Cancer News and Research

Latest Cancer News and Research

Reagent under study as cancer vaccine may also help protect tumors

A bacterial mimic under study as a cancer vaccine because it signals the immune system to attack may also help some tumors hide, researchers have found.

1 Nov 2005

Role of alpha tocopherol associated protein in prostate cancer

Researchers have identified a protein that disrupts an important signaling pathway in prostate cancer cells and suppresses growth of the cancer.

1 Nov 2005

EphA2 represents a promising treatment target for glioblastoma multiforme

Researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center have identified a second promising treatment target for glioblastoma multiforme, one of the most deadly types of brain tumors. The research results are reported in the October issue of Molecular Cancer Research.

1 Nov 2005

Women more at risk for colorectal cancer

A new study of gender and risk factors for colorectal cancer reveals that while both tobacco and alcohol increase risk for colorectal cancer, women who smoke are at higher risk.

1 Nov 2005

Diabetics are significantly more likely to have colon cancer

Researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina reported results from a large cross-sectional analysis assessing the risk of colon cancer among patients with diabetes at the 70th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American College of Gastroenterology.

1 Nov 2005

Functional diffusion map to help predict brain tumor outcomes

A special type of MRI scan that measures the movement of water molecules through the brain can help doctors determine halfway through treatment whether it will successfully shrink the tumor or a patient's cancer will continue to grow, a new study shows.

1 Nov 2005

Paclitaxel may help treat scleroderma

Using a novel model for scleroderma, researchers from Duke University Medical Center have discovered two important insights into this devastating disorder - the anti-cancer drug paclitaxel (Taxol) may prevent the skin thickening and small blood vessel destruction that characterizes the disease.

1 Nov 2005

Stereotactic body radiation therapy safe and effective way to treat early stage lung cancer in medically inoperable patients

Lung cancer patients with extenuating health problems may have an alternative to traditional radiation therapy through a lung-sparing procedure pioneered at the Indiana University School of Medicine.

1 Nov 2005

Benefit of combining radiation and hormone therapy in the treatment of prostate cancer

Doctors in Canada have discovered that treating high-risk prostate cancer patients with radiation therapy and adding hormone therapy for more than one year allows patients to live longer, have better control of their prostate specific antigen levels and lowers the rate of death specifically from prostate cancer

1 Nov 2005

Discovery of signaling mechanism may help prevent metastatic melanoma

Researchers at Northwestern University have discovered a key signaling mechanism that may promote the ability of highly aggressive malignant melanoma cells to metastasize, or spread from a primary tumor to distant sites within the body.

1 Nov 2005

Researchers aim to overcome resistance to bowel cancer screening in Scots

Academics are to look at ways to encourage Scots to take part in a new national screening programme for bowel cancer, a leading cause of cancer deaths in Western nations.

1 Nov 2005

Buccal mucosa may help test for lung cancer

In a new study presented at CHEST 2005, the 71st annual international scientific assembly of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), scientists found that buccal mucosa, or cells scraped from the inner part of the cheek, may contain information that separates patients with lung cancer from high-risk negatives

1 Nov 2005

Unique approach to enhance the immune system in patients with breast or colorectal cancer

The study uses a potent immune-enhancing gene delivered directly into the cancer cells to make them look foreign to the body's immune system, which will then attack and destroy the cancer.

1 Nov 2005

First study to confirm the benefit of anti-angiogenic therapy in patients with breast cancer

Results from the first and only interim analysis of an important trial assessing the potential of Herceptin (trastuzumab) to improve disease-free survival (DFS) in HER-2 positive breast cancer patients after adjuvant chemotherapy, have shown that Herceptin affords a significant survival advantage.

1 Nov 2005

Cheeks may hold the clue to lung cancer risk

According to Canadian researchers DNA changes in cells taken from the inside of the cheek are associated with a risk for stage I lung cancer.

1 Nov 2005

Expanded use sought for colon cancer drug

Approval is being sought for a drug designed to treat colon cancer to be used also for the treatment of head and neck cancers.

1 Nov 2005

Colon cancer hits blacks at a younger age

In a review of medical records researchers say that African-Americans are more susceptible to colon cancer at an earlier age than whites.

31 Oct 2005

Gene fusion appears to cause prostate cancer

Scientists at the University of Michigan Medical School, in collaboration with researchers at Harvard's Brigham and Women's Hospital, have discovered a recurring pattern of scrambled chromosomes and abnormal gene activity that occurs only in prostate cancer.

30 Oct 2005

Analytical method to trace the lineage trees of cells

Some fundamental outstanding questions in science - "Where do stem cells originate?" "How does cancer develop?" "When do cell types split off from each other in the embryo?" - might be answered if scientists had a way to map the history of the body's cells going back to the fertilized egg.

30 Oct 2005

Discovery of how communication between cancer cells is controlled

The discovery, by scientists at Monash University and the Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in New York, of how communication between cancer cells is controlled has promised new treatment options for malignant tumours.

30 Oct 2005