Cancer News and Research

Latest Cancer News and Research

Toxic blue-green algae may provide new anti-cancer drugs

A collaborative team of researchers spearheaded by Dennis Carson M.D., professor of medicine and director of the Rebecca and John Moores UCSD Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) has identified a potent new anti-cancer drug isolated from a toxic blue-green algae found in the South Pacific.

12 Feb 2008

Health care providers play key role in likelihood their patients are screened for colorectal cancer

The findings suggest that interventions targeting both the provider and the patient are needed to boost colorectal cancer screening rates, and in particular must take into account patient barriers such as concerns about payment and worries that cancer will be discovered.

12 Feb 2008

Accuracy of online breast cancer information

A new study has found that one in twenty breast cancer web pages contained inaccurate information, and that web sites devoted to complementary or alternative medicine were fifteen times more likely to have false information.

12 Feb 2008

New Handbook of Cancer Prevention

A new publication designed to help individuals, doctors and governments reduce the global burden of cancer has been announced by Europe's leading society for medical oncologists.

12 Feb 2008

Gene therapy protocol at UCSD activates immune system in patients with leukemia

A research team at the Moores Cancer Center at University of California, San Diego (UCSD) reports that patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) who were treated with a gene therapy protocol began making antibodies that reacted against their own leukemia cells.

12 Feb 2008

Donors' health associated with risk of infection among recipients of corneal transplants

Corneal grafts obtained from donors dying in the hospital or with cancer may be associated with an increased risk of infection for the recipient, according to a report in the February issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

12 Feb 2008

Doctors uncertain about approaches to care for heart failure patients

Less than one fourth of physicians specializing in geriatrics, internal or family medicine or cardiology believe they can accurately predict the whether patients with heart failure are at risk of dying, new Saint Louis University research found.

12 Feb 2008

Benefit of removal of the ovaries differs between women with BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations

The surgical removal of the ovaries has been widely adopted as a cancer-risk-reducing strategy for women with either BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations.

12 Feb 2008

Avastin (bevacizumab) damages brain vessels

The cancer drug Avastin (bevacizumab) is used to treat advanced bowel cancer in combination with chemotherapy.

12 Feb 2008

Cancer cells adapt using Darwin's 'survival of the fittest' principle to resist treatment

Scientists in London have discovered a new genetic mechanism which helps cancer cells survive by changing the way they respond to treatment.

11 Feb 2008

Researchers find new U.S. trend in antibiotic resistance

A research team from The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, examining bacterial isolates obtained in hospital and non-hospital clinical settings between 2000 and 2006, has identified drug-resistant strains of E. coli and Klebsiella bacteria in more than 50 blood, urine and respiratory samples.

11 Feb 2008

New computerized image analysis will aid diagnosis and treatment of cancer

With the aid of computerized image analysis, it may be possible in the future for radiologists to feel images with the help of a three-dimensional mouse.

11 Feb 2008

First reported acute asthma death associated with work-related environmental tobacco smoke

A young asthmatic woman who collapsed and died shortly after arriving for her shift as a waitress at a bar may be the first reported death to be reported nationally from acute asthma associated with environmental tobacco smoke.

11 Feb 2008

Seven new prostate cancer genetic risk factors identified

Cancer Research UK funded scientists have found seven new sites in the human genome that are linked to men's risk of developing prostate cancer. Their findings are published in Nature Genetics today.

11 Feb 2008

WHO warns of one billion death toll from tobacco

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has issued a stark warning about smoking saying that unless urgent action is taken, by the year 2100 tobacco could kill one billion people.

11 Feb 2008

Revelation of new genes linked to prostate cancer could single out high risk men

The discovery by researchers of at least ten new genes associated with prostate cancer could in future be used to accurately identify high-risk men.

11 Feb 2008

Scientists find how PARP-1 protein binds to genes and regulates human genome

Out of chaos, control: Cornell University molecular biologists have discovered how a protein called PARP-1 binds to genes and regulates their expression across the human genome.

8 Feb 2008

Natural secretion marks difference between mole and melanoma

A protein naturally produced and secreted by the body can make the difference between your average mole and melanoma, which killed more than 8,000 people in the United States last year, reveals a new study in the February 8 issue of the journal Cell, a publication of Cell Press.

8 Feb 2008

Is it safe delaying decision about having prostate cancer surgery?

Is it safe to wait to make a decision about having prostate cancer surgery, even after you've waited and waited for all the doctor appointments and test results? Or will the additional delay reduce your chances of being cured?

8 Feb 2008

Discovery of protein that stops the growth of melanomas

One might call it a tale of two melanocytes. Given the same genetic mutation, why does one melanocyte shut down growth and become a relatively benign mole, while another rages out of control and develops into deadly melanoma"

8 Feb 2008