Clipmarks | Silkweaver's 'cancer' clips

Cancer Redefined

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 00:37:54 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: The studies have also revealed to scientists looking to treat these diseases just how difficult their challenge really is. "For the first time, these are giving you the complete picture of these two cancer types," Velculescu says. "This is important, because if we ever want to cure cancer, we have to know what's wrong with it. And unfortunately, what appears to be wrong with most cancers is more complicated than we may have anticipated."

Clip Source: www.technologyreview.com

In three new studies that could redefine how cancer is viewed, researched, and treated, scientists have created a detailed map of the genetic mutations that underlie two of the deadliest forms of the disease: pancreatic cancer and glioblastoma

Scientists have known for decades that cancer develops in response to genetic changes that cause cells to grow and divide uncontrollably. But uncovering each of these changes, and understanding how they lead to disease, is a Herculean task--one that involves sequencing and analyzing upward of 100 different kind of tumors, with hundreds of different patient samples of each.

And while some believe that systematically cataloging the mutations could provide unprecedented insight into fighting or even preventing cancers, others believe that the high cost of such research might not be worth the rewards. These papers provide the first glimpse at what the rewards could be.

Tags: cancer, genetics

Cell Division Study Resolves 50-year-old Debate

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 00:49:46 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: This is a basic biology must know breakthrough.

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

A new study at Oregon State University has finally resolved a controversy that cellular biologists have been arguing over for nearly 50 years, with findings that may aid research on everything from birth defects and genetic diseases to the most classic "cell division" issue of them all – cancer.

The exact mechanism that controls how chromosomes in a cell replicate and then divide into two cells, a process fundamental to life, has never been completely pinned down, researchers say.

Two distinct theories were formed, called polar relaxation and equatorial stimulation, to explain this aspect of cell division – and some scientists have spent much of their careers arguing for one side or the other.

Turns out, Zhang said, that both sides were correct. Nature and evolution have actually created a basic way for a cell to divide with a backup system that can work if the other approach fails.

The findings, Zhang said, add significantly to the basic understanding of cell biology

Tags: biology, cell biology

Landmark study opens door to new cancer, aging treatments

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 01:02:41 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver

Clip Source: www.nature.com

Telomerase protein structure will help research into ageing and cancer.

The part of the enzyme that controls the timing mechanism of cellular ageing has been revealed.

The X-ray crystal structure offers insights into the ageing process of normal cells, and may provide a safer method for treating up to 90% of human cancers.

Clip Source: www.physorg.com

Researchers have attempted for more than a decade to find drugs that shut down telomerase—widely considered the No. 1 target for the development of new cancer treatments—but have been hampered in large part by a lack of knowledge of the enzyme's structure.

In addition to its role in cancer, telomerase holds significant implications for the development of therapies to combat aging and other age-related diseases.

Finding ways to activate telomerase under controlled conditions and allow some cells to begin dividing again could result in healthier, younger-looking tissue that lives longer.

Tags: molecular biology, cancer, anti aging

Researchers discover technology that silences genes

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 20:01:29 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: A safe and reliable gene silencing technology might be a component of a larger arsenal of gene therapies. It is a ground breaking research.

Clip Source: www.physorg.com

Mount Sinai researchers have developed a new gene silencing technology that could be used to target genes that can lead to the development of certain diseases.

This technology could pave the way for preventing diseases where gene dysfunction plays a role.

By being able to silence certain genes, we may be able to suppress genes that can cause diseases such as HIV/AIDS, cancer, inflammation and diseases of the central and peripheral nervous systems.

In the study

discovered that Paramecium bursaria chlorella virus uses a viral protein to modify host DNA packing chromatin and switch host transcription machinery for viral replication.

Based on this finding, researchers were able to develop a new gene targeting technology that effectively suppresses transcriptional expression of targeted genes in human cells, including genes that are linked to the onset of a number of diseases.

Tags: gnetics, medicine, molecular biology

Breakthrough In understanding Cancer and other Inflammatory Conditions

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 22:03:45 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver

Clip Source: www.news.com.au

AUSTRALIAN scientists are hoping to cure leukaemia, asthma and rheumatoid arthritis after their breakthrough discovery of how to stop killer blood cells growing.

The team has unlocked the secrets behind the protein which controls the way the blood cancer cells spread when it is damaged - and have found a way to stop its deadly process.

Work is now starting to design a drug to prevent the damaged proteins operating, effectively stopping the cancer as well as asthma and inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis.

The major breakthrough came when the researchers realised the proteins linked together to form networks on the surface of white blood cells after being activated by the hormone, and that by stopping the networks forming they could also stop the growth.

When damaged, the protein's messages cause an over-production of cells or cells which persist too long, resulting in diseases such as leukaemia as well as some inflammatory conditions.

Tags: medicine, molecular biology, cancer

Study shows playing video games can change behaviour and biology

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:02:50 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Interesting result hinting towards the future benefits of interacting with virtual environments.

Clip Source: www.physorg.com

Video games are among the most popular entertainment media in the world. Now, groundbreaking research involving McMaster University researchers shows that a specially designed video game can promote positive behaviour in young cancer patients that enhances the effectiveness of medical treatment.

The research published in the medical journal Pediatrics provides scientific evidence for a growing field of product development that taps into the positive potential of video games and other popular technology to improve human health.

This study shows that a strategically designed video game can be a powerful new tool to enhance the impact of medical treatment by motivating healthy behaviour in the patient

Participants in the study who used the video game maintained higher levels of chemotherapy in their blood and took their antibiotics more consistently than those in the control group, demonstrating the game's impact at a biological level.

Tags: medicine, behavior, gaming

Drug tries to offset 10,000 years of evolution

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 12:59:14 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Gene therapies, expected some time between 2015 and 2020, promise to correct this genetic problem caused by nature, but many obese people do not want to wait. They are hoping that Nastech’s new nasal spray can provide a solution now.

Within 20 to 35 minutes after taking a whiff, this new drug moves quickly through the nasal lining and into the bloodstream, sending a message to the brain that our tummy is full. So far the drug has had no negative side effects.

PYY is undergoing clinical trials now, and is expected to be in drug stores by 2009 or 2010. Obesity is the 2nd leading cause of preventable death in America, so this drug offers a great chance for more people to improve their health and get ready to enjoy our “magical future”.

Clip Source: memebox.com

Squirting a little nasal spray up the nose before mealtime is helping obese people shed an average of 50 lbs in a year.

Nastech Pharmaceutical Company of Bothell, WA said its compound, known as PYY, addresses obesity and other ailments suffered by overweight patients – diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, arthritis, and cancer.

In an Associated Press interview, Nastech CEO Steven Quay stated that in tests, PYY reduced patients’ daily calorie intake by 30 percent.

PYY is a naturally occurring hormone that our body sends to the brain 45 minutes after eating to tell us we’re full. This mechanism kept our ancestors from eating too much, but it doesn’t kick in fast enough for people eating today’s high-calorie, high-fat foods. Obesity, researchers say, is a direct result of our inherited genes.

But while our diet has changed radically over the last 10,000 years, our genes remain unchanged. We are still designed to feed a hunter-gatherer who gets a ton of exercise every day

Tags: obesity, gene therapy, biotechnology, diet

New You By 2018

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 22:53:24 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Therapeutic: Cloning for tissue replacement is already happening, as stem cells have successfully grown new heart tissues in patients. Researchers believe replacing muscle, bone, skin; even neurons, teeth, eyes, and other organs could be in beginning stages by 2018.

Augmentation: Procedures expected to be in place by as early as 2015 include improved memory recall, simultaneous language translation, long range and microscopic vision on demand, wide spectrum hearing, distinctive voice projection, and stronger muscles. And by mid-to-late-2020s, “nanobots” monitoring each of our cells could keep us ageless and forever healthy.

Designed Evolution: These could include memory, intelligence, speed, agility, and other behavioral and physical attributes. Eliminating undesired genes that might pre-dispose a child to cancer, heart disease or alcoholism could be possible by about 2015.

Clip Source: aftermathnews.wordpress.com

Clip Source: www.positivefuturist.com

In just ten short years, you may be looking into the mirror and wondering, “Who is that gorgeous creature?” Your reflection would reveal a much younger and healthier you; with natural hair color, youthful skin, perfect vision, real teeth, a spring in your step, and an incredibly sharp mind and memory.

Welcome to tomorrow’s futuristic world of biotech enhancements, which forward thinkers believe will be widely available and affordable by 2018.

The Institute for Global Future’s Dr. James Canton believes a trillion dollar health enhancement market will evolve in the next decade.

Enhancements fall into three categories: Therapeutic, Augmentation, and Designed Evolution.

Therapeutic refers to restoring normal capabilities to disabled or dysfunctional patients.

Augmentation means enhancing performance levels beyond the norm.

Designed Evolution refers to modifying our children prior to conception and after birth

thoughts of improving humans beyond what some consider “natural” will evoke controversy

Tags: futurism, augmentation, future medicine, singularity

Drug for Longer Life

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 13:58:36 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: The other drug is a small synthetic chemical that is a thousand times as potent as resveratrol in activating sirtuin and can be given at a much smaller dose. Safety tests in people have just started, with no adverse effects so far.

The hope is that activating sirtuins in people would, like a calorically restricted diet in mice, avert degenerative diseases of aging like diabetes, heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer’s. There is no Food and Drug Administration category for longevity drugs, so if the company is to submit a drug for approval, it needs to be for a specific disease.

Nonetheless, longevity is what has motivated the researchers and what makes the drugs potentially so appealing.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Dr. Sinclair is a co-founder of Sirtris, a company that itself has been swimming in uncharted waters as it works to develop drugs that may extend the human life span.

The new drugs are called sirtuin activators, meaning that they activate an enzyme called sirtuin.

The basic theory is that all or most species have an ancient strategy for riding out famines: switch resources from reproduction to tissue maintenance.

A healthy diet but with 30 percent fewer calories than usual triggers this reaction in mice and is the one intervention that reliably increases their life span.

Dr. Leonard Guarente, an M.I.T. biologist who founded the field of sirtuin biology, thinks the famine reflex is mediated through the sirtuin enzymes.

Dr. Sinclair, his former student, discovered that sirtuins could be activated by drugs.

The most potent activator that emerged from his screens was resveratrol, a natural substance found in red wine

Tags: medicine, longevity, resveratrol

Plants make vaccine for treating type of cancer

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 02:18:31 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver

Clip Source: www.physorg.com

Plants could act as safe, speedy factories for growing antibodies for personalized treatments against a common form of cancer, according to new findings from the Stanford University School of Medicine.

The findings came in the first human tests of an injectable vaccine grown in genetically engineered plants.

The treatments, which would vaccinate cancer patients against their malignant cells, could lead to earlier personalized therapy to tackle follicular B-cell lymphoma, an immune-system malignancy diagnosed in about 16,000 people each year.

The standard treatment, chemotherapy, has such severe side effects that patients often opt for watchful waiting in the early stages of illness.

However, plant-grown vaccines, which lack side effects, could allow earlier, more aggressive management of the cancer.

"This would be a way to treat cancer without side effects,"

"The idea is to marshal the body's own immune system to fight cancer."

Tags: cancer, vaccine, biotechnology

Converting genetic activity into music may be a way to monitor health.

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 19:27:15 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Together, the notes would form a harmonic chord in normal, healthy states and become increasingly out of tune as key physiological signs go awry, signaling disease.

Alterovitz employed mathematical modeling to determine relationships between physiological signals. Much like the various systems in an automobile, many physiological signs work in synchrony to keep a body healthy.

Clip Source: www.technologyreview.com

When set to music, colon cancer sounds kind of eerie.

That's the finding of Gil Alterovitz, a research fellow at Harvard Medical School who is developing a computer program that translates protein and gene expression into music.

In his acoustic translation, harmony represents good health, and discord indicates disease.

At any given time in each of our cells, thousands of genes are churning out their molecular products while thousands more lie senescent.

Searching for a more simplified way to represent the complex library of information inherent in gene expression, Alterovitz decided to represent those changes with music.

He hopes that doctors will one day be able to use his music to detect health-related changes

The first step in the gene-to-sound conversion was to pare down multiple measurements to a few fundamental signals, each of which could be represented by a different note.

Tags: medicine, music, complex modeling

All cancer deaths could be eliminated within 7 years, officials predict

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 01:43:44 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Can we realistically expect to end cancer deaths in seven years? Economists predict nanotech products will reach $1 trillion by 2015. Driven by this financial push, forward-thinkers believe Americans will soon be enjoying a cancer-free “magical future.”

Clip Source: memebox.com

Former National Cancer Institute Director Andrew von Eschenbach claims that “By 2015, nobody will die of cancer; it may not be cured at that time,” he says, “but innovative new therapies will make the disease manageable and finally bring an end to the pain, suffering, and death that cancer now dishes out.”

Cancer is the leading cause of death in the US for people under age 85, experts say.

if in 58 years we have made such little headway in fighting this disease, how can Eschenbach claim we will eliminate cancer deaths in seven years?

The answer lies in what some refer to as the “nanotech revolution.” Scientists working with this new technology are creating an impressive array of new cancer therapies and drugs.

The nanotech approach to fighting cancer can be divided into two parts; detection and therapeutic.

Detection systems identify cancer cells before they become dangerous

Therapeutic systems non-invasively destroy cancer cells without harming healthy cells; these include:

Tags: cancer, cancer therapy, nano medicine

Baby to be born free of breast cancer after embryo screening

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:58:31 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: This case of genetic intervention for the elimination of genetic diseases, is a ground breaking first that may change our world and our ethical outlook. Many more will follow.

I was quite surprised to read the following:

"Some critics say it is wrong to destroy embryos because there is only a chance women with the gene may develop breast cancer in adulthood. They argue that, increasingly, breast cancer can also be successfully treated. "

The said "embryos" are 3 days old lumps of undifferentiated cells.

Clip Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

A woman has conceived Britain’s first baby guaranteed to be free from hereditary breast cancer.

Doctors screened out from the woman’s embryos an inherited gene that would have left the baby with a greater than 50% chance of developing the cancer.

The woman decided to have her embryos screened because her husband had tested positive for the gene and his sister, mother, grandmother and cousin have all had the cancer.

The couple produced 11 embryos, of which five were found to be free from the gene. Two of these were implanted in the woman’s womb and she is now 14 weeks pregnant.

By screening out embryos carrying the gene, called BRCA-1, the couple, from London, will eliminate the hereditary disease from their lineage.

Doctors say thousands of cases of breast cancer could be avoided by screening embryos using the technique called preimplantation diagnosis (PGD).

The couple have also been able to freeze two healthy embryos for future use.

Tags: genetics, dna, ivf, cancer, medicine

Cancer 'cure' in mice to be tested in humans.

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 00:27:16 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver

Clip Source: www.eurekalert.org

Scientists at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center are about to embark on a human trial to test whether a new cancer treatment will be as effective at eradicating cancer in humans as it has proven to be in mice.

The treatment will involve transfusing specific white blood cells, called granulocytes, from select donors, into patients with advanced forms of cancer.

A similar treatment using white blood cells from cancer-resistant mice has previously been highly successful, curing 100 percent of lab mice afflicted with advanced malignancies.

The study, given the go-ahead by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, will involve treating human cancer patients with white blood cells from healthy young people whose immune systems produce cells with high levels of cancer-fighting activity.

The team has tested human cancer-fighting cells from healthy donors against human cervical, prostate and breast cancer cells in the laboratory – with surprisingly good results.

Tags: medicine, immunology, cancer

Massive Cancer Information Giveaway

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 20:48:30 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: I hope this will become an example of open source paradigm that makes an economical sense.

Clip Source: blog.wired.com

Scientists at GlaxoSmithKline spent a small fortune studying cancer cells, and then gave most of their precious information away -- for free -- to the research community.

That massive donation, which was announced on Friday, could accelerate the discovery of new oncology drugs and blood tests by giving brilliant, but underfunded, researchers a chance to pick through boatloads of data.

For the pharmaceutical giant, sharing makes a lot of sense: They rely upon academics and small companies to do pioneering work -- identifying new targets for medications, discovering early warning signs, and figuring out the underlying biological malfunctions that cause cancer.

Once those groundbreaking studies have been done, Glaxo and other large corporations can step back into the picture and create new products.

Tags: medicine, cancer, open source