is expensive, time consuming and increases the cosmetic deformity caused by surgery," said Howard D. Edington, M.D., associate professor of surgery and surgical oncology at the University of Pittsburgh and faculty member at McGowan. "We sought to develop a possible alternative to radiation therapy that would not only release chemotherapy slowly to kill the cancerous cells left behind after surgery but that also would fill in the dimples and sometimes quite significant indentations that are common after breast surgery and radiation"......... Posted by: Sherin Permalink Source Laser Therapy For Melanoma Of The Eye
In TTT, a wide laser beam is directed at the choroidal tumor through a contact lens, causing tumor cell death. In 1996, Mayo became one of the first centers in the nation to use TTT. Three years later, Mayo scientists published the results of TTT for the first 20 patients seen (available online at http://archopht.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/117/11/1512). "We wanted to reaffirm the effectiveness of TTT for our original patients by examining their follow-up data," said Colin McCannel, M.D., Mayo Clinic ophthalmologist and study co-investigator. "In addition, we hoped to show continued success with the procedure as a stand-alone therapy for choroidal melanoma." The choroid is the vascular layer of the eye between the retina and the sclera. It is responsible for limiting reflection of light within the eye as well as providing blood supply and oxygen to the retina. Choroidal melanoma can cause vision loss and eventually spread to other parts of the body. While cancers of the eye are not very common, they historically were treated by removal of the eye to prevent spread of the cancer. There are limited therapy options beyond removing the eye, but the Mayo team showed that at least for small tumors, TTT is a very good option......... Posted by: Janet Permalink Source Inducing Melanoma for Cancer Vaccine
"Melanoma has been a focus of cancer vaccine development because a number of melanoma-specific vaccine targets, so-called 'cancer antigens', have been defined," says the study's senior author, LICR's Dr. Benoit Van den Eynde. "However, we have a limited understanding of how most, but not all, melanomas evade an immune system that has been primed to detect and destroy cancer cells carrying one of these defined cancer antigens". As per Dr. Van den Eynde, this is due in part to the lack of appropriate animal models in which detailed immunological analyses can be performed before and after vaccination. "The models we use to investigate cancer vaccines at the preclinical level either have a defined cancer antigen in a transplanted tumor, or they have an 'original' tumor that doesn't have a defined antigen. However, in human clinical studies, we have original tumors with defined antigens. So there has been a need for a mouse model that more closely follows the human model."........ Posted by: Janet Permalink Source Diabetes and Cancer: Alpha Connection
The study showed that p110 alpha controls the action of insulin and other key hormonal signals that play roles in growth, diabetes and obesity. p110 alpha is frequently mutated or overexpressed in cancer, and the results of the present work imply that cancer cells hijack a key signalling pathway to fuel their energy needs and drive their proliferation and survival. The current work has far-reaching implications, given that several million of people are affected by metabolic disorders, and every year, several hundreds of thousand new cancer cases with mutations in p110 alpha are diagnosed. Importantly, says LICR's Dr. Bart Vanhaesebroeck, the senior author of the study, the findings have immediate implications for the testing of p110 alpha-specific inhibitors for human therapies. "Accurate information on the specific role of p110 alpha is needed urgently by the pharmaceutical industry, which is preparing to initiate clinical trials based on PI3K inhibition, not only in cancer but also in inflammation, allergy and auto-immunity. These mice mimic the effect of systemic administration with a p110 alpha-specific drug,"......... Posted by: JoAnn Permalink Source Older Blog Entries 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
Cancer
Cancer is a very common disease, approximately one out of every two American men and one out of every three American women will have some type of cancer at some point during the course of their life. Cancer is more common in the elderly and 77 percent of cancers occur in people above age 55 or older. Cancer is also common in children. Cancer incidence is said to have two peaks once during early childhood and then during late years in life. No age period is completely exempted from development of cancers. Some cancers occur predominantly in the elderly, other types occur in children, Cancer occurs in all ethnic races, however the cancer rates and rates of specific cancer types may vary from group to group. Late stages of cancer may be incurable in most cases, but with the advancement of medicine, more and more cancers are becoming curable.
Medicineworld.org: Archives of cancer-blog
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