Body

Tumor shrinkage is not the only measure of a successful anti-cancer therapy. A University of Colorado Cancer Center article published in the journal Frontiers in Oncology describes a promising alternative: metabolic imaging. Tumors rush their metabolism to grow and proliferate. By recognizing a drug's ability to stop this energy overuse, doctors may be able to determine a patient's response to a new, targeted therapy far earlier and with far more precision than watching and waiting for a tumor to shrink.

August 9, 2016 -- A study at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health showed that obesity was more prevalent in patients with a history of cancer than in the general population, and survivors of colorectal and breast cancers were particularly affected. The study is among the first to compare rates of obesity among U.S. cancer survivors and adults without a history of cancer. Findings are published online in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Whitehead Institute researchers have identified the pre-mouth array--an area of the developing face in embryonic frogs--that "unzips" to surround the mouth opening. Their work highlights the precision necessary to create the mouth and identifies the cellular mechanisms that drive its formation.

KEY FINDINGS: A new study in mice suggests that in a tumor's pre-clinical stages, long before a human tumor would be clinically recognizable, certain immune cells can recognize changes that make these cells behave as cancerous cells and attempt to launch an immune attack. However, the T cells that are recognizing these "driver" mutations in the tumor are rapidly turned off and then permanently silenced, making the cells non-functional and thereby protecting the tumor from an immune attack.

DURHAM, N.C. -- As more of Southeast Asia's natural forests are cleared and converted into plantations for growing oil palm, rubber and other tree crops, a Duke University-led study finds that 42 percent of species endemic to the region's forests face a much higher risk of extinction from habitat loss than previously thought.

More than 200 of the mammal, bird and amphibian species that were newly identified as being at high risk by the study are not currently listed as threatened or endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

University of Hawai'i Cancer Center researchers developed a computational algorithm to analyze "Big Data" obtained from tumor samples to better understand and treat cancer.

"A growing problem in cancer research is figuring out how to analyze the many kinds of big genomic data for different cancers. The overwhelming quantity and complexity of the data has created an analysis bottleneck that has slowed the translation of the knowledge within the data to the clinic," said Gordon Okimoto, Co-Director of Biostatistics and Informatics Shared Resource at the UH Cancer Center.

For the first time, researchers at Washington State University have created an injectable compound or "probe" that illuminates hydrogen sulfide and hydrogen polysulfides in different colors when they are present in cells.

Hydrogen sulfide and hydrogen polysulfides are gases notorious as the source of rotten egg stench. They are produced and used for a wide variety of processes in the body. They are thought to play a role in aging as well as diabetes, Alzheimer's, heart attack, cancer and many other diseases, but their precise functions remain a mystery.

A drug originally used to boost the immune system is showing promise as a potential new treatment for lupus, Monash University-led research published today (August 9) shows. Lupus is an autoimmune disease, where the immune system attacks the body's own organs and tissues.

New, highly curative hepatitis C therapy is both safe and effective as a treatment option for people who inject drugs receiving opioid substitution therapy according to the results of a world-first clinical trial led by Professor Gregory Dore at the Kirby Institute at UNSW Australia and published today in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA--With a trick of engineering, scientists at the Gladstone Institutes improved a potential weapon against inflammation and autoimmune disorders. Their work could one day benefit patients who suffer from inflammatory bowel disease or organ transplant rejection.

The Body's Natural Defense

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) reside in bone marrow and have been found to secrete anti-inflammatory proteins that help regulate the immune system. More than 500 clinical trials are trying to use these cells to fight diseases, but so far, many have failed.

Malignant cancers strike certain organs, such as the colon or breast, more often than others. In an Opinion publishing August 9 in Trends in Cancer, researchers propose that this vulnerability in some organs may be due to natural selection. Humans can tolerate tumors in large or paired organs more easily than in small, critical organs, such as the heart, and so the larger organs may have evolved fewer mechanisms to defend against cancerous cells.

Clinical research often excludes females from their trials under the assumption that "one size fits all," that a painkiller or antidepressant will be equally effective in subjects of either sex, but a growing number of scientists are criticizing this approach. In an Essay published August 9 in Cell Metabolism, one group argues that hormones and other variables make a difference in how potential therapeutics behave, and both males and females must be accounted for in trials to move medical advances forward.

PHILADELPHIA - Maintaining proper levels of an essential helper molecule is crucial for optimal muscle function, according to a study led by Joseph Baur, PhD, an assistant professor of Physiology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Some athletes are already taking supplements to increase synthesis of this compound, called NAD, with the hopes of reversing the natural decay associated with aging of the mitochondria, the cell's powerhouses. However, this is the first study to directly investigate the consequences of NAD deficiency on muscle function.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) has concluded that the current evidence is insufficient to assess the balance of benefits and harms of screening for lipid disorders in children and adolescents 20 years or younger. The report appears in the August 9 issue of JAMA.

This is an I statement, indicating that the evidence is lacking, of poor quality, or conflicting, and the balance of benefits and harms cannot be determined.

Among U.S. adults with diabetes from 1988 to 2014, the overall prevalence of diabetic kidney disease did not change significantly, while the prevalence of albuminuria declined and the prevalence of reduced estimated glomerular filtration rate increased, according to a study appearing in the August 9 issue of JAMA.