Hemo

Adding Radiation Therapy To Chemotherapy Improves Survival In Patients With High-risk Breast Cancer

For patients with high-risk breast cancer treated with radical mastectomy and adjuvant chemotherapy, the addition of radiation therapy leads to better survival outcomes with few long-term toxic effects, according to a 20-year follow-up of a randomized trial, which appears in the January 19 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The British Columbia randomized radiation the...

Plant hemoglobins: Oxygen handlers critical for nitrogen fixation

Hemoglobins, key components of our blood, are ancient proteins with well-known roles in oxygen transport and respiration in animals. Hemoglobins are also present in plants and bacteria, but until now the physiological role of plant hemoglobins has been unclear. A group of researchers reveal this week that one such mysterious plant hemoglobin serves to assist in the fixation of nitrogen in the roo...

New Treatment Rivals Chemotherapy For Lymphoma, Study Finds

A new form of treatment for lymphoma that takes a fraction of the ti...

Bevacizumab Combined With Chemotherapy Improves Progression-Free Survival for Patients With Advanced Breast Cancer

Preliminary results from a large, randomized clinical trial for patients with previously untreated recurrent or metastatic breast cancer ?cancer that has spread from the breast to other parts of the body ?show that those patients who received bevacizumab (Avastin? in combination with standard chemotherapy had a longer time period before their cancer progressed than patients who received the same...

Embryonic Stem Cells Treated With Growth Factor Reverse Hemophilia In Mice: UNC Researchers

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers have made a discovery that may have implications for the treatment of liver-based genetic defects such as hemophilia A and B in humans. Mouse embryonic stem cells treated in culture with a growth factor and then injected into the liver reverse a form of hemophilia in mice analogous to hemophilia B in humans, the new study shows. A re...

USC researchers determine mechanism of action of chemotherapy drug

The chemotherapy drug motexafin gadolinium (brand name: Xcytrin, manufactured by Pharmacyclics, Inc.) works to thwart cancer cells by disrupting key enzymes involved in cellular metabolism, according to a team of researchers led by Joseph Hacia, Ph.D., assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. The cell...

Gene therapy advance treats hemophilia in mouse models

Vector improved in two ways creates a sustained, partial correction to bleeding problems in mice Researchers at the University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Me...

Researchers use RNAi libraries to identify regulators of apoptosis and chemoresistance

When it comes to the deadly skin cancer melanoma, studying functional tissue rather than cell lines may better provide insight into the disease's development, according to new research from a Howard Hughes Medical Institute predoctoral fellow at Stanford University School of Medicine. Though multiple genetic alterations are associated with melanoma development, scientists have not been abl...

Researchers discover new route to hemoglobin synthesis

For years, sedatives have been the gold standard for treating newborns suffering from opiate withdrawal. However, new research suggests that opiates themselves are superior to sedatives for treating infants born to women who used heroin or methadone while pregnant. Opiates appear to better "ameliorate the withdrawal, facilitate feeding and potentially reduce the likelihood of seizures," ac...

Possible treatment found for 'chemobrain'

The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), announced today that the Large-Scale Sequencing Research Network will target 13 more organisms as part of its ongoing effort to produce genomic data that will expand biological knowledge and improve human health. The National Advisory Council for Human Genome Research (NACHGR), which is a...

Gene expression profile helps predict chemotherapy response in ovarian cancer patients

A newly identified gene expression profile could help predict how patients with advanced ovarian cancer will respond to chemotherapy treatment. Described in a study in the November 1, 2005 issue of The Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO), the new findings further establish an important role for microarray gene profiling as a predictor of clinical outcome in ovarian cancer, and could eventually pro...

Ancient DNA helps UF researchers unearth potential hemophilia therapy

A cut can be life-threatening for people with hemophilia, whose bodies don't produce enough of a protein that prevents prolonged bleeding. Now University of Florida researchers may be one step closer to finding a safe way to spur production of this missing protein in patients with the most common form of the hereditary bleeding disorder. Using a dormant strand of DNA that has quietly exist...

Chemotherapy gel may fight breast cancer and reduce breast deformity

Women who undergo surgery for breast cancer followed by radiation therapy often experience breast deformities that can only be corrected through reconstructive surgery. Researchers at the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, in collaboration with bioengineers at Carnegie Mellon University, have developed a polymer-based therapy for breast cancer that could serve as an artificial tissue fi...

Predicting chemotherapy outcome

Studying the gene-expression profiles of patients with colorectal cancer might help predict their response to chemotherapy. In a study published today in the open access journal Genome Biology, researchers identified in the tumours of colorectal cancer patients almost 700 genes whose expression was different between patients who subsequently responded well to combined chemotherapy and patients wh...

Nano-particles effective in killing cancer with one-two punch of chemotherapeutics

Research studies, based at the University of Pennsylvania, demonstrate that biodegradable nano-particles containing two potent cancer-fighting drugs are effective in killing human breast tumors. The unique properties of the hollow shell nano-particles, known as polymersomes, allow them to deliver two distinct drugs, paclitaxel, the leading cancer drug known by brand names such as Taxol, and doxo...

New device could cut chemotherapy deaths

A new method of delivering chemotherapy to cancer patients without incurring side effects such as hair loss and vomiting is being developed. These fibres are bio-degradable and compatib...

Buckyballs boost antibody's chemotherapy payload

In the ongoing search for better ways to target anticancer drugs to kill tumors without making people sick, researchers find that nanoparticles called buckyballs might be used to significantly boost the payload of drugs carried by tumor-targeting antibodies. In research due to appear in an upcoming issue of the journal Chemical Communications, scientists at Rice University and The Universi...

Injection may prevent infertility in men receiving cancer chemotherapy

It may be possible to protect the testes of cancer patients against the loss of fertility caused by chemotherapy, a scientist told the 22nd annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Prague, Czech Republic on Tuesday 20 June 2006. Mr. Alon Carmely from Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel, said that his work showed for the first time that the injection o...

First-ever genomic test predicts which lung cancer patients need chemotherapy to live

Duke University Medical Center scientists have developed the first-ever genomic test to predict which patients with early-stage lung cancer will need chemotherapy to live and which patients can avoid the toxic regimen of drugs. The test has the potential to save thousands of lives each year by recommending chemotherapy for patients who are currently advised against it, said the test's de...

ABCB6 is key to production of heme in hemoglobin

Investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have discovered that a protein called ABCB6 plays a central role in production of a molecule that is key to the ability of red blood cells to carry oxygen, of liver cells to break down toxins, and of cells to extract energy from nutrients. The St. Jude investigators showed that ABCB6 is lodged within the outer membrane of the cell's...

What animals can tell us about hemorrhage, organ transplants and aging

The stereotype of a scientist as a man in a white lab coat hunched over a microscope in a laboratory is far from real life. Consider the scientists who will meet at The American Physiological Society's conference, Comparative Physiology 2006: Integrating Diversity, taking place October 8-11 in Virginia Beach, Virginia. They spend time in the mountains studying bears, animals that...

St. Jude finds clues to hearing loss from chemotherapy

Children with cancer who suffer hearing loss due to the toxic effects of chemotherapy might one day be able to get their hearing back through pharmacological and gene therapy, thanks to work done with mouse models at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Mice with a variety of genetic mutations that disrupt different parts of the ear will also help scientists understand age-related hearing loss...

Chemotherapy temporarily affects the structures of the human brain

Researchers have linked chemotherapy with short-term structural changes in cognitive areas of the brain, according to a new study. Published in the January 1, 2007 issue of CANCER ( ), a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the study reveals that within 12 months of rec...

Researchers examine why food tastes bad to chemotherapy recipients

About two million cancer patients currently receiving certain drug therapies and chemotherapy find foods and beverages to have a foul metallic flavor, according to a medical study. In general, more than 40 percent of hospitalized patients suffer from malnutrition due to taste and smell dysfunction. "Unfortunately, these problems that impact nutrition and quality of life are underestimated...

Plant-derived molecules, genetic manipulation point to future chemoprevention methods

Scientists are using genetic studies and natural chemicals, such as plant-derived triterpenoids, to further our knowledge on how genetic and early molecular interactions can lead to cancer, and how those early interactions can be manipulated to stave off a variety of cancers. The latest studies with new and promising chemopreventive agents were presented at the American Association for Cancer Res...

Key to lung cancer chemo resistance revealed

Scientists at Johns Hopkins have discovered how taking the brakes off a "detox" gene causes chemotherapy resistance in a common form of lung cancer. Products made by a gene called NRF2 normally protect cells from environmental pollutants like cigarette smoke and diesel exhaust by absorbing the materials and pumping them out of the cell. Another gene called KEAP1 encodes products that sto...

Researchers urge monitoring of bone health during chemotherapy

In laboratory tests on mice, researchers found that a medication often used to reduce toxic side effects of chemotherapy induced bone loss and helped tumors grow in bone. So the researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are recommending increased awareness of bone health during cancer treatments. The medication studied is a growth factor commonly used to help ca...

Chemo combination improves survival in asbestos-related cancer

People with mesothelioma ?a form of cancer associated with asbestos exposure ?have a higher survival rate when treated with a combination of two cancer drugs, a large multicenter study finds. In the study, p...

Breakthrough vaccine to treat chemo-resistant ovarian cancer

Cancer Treatment Centers of America announced today its plans to launch a new cancer vaccine therapy that expands treatment options for thousands of women with advanced stage ovarian cancer. This innovative treatment will be offered by Cancer Treatment Centers of America and developed by AVAX Technologies, Inc. (OTCMarket: AVXT.OB). "Cancer Treatment Centers of America's number one priori...

Discovery could lead to better control of hemorrhagic fever viruses

Researchers report discovering the receptor through which a group of life-threatening hemorrhagic fever viruses enter and attack the body's cells, and show that infection can be inhibited by blocking this receptor. The findings, to be published online by the journal Nature on February 7, give a clue to the high lethality of New World arenaviruses, suggest a way of reducing the severity of infecti...

Gene thought to assist chemo may help cancer thrive

A gene thought to be essential in helping chemotherapy kill cancer cells, may actually help them thrive. In a new study of chemo patients, scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Ovarian Cancer Institute found that 70 percent of subjects whose tumors had mutations in the gene p53 were still alive after five years. Patients with normal p53 displayed only a 30 percent survival rat...

Catching cancer's spread by watching hemoglobin

In an advance that can potentially assist cancer diagnosis, a new optical technique provides high-resolution, three-dimensional images of blood vessels by taking advantage of the natural multiple-photon-absorbing properties of hemoglobin, the red-blood-cell molecule that carries oxygen throughout the bloodstream. The research will be presented in Baltimore at CLEO/QELS, May 6 ?May 11. The...