Cancer Research

A vital self-destruct switch in cells is hijacked - making some pancreatic and non small cell lung cancers more aggressive, according to new research which found that mutations in the KRAS gene interferes with protective self-destruct switches, known as TRAIL receptors, which usually help to kill potentially cancerous cells. The research, carried out in cancer cells and mice, shows that in cancers with faulty versions of the KRAS gene these TRAIL receptors actually help the cancer cells to grow and spread to new areas in the body. These KRAS faults occur in 95 percent of pancreatic cancers…

Melanoma is the leading cause of skin cancer¬related deaths and surgical excision is the primary therapy for melanoma. It is recommended that melanomas should be excised within 4 to 6 weeks of the diagnostic biopsy because surgical delay may result in the potential for increased illness and death from other malignant neoplasms, along with anxiety and stress.  In a study that included more than 32,000 cases of melanoma among Medicare patients, approximately 20 percent experienced a delay of surgery that was longer than 1.5 months, and about 8 percent of patients waited longer than 3…

Cancer researchers have identified a key signaling pathway in B-cell lymphoma, a malignant type of blood cancer. They demonstrate that the signaling pathway can be blocked using compounds that are already in clinical development. Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is a blood cancer and the most common malignant condition of the lymphatic system. Although DLBCL is always fatal if left untreated, the cure rate after chemo-therapy combined with antibodies approaches 60 to 70 percent. Certain types of DLBCL, however, do not respond well to this standard treatment, which results in a very poor…

Scientists have identified a small RNA molecule named miR-182 that can suppress cancer-causing genes in mice with glioblastoma mulitforme (GBM), a deadly and incurable type of brain tumor.  There are 16,000 new cases of the deadly brain tumor reported in the U.S. every year. Patients have a very poor prognosis, with median survival of just 14 to 16 months. Standard chemotherapy drugs stop cancer cells from reproducing by damaging DNA but the new method instead stops the source that creates those cancer cells: genes that are overexpressing certain proteins. "Our study identified miR-182…

A new study finds that many women diagnosed with breast cancer are concerned about a genetic predisposition for developing other cancers and the chances of a loved one developing cancer. 35 percent of women with breast cancer expressed a strong desire for genetic testing but nearly half of them, 43 percent, didn't talk with their doctors about it. Around 5 percent of breast cancer patients have an inherited genetic mutation that drives their cancer and many of the women who reported interest in genetic testing were at low risk of having a mutation so doctors would not typically discuss…

America has expensive health care but it also has the best health care. As the Federal government has discovered in trying to implement the Affordable Care Act, giving something away for free will not maintain that level of quality. Instead, the future could be one where there are two classes of care - those with private insurance and those without. Higher treatment costs are already linked to better survival rates, according to a study by Yale School of Medicine researchers in the Cancer Outcomes Public Policy and Effectiveness Research (COPPER) Center at Yale School of Medicine and…

A prostate cancer test using gold nanoparticles costs less than a $1 and yields results in minutes - results show it to be more sensitive and more exact than the current standard test for early-stage prostate cancer, the less precise PSA test that's now used.  Prostate cancer is one of the deadliest cancers among men so early detection is important, and better testing would also reduce the number of unnecessary and invasive biopsies.  Prostate cancer is the second-leading killer cancer among men (after lung cancer), with more than 240,000 new diagnoses and 28,000 deaths…

Stage IV cancer patients and their caregivers don't agree on the value of another year of life versus other end-of-life improvements. Cancer is an expensive proposition emotionally and also financially. High-cost treatments may result in only moderate improvements in length or quality of life. Because such decisions are very difficult for patients to make, in some cases the decision is entirely deferred to a family caregiver.  Scholars administered surveys to 211 patients with stage IV cancer and their informal caregivers to find out more about their end-of-life preferences.…

Triple-negative breast cancers are around 15% of all breast cancers and they lack any of the three receptors (oestrogen, progesterone or HER2) that would make them responsive to targeted drugs. Triple-negative breast cancer patients have a higher risk of disease recurrence and shorter survival than those with other breast cancers and tend to fall into two categories: those that succumb to their disease within 3-5 years, regardless of treatment; and those that remain disease free for longer than the average non-triple-negative breast cancer patient (at least 8 years post-diagnosis). …

A new study finds that it is possible to detect endometrial cancer using tumor DNA picked up by ordinary tampons. DNA samples from vaginal secretions can show the presence of chemical "off" switches - known as methylation - that can disable genes that normally keep cancer in check. The finding is a critical step toward a convenient and effective screening test for endometrial cancer, which is the most common gynecologic malignancy in the United States. "Unfortunately, there is no equivalent to a Pap smear or a mammogram for endometrial cancer," says Jamie Bakkum-Gamez, M.D., a gynecologic…