Cancer Research

Purdue University researchers have created magnetically responsive gold nanostars that gyrate when exposed to a rotating magnetic field and can scatter light to produce a pulsating or "twinkling" effect. This twinkling allows them to stand out more clearly from noisy backgrounds like those found in biological tissue. Alexander Wei, a professor of chemistry, and Kenneth Ritchie, an associate professor of physics, led the team that created the new gyromagnetic imaging method. The gold nanostars are about 100 nanometers from tip to tip and contain an iron-oxide core that causes them to spin when…

Differences in growth factor (GF) signaling may cause the poor prognosis in some breast cancer cases. A new study, published in the open access journal BMC Medical Genomics, suggests that some estrogen receptor-positive breast cancers respond poorly to tamoxifen because of increased GF signaling. Sherene Loi, from the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, worked with a team of Australian and Belgian researchers to investigate the differences between those estrogen receptor positive (ER+) cancers that respond well to tamoxifen (luminal-A) and those that do not (luminal-B). She said, “This…

A possible breakthrough in understanding of cancer pain has been announced. A group at Heidelberg University, led by Prof Dr Rohini Kuner, has just published an article in Nature Medicine entitled Hematopoietic colony–stimulating factors mediate tumor-nerve interactions and bone cancer pain link to abstract. Hematopoietic refers to the blood forming stem cells in bone marrow.  Tumors which  have metastasized from other organs into the bone have been found to produce hormone-like molecules, similar to those which stimulate blood cell formation, but which also stimulate growth of…

A national Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) study led by a Medical College of Wisconsin Cancer Center physician at Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee has found that a course of radiation therapy to the brain after treatment for locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer reduced the risk of metastases to the brain within the first year after treatment. The study was presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting in Orlando. "With improved treatments for non-small cell lung cancer, patients are living longer and we are seeing more brain metastases," says study author…

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection is considered one of the most important risk factors for stomach (or gastric) cancer with as much as 65% of all cases linked back to the bacteria, although exactly how this occurs is not fully clear. Researchers in Denmark, Portugal and France show that the H. pylori infection contribution to cancer can be linked to at least three independent molecular pathways, which, when disturbed by infection, lead to mutations in the patients’ gastric tissues. Interestingly, this accumulation of mutations occur only during the initial stages of infection making…

New research led by investigators at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) identifies three genes that specifically mediate the metastasis, or spread, of breast cancer to the brain and illuminates the mechanisms by which this spread occurs. The study was published online today in Nature.  According to the study, COX2 and HB-EGF — genes that induce cancer cell mobility and invasiveness — were found to be genetic mediators in the spread of breast cancer to the brain. A third gene, ST6GALNAC5, was shown to provide cancer cells with the capability of exiting the blood circulation…

Portuguese scientists discovered a new molecular mechanism that allows gamma herpes viruses to chronically infect patients and helps to explain why these patients present an abnormally high incidence of the lymphocyte (or white blood cell) cancer lymphoma, particularly when their immune system is compromised. The research, just published in the advance online edition of The Embo Journal, reveals how these viruses mimic the host molecular machinery to shutdown NF-kB –a key regulatory protein complex involved in cell division and death – on infected lymphocytes, and how this - probably by…

A new University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine study will examine whether women at higher risk of breast cancer can use exercise to meaningfully reduce their risk of getting the disease.  Starting from a premise that reducing estrogen in the body reduces cancer risk, and that elite female athletes experience a drop in estrogen levels that often cause them to stop ovulating and menstruating, the Women in Steady Exercise Research (WISER) Sister trial will investigate two different levels of regular treadmill exercise as a possible intervention for breast cancer risk reduction. Each…

Docosahexanoic acid (DHA), an omega-3 fatty acid found in fish oils, has been shown to reduce the size of tumours and enhance the positive effects of the chemotherapy drug cisplatin, while limiting its harmful side effects. The rat experiments described in Cell Division provide some additional support for the health benefits often ascribed to omega-3 acids. Professor A. M. El-Mowafy led a team of researchers from Mansoura University, Egypt, who studied DHA’s effects on solid tumours growing in mice, as well as investigating how this fatty acid interacts with cisplatin, a chemotherapy drug…

Researchers are describing a long-awaited advance toward applying the marvels of nanotechnology in the battle against cancer. They have developed the first hollow gold nanospheres — smaller than the finest flecks of dust — that search out and "cook" cancer cells. The cancer-destroying nanospheres show particular promise as a minimally invasive future treatment for malignant melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer, the researchers say. Melanoma now causes more than 8,000 deaths annually in the United States alone and is on the increase globally. The report was presented at the ACS…