Cancer Research

An immune checkpoint molecule, SA-4-1BB developed for cancer immunotherapy also protects against future development of multiple types of cancer when administered by itself, shows a new study. The recombinant protein molecule SA-4-1BBL has been used to enhance the therapeutic efficacy of cancer vaccines with success in pre-clinical animal models. It accomplishes this by boosting the effectiveness of CD8+ T cells, adaptive immune cells trained to target the tumor for destruction. When the researchers treated normal healthy mice with SA-4-1BBL alone, the mice were protected when the researchers…

Cellular barcoding has been used to tag, track and pinpoint cells responsible for the spread of breast cancer from the main tumor into the blood and other organs, and also revealed how chemotherapy temporarily shrinks the number of harmful cells, rather than eliminating them, explaining how the cancer could eventually relapse. Pinpointing the 'seeders' of disease Most deaths from breast cancer are caused by the metastasis, or spread, of cancerous cells from the main tumor site into other organs.  Breast cancers consist of thousands of different cell variants with diverse…

A new analysis,which appeared in the journal Mutation Research, claims To show evidence linking exposure to the common weedkiller glyphosate to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL), a rare form of cancer, but it provides no new data and is not what it presents itself to be. Could exposure to glyphosate -- an herbicide often paired with genetically engineered corn, soybeans, cotton, and other crops – be causing cancer? That question has become the central contention advanced by critics of agricultural biotechnology. Multiple studies and assessments from regulatory agencies around the world…

A new analysis finds that mammography and improvements in breast cancer treatment have led to a terrific number of women's lives saved since 1989. Screening mammography for the detection of breast cancer became widely available in the mid-1980s and there have been numerous advances in effective therapies in the last 30 years. To estimate the number of breast cancer deaths averted due to the collective effects of screening mammography and improved treatment, R. Edward Hendrick, PhD, of the University of Colorado School of Medicine, Jay Baker, MD, of Duke University Medical Center, and…

Chicken eggs are already used for growing viruses that are used as vaccines, such as the flu jab but science is going one better; chickens that are genetically modified to produce human proteins in their eggs as part of the egg white. A new study found the drugs work at least as well as the same proteins produced using existing methods and high quantities of the proteins can be recovered from each egg using a simple purification system and there are no adverse effects on the chickens themselves, which lay eggs as normal. Protein-based drugs, which include antibody therapies such as Avastin…

Death rates from cancer have been falling for 25 years, but the next generation may cause a tick back up. Cancer is the second leading cause of death, behind heart disease. Both have age as risk factors but also behavioral components. For cancer, smoking has been the second greatest risk factor overall (and number one for lung cancer) but heart disease is also greatly impacted by fitness. And many cancers can be directly linked to metabolic problems. The current levels of obesity among young people mean that cancer deaths could be at a plateau and set to rise again in 20 years. The American…

Ana María Mora1, Andrés Gutiérrez2, Marina Ordóñez1, Amparo Mora3, Antonio Ormaza3-4, Germán Junca3-4, Alejandro Giraldo2-3 1 Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia2 Fundación Gillow, Bogotá, Colombia3Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia4Clínica San Pedro Claver, Bogotá, Colombia This article was the result of a thesis work of Ana Maria Mora under the direction of Dr. Alejandro Giraldo Abstract Colorectal cancer (CRC) represents an important cause of death, in both developed and developing countries. APC gene I1307K polymorphism has been particularly associated to an…

The protein complex AMPK is thought to suppress cancer, by slowing cellular metabolism, but it can also help some tumors grow. But why? A new study says it has solved the mystery. AMPK acts as a fuel gauge for the cell, overseeing energy input and output to keep the cell running smoothly. Similar to a car sensor flashing a low-gas signal or turning off a vehicle’s AC to save energy, AMPK slows down cell growth and changes the cell’s metabolism if the cell’s fuel (nutrients) is low. Finding that late-stage cancers can trigger AMPK’s cellular recycling signal to cannibalize pieces of the cell…

Anti-science activists who make money promoting alternatives to medicine have succeeded so well that 47 percent of those aged 18 to 37 think they can cure cancer with food or supplements or ancient Chinese wisdom. That alarming bubble of woo brings the average up to 40 percent overall, which must embarrass Baby Boomers, who elected the President that put folk medicine on the same stage as science at the National Institutes of Health. President Clinton took alternatives to medicine away from real U.S. Food and Drug Administration oversight with the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act…

Would famous Apple CEO Steve Jobs be alive today if he had accepted science the same way he accepted technology? Pancreatic cancer will kill half of patients but he guaranteed his death when he waited 9 months after his 2003 diagnosis to have surgery that could have saved his life, instead opting for belief that medicine was bad and alternatives were just as legitimate.  Spiritual healing, acupuncture, fruit cocktails and stuff he found on the Internet all got the nod, until none of them worked and in desperation he resorted to real treatment. He's not alone. Complementary alternative…