Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have identified three genes, long linked to a rare inherited disease known as Fanconi’s Anemia (FA), that now appear to play a role in many cases of pancreatic cancer.
All of the genes identified, when functioning normally, are part of the DNA repair process. The work is reported in the May 15, 2003 issue of Cancer Research.
“What we think we have is a new genetic cause of some cases, approximately 10 percent or more, of pa
A year-and-a-half after graduating from college in 1999, the last thing that Steve Smith, now 25, expected was for his kidneys to fail. Although the Nashville resident had always been active and healthy and had no family history of kidney disease, shortly after moving to Los Angeles, he began experiencing what he describes as “strange symptoms” that he thought might be associated with mononucleosis. When he went to the doctor, he learned that his kidneys had failed. He moved back to Nashvill
When a few weeds appear on your front lawn, you can easily pick them off one by one. But if they start taking over the yard, the picking becomes laborious, and you may need to turn to a chemical weed-killer to hold the invaders in check. After several applications of the herbicide, however, the weeds could become resistant, forcing you to use an even more powerful solution. Meanwhile, the survival of your lawn hangs in the balance.
Like weeds in a lawn, pathogenic fungi and yeasts (single-
A new study from Johns Hopkins researchers shows the multiple anti-HIV drug regimen called highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) saves eyesight as well as lives. A second study led by Johns Hopkins researchers finds that among AIDS patients with longstanding vision problems, those who took HAART reported higher overall quality of life.
The Johns Hopkins team reported in the April issue of Archives of Ophthalmology that AIDS patients who received HAART had a 75 percent lower risk of v
A team of radiologists and orthopedic specialists at Johns Hopkins Medicine has successfully used heat generated by electrode-tipped probes to destroy painful, benign bone tumors in eight of nine patients in a clinical study.
The results of the study, published in the March issue of the Journal of Vascular Interventional Radiology, suggests a need for further research to confirm the effectiveness of percutaneous radiofrequency for treating osteoid osteomas.
In the study, all eight
Genes found on region of Chromosome 1 may regulate behaviors including eating and anxiety
Anorexia nervosa is a serious and potentially lethal illness. It is characterized by the relentless pursuit of thinness, the obsessive fear of gaining weight and emaciation. It commonly begins during adolescence in girls and it runs in families. A number of traits, such as perfectionism, anxiety and obsessionality, contribute to a risk to develop anorexia.
The authors used a process cal
Because they are able to recognize a particular cell marker — a protein — antibodies are generally used to identify abnormal cells in the body. As such, they play a key role in diagnosis, treatment and basic research.
At the Institut Curie, CNRS research scientists have recently prepared a new type of antibody which for the first time combines several crucial features: it can be produced in a few days, it can be expressed directly in cells, and it is, moreover, sensitive to the shape of pro
Tiny protein targets Bax, inhibits apoptosis
Researchers at The Burnham Institute have found that humanin, a small, 24-amino acid protein recently discovered in studies of Alzheimer’s Disease, suppresses activation of the protein Bax. Bax triggers pathologic cell death in a number of diseases, including Parkinson’s, stroke, heart attack and degeneration of ovaries during menopause. These results, to be published later this month in the journal Nature (currently available at the journa
One-year results presented at annual ophthalmology meeting
Researchers from the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, its Doheny Retina Institute and Second Sight, LLC, are reporting on the initial results of their groundbreaking, FDA-approved feasibility trial of an intraocular retinal prosthesis that appears to be able to restore some degree of sight to the blind.
“We have successfully completed enrollment and implantation of three patients in t
Radiofrequency ablation — using heat to treat cancers – offers some lung cancer patients an alternative to extensive surgery, additional chemotherapy or radiation therapy, a new study shows.
Researchers at the Oncology Institute in Bari, Italy, treated 40 lung nodules found in 18 patients. Fourteen patients had lung metastases and four patients had non-small cell lung cancer that could not be surgically removed. All of the patients had initially undergone chemotherapy for their disease.
“Full-field digital tomosynthesis is mammography–only better,” researchers say of a new technique that just might be the next generation of breast cancer screening. Two new studies on this technique illustrate that full-field digital tomosynthesis (TOMO) can not only increase the visibility of breast lesions but could likely dramatically reduce the number of patients being called back for a second mammogram because their first screening mammogram was unclear.
In the first study, researchers
Image-guided radiofrequency ablation — using heat to destroy cancers — can preserve kidney function and avoid kidney dialysis for patients with solid renal tumors who are not surgical candidates, a new study indicates.
“We have been able to successfully destroy 50 out of 51 renal tumors in 32 patients,” says Michael Farrell, MD, consultant radiologist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, and the lead author of the study.
The easiest tumors to treat with radiofrequency ablation are th
Genetics may play a role in the success of anti-cancer therapy, according to researchers at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) and the Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research of the Sir Mortimer B. Davis – Jewish General Hospital. Their study, published in today’s issue of Clinical Cancer Research, shows that some colorectal cancer patients with a particular gene mutation respond much better to therapy than those without this genetic change.
“Our fin
Exactly how a person’s eyes respond to low levels of light is even more crucial than doctors have thought in deciding who is and who isn’t a good candidate to have laser vision correction surgery, according to results announced today at the annual meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology in Ft. Lauderdale. The findings should help doctors choose patients who are likely to fare well with the surgery, and to forego recommending treatment for others.
In the earliest d
A research team led by The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center has tested a novel “viral smart bomb” therapy that can completely eradicate brain tumors in mice, while leaving normal brain tissue alone.
The therapy, known as Delta-24-RGD, is thought to be the first treatment for malignant glioma, the deadliest form of brain cancer. It is a new-generation “replication-competent oncolytic” adenovirus therapy –– defined as a therapeutic virus that can spread, wavelike, throughout a
A EUREKA funded project is making real progress in the fight against cancer of the large intestine. One of the three most common cancer types in western countries, cancer of the large intestine is also one of the hardest to diagnose. In 50 per cent of cases it is detected too late to be successfully treated with surgery. But EUREKA project GENEFEC has developed a new test which could save thousands of lives by detecting early signs of the disease.
The new DNA-based test, developed by Norweg
Feedback
