Novel Drug Delivery System Releases Drugs in Response to Compression by the Patient’s Hand. Potential new treatment for gastrointestinal cancers discovered. Potential new treatment for gastrointestinal cancers discovered Associate Professor Matthias Ernst and colleagues have identified a potential new treatment for certain types of colon and gastric cancers. Researchers have identified a complex of proteins that promotes the growth of some types of colon and gastric cancers, and shown that medications that block the function of this complex have the potential to be developed into a new treatment for these diseases. The complex of proteins, known as mTorc1 (mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1), has previously been implicated in the development of some other cancers but this is the first time it has been shown to promote the growth of colon and gastric cancers that are associated with inflammation.
Cancers of the digestive system are a significant cause of death in Australia. Associate Professor Ernst said many types of colon and gastric cancer were associated with chronic inflammation. Download media release (pdf) For further information. Cancer scientists determine mechanism of one of the most powerful tumor-suppressor proteins, Chd5.
Cold Spring Harbor, NY – A team of cancer researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) has solved the mystery of how one of the most powerful of the body’s natural tumor-suppressing proteins, called Chd5, exerts its beneficial effects. The findings, published online today in the journal Cell Reports, are important because Chd5 engages processes fundamental to cancer prevention. Conversely, when Chd5 is mutated or missing, an important door is opened to cancer initiation. “For this reason, figuring out the mechanics of how Chd5 works to prevent cancer can directly impact the treatment of a diverse array of human cancers,” says Alea A. Mills, Ph.D., team leader and Professor at CSHL. “Until now, we didn’t understand very much about this process.”
In less than a minute: CSHL Professor Alea Mills explains what's so important about the Chd5 tumor suppressor and what her team has discovered about it. Helping patients navigate new cancer drugs. As cancer treatment in pill form transforms how care is delivered, a new Michigan State University study underscores the challenges patients face in administering their own chemotherapy outside the supervised environment of a cancer clinic. Chemotherapy pills can target specific cancers better than some traditional intravenous drugs, said Sandra Spoelstra, the MSU assistant professor of nursing who led the study.
But they also can be difficult for patients to take. “Prescriptions for some oral pills have complex instructions,” she said. “Some of them require patients to take pills several times a day or cycle their doses, taking one pill a day for three weeks, then stopping for a week before starting again. And some patients take two types of pills to treat their cancer or have multiple medications for other chronic conditions. In addition, side effects such as severe nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue, skin reactions and pain are common. Sickle Cells Show Potential to Attack Aggressive Cancer Tumors. By Duke Medicine News and Communications DURHAM, N.C. – By harnessing the very qualities that make sickle cell disease a lethal blood disorder, a research team led by Duke Medicine and Jenomic, a private cancer research company in Carmel, Calif., has developed a way to deploy the misshapen red blood cells to fight cancer tumors.
Reporting in the Jan. 9, 2013, edition of the on-line journal, PLOS ONE, the researchers describe a process of exploiting sickle-shaped red blood cells to selectively target oxygen deprived cancer tumors in mice and block the blood vessels that surround them. “Sickle cells appear to be a potent way to attack hypoxic (oxygen-starved) solid tumors, which are notable for their resistance to existing cancer chemotherapy agents and radiation,” said senior author Mark W. Dewhirst, DVM, PhD, a radiation oncologist and director of Duke’s Tumor Microcirculation Laboratory. In addition to Dewhirst and Terman, study authors included Benjamin L.