Cancer Research

The jury is still out on the actual benefits of recycling as far as environmental impact but new research suggests that a cellular version could be useful for battling cancer. Scientists at Stanford University have identified a molecule that uses this unexpected pathway to selectively kill cancer cells. Renal cell carcinoma (RCC), the most common form of kidney cancer, is nearly always caused by mutation of the von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) tumor suppressor gene and often does not respond well to treatment. The researchers discovered a compound, STF-62247, that was selectively toxic to RCCs…

PHILADELPHIA and LONDON, July 7 /PRNewswire/ -- - Survey Identifies Highest Impact Institutions, 2003-2007 The Scientific business of Thomson Reuters today announced results of a study assessing high-impact research by the United Kingdom's top-cited institutions and researchers. In the May/June issue of Science Watch and on ScienceWatch.com, Thomson Reuters analyzes data from its Essential Science Indictors to identify "high-impact papers" that rank among the top one percent most-cited, by field, for their respective years of publication, 2003-2007. From the resulting file of approximately 6…

SAN DIEGO, July 7 /PRNewswire/ -- - BD GeneOhm(TM) Cdiff Assay Submitted for FDA Clearance BD Diagnostics, a segment of BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) (NYSE: BDX), announced today the CE marking of the BD GeneOhm(TM) Cdiff molecular assay for the rapid diagnosis of patients with Clostridium difficile infection (CDI). It is the first CDI diagnostic test that offers sensitivity, simplicity and speed in one test procedure. BD has also submitted this assay to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for clearance. CE marked under the European In Vitro Diagnostics Directive for the…

When tumor cells acquire the capacity to move around and invade other tissues, there is a risk of metastases and cancer treatment becomes more difficult. At the Institut Curie, CNRS Director of Research Philippe Chavrier and his group have just discovered how breast cancer cells break the bonds that tether them to the tumor. The basement membrane around the mammary gland is a barrier to the spread of cancer cells. Three proteins in the tumor cells transport enzymes needed to perforate this barrier, and another protein puts these enzymes in the right place. These discoveries, published in…

Calorie restriction related to longevity is a hot topic. Calorie restriction slows the aging process in rats and mice but no one is sure how. One recently popular hypothesis is that it slows aging by decreasing a thyroid hormone, triiodothyronine (T3), which then slows metabolism and tissue aging. Mice who benefited from calorie restriction were weaned on that diet, a strategy that will get you arrested for child endangerment with human children, but a new study in the June 2008 issue of Rejuvenation Research found that moderate calorie restriction – cutting approximately 300 to 500…

A portable chip that detects everything from food-borne diseases, pathogens and pollution in water, to AIDS, cancer, hepatitis, drug-abuse, and flu in humans in a little over an hour, is set to be commercially released in no more than three years, experts say. The OptoLabCard European Union-based project, uses a device otherwise known as a “lab-on-a-chip,” making it possible to perform full size laboratory tests on site. The chip, lined with a negative thick photoresist, is more than just cost and time effective. “The uses for these devices are almost endless…….and the market is huge” said…

The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute has sequenced the equivalent of 300 human genomes in just over six months, reaching a staggering 1,000,000,000,000 letters of genetic code that will be read by researchers worldwide and aiding in the quest to understand the role of genes in health and disease. The amount of data is remarkable: every two minutes, the Institute produces as much sequence as was deposited in the first five years of the international DNA sequence databases, which started in 1982. The Institute has major roles in projects such as The 1000 Genomes Project, The International…

LONDON, July 1 /PRNewswire/ -- - Appoints Annette Clancy and Jerry Randall as non-executive directors Silence Therapeutics plc (London AIM: SLN) ('the Company') today announced changes to its Board of Directors as part of the company's plan for growth. Effective today, Silence has appointed Annette Clancy and Jerry Randall as non-executive directors and Iain Rugheimer has resigned as a director of the Company. Annette Clancy is joining the Board in her first non-executive director role. Ms. Clancy (53) is currently with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), where she has had a distinguished career spanning…

GENEVA, Switzerland, July 1 /PRNewswire/ -- - European Commission Approved Product Information Update to Include Data on up to Three Years of Treatment With Raptiva(R), the Longest for any Approved Biological Therapy for Psoriasis GENEVA, Switzerland, July 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Merck Serono, a division of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, announced today that the European Commission has approved an update of the Summary of Product Characteristics (SPC) for Raptiva(R) (efalizumab) in the treatment of moderate-to-severe chronic plaque psoriasis, a chronic inflammatory systemic disease of the skin.…

For the first time, researchers have demonstrated that the administration of minute amounts of inhaled or intravenous hydrogen sulfide, or H2S – the molecule that gives rotten eggs their sulfurous stench – significantly improves survival from extreme blood loss in rats. Cell biologist Mark B. Roth, Ph.D., and colleagues in the Basic Sciences Division of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, in collaboration with surgeon Robert K. Winn, Ph.D., and colleagues at UW Medicine's Harborview Medical Center, report their findings online ahead of print in The Journal of Trauma Injury, Infection, and…