background preloader

December

Facebook Twitter

Oxidative DNA damage repair. Oxidative stress damages DNA.

Oxidative DNA damage repair

Researchers in the Vetsuisse Faculty have now decoded the mechanism that repairs DNA damaged in this way. This repair mechanism could lead to less invasive approaches in cancer therapy and contribute to the development of new tests for the early diagnosis of cancer. Oxidative stress is the cause of many serious diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer’s, arteriosclerosis and diabetes. It occurs when the body is exposed to excessive amounts of electrically charged, aggressive oxygen compounds. These are normally produced during breathing and other metabolic processes, but also in the case of ongoing stress, exposure to UV light or X-rays. DNA repair mechanism decoded Together with the University of Oxford, Enni Markkanen, a veterinarian in the working group of Prof. Literature: Researchers use light to measure cancer cells' response to treatment. Many cancer therapies target specific proteins that proliferate on the outside of some cancer cells, but the therapies are imperfect and the cancer does not always respond.

Researchers use light to measure cancer cells' response to treatment

Since it is beneficial for doctors to know as soon as possible how a cancer is affected by treatment, researchers from Vanderbilt University are striving to design tests that assess treatment response rapidly, accurately, and cost-effectively. The team has demonstrated a new way to optically test cultured cancer cells' response to a particular cancer drug. The results appear in the December issue of the Optical Society's (OSA) open-access journal Biomedical Optics Express. New Take on Impacts of Low Dose Radiation. News Release Imaging of a cell’s DNA damage response to radiation shows that 1.5 minutes after irradiation, the sizes and intensities of radiation induced foci (RIF) are small and weak, but 30 minutes later damage sites have clustered into larger and brighter RIF, probably reflecting DNA repair centers.

New Take on Impacts of Low Dose Radiation

Researchers with the U.S. Tissue structure delays cancer development. Computer model reveals that spatial structure delays tumour formation.

Tissue structure delays cancer development

Scientists may be able to double efficacy of radiation therapy. Researchers describe a new genetic programme that converts static cells into mobile invasive cells. Researchers describe a new genetic programme that converts static cells into mobile invasive cells • This transformation, which is common in embryonic development, is very similar to the process undergone by metastatic tumour cells. • The gene GATA 6 is sufficient and necessary for this change to happen.

Researchers describe a new genetic programme that converts static cells into mobile invasive cells

This gene is associated with many tumours of endodermal origin, such as those of the liver, pancreas and colon. 15 December 2011 The cells to the right of the line, which have lost adhesion and are more rounded, will form the Drosophila intestines. Researchers at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) have identified the gene GATA 6 as responsible for epithelial cells -which group together and are static- losing adhesion and moving towards a new site.

Simple test to help diagnose bowel and pancreatic cancer could save thousands of lives. A simple online calculator could offer family GPs a powerful new tool in tackling two of the most deadly forms of cancer, say researchers.

Simple test to help diagnose bowel and pancreatic cancer could save thousands of lives

Academics from The University of Nottingham and ClinRisk Ltd have developed two new QCancer algorithms, which cross-reference symptoms and risk factors of patients to red flag those most likely to have pancreatic and bowel cancer, which could help doctors to diagnose these illnesses more quickly and potentially save thousands of lives every year. Heart drug may be effective for managing certain cancers, study finds. Researchers at Queen’s University have identified a new mechanism that could potentially explain why the body’s immune system sometimes fails to eliminate cancer.

Heart drug may be effective for managing certain cancers, study finds

Safety assessment of botanical ingredients of concern in plant food supplements. Scientists capture single cancer molecules at work. Researchers have revealed how a molecule called telomerase contributes to the control of the integrity of our genetic code, and when it is involved in the deregulation of the code, its important role in the development of cancer.

Scientists capture single cancer molecules at work

The University of Montreal scientists involved explain how they were able to achieve their discovery by using cutting edge microscopy techniques to visualize telomerase molecules in real time in living cells in Molecular Cell on December 9, 2011. "Each time our cells divide, they need to completely copy the genomic DNA that encodes our genes, but the genome gets shorter each time until the cell stops dividing," said Dr. Pascal Chartrand, a biochemistry professor at the University of Montreal and a senior author of the study. "However, the telomerase molecules can add bits of DNA called telomeres to the ends of our genome. Blood protein EPO involved in origin and spread of cancer. Acupuncture may ease severe nerve pain associated with cancer treatment, study suggests.

Acupuncture may help ease the severe nerve pain associated with certain cancer drugs, suggests a small preliminary study published in Acupuncture in Medicine.

Acupuncture may ease severe nerve pain associated with cancer treatment, study suggests

Cancer patients treated with taxanes, vinca alkaloids, or platinum compounds can develop a condition known as chemotherapy induced peripheral neuropathy, or CIPN for short, as a by-product of their treatment. These powerful drugs can damage peripheral nerves, particularly in the calves and feet, which can result in severe nerve pain and/or difficulty walking.

As yet, there is no effective antidote. A new study suggests that a neurotransmitter might improve the treatment of cancer. Public release date: 5-Dec-2011 [ Print | E-mail Share ] [ Close Window ] Contact: Darrell E.

A new study suggests that a neurotransmitter might improve the treatment of cancer

WardDarrell.Ward@osumc.edu 614-293-3737Ohio State University Medical Center COLUMBUS, Ohio – Doses of a neurotransmitter might offer a way to boost the effectiveness of anticancer drugs and radiation therapy, according to a new study led by researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Using animal models of human breast and prostate cancers, the researchers found that injections of the neurotransmitter dopamine can improve blood flow to tumors and improve delivery of an anticancer drug, doubling the drug's concentration in tumors and increasing its effectiveness. The study also found that dopamine plays an important role in maintaining the structure of normal blood vessels, and that it does this by working through the D2 dopamine receptor, which is present in normal blood-vessel cells called endothelial cells and pericytes.

Moffitt Cancer Center researchers find MK1775 active against sarcomas. MK 1775, a small, selective inhibitor molecule, has been found to be active against many sarcomas when tested by researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla. Their findings, recently appearing in Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, published by the American Association for Cancer Research, suggest that a badly needed new agent against sarcomas — especially sarcomas affecting children — may be at hand. According to corresponding author Soner Altiok, M.D., Ph.D., sarcomas are rare forms of cancers and are comprised of more than 70 types. Tumor-targeting compound points the way to new personalized cancer treatments. One major obstacle in the fight against cancer is that anticancer drugs often affect normal cells in addition to tumor cells, resulting in significant side effects. Yet research into development of less harmful treatments geared toward the targeting of specific cancer-causing mechanisms is hampered by lack of knowledge of the molecular pathways that drive cancers in individual patients.