Cancer News and Research

Latest Cancer News and Research

Many local health directors unsure of authority to curtail smoking

Local health department directors across North Carolina are confused about state laws covering whether their facilities can be made smoke-free, but still strongly support such policies, according to a new University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study.

11 Jul 2005

Good news for curry wallahs, ingredient helps fight cancer

In good news for curry wallahs, researchers are saying that a compound that makes curry yellow could help fight skin cancer.

11 Jul 2005

Keap1 protein - a promising new target for drugs to fight many different kinds of cancer

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago are unraveling the biochemical mechanism by which functional foods combat cancer.

11 Jul 2005

Researchers have discovered how p16 gene works

University of Minnesota researchers have discovered how a gene that suppresses the development of melanoma and other human cancers works. The study points the way to treatments based on the function of the gene.

11 Jul 2005

ASTRO awards nearly $400,000 in research grants

The American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology has announced the recipients of its 2005 Junior Faculty Career Research Training Award, Residents/Fellows in Radiation Oncology Research Seed Grants, the joint ASTRO/National Cancer Institute Fellowship Faculty Translational Research Award and International Travel Grants. The total value of the awards is $378,000.

11 Jul 2005

Identical twins lose some fundamental similarities as they grow older

...a new study reports. They may start to look and act less alike. The changes could leave one twin susceptible to diseases like cancer, while the other twin remains healthy.

11 Jul 2005

PSA screening of asymptomatic men reduced risk of metastatic prostate cancer by 35 per cent

Early screening of prostate cancer in asymptomatic men may reduce their risk of death from metastatic prostate cancer by as much as 35 per cent, researchers from the University of Toronto have found.

11 Jul 2005

Scientists discover how an HIV protein fragment shuts down an immune response

The HIV virus hides out in the very immune system cells that are meant to protect the body from viral infection. But how does it prevent these cells from mounting a full-scale attack against the invader?

11 Jul 2005

Northerners in the UK more prone to certain cancers

According to the office for National Statistics (ONS) ' "Cancer Atlases" for the 1990s, people in the north of England and Scotland are far more likely to get certain cancers than those living in the south.

11 Jul 2005

Bacteria linked to oral cancer

A new study has found that the most common form of oral cancer, is linked to three different types of mouth bacteria.

11 Jul 2005

True validity of prostate cancer tests questioned

According to the American cancer society, more than 232,000 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer this year, and about 30,000 will die of it.

11 Jul 2005

California's medical marijuana program put on hold

As a direct result of a Supreme Court ruling last month that said the U.S. government could prosecute medical marijuana use, California officials say they will stop issuing identification cards to state residents who smoke marijuana to treat medical conditions.

11 Jul 2005

Thousands to be screened for affects from Teflon

After a federal scientific review panel said the chemical used to make teflon is "likely" to be carcinogenic to humans, tens of thousands of Ohio and West Virginia residents could be tested over the next year, to determine if their health has been affected by drinking water containing a chemical used to make the nonstick substance.

11 Jul 2005

Accuracy of PSA screening for detecting prostate cancer

A new study indicates there is no specific PSA value that has both high sensitivity and high specificity for monitoring healthy men for prostate cancer, but rather there is a continuum of prostate cancer risk at all values of PSA, according to a study in the July 6 issue of JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association.

6 Jul 2005

Researchers clarifiy role of Notch protein in T-cell development

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have recently clarified the role of the Notch protein in T-cell development. T cells are required for many aspects of immunity, including fighting viral infections, providing cancer surveillance, and regulating multiple aspects of the immune response.

6 Jul 2005

Patients suffering from oral cancer have increased levels of certain bacteria in their saliva

Six common species of bacteria were found at significantly higher levels in the saliva of patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) than in the saliva of healthy individuals.

6 Jul 2005

Researchers discover sections of the chromosomes of lung cancer cells where cancer-related genes may lurk

With equipment designed to probe the smallest segments of the genetic code, researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and collaborating institutions have found something much larger: sections of the chromosomes of lung cancer cells where cancer-related genes may lurk.

6 Jul 2005

Researchers have discovered a key regulatory molecule for Huntington's disease

Researchers have discovered a key regulatory molecule whose overactivation by the abnormal protein produced in Huntington's disease (HD) causes the central pathologies of the disease.

6 Jul 2005

Vitamin E fails to deliver benefits for major cardiovascular events or cancer

In an article in the July 6 JAMA, I-Min Lee, M.B.B.S., Sc.D., of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, and colleagues analyzed data from the vitamin E component of the Women's Health Study, which tested whether vitamin E supplementation decreases the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer among healthy women.

6 Jul 2005

Urine testing may predict birthmarks

Vascular anomalies - birthmarks caused by abnormal development of arteries, capillaries, veins or lymph vessels - can sometimes begin to progress, requiring aggressive treatment to save the child's health or vision. Research at Children's Hospital Boston now suggests that urine testing can help monitor these anomalies and predict those about to become a serious threat.

6 Jul 2005