Cancer News and Research

RSS

Cancer begins in your cells, which are the building blocks of your body. Normally, your body forms new cells as you need them, replacing old cells that die. Sometimes this process goes wrong. New cells grow even when you don't need them, and old cells don't die when they should. These extra cells can form a mass called a tumor. Tumors can be benign or malignant. Benign tumors aren't cancer while malignant ones are. Cells from malignant tumors can invade nearby tissues. They can also break away and spread to other parts of the body.

An innovative strategy for on-demand contraception for men

An experimental contraceptive drug developed by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators temporarily stops sperm in their tracks and prevents pregnancies in preclinical models. The study, published in Nature Communications on Feb. 14, demonstrates that an on-demand male contraceptive is possible.

16 Feb 2023

Novel approach removes the barriers of lifesaving cancer genetic services

Genetic counseling and genetic testing for mutations in certain genes such as BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes -; can help people understand their risk of certain types of cancer that can run in families, and improve outcomes through prevention, early detection, and targeted treatments.

16 Feb 2023

The essential protein needed for immune evasion and tumor cell metabolism

Typically, tumor cells change their energy metabolism and take in more glucose to enable their rapid division and spread. As a result, the body’s immune response to cancer is suppressed by limiting the immune cells’ access to glucose.

15 Feb 2023

IGSF3-mediated potassium dysregulation drives glioma-related epilepsy

Glioma is one of the most aggressive malignant primary brain tumors. A common feature of glioma is the presence of localized, intermittent seizures referred to as glioma-related epilepsy, which is known to promote tumor growth. However, the mechanism involved at the molecular level is still not clear.

15 Feb 2023

Inhibiting astrocyte hyperactivity can reverse cognitive deficits associated with social deprivation

Here is an important reason to stay in touch with friends and family: social isolation causes memory and learning deficits and other behavioral changes.

15 Feb 2023

MD Anderson and Replay launch new company pioneering T cell receptor NK cell therapies

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Replay today announced the launch of Syena, a new oncology-focused product company pioneering T cell receptor (TCR) natural killer (NK) cell therapies.

15 Feb 2023

New family of pharmaceutical compounds that target RNA

In Jennifer Hines’ lab, a group of graduate and undergraduate chemistry students recently discovered a new family of compounds that can target RNA and interfere with its function. In the future, RNA-targeted treatments to treat cancer and metabolic diseases, together with bacterial and viral infections, could be developed using the chemical scaffold found in this research.

15 Feb 2023

Analyzing the immune microenvironment around Hodgkin lymphoma tumors

The most detailed study of Hodgkin lymphoma, a type of blood cancer, has offered considerable insight into what tumor cells must do to sustain. The Wellcome Sanger Institute discovered that cancer cells utilize signals to attract specific types of immune cells and direct them not to attack.

15 Feb 2023

Versatile molecular toolbox expands the scope of gene regulation

Rice University scientists have enlisted widely used cancer therapy systems to control gene expression in mammalian cells, a feat of synthetic biology that could change how diseases are treated.

15 Feb 2023

Climate change likely to help mosquitoes reach colder parts of the continent

Based on data that span the past 120 years, scientists at Georgetown University Medical Center have found that the mosquitoes responsible for transmitting malaria in Africa are spreading deeper into southern Africa and to higher elevations than previously recorded. The researchers estimate that Anopheles mosquito populations in sub-Saharan Africa have gained an average of 6.5 meters (21 feet) of elevation per year, and the southern limits of their ranges moved south of the equator by 4.7 kilometers (nearly 3 miles) per year.

15 Feb 2023

Study finds similar levels of DNA damage in vapers and smokers

E-cigarettes-; used regularly by more than 10% of U.S. teens and more than 3% of adults-; were once pitched as a healthy alternative to tobacco cigarettes.

14 Feb 2023

UChicago scientists shed light on the longstanding puzzle of RNA methylation

University of Chicago scientists have discovered a new wrinkle in our understanding of how our genes work.

14 Feb 2023

Study explains why cancers stop responding to kinase inhibitors and come back stronger

More than 70 FDA-approved cancer drugs are kinase inhibitors, which work by blocking kinases-;enzymes that add phosphate groups to molecules in the cell-;and preventing the chemical activity necessary for signaling and growth in cancer cells.

14 Feb 2023

Research provides insight into the regulation of heartbeats

UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have mapped gene control elements in specialized cardiac cells responsible for coordinating heartbeats. The findings of the genome exploration study, published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, provide insight into how heartbeats are regulated and could impact diagnosis and risk prediction for a variety of common arrhythmias.

14 Feb 2023

Novel analytical platform quantitatively characterizes mRNA vaccines

Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University and RIKEN CSRS have developed a new analytical platform based on liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry and software analysis that quantifies the structure of messenger RNA (mRNA) based medicines.

14 Feb 2023

Study reveals the mechanisms that prevent effective cancer cell death

Cancer is a disease driven by gene mutations. These mutated genes in cancer fall into two major categories: tumor suppressors and oncogenes. Mutations in tumor suppressor genes can allow tumors to grow unchecked – a case of no brakes – while mutations in oncogenes can activate cell proliferation, pushing the gas pedal all the way to the floor.

14 Feb 2023

New software helps identify genes that play vital roles in the development

Computer software developed at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis can predict what happens to complex gene networks when individual genes are missing or dialed up more than usual.

14 Feb 2023

Robust new method accurately identifies eight antidepressants

In recent years, a mass spectrometry process that can detect the amounts of drugs in a biological sample, such as blood, has become a powerful diagnostic tool for helping medical professionals identify and monitor levels of therapeutic drugs in patients, which can cause unwanted or dangerous side effects.

14 Feb 2023

Review highlights the pathological significance of CEACAM1, 5, and 6

A new review was published in Genes & Cancer on February 1, 2023, entitled, "CEACAMS 1, 5, and 6 in disease and cancer: interactions with pathogens."

14 Feb 2023

Extracts from two common wild plants block SARS-CoV-2 from entering human cells

Two common wild plants contain extracts that inhibit the ability of the virus that causes COVID-19 to infect living cells, an Emory University study finds.

13 Feb 2023