Cancer Research

Scientists at John Carroll University, working in its Lighting Innovations Institute, have developed an affordable accessory that appears to reduce the symptoms of ADHD. Their discovery also has also been shown to improve sleep patterns among people who have difficulty falling asleep. The John Carroll researchers have created glasses designed to block blue light, therefore altering a person’s circadian rhythm, which leads to improvement in ADHD symptoms and sleep disorders. The individual puts on the glasses a couple of hours ahead of bedtime, advancing the circadian rhythm. The special…

A new study identifies how genes are silenced in cancer cells through distinct changes in the density of nucleosomes within the cells. The findings will enable researchers to explore new therapies to switch the genes back on and may lead to novel treatments for human cancers, says study lead author Peter A. Jones, Ph.D., D.Sc., director of the USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and Distinguished Professor at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. "The study shows for the first time exactly how genes get shut down in cancer cells," Jones says. "It identifies what the target looks like so…

Human lung-cancer tumors grown in mice have been shown to regress or disappear when treated with a synthetic compound that mimics the action of a naturally occurring “death-promoting” protein found in cells, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center report. The findings suggest that the compound might one day be used in targeted therapies for lung and possibly other cancers, the researchers said. “We found that certain kinds of lung-cancer cells were sensitive to this compound, which sends a signal to cancer cells to self-destruct,” said Dr. Xiaodong Wang, professor of biochemistry at UT…

A research team led by scientists at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston has identified a defective gene that affects vascular smooth-muscle cells in people who suffer from hereditary thoracic aortic disease, which can kill victims with little warning in the prime of their lives. Thoracic aortic disease, specifically thoracic aortic aneurysms leading to aortic dissections, is the 15th leading cause of death in the country, killing up to 20,000 people a year. Actor John Ritter (age 54 years) and “Rent” creator Jonathan Larson (age 35 years) both died from the disease. Cardiac…

A team of researchers from the St Vincent’s Campus in Sydney have developed a novel way to control the extreme weight loss, common in late stage cancer, which often speeds death. The findings, published in Nature Medicine, suggest it may soon be possible to prevent this condition, giving people the strength to survive treatment and improve their chances of recovery. The team of researchers from the Centre for Immunology at St Vincent’s Hospital and the University of New South Wales and the Garvan Institute of Medical Research have shown that most common cancers produce large amounts of a…

Eating too much fructose and glucose can turn off the gene that regulates the levels of active testosterone and estrogen in the body, shows a new study in mice and human cell cultures that’s published this month in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. This discovery reinforces public health advice to eat complex carbohydrates and avoid sugar. Table sugar is made of glucose and fructose, while fructose is also commonly used in sweetened beverages, syrups, and low-fat food products. Estimates suggest North Americans consume 33 kg of refined sugar and an additional 20 kg of high fructose corn…

Tumor progression can now be mapped less to mathematical standards and more to individual patients according to a new study by researchers at Harvard and Johns Hopkins Universities. The study provides a new paradigm in calculating tumor development, showing that it appears to be driven by mutations in many genes. Our understanding of the progression of cancer has long been based on streamlined models where cancer is driven by mutations in only a few genes. Niko Beerenwinkel et al. show how tumor progression can be driven by hundreds of genes. As many as 20 different mutated genes might be…

Obesity is a well known risk factor for prostate, breast and colon cancer, but recent studies have shown that a protein responsible for generating fat cells also plays an important role in cancer. Researchers at the Genome Institute of Singapore have conducted, for the first time, a genome-wide analysis of how the protein, called perixosome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARg), turns on various genes related to obesity. Simply suppressing the protein entirely could prevent the generation of adipocytes – the precursors to fat cells – the researchers say, but it would decrease the…

Astronomers funded in part by the National Science Foundation (NSF) today announced their discovery of a fifth planet around the nearby star 55 Cancri, making it the only star aside from the sun known to have five planets. The research results have been accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. Lead author Debra Fischer, assistant professor of astronomy at San Francisco State University, said the fifth planet is within the star's habitable zone, in which water could exist as a liquid. Although the planet is a ball of gas, liquid water could exist on the surface of a moon or on…

World Community Grid is the largest public humanitarian grid with more than 333,000-plus members and links to more than 780,000 computers. Eight projects have been run on World Community Grid to date, including protein folding and FightAIDS@Home, which completed five years of HIV/AIDS research in just six months. Now Canadian researchers expect to accelerate the war on cancer by tapping into that global network of hundreds of thousands of people who volunteer their idle computer time to tackle some of the world’s most complex problems. A research team, led by Dr. Igor Jurisica at the…