Cancer News and Research

Latest Cancer News and Research

New method of screening tumors for cancer-related gene abnormalities

A study led by researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Broad Institute of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University provides the first demonstration of a practical method of screening tumors for cancer-related gene abnormalities that might be treated with "targeted" drugs.

11 Feb 2007

Women under 25 should be offered cervical screening

Last month, the British Medical Journal reported a fall in the number of young women attending smear tests. Now, two senior doctors warn that a new policy not to screen women aged 20-24 may be a factor in falling coverage and could increase the risk of cancer developing in young women.

11 Feb 2007

Scientists discover enzym that activates epigenetically silenced genes

For several years now, cancer researchers have been studying a mechanism that contributes to the development of malignant tumors: The cell attaches small molecules containing a carbon atom, called methyl groups, to specific building blocks of DNA, thereby individually switching off the genes thus labeled.

11 Feb 2007

End of an era for DNA patenting

Human DNA patents are unlikely to be the barrier to medical and scientific innovation that they were first feared to be, according to new findings published this week.

8 Feb 2007

Scientists discover master switches for adult blood stem cells

Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center scientists have found a set of "master switches" that keep adult blood-forming stem cells in their primitive state.

8 Feb 2007

ViroPharma receives orphan drug designation for Maribavir

ViroPharma Incorporated today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted orphan drug designation for maribavir for prevention of cytomegalovirus (CMV) viremia and disease in the populations at-risk.

7 Feb 2007

New test shows which breast cancers will recur

Approval has been granted by the FDA for a gene-based test that helps tell early-stage breast cancer patients whether they need chemotherapy after their surgery.

7 Feb 2007

Single transcription factor GABP a major player in cell growth

When cells go about the business of dividing, they can get sidelined. Maybe there aren't enough nutrients. Maybe there aren't the right signals to resume multiplying. Either way, cells go quiet.

7 Feb 2007

Machine learning speeds up Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy

A new computer-based technique could eliminate hours of manual adjustment associated with a popular cancer treatment.

7 Feb 2007

Risk of developing diabetes increasingly involved in decisions regarding HRT

Although doctors for years have "talked about the health effects of hormones on bones, breasts and women's hearts," diabetes has not been "part of the debate" until last week, when the North American Menopause Society in a revised position statement said that women taking hormone replacement therapy appear to be less likely to develop the disease, the Wall Street Journal reports.

7 Feb 2007

Scientists discover how T-cell leukemia viruses evade defense mechanisms

National Cancer Institute (NCI) scientists have discovered how human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1), which infects about 20 million people worldwide, evades being held in check by one of the body's natural defense mechanisms.

6 Feb 2007

FDA clears MammaPrint test for marketing

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared for marketing a test that determines the likelihood of breast cancer returning within five to 10 years after a woman's initial cancer. It is the first cleared molecular test that profiles genetic activity.

6 Feb 2007

Selenium reduces prostate cancer risk in men taking extra vitamin E

A new study is suggesting that for certain groups of men a high dietary intake of selenium may reduce their risk of prostate cancer.

6 Feb 2007

Severely mentally ill have increased risk of death from coronary heart disease and stroke

A large British study indicates that individuals with severe mental illnesses are significantly more likely to die from coronary heart disease and stroke, but not cancer, than those without mental illnesses, according to a report in the February issue of Archives of General Psychiatry.

6 Feb 2007

Scientists step closer to understanding the relationship between aging and cancer

Wielding a palette of chromosome paints, scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have taken a step closer to understanding the relationship between aging and cancer by visualizing chromosomes of cells from patients with a heritable premature aging disease known as Werner Syndrome.

6 Feb 2007

High blood pressure in pregnancy may lead to heart disease

Women who develop high blood pressure during pregnancy are more likely to develop increased coronary calcification later in life than those who maintained a normal blood pressure, researchers said in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association.

6 Feb 2007

Vitamin D 'tops' for cancer prevention

Two new vitamin D studies using a sophisticated form of analysis called meta-analysis, in which data from multiple reports is combined, have revealed new prescriptions for possibly preventing up to half of the cases of breast cancer and two-thirds of the cases of colorectal cancer in the United States.

6 Feb 2007

Severe form of "enlarged prostate" discovered

Millions of middle-aged and older men experience the symptoms of an enlarged prostate multiple times during the day and night. What they may not know is that the disease known as BPH (benign prostatic hyperplasia), marked by urgency and frequent urination, is not one but at least a pair of disorders, and that one of the pair - tied to a newly identified gene - has far more serious implications.

5 Feb 2007