COLUMBUS, Ohio – An interim analysis of a phase II clinical trial indicates that a novel experimental agent for chronic lymphocytic leukemiaterm (CLL) is highly active and well tolerated both in patients who are undergoing treatment for the first time and those who have relapsed and are resistant to other therapy. 

Solid tumours such as brain tumours are highly resistant to chemotherapyterm and radiation. One reason for this is a ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ strategy that these tumours use to survive treatment. By developing a cancer drug that targets this recycling pathway, Malaghan Institute of Medical Research scientists have struck upon a novel approach for combating otherwise resistant and aggressive cancers.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — A study led by researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center showed in animal studies that new cancer drug compounds they developed shrank tumors, with few side effects.

A Harvard bioengineer and an MIT aeronautical engineer have created a new device that can detect single cancer cells in a blood sample, potentially allowing doctors to quickly determine whether cancer has spread from its original site. 

 University of Rochester optics professor Jannick Rolland has developed an optical technology that provides unprecedented images under the skin's surface. The aim of the technology is to detect and examine skin lesions to determine whether they are benign or cancerous without having to cut the suspected tumor out of the skin and analyze it in the lab.

It's a discordant note in the symphony of good news that usually accompanies stem cell research announcements. Stem cells hold enormous promise in regenerative medicine, thanks to their ability to regenerate diseased or damaged tissues. They have made it possible to markedly improve the effectiveness of many medical treatments – muscle regeneration in cases of dystrophy, skin grafts for treating burn victims, and the treatment of leukemiaterm via bone marrow transplants.

Men who start to lose hair at the age of 20 are more likely to develop prostate cancer in later life and might benefit from screening for the disease, according to a new study published online in the cancer journal, Annals of Oncology [1] today.

Projections of the Cost of Cancer Care in the United States: 2010-2020

Angela B. Mariotto, K. Robin Yabroff, Yongwu Shao, Eric J. Feuer and Martin L. Brown

Angela B. Mariotto, PhD, Surveillance Research Program, Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, National Cancer Institute, Ste 504, MSC 8317, 6116 Executive Blvd, MSC 7344, Bethesda, MD 20892-7344
Background

Current estimates of the costs of cancer care in the United States are based on data from 2003 and earlier. However, incidence, survival, and practice patterns have been changing for the majority of cancers.

Using next-generation Circulating Tumor Cell (CTC) technology to capture, count and characterize circulating tumor cells in patients' blood, Johnson and Johnson and Massachusetts General Hospital hope to equip doctors with a more advanced non-invasive way to find out from a few cells how much a cancer has spread, personalize treatment for patients, and monitor their progress.

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are cells that have come away from a primary tumor, are circulating in the bloodstream, and have the potential to seed secondary tumors in another part of the body.

ST. LOUIS – A compound which acts in the opposite way as growth hormone can reverse some of the signs of aging, a research team that includes a Saint Louis University physician has shown. The finding may be counter-intuitive to some older adults who take growth hormone, thinking it will help revitalize them.

Their research was published in the Dec. 6 online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

New data from the University of Colorado Cancer Center could alter how drugs are evaluated 

12/22/2010 

AURORA, Colo. (Dec. 22, 2010)—A class of drugs thought to kill cancer cells may in fact block “cross talk” between the cancer cell and normal immune cells, resulting in reduced cancer growth and spread—a discovery that could significantly alter the way cancer drugs are evaluated in the future.

Scientists now know that some cancer cells spread, or metastasize, throughout the body the old-fashioned way -- by using their feet. But researchers at Duke Cancer Institute have discovered a way to short-circuit their travels by preventing the development of these feet, called invadopodia. This discovery is even more important because preventing the development of these "feet" also eliminates the action of proteins present in the feet that burn through intact tissue and let cancer cells enter new cells.

Researchers at King's College London have discovered that leukaemic stem cells can be reversed to a pre-leukaemic stage by suppressing a protein called beta-catenin found in the blood.

They also found that advanced leukaemic stem cells that had become resistant to treatment could be 're-sensitised' to treatment by suppressing the same protein.

Researchers at the Andalusian Institute for Molecular Biology and Regenerative Medicine (CABIMER) and the University of Granada found that cFLIP –an inhibitor of death ligand-induced apoptosis– is not only essential in breast tumor cells resistance to TRAIL treatments (a death ligand with a potent therapeutic potential against cancer), but this protein is also key to the survival of such cancer cells.

A study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation (Volume 116, Number 10) tested human serum, derived from colon cancer patients who had either been treated with chemotherapyterm alone or with chemotherapy + Avastinterm. Serum from Avastin treated patients actually support endothelial cell growth in cell culture better than serum from control patients, without Avastin treatment.