Cancer Research
Military veterans exposed to the herbicide Agent Orange may be at higher risk for certain types of skin cancer, suggests a new report.
Agent Orange is a defoliant famously used by the British military during the Malayan Emergency and the U.S. military period of the Vietnam War.
The study adds to existing evidence that risk of non-melanotic invasive skin cancer (NMISC) is increased even four decades after Agent Orange exposure, with at least some exposed veterans having unusually aggressive non-melanoma skin cancers.
Skin Cancers Present in About Half of Vets Exposed to Agent Orange…
A new whole-body, diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan could improve care for myeloma - cancer of the white blood (plasma) cells, one of the most common forms of blood cancer - and reduce reliance on bone marrow biopsies, which can be painful for patients and often fail to show doctors how far the disease has spread.
Whole-body, diffusion-weighted MRI scans showed the spread of cancer throughout the bone marrow of patients with myeloma more accurately than standard tests. The scans also showed whether the patients were responding to cancer treatments.…
The universe of cancer mutations just got a whole lot bigger.
By analyzing the genomes of thousands of patients' tumors, a research team has discovered many new cancer genes, expanding the list of known genes tied to these cancers by 25 percent. Moreover, the study shows that many key cancer genes still remain to be discovered. The team says that creating a comprehensive catalog of cancer genes for scores of cancer types is feasible with as few as 100,000 patient samples.
But the take home message is that mutation remains unpredictable and the idea of 'curing' cancer has become more and more…
Researchers have sequenced the genome of the world's oldest continuously surviving cancer, a transmissible genital cancer which causes grotesque genital tumors in dogs around the world.
It first arose in a single dog that lived about 11,000 years ago and survived after the death of this dog by the transfer of its cancer cells to other dogs during mating and, from there, around the world.
Transmissible cancers are extremely rare. Cancers in humans and most animals arise when a single cell in the body acquires mutations that cause it to produce more copies of itself. Cancer cells often spread…
A little studied chemical compound dubbed BMH-21 targets and shuts down a common cancer process in laboratory-grown human tumor cell lines. BMH-21 disrupted tumor cell division and prevented growth of advanced cancer cells.
Johns Hopkins researcher Marikki Laiho, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues focused on the ability ofBMH-21 to sabotage the transcription pathway RNA Polymerase pathway (POL I), shutting down the ability of mutant cancer genes to communicate with cells and replicate. Their research linked the pathway to p53 gene activity. P53 is a tumor suppressor gene, a…
A new review outlines the health effects of silica, and calls for action to reduce illness and death from silica exposure at work.
For centuries, too much silica exposure, such as when workers cut, grind, crush, or drill silica-containing materials such as concrete, masonry, tile, and rock, has been known to cause lung disease (silicosis). Evidence linking silica to lung cancer is more recent. There is some low-level silica exposure on beaches and in ambient air in general but no evidence such low-level exposure causes health effects.
Writing in CA: A Cancer Journal for…
A team of researchers indicate that the peptide fragment
lactoferricin B25 (LFcinB25)
derived from cow's milk exhibited potent anti-cancer capability against human stomach cancer cell cultures.
They determine that LFcinB25 has potential to be a future therapeutic agent for gastric cancer.
Investigators evaluated the effects of three peptide fragments derived from lactoferricin B, a peptide in milk that has antimicrobial properties. Only one of the fragments, LFcinB25 reduced the survival of human AGS (Gastric Adenocarcinoma) cells in a dose-dependent and time-dependent manner.
Under a…
A common genetic variant, rs4143094, located on the same chromosome 10 region that includes GATA3, a transcription factor gene previously linked to several forms of cancer, is in about 36 percent of the population. A study has linked it to an increased risk of colorectal cancer from the consumption of red meat and processed meat, according to a new study. The transcription factor encoded by this gene normally plays a role in the immune system
Colorectal cancer is a multi-factorial disease attributed to lifestyle, environmental and genetic causes, and the third leading cause…
There’s a post being highlighted by anti-GMO activists on Twitter that claims that cancer is now the leading cause of death among children in the US, that the rates of pediatric cancer are increasing and that this is because of GMOs. This is another egregious example of the willingness of anti-GMO campaigners to lie to the public in order to scare them and promote their agenda.
A simple look at data exposes the absurdity of their claims:
1) Cancer is not the leading cause of death among children in the United States
The Centers for Disease Control publishes annual statistics on the…
Researchers have isolated and characterized the progenitor cells that eventually give rise to malignant hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tumors – the most common form of liver cancer. The researchers found ways to identify and isolate the HCC progenitor cells (HcPC) long before actual tumors were apparent.
Principal investigator Michael Karin, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Pharmacology and Pathology at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, and colleagues report that HcPC take form within dysplastic or abnormal lesions often found in damaged or cirrhotic livers. The liver…