Cancer News and Research

Latest Cancer News and Research

Researchers discover why Gleevec-type drugs control, but do not eradicate leukemia

Oregon Health & Science University Knight Cancer Institute researchers are closer to understanding why certain chronic myeloid leukemia mutations are not stopped by the revolutionary targeted cancer pill, Gleevec, or similar therapies in that drug family.

8 Dec 2008

Levels of insulin-related proteins indicate risk of death in some colorectal cancer patients

A pair of proteins may help explain why people with surgically removed colorectal cancer and who are overweight, physically inactive, and follow a Western-pattern diet may have an increased risk of dying of the disease or other causes, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists report in a new study.

8 Dec 2008

Mammography screening in women over 80

A lack of clear-cut, scientific evidence illustrating the benefits of mammography screening in women over 80 has created a trail of controversy leading to a disturbing conclusion about cancer care in America.

8 Dec 2008

Older patients with acute myloid leukemia patients show promising response in drug study

Older patients with acute myloid leukemia (AML) who were once told that nothing could be done for them are finding new hope - and life - through a clinical trial at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute.

8 Dec 2008

Married men more likely to be screened for prostate cancer

Although the link between early screening and prostate cancer survival is well established, men are less likely to go for early screening unless they have a wife or significant other living with them, according to a study published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention , a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

8 Dec 2008

Relationship woes hinder breast cancer recovery

Breast cancer patients who have a poor relationship with their spouse may face a more difficult road to recovery than would other women, according to a new study.

8 Dec 2008

Lenalidomide safe for elderly patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia

The oral medication lenalidomide is safe and well-tolerated for elderly patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, a group without a well-defined frontline therapy for their disease, researchers from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center reported today at the 50th annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology.

8 Dec 2008

Potential new therapy for hepatitis C treatment

Combination therapies similar to those used for HIV patients may be the best way of treating hepatitis C virus (HCV), say researchers from the University of Leeds.

8 Dec 2008

Kiadis Pharma receives two orphan drug designations for Reviroc

Kiadis Pharma has announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted its product Reviroc Orphan Drug Designations (ODD) for the treatment of two types of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL).

8 Dec 2008

C. elegans worms may hold key to new treatments for obesity in humans

A previously unknown mutation discovered in a common roundworm holds the promise of new treatments for obesity in humans, McGill University researchers say.

8 Dec 2008

Genetic signature may lead to better treatments for pediatric liver cancers

Scientists have identified a genetic signature that is remarkably effective at predicting the prognosis of an aggressive liver cancer in children.

8 Dec 2008

Networks of interactive genes may predict Leukemia's development

Rather than testing for individual marker genes or proteins, researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego) and the Moores UCSD Cancer Center have evidence that groups, or networks, of interactive genes may be more reliable in determining the likelihood that a form of leukemia is fast-moving or slow-growing.

8 Dec 2008

Discovery of protein that may cause breast cancer to spread

In an important finding published online in Developmental Cell , researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, along with collaborators at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have identified a protein likely responsible for causing breast cancer to spread.

8 Dec 2008

Confusing risk information may lead breast cancer patients to make poor treatment choices

A new study from researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center found that a tool commonly used by doctors to estimate the risk of a woman's breast cancer returning after surgery is not very effective at explaining risk to patients.

8 Dec 2008

Chronic myelogenous leukemia patient survey shows that side effects are a serious issue

Startling findings from a new CML (chronic myelogenous leukemia) patient survey were presented at a satellite meeting of the American Society of Hematology annual meeting, in San Francisco.

8 Dec 2008

Trial shows safety of pre-transplant expansion of umbilical cord blood stem cells

Taking blood stem cells collected from an umbilical cord into the lab and expanding their number before transplanting them to replace a patient's blood supply is as safe as a standard cord blood transplant, researchers reported at the 50th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology.

8 Dec 2008

An Achilles heel in cancer cells

A protein that shields tumor cells from cell death and exerts resistance to chemotherapy has an Achilles heel, a vulnerability that can be exploited to target and kill the very tumor cells it usually protects, researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago show in a new study published in the Dec. 9 issue of Cancer Cell.

8 Dec 2008

Osmium as a cancer treatment

A precious metal which has never before been used in a clinical setting is being developed as an anti-cancer agent by University of Warwick researchers.

8 Dec 2008

Glowing imaging compound allows detection of viable cancer cells in mice

Researchers have developed a new type of imaging compound that allows them to visualize viable breast cancer cells that have spread to the lungs in mice.

8 Dec 2008

New chemotherapy pill shows promise for stubborn lymphomas

A new chemotherapy pill is showing early success in treating people with stubborn lymphomas, according to scientists at the University of Rochester Medical Center. Doctors reported that the drug is halting disease in nearly half of the patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and in patients with more aggressive lymphoma as well.

8 Dec 2008