Cancer News and Research

Latest Cancer News and Research

Vitamin B supplements offer no protection from heart disease

According to recent research vitamin B or folic acid supplements do not prevent death in patients with heart disease.

20 Aug 2008

Simple bowel cancer test spots deadliest tumours

British scientists say a simple bowel cancer test could save thousands of lives by spotting the deadliest tumours.

20 Aug 2008

New reasons to avoid grapefruit juice when taking certain drugs

Scientists and consumers have known for years that grapefruit juice can increase the absorption of certain drugs - with the potential for turning normal doses into toxic overdoses.

19 Aug 2008

Obesity raises risks of serious gastrointestinal diseases

The prevalence of obesity and overweight in the United States coupled by the increased risk of gastrointestinal diseases related to obesity raises serious implications for the health of Americans. Several scientific studies in the August issue of The American Journal of Gastroenterology examine the association between obesity and the risk of colorectal cancer and gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD.

19 Aug 2008

Brachytherapy may benefit obese prostate cancer patients

Brachytherapy, also called seed implants, may be a more beneficial treatment than surgery or external beam radiation therapy for overweight or obese prostate cancer patients, according to a study published in the August issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology-Biology-Physics, the official journal of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology.

19 Aug 2008

Stanford develop method to overcome multiple drug resistant diseases

Many drugs once considered Charles Atlases of the pharmaceutical realm have been reduced to the therapeutic equivalent of 97-pound weaklings as the diseases they once dispatched with ease have developed resistance to them.

18 Aug 2008

Fish melanoma gene linked to pigment pattern that attracts mates

Though skin cancer is deadly to male fish, it also has one perk: The black melanoma splotches arise from attractive natural markings that lure female mates. A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week shows that the melanoma gene can be conserved in swordtail fish because of its beneficial role in sexual selection.

18 Aug 2008

Moisturisers may increase the risk of skin cancer

In news that will make many women wonder and no doubt make some panic, scientists are now warning that the moisturisers used by millions every day may be increasing their risk of developing skin cancers.

18 Aug 2008

Pancreatitis link to Gardasil to be investigated by the TGA

Some Australian doctors are suggesting that a review of the cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil is called for after three patients contracted pancreatitis after having the vaccination.

18 Aug 2008

Spice-based compound to fight against cancer

Seeking to improve on nature, scientists used a spice-based compound as a starting point and developed synthetic molecules that, in lab settings, are able to kill cancer cells and stop the cells from spreading.

17 Aug 2008

Alternative vaccine strategy shows promise in prostate cancer patients

New research indicates that giving patients a continuous low dose of an immune system booster, a method known as metronomic dosing, as part of a therapeutic prostate cancer vaccine strategy is safe and produces similar immune responses and fewer side effects than the more common dosing method, which is not well tolerated by many patients. This study, led by researchers at that National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, was published in the Aug. 15, 2008, issue of Clinical Cancer Research.

17 Aug 2008

Cancer signatures uncovered

A new systematic analysis of the relationship between the neoplastic and developmental transcriptome provides an outline of trends in cancer gene expression. The research, published recently in BioMed Central's open access journal Genome Biology, describes how cancers can be divided into three groups distinguished by disparate developmental signatures.

17 Aug 2008

Dual-mode nanoparticles image tumors using MRI and PET

Medical imaging represents one of the most used and useful procedures in the oncologist's diagnostic toolkit, even though each of the most useful techniques-magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computerized tomography x-ray imaging (CT), and positron emission tomography (PET) scanning-has its own set of limitations.

17 Aug 2008

By amplifying cell death signals, scientists make precancerous cells self-destruct

When a cell begins to multiply in a dangerously abnormal way, a series of death signals trigger it to self-destruct before it turns cancerous. Now, in research to appear in the August 15 issue of Genes & Development, Rockefeller University scientists have figured out a way in mice to amplify the signals that tell these precancerous cells to die. The trick: Inactivating a protein that normally helps cells to avoid self-destruction.

17 Aug 2008

Sngle-walled carbon nanotubes used as cancer drug delivery vehicles

The problem with using a shotgun to kill a housefly is that even if you get the pest, you'll likely do a lot of damage to your home in the process. Hence the value of the more surgical flyswatter.

14 Aug 2008

Discovery of major genetic cause of colorectal cancer

About one-third of colorectal cancers are inherited, but the genetic cause of most of these cancers is unknown. The genes linked to colorectal cancer account for less than 5 percent of all cases.

14 Aug 2008

President signs bill that bans six toxic phthalates from children's products

President Bush signed a federal bill today that bans six toxic phthalates from children's products. His signature bolsters Congress' overwhelming support for this legislation, and sends a clear message that toxic chemicals have no place in toys.

14 Aug 2008

Universal gene signaling mechanism identified by UB molecular researchers

A novel gene signaling mechanism that controls whether a stem cell develops into its destined tissue or fails to differentiate and becomes cancer has been identified by researchers in the multi-laboratory Molecular and Structural Neurobiology and Gene Therapy Program based at the University at Buffalo.

14 Aug 2008

Researchers show how DNA repairs may reshape the genome

Researchers at Duke University Medical Center and at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) have shown how broken sections of chromosomes can recombine to change genomes and spawn new species.

13 Aug 2008

FDA approves Gilead's antiretroviral Viread for hepatitis B

Gilead Sciences on Monday announced that it has received FDA approval to market its antiretroviral drug Viread as a hepatitis B treatment, the AP/International Herald Tribune reports (AP/International Herald Tribune, 8/12).

13 Aug 2008