Cancer Research

MIT researchers have shown that cells from different people don't all react the same way when exposed to the same DNA-damaging agent, a finding that could help clinicians predict how patients will respond to chemotherapy. The research team from MIT's Center for Environmental Health Sciences (CEHS) and the Departments of Biological Engineering and Biology, identified a group of 48 genes that can predict how susceptible an individual is to the toxic compound, known as MNNG. The work appears in Genes and Development. MNNG, a DNA-damaging compound similar to toxic chemicals found in tobacco smoke…

GENEVA, Switzerland, September 18 /PRNewswire/ -- - ORACLE MS Phase III Trial Will Assess Effectiveness of Cladribine Tablets in Preventing Conversion to Definite Multiple Sclerosis in Addition to the Fully Enrolled Phase III Pivotal Trial - the CLARITY Study - for Treatment of Relapsing Forms of Multiple Sclerosis Merck Serono, a division of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, announced today the initiation of a Phase III trial to evaluate the therapeutic effects of its proprietary oral formulation of cladribine (cladribine tablets) in patients at risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS). The…

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands, September 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Amsterdam Molecular Therapeutics (Euronext: AMT), a leader in the field of human gene therapy, today announced that it obtained a license from Amgen to use their GDNF gene for the development of a gene therapy treatment for Parkinson's disease. The combination of this gene with AMT's proprietary adeno-associated virus (AAV) gene therapy platform could potentially allow the development of an effective, long-term treatment for this progressive and crippling disease. Parkinson's disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disease…

Biologists at the University of Rochester writing in Aging Cell have found that small-bodied rodents with long lifespans have evolved a previously unknown anti-cancer mechanism that appears to be different from any anti-cancer mechanisms employed by humans or other large mammals. Understanding this mechanism may help prevent cancer in humans because many human cancers originate from stem cells and similar mechanisms may regulate stem cell division. "We haven't come across this anti-cancer mechanism before because it doesn't exist in the two species most often used for cancer research: mice…

Skin cancer is the most common malignancy in the US, says the American Academy of Dermatology, and one American dies every 62 minutes from melanoma. The WHO estimated that, in the year 2000, up to 71,000 deaths worldwide were attributed to excessive UV exposure. Indoor tanning beds are not safe from UV risk despite what advertising claims are, according to a series of papers published in the October issue of Pigment Cell & Melanoma Research. There may be no such thing as a 'safe' tan based on ultraviolet (UV) radiation, they write. The authors of the three review papers have examined the…

FRIMLEY, England, September 17 /PRNewswire/ -- - New data, updated since ASCO, show time without tumour growth now reaches nearly 5 months with RAD001 vs. 1.9 months with placebo(1) - One quarter of patients in trial remained progression-free beyond ten months of treatment(1) - RAD001 is first drug to show significant benefit after failure of initial therapy, Sutent(R) (sunitinib) or Nexavar(R) (sorafenib)**, with potential to address unmet medical need(1) - RAD001 under review by regulatory authorities; potential to be first once-daily oral mTOR therapy for advanced kidney cancer New data…

SOUTHAMPTON, England, September 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Global leader in personal satellite navigation (PND) Garmin is proud to be the headline sponsor of the 2008 Garmin T3 Gadget Awards. The awards, which celebrate the hottest gadgets and coolest technologies, have been open for public voting via the T3 website. With many winners chosen through a reader vote, these awards separate the year's highlights from the hype. The winners of the technology 'Oscars' will be crowned on the 9th October at London's Intercontinental, Park Lane amidst the backdrop of gadgets, celebrities, T3 cover girls and…

Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine have transformed cells from human skin into cells that produce insulin, the hormone used to treat diabetes. The breakthrough may one day lead to new treatments or even a cure for the millions of people affected by the disease, researchers say. The approach involves reprogramming skin cells into pluripotent stem cells, or cells that can give rise to any other fetal or adult cell type, and then inducing them to differentiate, or transform, into cells that perform a particular function – in this case, secreting…

GENEVA, Switzerland, September 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Merck Serono, a division of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, announced today that patient enrollment has been completed in the REFLEX trial (REbif FLEXible dosing in early multiple sclerosis). This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, international Phase III trial is designed to evaluate the therapeutic benefit of Rebif(R) (interferon beta-1a) on the time to conversion to multiple sclerosis (MS) in people with a first clinical event suggestive of the disease. "It has been demonstrated that treatment with interferon beta can reduce the…

Scientists from IBM and the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) say their report in Nature shows that microRNAs, those small molecules that are an important regulatory component in the machinery of living cells, have roles that go well beyond what was previously thought. The work is expected to provide new insights on stem cell differentiation as well as on the role of microRNAs in cell process regulation and the onset of cancer, neurodegenerative disorders, diabetes and other diseases. The research is also expected to suggest future avenues for novel diagnostics and the development of…