Article • Tomosynthesis
Ready to take over?
Results from recent trials are promising: an almost 40% increased breast cancer detection rate from digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) screening compared to conventional mammography.
Cancer
News • Oncology
Pancreatic cancer: Enzyme renders tumors resistant
Scientists at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and the Stem Cell Institute HI-STEM in Heidelberg have discovered the reason why some pancreatic tumors are so resistant to treatment. They have found that these tumor cells produce larger quantities of an enzyme that usually occurs in the liver and degrades many drugs. If this enzyme is blocked, the cancer cells become sensitive towards…
News • Oncology
Scientists root out the ‘bad seeds’ of liver cancer
Researchers have found the “bad seeds” of liver cancer and believe they could one day reprogram them to remain responsive to cancer treatment, a new study has found.
News • Electronic nose
Device that can 'smell' prostate cancer
A research team from the University of Liverpool has reached an important milestone towards creating a urine diagnostic test for prostate cancer that could mean that invasive diagnostic procedures that men currently undergo eventually become a thing of the past.
News • Fighting cancer
Stopping tumour cells killing surrounding tissue
Tumours kill off surrounding cells to make room to grow, according to new research from the University of Cambridge. Although the study was carried out using fruit flies, its findings suggest that drugs to prevent, rather than encourage, cell death might be effective at fighting cancer – contrary to how many of the current chemotherapy drugs work.
News • The Amazing Race
Cancer cells travel together to forge ‘successful’ metastases
There’s apparently safety in numbers, even for cancer cells. New research in mice suggests that cancer cells rarely form metastatic tumors on their own, preferring to travel in groups since collaboration seems to increase their collective chances of survival, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins.
Cancer cells poised for growth when opportunity knocks
Researchers have identified a mechanism that allows cancer cells to respond and grow rapidly when levels of sugar in the blood rise. This may help to explain why people who develop conditions in which they have chronically high sugar levels in their blood, such as obesity, also have an increased risk of developing certain types of cancer.
News • DNA
Blood test may expand scope of liquid biopsies
When cells die, they don't vanish without a trace. Instead, they leave behind their fingerprints in the form of cell-free DNA. In people, these tiny fragments of DNA can be found in the bloodstream.
News • Immunotherapy
The new frontier of cancer therapy
Healthcare, the world’s largest industry, is more than three times the size and value of the financial services sector, and is transforming faster than ever before, driving humanity to rethink the way we approach our health.
News • Fluorescent agent
Injectable agent illuminates cancer during surgery
Doctors at the Duke University School of Medicine have tested a new injectable agent that causes cancer cells in a tumor to fluoresce, potentially increasing a surgeon’s ability to locate and remove all of a cancerous tumor on the first attempt. The imaging technology was developed through collaboration with scientists at Duke, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Lumicell Inc.
Probing the mystery of how cancer cells die
You’ve probably never heard of “sphingolipids” before. But these curiously named organic compounds play a vital role in one of humanity’s most well-known diseases: cancer.
News • Experts argue
Cancer screening does not “save lives”
Harms of screening are certain, but benefits in overall mortality are not … “We must be honest about this uncertainty,” experts say. Cancer screening has never been shown to “save lives” as advocates claim, argue experts in The BMJ.
Gene variation promotes uncontrolled cell division
Mom’s eyes and dad’s tumor? Cancer is due to genetic defects, some of which can be hereditary. The gene variant rs351855, for example, occurs in one in two cancer patients. A team headed by Axel Ullrich from the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried identified the gene variant a decade ago. Now, they succeeded for the first time in showing that the variation exposes an otherwise…
Treating colon cancer with vitamin A
A leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide, colon cancer is famously resistant to treatment. There are many reasons for this, but one has to do with a group of persisting cancer cells in the colon that cause relapses. Conventional therapies against them are mostly ineffective. EPFL scientists have now identified a biological mechanism that can be exploited to counteract colon cancer relapses.
News • Cancer trial
Suicide gene therapy kills prostate tumor cells
Results from a long-term clinical trial conducted by cancer researchers at Houston Methodist Hospital show that combining radiation treatment with "suicide gene therapy," a technique in which prostate cancer cells are genetically modified so they signal a patient's immune system to attack them, provides a safe and effective one-two punch against the disease.
News • Research
Why do children develop cancer?
As new scientific discoveries deepen our understanding of how cancer develops in children, doctors and other healthcare providers face challenges in better using that knowledge to guide treatment and counsel families and patients. In addition, as more children continue to survive pediatric cancer, that counseling may extend into a patient’s adulthood and old age.
News • Biogel
Intelligent gel attacks cancer
A new injectable “biogel” is effective in delivering anti-cancer agents directly into cancerous tumours and killing them. This technology, developed by researchers at the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM), has already been successfully tested in the laboratory. If it works in patients, the therapy could one day revolutionize treatment for many forms of cancer.
News • Genome
Research could help in fight against infection and cancer
Researchers from Medicine, Chemistry and Biological Sciences in the University’s Institute for Life Science (IfLS) have been collaborating with Microsoft Research UK to investigate the function of the antigen-presenting protein MHC1. Their research, which started more than a decade ago and has been part-funded by Cancer Research UK, has explored the pliability of the protein and how its ability…
News • Oncology
Scientists use dead bacteria to kill colorectal cancer
Led by Professor Teoh Swee Hin, scientists from Nanyang Technological University (NTU Singapore) have successfully used dead bacteria to kill colorectal cancer cells. Harvesting the Clostridium sporogenes bacteria found commonly in soil, the NTU team was able to harness the bacteria in its dead form, and its secretions, to destroy colon tumours cells effectively.
Terahertz detection and emission
UPM participates in the ZOTERAC project, whose technology could replace the conventional X-ray sources in medicine or improve the detection of weapons and explosives.
News • RSNA 2015
Breast MRI after mammography may identify additional aggressive cancers
Additional breast cancers found with MRI are sometimes larger and potentially more aggressive than those found on mammography, according to a study published online in the journal Radiology.
News • Angiosarcomas
Conventional heart drug stops progression of cancer
A common heart drug may stop the progression of angiosarcoma, a cancer of the inner lining of blood vessels, according to a study by researchers at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) El Paso.
Article • Politics
England’s harsh slash at cancer drugs list
Around 25 treatments for seriously ill patients with specific cancers listed on England’s National Health Service’s Cancer Drug Fund are to be removed. This large change is likely to affect patients with cancers of the breast, bowel, prostate, blood, upper gastrointestine, brain and central nervous system, as well as gynaecological cases. Report: Mark Nicholls
News • Synthetic biology
Timing is everything in cells
Everyone who has played in a band or orchestra knows that playing in time creates music, while playing out of time creates cacophony. In an orchestra, each player may be out of tune when warming up, but eventually, all players must reach the same pitch, rhythm, and timing to produce a viable piece of music.
News • “JEDI” Technology
New understanding of how immune system works
When it comes to fending off disease and helping prevent people from falling ill, the body’s immune system – armed with T-cells that help eliminate cancer cells, virus-infected cells and more – is second to none. But exactly how the immune system works remains, in many ways, a mystery, as there are numerous cell types whose functions and interactions with our immune systems have not been…
