Cancer News and Research

Latest Cancer News and Research

Vical Incorporated issued two Canadian patents

Vical Incorporated announced today the issuance of two Canadian patents on the company's core technology, which involves direct administration of polynucleotide genetic material such as DNA or RNA.

29 Mar 2005

Bioniche receives European patent

Bioniche Life Sciences Inc., a research-based, technology-driven human and animal health biopharmaceutical company, today announced that it has had an additional European patent granted by the European Patent Office (EPO) on its core mycobacterial cell wall technology.

29 Mar 2005

Grapes inhibit cancer growth

Components in grapes, including some newly identified ones, work together to dramatically inhibit an enzyme crucial to the proliferation of cancer cells, say scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

29 Mar 2005

Herceptin - more powerful treatment for patients with HER-2-positive breast cancer

A new use of the drug Herceptin appears to offer a much more powerful treatment advantage than expected for patients with HER-2-positive breast cancer, say researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

29 Mar 2005

Depression and anxiety affects one in two breast cancer patients

Almost half of all women with early breast cancer experience depression or anxiety in their first year after diagnosis, reveals a study published in the current issue of the British Medical Journal.

29 Mar 2005

Scientists out cancer cells in permanent coma

Scientists funded by Marie Curie Cancer Care and the Association for International Cancer Research have made an unexpected discovery that could point the way to a completely new approach to treating cancer.

29 Mar 2005

US Genome Project planned to beat cancer

In a project expected to cost $US1.35 billion over nine years, the United States Government's proposed "Human Cancer Genome Project", will open a new front in the battle against cancer, say US health officials.

28 Mar 2005

Onconase granted orphan drug status for malignant mesothelioma in Australia

Alfacell Corporation has announced that the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) in Australia has granted Onconase (ranpirnase) Orphan Drug status for the indication of malignant mesothelioma (MM). Onconase is also designated as an Orphan Drug for MM in Europe.

28 Mar 2005

New prostate cancer test

Tessera, Inc., a Seattle-based biomedical company, has released its first product, ProstaMark EPCA (Early Prostate Cancer Antigen), as an Analyte Specific Reagent (ASR) for commercial use in pathology laboratories to assist pathologists in their efforts to determine if cancer is present in the prostate.

28 Mar 2005

Poor survival rates in some cancers related to lack of clinical trial participation

In a new study Archie Bleyer, M.D. of the M. D. Anderson Cancer Centre in Houston and colleagues have discovered that mortality and poor survival rates among young adults and older adolescents with some cancers may be explained in part by the lack of participation in clinical trials.

28 Mar 2005

Discovery of gene STAT6(B) may lead to new treatments for inflammatory diseases

In a paper featured in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS), researchers from Boston University School of Dental Medicine report the discovery of a new gene, STAT6(B), that helps regulate production of the potentially deadly tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) cytokine.

28 Mar 2005

Vegetarians who don't cook their food have abnormally low bone mass

Vegetarians who don't cook their food have abnormally low bone mass, usually a sign of osteoporosis and increased fracture risk. But a research team at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis also found that raw food vegetarians have other biological markers indicating their bones, although light in weight, may be healthy.

28 Mar 2005

Mutated BRCA1 genes cause ovarian cancer indirectly

Mutated BRCA1 genes cause ovarian cancer indirectly, by interfering with the biochemical signals one ovarian cell sends to another, according to a team of researchers led by scientists at the USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California.

28 Mar 2005

Diffusion MRI gives early indication if brain cancer therapy is effective

A special type of MRI scan that measures the flow of water molecules through the brain can help doctors determine early in the course of brain cancer regimen if a patient's tumor will shrink, a new study shows.

28 Mar 2005

Social and cultural factors play a significant role in the treatment decisions of patients with prostate cancer

Marital status, high school education, and race/ethnicity may play a far greater role in patients' treatment decisions than previously believed.

28 Mar 2005

Gene variations explain drug dose required to control seizures

Determining which variants of particular genes patients with epilepsy carry might enable doctors to better predict the dose of drugs necessary to control their seizures, suggest basic findings by researchers at the Duke University Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy (IGSP) and the University College London.

28 Mar 2005

Statins appear to be safe for people with fatty liver disease

Statins appear to be safe for people with fatty liver disease who could benefit from their cholesterol-lowering capabilities, concludes a review paper published in the April 2005 issue of Hepatology, the official journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD).

28 Mar 2005

Gene/yeast finding links processes in heart disease and cancer

By studying a little-known yeast too primitive to get diseases, Johns Hopkins researchers have uncovered a surprising link between two processes at play in heart disease and cancer in people.

28 Mar 2005

Benefits of lung cancer screening with CT questioned

Annual screening with helical computed tomography (CT) can help radiologists detect lung cancers at their earliest, most curable stage, but has not been shown to reduce mortality from the disease, according to a study published in the April issue of the journal Radiology.

28 Mar 2005

Research tool for turning off genes may eventually have therapeutic application

A research team based at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) has identified 80 new genes essential to the process of RNA interference (RNAi), a powerful new research tool for inactivating genes in plants or animals.

28 Mar 2005