Bar Harbor, Maine — Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Cambridge, Mass., in collaboration with Jackson Laboratory scientists, have identified a regulatory defect that drives lupus.
Correcting the defect “may represent an effective t…
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New clue to lupus: Failed autoimmune suppression mechanism
New test discovered to better predict breast cancer outcomes
Researchers from McGill University’s Rosalind and Morris Goodman Cancer Research Centre (GCRC), the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI MUHC), the Dana — Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School have discovered a…
New studies examine links between XMRV and human disease
Xenotropic murine leukemia virus — related virus (XMRV) has been the subject of many studies since its discovery in 2006, but conflicting reports have created an unclear picture of XMRV’s role in human disease. In three recent studies published in …
Insurance and socioeconomic status do not explain racial disparities in breast cancer care
Racial disparities in the receipt of breast cancer care persist despite accounting for patients’ insurance and social and economic status. That is the conclusion of a study published early online in Cancer, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Ca…
Investigational ovarian cancer drug shows promise against platinum resistant disease
A drug being developed as a treatment for ovarian cancer has shown single agent activity with durable disease control in some patients in a Phase-II clinical trial, an international research group has reported.
Dr Ursula Matulonis from Dana-Farber…
Multivitamin use doesn’t impact colon cancer outcomes
BOSTON–Patients with colon cancer who used multivitamins during and after being treated with post-surgical chemotherapy did not reduce the risk of the cancer returning or their dying from it, according to researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Ins…
Sensitivity, resistance of tumor cells to chemo linked to genetic abnormality
Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and a team of international collaborators have identified a genetic abnormality that makes ovarian tumor cells initially sensitive to a common chemotherapy agent, cisplatin, and then resistant to the drug over time.
Scientists report discovery of cancer-causing gene in childhood kidney tumor
In a discovery sparked by a routine check-up of a young cancer survivor, researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Children’s Hospital Boston have identified a gene responsible for a childhood form of the kidney tumor papillary renal cell carcinoma (PRCC).
Radiofrequency ablation effective in treating advanced lung cancer
Radiofrequency ablation can ease pain, slow tumor growth, and even destroy tumors in patients with advanced lung cancer, a new study shows. ?We treated 12 patients with thoracic tumors using radiofreqency ablation, which is the use of extreme heat to treat tumors,? says Eric vanSonnenberg, MD, chief of radiology at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and visiting professor at Harvard Medical School in Boston, and lead author of the study. The patients either had maximal applications of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy or were unfit for these therapies anymore, Dr. vanSonnenberg says.
Male gene sparks immune reaction to stem cell transplants from female donors
Researchers report that in some cases of stem cell transplants from female donors to male recipients, the transplanted cells mount an immunological attack against the product of a gene carried by most cells in the body of male recipients. Emmanuel Zorn, PhD, says it is the first time that the gene, located on the Y chromosome and known as DBY, has been identified following a female-to-male stem cell transplant for leukemia.
Study sheds new light on how common painkillers prevent colon cancer
Building on earlier studies that have shown that common painkillers known as NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) can reduce the risk of colon cancer in healthy people, researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have identified a mechanism by which NSAIDs inhibit the development of colon cancer. Compared with normal cells, colorectal cancer cells have abnormally high levels of an immune system protein, IL-6. David Frank, MD, PhD, and his Dana-Farber colleagues have discovered that IL-6 triggers malignant growth by activating a protein called STAT1, which transmits signals that prevent the normal scheduled death of cells in the colon.
Technique gives scientists clearest picture yet of all the genes of an animal
Scientists have used a powerful gene-mapping technique to produce the clearest picture yet of all the genes of an animal ? the microscopic worm Caenorhabditis elegans (better known as C. elegans). Scientists believe the same technique may be used to bring the current, somewhat blurry picture of the human genome into sharper focus. The study, in Nature Genetics, describes an effort to locate and precisely identify all of the approximately 19,000 genes that have been predicted to exist in the genome of C. elegans.
Antibody therapy can increase the effectiveness of cancer vaccine
The benefit of some cancer vaccines may be boosted by treating patients with an antibody that blocks a key protein on immune system T cells, according to a small, preliminary study led by researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. The study tested the effect of a single injection of the antibody MDX-CTLA4 in nine patients who had previously been treated with cancer vaccines for either metastatic melanoma or metastatic ovarian cancer. The result, in every patient who had received a particular kind of vaccine, was widespread death of cancer cells and an increase in the number of immune system cells within the tumors ? evidence of a potent immune system attack.
Rare blood disease shown to be a form of treatable cancer
In the process of figuring out why an anti-cancer drug is effective in treating patients with a rare blood disorder known as hypereosinophilic syndrome, or HES, researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have shown that the condition may in fact be a form of cancer.
Screening test can help identify cancer survivors at risk for emotional distress
A relatively brief screening test can give caregivers a good indication of which cancer survivors are emotionally distressed and may benefit from further psychological evaluation, according to new research by a team of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute investigators. In a study in the March 1 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the researchers found that childhood cancer survivors whose screening scores indicated they were dissatisfied with their physical appearance, were in poor physical health, or had been treated with head radiation had an increased risk of experiencing psychological distress.
New drug combo improves survival in aggressive bone cancer
Adding two experimental drugs to the standard four-drug chemotherapy regimen has significantly improved survival in patients with non-metastatic Ewing?s sarcoma, a highly malignant bone cancer of children and young adults. The large multi-institutional trial showed that the overall survival rate increased from 61 percent to 72 percent for Ewing?s sarcoma patients with localized disease who underwent the experimental six-drug chemotherapy.
Vaccine technique shows potential against common form of lung cancer
In a demonstration of vaccine therapy’s potential for treating lung cancer, scientists report that a prototype vaccine boosted the natural immune response to tumors in a small group of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Moreover, the vaccine was found to be non-toxic and well-tolerated. Published in the Feb. 15 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, findings from the Phase I clinical trial will provide an impetus for further efforts to develop a vaccine against NSCLC, a difficult-to-treat condition that accounts for roughly 80 percent of all lung cancer cases.
Zebrafish may point the way toward genes responsible for T cell leukemia
Scientists hunting for genes responsible for acute lymphoblastic leukemia have a new compass: a system that uses powerful genetic techniques in a zebrafish model. Researchers report they have created a zebrafish model that will help scientists pinpoint genes that accelerate or delay the spread of T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), a disease responsible for 400 deaths – about half of them, children – in the United States each year. The model may also provide a faster, more direct way of testing novel drugs against the disease.
Study sheds light on how the sun causes skin cancer
Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have made a discovery that could help solve a mystery in cancer biology: how a sunburn acquired during a childhood day at the beach can develop into a deadly tumor decades later. The scientists report in the Feb. 4 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that the sun’s damaging ultraviolet (UV) rays target a series of biochemical signals inside the young skin cell, impairing the cell’s ability to control its proliferation. The paper currently is available on the journal’s web site.
Effects of rare, devastating disease linked to shrinking of cells’ telomeres
Scientists have found that much of the widespread damage that the rare genetic disease ataxia telangiectasia, or AT, wreaks on the body results from the progressive shortening of telomeres, the structures that cap the ends of a cell’s chromosomes. In genetically altered mice, the researchers found that the shortening of telomeres led to a “crisis” that disrupted chromosomes “like a hand grenade thrown into the cell,” as one scientist put it. The resulting cellular chaos was manifested throughout the rodents’ bodies by the loss of reparative stem cells that different organs normally have in reserve, producing symptoms of premature aging such as hair loss and slow wound healing, and early death.
Gene signature identifies leukemia patients who should avoid transplants
An international team of researchers has used a gene test to identify certain patients with adult T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who can be successfully treated with chemotherapy alone and should not be subjected to the rigors of bone marrow transplants. The researchers found that these patients survived for at least three years after being treated with intensive chemotherapy. It was previously known that only slightly over half of the patients with this disease could be cured with chemotherapy. Adult ALL patients often undergo transplants in an effort to beat back the stubborn disease. Until now there was no way to identify those who have a more favorable outlook and shouldn’t undergo risky bone marrow transplantation.
Thalidomide-like drug appears to help bone cancer patients
A drug similar to thalidomide has been found to be promising with fewer side effects for treating patients with recurrent multiple myeloma, an incurable form of bone marrow cancer, according to early data from a clinical study. The drug, an analog of thalidomide, was developed to be more potent than thalidomide, while reducing some of thalidomide’s dose limiting side effects. Laboratory studies have shown that CC-5013 not only kills myeloma cells by triggering their innate self-destruct mechanism but also inhibits the myeloma cells ability to localize and grow in the bone marrow. Moreover, it appears to have anti-angiogenic effects and stimulates the immune system to attack myeloma.
Researchers Identify Cause of Aggressive Childhood Cancer
Researchers have generated a mouse model of a new type of tumor suppressor gene that triggers a rapidly advancing cancer that affects children. The discovery of the fast-onset cancers that result from inactivation of the gene and the technique used to generate the model will likely prove useful in studying genes involved in other forms of cancer.