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Third-generation device significantly improves capture of circulating tumor cells
NCI Cancer Center News
(Posted: 04/04/2013) - A new system for isolating rare circulating tumor cells (CTCs) – living solid tumor cells found at low levels in the bloodstream – shows significant improvement over previously developed devices and does not require prior identification of tumor-specific target molecules. Developed at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Center for Engineering in Medicine and the MGH Cancer Center (an affiliate of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute), the device rapidly delivers a population of unlabeled tumor cells that can be analyzed with both standard clinical diagnostic cytopathology and advanced genetic and molecular technology. The MGH team's report has been published in Science Translational Medicine.
Melanoma Rates Rising in U.S. Children
HealthDay
(Posted: 04/04/2013) - While melanoma in children is still extremely rare, the rate increased by about 2 percent per year from 1973 to 2009 among U.S children from newborns to age 19...Recent studies have also shown that melanoma is on the rise among adults as well. Exactly what is driving these trends is not fully understood, but increased exposure to ultraviolet radiation from both the sun and tanning booths as well as greater awareness of melanoma may be responsible, according to study authors led by Jeannette Wong of the U.S. National Cancer Institute.
Study finds antidepressant helps relieve pain from chemotherapy
NCI Cancer Center News
(Posted: 04/03/2013) - The antidepressant drug duloxetine, known commercially as Cymbalta, helped relieve painful numbness and tingling feelings caused by chemotherapy in 59 percent of patients, a new study led by University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers finds. This is the first clinical trial to find an effective treatment for this pain. Other NCI-designated Cancer Centers or host universities involved in the study were: Duke University, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, and Ohio State University.
3-D scaffolds a new tool to fight cancer
NCI Cancer Center News
(Posted: 04/03/2013) - Porous polymer scaffolds fabricated to support the growth of biological tissue for implantation may hold the potential to greatly accelerate the development of cancer therapeutics. Researchers at Rice University, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York reported this week that three-dimensional scaffolds used to culture Ewing’s sarcoma cells were effective at mimicking the environment in which such tumors develop.
Newly identified tumor suppressor provides therapeutic target for prostate cancer
NCI Cancer Center News
(Posted: 04/03/2013) - The enzyme PKCζ acts as a tumor suppressor by keeping the pro-tumor c-Myc gene in check, in both mice and humans. Researchers from the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute have identified how an enzyme called PKCζ suppresses prostate tumor formation. The finding, which also describes a molecular chain of events that controls cell growth and metastasis, could lead to novel ways to control disease progression.
New diagnostic technology may lead to individualized treatments for prostate cancer
NCI Cancer Center News
(Posted: 04/02/2013) - A research team jointly led by scientists from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and the University of California, Los Angeles (home of the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center), have enhanced a device they developed to identify and “grab” circulating tumor cells, or CTCs, that break away from cancers and enter the blood, often leading to the spread of cancer to other parts of the body. If more studies confirm the technology’s effectiveness, the NanoVelcro Chip device could enable doctors to access and identify cancerous cells in the bloodstream, which would provide the diagnostic information needed to create individually tailored treatments for patients with prostate cancer.
Estrogen plus progestin use linked with increased breast cancer incidence and mortality
NCI Cancer Center News
(Posted: 04/01/2013) - Estrogen plus progestin use is linked with increased breast cancer incidence. In addition, prognosis is similar for both users and nonusers of combined hormone therapy, suggesting that mortality from breast cancer may be higher for hormone therapy users as well, according to a study published March 29 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Authors on this report included scientists from UCLA, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, University of Pittsburgh, Stanford University, State University of New York, Stony Brook; University of Tennessee, University at Buffalo, University of California at Davis, University of California, Sacramento.
Early-onset baldness in African-American men may be linked to prostate cancer
NCI Cancer Center News
(Posted: 04/01/2013) - Baldness was associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer among African-American men, and risk for advanced prostate cancer increased with younger age and type of baldness, according to data from the University of Pennsylvania (home of the Abramson Cancer Center) published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.
Mitochondrial chaperones may represent novel targets for developing anti-cancer drugs
NCI News Note
(Posted: 04/01/2013) - Scientists at NCI have found that a mitochondrial chaperone protein, TRAP1, may act indirectly as a tumor suppressor as well as a novel target for developing anti-cancer drugs. Chaperone proteins, such as TRAP1, help other proteins adapt to stress, but scientists are coming to appreciate that they have other functions as well, such as, in this case, affecting tumor development.
Study finds high soy diet before lung cancer diagnosis improves survival
NCI Cancer Center News
(Posted: 03/29/2013) - A new study by researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (home of the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center) and the Shanghai Cancer Institute found women who ate more soy food prior to a diagnosis of lung cancer lived longer than those who consumed less. The study, conducted in Shanghai, China, was published in the March 25 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
NCI Cancer Center News
(Posted: 04/04/2013) - A new system for isolating rare circulating tumor cells (CTCs) – living solid tumor cells found at low levels in the bloodstream – shows significant improvement over previously developed devices and does not require prior identification of tumor-specific target molecules. Developed at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Center for Engineering in Medicine and the MGH Cancer Center (an affiliate of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute), the device rapidly delivers a population of unlabeled tumor cells that can be analyzed with both standard clinical diagnostic cytopathology and advanced genetic and molecular technology. The MGH team's report has been published in Science Translational Medicine.
Melanoma Rates Rising in U.S. Children
HealthDay
(Posted: 04/04/2013) - While melanoma in children is still extremely rare, the rate increased by about 2 percent per year from 1973 to 2009 among U.S children from newborns to age 19...Recent studies have also shown that melanoma is on the rise among adults as well. Exactly what is driving these trends is not fully understood, but increased exposure to ultraviolet radiation from both the sun and tanning booths as well as greater awareness of melanoma may be responsible, according to study authors led by Jeannette Wong of the U.S. National Cancer Institute.
Study finds antidepressant helps relieve pain from chemotherapy
NCI Cancer Center News
(Posted: 04/03/2013) - The antidepressant drug duloxetine, known commercially as Cymbalta, helped relieve painful numbness and tingling feelings caused by chemotherapy in 59 percent of patients, a new study led by University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers finds. This is the first clinical trial to find an effective treatment for this pain. Other NCI-designated Cancer Centers or host universities involved in the study were: Duke University, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, and Ohio State University.
3-D scaffolds a new tool to fight cancer
NCI Cancer Center News
(Posted: 04/03/2013) - Porous polymer scaffolds fabricated to support the growth of biological tissue for implantation may hold the potential to greatly accelerate the development of cancer therapeutics. Researchers at Rice University, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York reported this week that three-dimensional scaffolds used to culture Ewing’s sarcoma cells were effective at mimicking the environment in which such tumors develop.
Newly identified tumor suppressor provides therapeutic target for prostate cancer
NCI Cancer Center News
(Posted: 04/03/2013) - The enzyme PKCζ acts as a tumor suppressor by keeping the pro-tumor c-Myc gene in check, in both mice and humans. Researchers from the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute have identified how an enzyme called PKCζ suppresses prostate tumor formation. The finding, which also describes a molecular chain of events that controls cell growth and metastasis, could lead to novel ways to control disease progression.
New diagnostic technology may lead to individualized treatments for prostate cancer
NCI Cancer Center News
(Posted: 04/02/2013) - A research team jointly led by scientists from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and the University of California, Los Angeles (home of the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center), have enhanced a device they developed to identify and “grab” circulating tumor cells, or CTCs, that break away from cancers and enter the blood, often leading to the spread of cancer to other parts of the body. If more studies confirm the technology’s effectiveness, the NanoVelcro Chip device could enable doctors to access and identify cancerous cells in the bloodstream, which would provide the diagnostic information needed to create individually tailored treatments for patients with prostate cancer.
Estrogen plus progestin use linked with increased breast cancer incidence and mortality
NCI Cancer Center News
(Posted: 04/01/2013) - Estrogen plus progestin use is linked with increased breast cancer incidence. In addition, prognosis is similar for both users and nonusers of combined hormone therapy, suggesting that mortality from breast cancer may be higher for hormone therapy users as well, according to a study published March 29 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Authors on this report included scientists from UCLA, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, University of Pittsburgh, Stanford University, State University of New York, Stony Brook; University of Tennessee, University at Buffalo, University of California at Davis, University of California, Sacramento.
Early-onset baldness in African-American men may be linked to prostate cancer
NCI Cancer Center News
(Posted: 04/01/2013) - Baldness was associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer among African-American men, and risk for advanced prostate cancer increased with younger age and type of baldness, according to data from the University of Pennsylvania (home of the Abramson Cancer Center) published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.
Mitochondrial chaperones may represent novel targets for developing anti-cancer drugs
NCI News Note
(Posted: 04/01/2013) - Scientists at NCI have found that a mitochondrial chaperone protein, TRAP1, may act indirectly as a tumor suppressor as well as a novel target for developing anti-cancer drugs. Chaperone proteins, such as TRAP1, help other proteins adapt to stress, but scientists are coming to appreciate that they have other functions as well, such as, in this case, affecting tumor development.
Study finds high soy diet before lung cancer diagnosis improves survival
NCI Cancer Center News
(Posted: 03/29/2013) - A new study by researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (home of the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center) and the Shanghai Cancer Institute found women who ate more soy food prior to a diagnosis of lung cancer lived longer than those who consumed less. The study, conducted in Shanghai, China, was published in the March 25 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
