Body

WORCESTER, MA - Eight weeks after receiving their first samples of Zika virus, scientists at the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) have shown that a very small protein we all have in our bodies, interferon-induced protein 3 (IFITM3), can dramatically reduce the ability of Zika virus to infect human and mouse cells. In some cases, IFITM3 can also prevent Zika virus from killing our cells.

Researchers at the University of Rochester Wilmot Cancer Institute discovered something simple and inexpensive to reduce neuropathy in hands and feet due to chemotherapy--exercise.

The study, involving more than 300 cancer patients, is to be presented this weekend and honored as a "Best of ASCO" among 5,800 abstracts at the world's largest gathering of oncologists, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting 2016. More than a dozen other Wilmot scientists also were invited to present data at the meeting.

CHICAGO -- Use of Metformin - commonly used as the front-line treatment for type 2 diabetes - improves survival for some breast cancer patients, and shows promise as a treatment for patients diagnosed with endometrial hyperplasia, according to the results of two new studies presented by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting.

GIVING chemotherapy after radiotherapy delays further growth of a rare type of brain tumour, increasing the number of patients alive at five years from 44 per cent to 56 per cent.

These results - from a clinical trial for patients with anaplastic glioma run by the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) and funded in UK by Cancer Research UK - were presented at the 2016 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in Chicago today (Friday)*.

CINCINNATI--Researchers at the University of Cincinnati (UC) College of Medicine have found that adding increasing doses of an approved Type 2 diabetes drug, metformin, to a chemotherapy and radiation treatment regimen in head and neck cancer patients is not well tolerated if escalated too quickly, but allowing slower escalation could be beneficial.

These findings are being presented via poster June 4 at the 2016 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting: Collective Wisdom, being held June 3-7 in Chicago.

CHAPEL HILL-They're inside our gut, on the skin, and in the mouth. Thousands of different types of micro-organisms live in and on the body, playing helpful roles in digestion or in aiding the body's natural defense system. Now, scientists at the University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center have found tiny organisms living in the upper female reproductive tract, an environment they said was once thought to be sterile.

While increased screening continues to drive down overall colorectal cancer rates, the rate of colorectal cancer in patients under age 50 is increasing, and the disease is commonly more aggressive in these young patients.

Patients who don't respond to treatments that use their own immune cells to destroy tumors, called tumor infiltrating lymphocytes, share changes in mechanisms that switch genes on or off in those cells, according to study results presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) on June 4, 2016 in Chicago.

CLEVELAND: Researchers from University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine will present data from several new studies, including a study that built an online tool used to estimate individualized survival for patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma (GBM), at the 52nd American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in Chicago. ASCO 2016, held June 3-7, will be attended by 30,000 oncology professionals from around the world.

CHICAGO--The targeted therapy rucaparib, which has demonstrated robust clinical activity in ovarian cancer patients with a BRCA mutation, also showed promise in previously treated pancreatic cancer patients with the mutation, according to results from a phase II clinical study presented by Susan M. Domchek, MD, executive director of the Basser Center for BRCA at the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania, at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting.

TAMPA, Fla. (June 4, 2016) - Patients with recurrent high-grade glioma brain tumors have few effective treatment options and the majority of available therapies do not improve survival. Moffitt Cancer Center will present preliminary results from a phase 1 study testing whether the addition of pembrolizumab to radiation therapy and bevacizumab is safe and can control tumor growth for these patients. The findings will be discussed Saturday, June 4, during the American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting in Chicago.

A video related to this research can be found here: https://youtu.be/170ceT_dvcE

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. -- June 1, 2016 -- A fungal infection associated with a high percentage of deaths among HIV and other immune-compromised patients is more diverse than previously known and likely spread around the world by bats.

A global assessment of the fungus Histoplasma by the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) found that the pathogen is actually divided among six species, and that its spread and speciation from continent-to-continent over the past 9 million years coincides with the global dispersal and evolution of bats.

A new study from The Australian National University (ANU) has found a global boom in the sale of infant and baby formula, especially in China and Southeast Asia, raising concerns about the health of millions of mothers and their babies.

Lead researcher Dr Phillip Baker said the study suggested governments around the world needed to do more to control marketing of baby formula and to ensure work policies gave women a choice to breastfeed their children.

Nagoya, Japan -- Across the centuries, forming cooperative networks beyond cultural boundaries has been a way to overcome natural disasters.

A Nagoya University researcher and his leading international research group discovered a Great Platform built with different kinds of stone at the archeological site of San Andrés, El Salvador, and challenged the prevailing theory regarding the sociocultural development of Southeastern Maya frontier.