How cool would it be to stop cancer dead in its tracks using a vaccine that would work regardless of cancer type? It turns out that humanity is already thinking along those lines, and it’s looking to introduce a type of “universal cancer vaccine” that would be able to trigger the human’s body built-in defenses to kill cancerous cells. Specifically, researchers at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany, have initiated a limited safety human trial, after experiments on mice showed impressive results. Don’t miss: This might be the most exciting and unexpected Apple announcement at WWDC 2016 Unlike other vaccines that are supposed to prevent a certain disease, the cancer vaccine would
Scientists at EPFL have found a way to starve liver cancer cells by blocking a protein that is required for glutamine breakdown-while leaving normal cells intact. The discovery opens new ways to treat liver cancer. Primary liver cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, with current treatments being very limited. Liver cancer cells are particularly addicted to the amino acid glutamine, which fuels their proliferation. EPFL scientists have now found that a liver protein called "liver receptor homolog 1" (LRH-1) is responsible for the digestion of glutamine into smaller molecules, which are avidly consumed by liver cancer cells. Therefore, blocking LRH-1 causes cancer
Prostate cancer is the leading cancer among men, second only to skin cancer. With surgical removal at the frontline of defense, oncologists are considering prostate-specific molecular imaging at the point of initial biopsy and pre-operative planning to root out the full extent of disease, researchers revealed at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI). Positron emission tomography (PET) and computed tomography (CT) are often used in conjunction to image both the physiological function and structure of recurrent prostate cancer. In recent years, scientists have been developing a PET imaging agent that targets a protein called prostate-specific membrane
Your microbiome can mean the difference between life and death in cancer. Developments in microbiome sequencing techniques are leading to personalized therapies for a number of diseases. The trillions of bacteria in our gut are critical for a wide range of key functions. While many are aware that our microbiota is important for digestion, it is now known that it also plays a key role in our immune system. The gut microbiota consists of up to 2,000 different species of bacteria, as well as other kinds of microbes, including parasites and viruses. Human microbiome data from 250 healthy individuals. Each point represents one microbial community from one body site on one person. Scientists estimate
Prostate cancer is the leading cancer among men, second only to skin cancer. With surgical removal at the frontline of defense, oncologists are considering prostate-specific molecular imaging at the point of initial biopsy and pre-operative planning to root out the full extent of disease, researchers revealed at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI). Positron emission tomography (PET) and computed tomography (CT) are often used in conjunction to image both the physiological function and structure of recurrent prostate cancer. In recent years, scientists have been developing a PET imaging agent that targets a protein called prostate-specific membrane
Geneticists from KU Leuven, Belgium, have shown that tumour protein TP53 knows exactly where to bind to our DNA to prevent cancer. Once bound to this specific DNA sequence, the protein can activate the right genes to repair damaged cells. All cells in our body have the same DNA, yet they're all very different. One cell may become a brain cell, the other a muscle cell. This is because not all genes are active - or 'switched on' - in every cell. Professor Stein Aerts and his team study the 'switches' that turn genes on and off. Gaining insight into these mechanisms is very important, because genetic defects and differences may not only be in our genes, but also in the 'switches' that control them.
One single sunburn increases your risk for skin cancer. Skin cancer, among other cancers, is a scary thought but more common than you would expect. Over 3.5 million people are diagnosed with some form of skin cancer each year in the U.S.
It is hard to believe that some cancers miraculously disappear, but it does happen. Over 1,000 case studies document cancer sufferers who experienced spontaneous regression of their tumour. So why does this happen and is it possible to exploit it to benefit cancer patients? The earliest documented case of spontaneous regression was in the late 13th century. A bone sarcoma in Peregrine Laziosi spontaneously disappeared after a severe bacterial infection. In the late 1800s, William Coley observed that inducing a fever could result in tumour regression. He developed a bacterial vaccine ("Coley's vaccine") that was successful in reducing tumours in many of his patients. Tumours have been known to
If you haven't been watching the biotech space over the past year, there are three things you need to know: The market clobbered the industry. Companies without products to sell were hit hardest. All the cool kids are fixing T-cells to attack cancer. One of the coolest kids on the T-cell block to receive a market beatdown was clinical-stage Ziopharm Oncology, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZIOP). With synthetic biology pioneer Intrexon (NYSE: XON), the MD Anderson Cancer Center, and Merck KGaA, (NASDAQOTH: MKGAY) in its entourage, it's getting plenty of attention. Old-timer Celgene (NASDAQ:CELG) may seem less exciting on the surface, but collaborations with bluebird bio and Juno Therapeutics to engineer cancer-busting
Researchers at Juno Therapeutics (NASDAQ:JUNO) and Kite Pharma (NASDAQ:KITE) have released findings showing that they've discovered a way to re-engineer a patient's immune system to better find and destroy cancer cells. If results expected later this year in life-threatening forms of blood cancer are positive, then these new drugs could replace chemotherapy as a way for doctors treat some cancer patients. Fiddling with the controls Cancer cells can contain defensive systems that allow them to escape detection by the immune system and when that happens, cancer can progress to a point where current standard treatments, like chemotherapy, can no longer keep cancer in check. To keep cancer cells