Cancer

New Mechanism Explaining How Cancer Cells Spread

Body.Disease.Cancer2A protein critical to the spread of deadly cancer cells has been discovered by researchers who have determined how it works, paving the way for potential use in diagnosis and eventually possible therapeutic drugs to halt or slow the spread of cancer. The protein, Aiolos, is produced by normal blood cells but commits a kind of “identity theft” of blood cells when expressed by cancer cells, allowing the latter to metastasize, or spread, to other parts of the body. Metastatic cancer cells have the ability to break free from tissue, circulate in the blood stream, and form tumors all over the body, in a way acting like blood cells.

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Source: UT Southwestern Medical Center. “New mechanism explaining how cancer cells spread.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 28 May 2014.

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Ultra-Sensitive Nano-Chip Capable of Detecting Cancer at Early Stages

Body.Disease.Cancer1Today, the majority of cancers are detected on the macroscopic level, when the tumor is already composed of millions of cancer cells and the disease is starting to advance into a more mature phase. But what if we could diagnose cancer before it took hold – while it was still only affecting a few localized cells? It would be like putting a fire out while it was still just a few sparks versus after having already caught on and spread to many areas of the house.

An international team of researchers, led by ICFO- Institute of Photonic Sciences in Castelldefels, announce the successful development of a “lab-on-a-chip” platform capable of detecting protein cancer markers in the blood using the very latest advances in plasmonics, nano-fabrication, microfluids and surface chemistry. The device is able to detect very low concentrations of protein cancer markers in blood, enabling diagnoses of the disease in its earliest stages. The detection of cancer in its very early stages is seen as key to the successful diagnosis and treatment of this disease.

This cancer-tracking nano-device shows great promise as a tool for future cancer treatments, not only because of its reliability, sensitivity and potential low-cost, but also because of its easy carry-on portable properties, which is foreseen to facilitate effective diagnosis and suitable treatment procedures in remote places with difficult access to hospitals or medical clinics.

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Source: Medical News Today.

Molecular Secrets Behind Resveratrol’s Health Benefits Revealed

Support.Molecule1Resveratrol has been much in the news as the component of grapes and red wine associated with reducing “bad cholesterol,” heart disease and some types of cancer. Also found in blueberries, cranberries, mulberries, peanuts and pistachios, resveratrol is associated with beneficial health effects in aging, inflammation and metabolism.

Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have now identified one of the molecular pathways that resveratrol uses to achieve its beneficial action. They found that resveratrol controls the body’s inflammatory response as a binding partner with the estrogen receptor without stimulating estrogenic cell proliferation, which is good news for its possible use as a model for drug design.

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Source: The Scripps Research Institute. “Molecular secrets behind resveratrol’s health benefits revealed.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 29 April 2014.

Electronic Nose Sniffs Out Prostate Cancer Using Urine Samples

Body.Disease.Cancer2We may soon be able to make easy and early diagnoses of prostate cancer by smell. Investigators have established that a novel noninvasive technique can detect prostate cancer using an electronic nose. In a proof of principle study, the eNose successfully discriminated between prostate cancer and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) by “sniffing” urine headspace (the space directly above the urine sample). Results using the eNose are comparable to testing prostate specific antigen (PSA).

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Source: Elsevier. “Electronic nose sniffs out prostate cancer using urine samples.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 1 May 2014.

Targeting Cancer With a Triple Threat: New Nanoparticles Can Deliver Three Drugs at Once

Technology.Nanoparticle1Chemists have designed nanoparticles that can deliver three cancer drugs at a time. Such particles could be designed to carry even more drugs, allowing researchers to develop new treatment regimens that could better kill cancer cells while avoiding the side effects of traditional chemotherapy. “We think it’s the first example of a nanoparticle that carries a precise ratio of three drugs and can release those drugs in response to three distinct triggering mechanisms,” says the lead researcher and author.

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Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “Targeting cancer with a triple threat: New nanoparticles can deliver three drugs at once.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 15 April 2014.

New General Concept For The Treatment of Cancer

Body.Disease.Cancer2A team of researchers from five Swedish universities, led by Karolinska Institutet and the Science for Life Laboratory, have identified a new way of treating cancer. The concept is presented in the journal Nature and is based on inhibiting a specific enzyme called MTH1, which cancer cells, unlike normal cells, require for survival. Without this enzyme, oxidized nucleotides are incorporated into DNA, resulting in lethal DNA double-strand breaks in cancer cells.

“The concept is built on that cancer cells have an altered metabolism, resulting in oxidation of nucleotide building blocks”, says Thomas Helleday, holder of the Söderberg Professorship at Karolinska Institutet, who heads the study. “MTH1 sanitises the oxidized building blocks, preventing the oxidative stress to be incorporated into DNA and becoming DNA damage. This allows replication in cancer cells so they can divide and multiply. With an MTH1 inhibitor, the enzyme is blocked and damaged nucleotides enter DNA, causing damage and kill cancer cells. Normal cells do not need MTH1 as they have regulated metabolism preventing damage of nucleotide building blocks. Finding a general enzymatic activity required only for cancer cells to survive opens up a whole new way of treating cancer.”

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Source: Medical News Today.

Quick, Simple Blood Test For Solid Cancers Looks Feasible

Body.Disease.Cancer4The idea of a general, quick and simple blood test for a diverse range of cancers just came closer to reality with news of a new study published in Nature Medicine. Researchers from Stanford University School of Medicine have devised an ultra-sensitive method for finding DNA from cancer tumors in the bloodstream.

Their new test identified around half of patients with stage 1 lung cancer and all patients with stage 2 or higher disease. They also showed the circulation tumor DNA was highly correlated with tumor volume estimated using CT and PET scans.

This suggests an approach based on the new test could monitor tumors at a fraction of the cost of present methods that rely on imaging studies.

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Source: Medical News Today.

Homing in on cancer with new imaging method

Body.Disease.Cancer3There are many reasons why in the era of cutting-edge medicine it is still difficult to cure cancer. A tumor may, for instance, consist of different tumor cell sub-populations, each of which has its own profile and responds differently to therapy – or not. Furthermore, the cancer cells and the healthy cells in the body interact and communicate with one another. How a tumor then actually develops and whether metastases form depends on which signals a tumor cell receives from its environment. With the development of a new method a team of researchers has succeeded in comprehensively profiling and visualizing tumor cells from patient samples.

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Source: University of Zurich. “Homing in on cancer with new imaging method.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 3 March 2014.