Cancer News and Research

Latest Cancer News and Research

Drug giant Wyeth loses another HRT trial to the tune of $1.5 million

Drug giant Wyeth has been ordered by a court in Philadelphia to pay $1 million in compensation to a woman who developed breast cancer after taking the hormone replacement therapy (HRT) Prempro.

30 Jan 2007

New testing approach to predict outcome in patients with bladder cancer

A new testing approach has been shown to be effective in identifying patients at the highest risk of cancer relapse after surgery for bladder cancer, say researchers in the February issue of The Lancet Oncology.

29 Jan 2007

New type of buckyball

Scientists at Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine have developed a new type of buckyball nanoparticle that acts as a passkey, allowing peptide-based drugs to enter cancer cells.

29 Jan 2007

Dll4 signalling through Notchi regulates formation of tip cells during angiogenesis

All tissues, sick and healthy alike, need a blood supply to survive and grow. The key to many medical problems, like preventing tumour development, is therefore to obstruct the spread of the blood vessels. Research scientists at Karolinska Institutet have now discovered a heretofore unknown mechanism for how the body links together its blood vessels.

29 Jan 2007

Nanocarrier stimuli-activated gene delivery

One approach to developing tumor-specific drug delivery agents is to create nanomaterials that release a therapeutic payload only after reaching their intended target.

29 Jan 2007

Second-generation dendrimer disintegrates upon command

Dendrimers, highly branched, spherical polymers, have demonstrated their utility as drug and imaging agent delivery vehicles for use in detecting and treating cancer, with several dendrimer-based agents nearing human clinical trials.

29 Jan 2007

Design of gold nanoparticles for magnetic resonance imaging

Molecular complexes containing the element gadolinium are proven agents for increasing the diagnostic utility of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), but their use in detecting small tumors is limited by the relatively weak signal these agents produce.

29 Jan 2007

Polymer nanoparticles for immunotherapy from encapsulated tumor-associated antigens and whole tumor cells

Using a biodegradable nanoparticle as a means of delivering tumor cell debris and proteins to the immune system, investigators at Yale University have developed a promising new method for creating therapeutic anticancer vaccines.

29 Jan 2007

FoxOs shown to be potential new targets for cancer drugs

In an elegant, multiple-gene knockout experiment, a team of Boston scientists has discovered that a trio of molecules, called FoxOs, are fundamentally critical in preventing some cancers, maintaining blood vessel stability, and in keeping blood-forming stem cells healthy.

29 Jan 2007

More than 1 million fewer U.S. women received mammograms since 2000

The percentage of U.S. women ages 40 and older who reported receiving a mammogram declined from 76.4% in 2000 to 74.6% in 2005, according to a report published in the Jan. 26 edition of CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the Washington Post reports.

28 Jan 2007

North American Menopause Society releases guidelines saying HRT beneficial for younger women

The North American Menopause Society on Thursday released a revised position statement that said the benefits of short-term hormone replacement therapy for treatment of menopausal women likely outweigh the risks for younger women, the Wall Street Journal reports.

28 Jan 2007

Cellular mechanism linked to inflammation and cancer

A team led by biochemists at the University of California, San Diego has found what could be a long-elusive mechanism through which inflammation can promote cancer. The findings may provide a new approach for developing cancer therapies.

28 Jan 2007

New tool to detect depression in cancer patients

A tool to detect depression in cancer patients launched by the University of Liverpool will vastly improve patients' ability to come to terms with their disease.

28 Jan 2007

RNA used to turn on genes to alleviate disease

A new technique that employs RNA, a tiny chemical cousin of DNA, to turn on genes could lead to therapeutics for conditions in which nudging a gene awake would help alleviate disease, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center say.

28 Jan 2007

Small molecule targets weak mRNA

A new strategy for fighting cancer aims to make its genes get lost in translation, according to a report in the January 26, 2007, issue of the journal Cell.

28 Jan 2007

Micro molecules can distinguish pancreatic cancer from normal and benign pancreatic tissue

The study examined human pancreatic tumor tissue and compared it to nearby normal tissue and control tissue for levels of microRNA (miRNA).

28 Jan 2007

Brown seaweed may provide protective ingredient against skin cancers

Substances extracted from a marine seaweed may protect against skin cancer caused by too much sun, new research suggests.

28 Jan 2007

Disorderly protein brings order to cell division

The secret to the ability of a molecule critical for cell division to throw off the protein yoke that restrains its activity is the yoke itself a disorderly molecule that seems to have a mind of its own, say investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Innsbruck Medical University and Max Planck Institute.

28 Jan 2007

Depression detection tool to transform treatment of cancer

A tool to detect depression in cancer patients launched by the University of Liverpool will vastly improve patients' ability to come to terms with their disease.

25 Jan 2007