cancer research

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Drug Shows Hope for Advanced Skin Cancer

(Newser) - More promising news has emerged from this weekend’s international cancer conference in Florida: Researchers unveiled a drug that shows early promise in fighting the most deadly form of skin cancer. The experimental PLX4032 targets tumor cells that carry a mutation found in 60% of malignant melanomas, and in the...

Drug Offers Hope for Genetic Breast Cancer Sufferers

First-of-its-kind drug slows, stops tumor growth

(Newser) - A first-of-its-kind drug has been developed to fight genetic breast cancer, with an initial round of human trials showing “very promising” results, reports the Times of London. The drug Olaparib works by blocking a protein that makes cancer cells containing the genetic default unable to repair themselves. The drug...

Cure Still Elusive as Cancer Treatments Improve

(Newser) - The world’s largest cancer conference convened this weekend and offered some hope but no cures, USA Today reports. Researchers are getting closer to developing treatments that are gentler and more individualized, and that increase longevity and quality of life. But a cure remains elusive, and even the most promising...

Ginger Curbs Sickness of Chemotherapy: Study

(Newser) - A dose of ginger or a new anti-nausea drug can make chemotherapy less debilitating, the Los Angeles Times reports. One study showed that capsules of ginger on days before and after treatment reduced nausea in cancer patients by 40%. Normally about 70% of chemotherapy patients endure sickness during treatment. "...

Idol Star David Cook's Brother Dies

(Newser) - American Idol winner David Cook lost his brother Adam to cancer yesterday, People reports. Cook announced Adam’s death today at a Race for Hope benefit run for brain cancer research in Washington, DC. "I actually lost my brother yesterday to a brain tumor and I couldn't imagine being...

Glowing Cancer Cells Signal Surgical Leap

New technique takes much of the guesswork out of tumor removal

(Newser) - Surgery to remove tumors has always been a delicate undertaking. Surgeons must try to remove all of the cancerous cells while minimizing the loss of surrounding tissue, a task made harder by the fact that it’s difficult to tell the difference just by looking. No longer: Scientists have found...

Colon Cancer Drug Flunks Important Test

Avastin's effects on early-stage disease don't meet expectations

(Newser) - Clinical trials to determine the drug Avastin’s effects on early-stage colon cancer were a big disappointment for drug firm Genentech, the New York Times reports. The drug, which is typically used in late-stage cancer, didn’t significantly cut the recurrence rate among 2,700 subjects in the early stages,...

Trial Drug Offers Hope for Ovarian Cancer Patients

Early test on small number of women yields improved survival rate

(Newser) - A new drug being developed in Britain could someday prolong the lives of thousands of women suffering ovarian cancer, the Guardian reports. Eight of the 18 women involved in the trial, all of whom had been given less than a year to live, saw their tumors stabilize or shrink under...

Combo Treatment Halves Prostate Death Rates: Study

Researchers say using radiation plus hormones should be worldwide practice

(Newser) - Using radiation therapy in combination with hormone treatment can double the survival rate of patients with advanced prostate cancer, a new European study finds. Of those men given only standard drugs, 24% died after 10 years, compared to less than 12% of those given both treatments. Combined treatment is already...

Family History of Breast Cancer Trumps Genes

Incidence among relatives is red flag, even without mutations

(Newser) - Women with family history of breast cancer are at elevated risk even if they don’t have a proven genetic indicator, HealthDay reports. Specific mutations in the BRCA gene correlate with an 80% lifetime risk of developing breast cancer; women in a new study who had a family history of...

Cancer Genes Decoded For First Time

Breakthrough view into cancer's genetic roots promises new battle realm

(Newser) - Scientists have unlocked cancer's genetic blueprint for the first time, the New York Times reports. Working with cells from a woman who died of leukemia, they decoded her entire DNA sequence and zeroed in on ten mutations that occurred only in the cancerous cells. Researchers say the breakthrough could someday...

DNA Breakthrough IDs Genes That Boost Lung Cancer Risk

Localized variation could guide fight against disease

(Newser) - In a discovery that applies to both smokers and nonsmokers, researchers have identified two genetic variations that may increase the risk of lung cancer by some 60%, Reuters reports. A huge sample—15,000-plus subjects in 18 countries—yielded results that helped researchers locate the variations on the fifth chromosome,...

Weight Can Increase Risk of Breast Cancer

But side effects of treatment can make it harder to shed pounds

(Newser) - There may be a direct connection between weight and breast cancer in women, MSNBC reports. Overweight women “have more exposure to estrogen,” one doctor said, "which we think increases their risk of several different cancers.” Breast cancer patients across the country are now coupling their therapy...

Herpes Linked to Brain Cancer
 Herpes Linked to Brain Cancer 
Oct 6, 2008 7:40 AM CDT

Herpes Linked to Brain Cancer

Surgeon's hunch launches vaccine trials

(Newser) - Cancer researchers are finally taking seriously a young surgeon’s decade-long hunch that brain tumors are linked to a strain of herpes that lies dormant in 80% of Americans. The physician speculated that brain cancer patients—many of them affluent and educated—were more vulnerable to common viruses such as...

Experts Close In on Breast Cancer Vaccine

Link to childbearing hormones could be prevention key

(Newser) - The prevention of breast cancer has been strongly linked to hormonal changes that occur during pregnancy and breastfeeding, prompting a top cancer expert to predict that a vaccine could mimic such safeguards, reports the Guardian. The researcher called for increased efforts to prevent breast cancer in addition to treating it,...

Genome Project Is a Bust: Expert
Genome Project Is a Bust: Expert
Sep 16, 2008 11:40 AM CDT

Genome Project Is a Bust: Expert

$3B effort to pinpoint disease-causing genes too broad, Duke doc says

(Newser) - The idea behind mapping the human genome (and spending $3 billion to do so) was to uncover common gene variants that cause disease. But a Duke University geneticist says that natural selection has worked better than we thought, that there are no common variants but rather a multitude of rare...

Colon Cancer Gene Discovered
 Colon Cancer Gene Discovered 
Sep 15, 2008 6:00 AM CDT

Colon Cancer Gene Discovered

Cancer growth gene identified

(Newser) - Researchers have discovered a key gene that may contribute to the growth of colon cancer and could provide a target for new therapies, Bloomberg reports. The gene, CDK8, controls a cell growth switch that researchers think might spur the development of many tumors. The discovery may help up to 50%...

Swayze Joins Cancer Telethon
 Swayze Joins Cancer Telethon 
Sep 6, 2008 6:48 AM CDT

Swayze Joins Cancer Telethon

Celebrities touched by cancer join historic 3-network telethon

(Newser) - Dozens of Hollywood's finest got together for a historic hour-long, three-network telethon in support of cancer research last night, reports AP. They included cancer survivors Elizabeth Edwards, Christina Applegate and Lance Armstrong, among several others, who made passionate pleas for funding to fight the disease. Cancer kills 550,000 Americans...

Moisturizers Increase Skin Cancer in Mice

More research needed to judge effect on humans, dermatologists say

(Newser) - Moisturizers used by millions around the world each day may increase skin cancer in mice, the Daily Mail reports. But many more tests are needed before researchers can draw conclusions about humans. In mouse experiments, animals primed to develop skin cancer were exposed to UV light. The moisturized mice developed...

Tobacco May Help Cure Cancer
 Tobacco May Help Cure Cancer 
Jul 22, 2008 5:39 PM CDT

Tobacco May Help Cure Cancer

Plant's robust immune system makes it a viable vaccine factory

(Newser) - Scientists are trying to use the tobacco plant to produce a cancer vaccine, Newsweek reports. Ironic though it may be, the plant could someday offer fast and cheap production of antibodies personalized for individual’s tumor cells. In the first study of its kind, scientists found that the plant-based vaccine...

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