http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. High irradiances of low-level laser therapy (LLLT) should not be used over melanomas. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Cancer studied the pain relieving, anti-inflammatory 'cold laser', finding that it caused increased tumour growth in a mouse model of skin cancer. http://www.physorg.com/news177918201.html Medicine & Health Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:00:01 EST news177918201 Targeting the normal cells that surround cancer cells within and around a tumor is a strategy that could greatly increase the effectiveness of traditional anti-cancer treatments, say researchers at The Wistar Institute. http://www.physorg.com/news177620266.html Medicine & Health Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:00:03 EST news177620266 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have devised an innovative way to disarm a key protein considered to be "undruggable," meaning that all previous efforts to develop a drug against it have failed. Their discovery, published in the November 12 issue of Nature, lays the foundation for a new kind of therapy aimed directly at a critical human protein -- one of a few thousand so-called transcription factors -- that could someday be used to treat a variety of diseases, especially multiple types of cancer. http://www.physorg.com/news177168648.html Medicine & Health Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:20:01 EST news177168648 (PhysOrg.com) -- About five years ago, Professor Janet Sawicki at the Lankenau Institute in Pennsylvania read an article about nanoparticles developed by MIT's Robert Langer for gene therapy, the insertion of genes into living cells for the treatment of disease. Sawicki was working on treating ovarian cancer by delivering -- through viruses -- the gene for the diphtheria toxin, which kills tumor cells. http://www.physorg.com/news176720244.html Nanotechnology Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:58:32 EST news176720244 (PhysOrg.com) -- Cancer research has traditionally been the realm of biologists, and, more recently, engineers. Now, physicists are getting in on the action. http://www.physorg.com/news175869670.html Medicine & Health Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:00:01 EST news175869670 (PhysOrg.com) -- A protein that normally helps defend cells from infection can play a critical role in the development of lung cancer, according to MIT cancer biologists. http://www.physorg.com/news175414292.html Medicine & Health Thu, 22 Oct 2009 07:14:06 EST news175414292 (PhysOrg.com) -- Social environment can play an important role in the biology of disease, including breast cancer, and lead to significant differences in health outcome, according to results of a study published in Cancer Prevention Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. http://www.physorg.com/news175196118.html Medicine & Health Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:50:02 EST news175196118 Researchers from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) have uncovered a large, new cache of genes that act as built-in barriers against cancer. Known as tumor suppressors, the newly identified genes and the insight that they provide into devising new therapeutic strategies against lymphoma are described in a paper published this week in Cancer Cell. http://www.physorg.com/news174645486.html Medicine & Health Tue, 13 Oct 2009 09:38:30 EST news174645486 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers have discovered that prostate tumors in mice can cause immune cells known as CD8+ T cells to change their function from cells that have antitumor activity to cells that suppress immune responses. This finding, by researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, has important implications for the design of immune-based therapies for cancer. http://www.physorg.com/news174152513.html Medicine & Health Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:30:07 EST news174152513 In a one-two punch, a familiar diabetes drug reduced tumors faster and prolonged remission in mice longer than chemotherapy alone by targeting cancer stem cells, Harvard Medical School researchers reported in the September 14 online first edition of Cancer Research. http://www.physorg.com/news172146603.html Medicine & Health Mon, 14 Sep 2009 11:30:46 EST news172146603 The deadliest part of the cancer process, metastasis, appears to rely on help from macrophages, potent immune system cells that usually defend vigorously against disease, researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University report. http://www.physorg.com/news169150129.html Medicine & Health Mon, 10 Aug 2009 19:20:01 EST news169150129 Nanoparticle delivery of diphtheria toxin-encoding DNA selectively expressed in ovarian cancer cells reduced the burden of ovarian tumors in mice, and researchers expect this therapy could be tested in humans within 18 to 24 months, according to a report in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. http://www.physorg.com/news168149704.html Medicine & Health Thu, 30 Jul 2009 05:21:34 EST news168149704 In a feat of trickery, Dartmouth Medical School immunologists have devised a Trojan horse to help overcome ovarian cancer, unleashing a surprise killer in the surroundings of a hard-to-treat tumor. http://www.physorg.com/news166891473.html Nanotechnology Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:44:58 EST news166891473 Going out like a brilliant flame is one way to get attention. If physicians could watch tumor cells committing a form of programmed suicide called apoptosis, a desired effect of workhorse cancer treatments such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy, they could more quickly pick the most effective treatment. Now scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine have found a way to do just that, by lighting up cells as they die. http://www.physorg.com/news166711615.html Medicine & Health Mon, 13 Jul 2009 13:47:29 EST news166711615 Elevated insulin levels in the blood appear to raise the risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women, according to researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University. Their findings are published in the online version of the International Journal of Cancer. http://www.physorg.com/news166379059.html Medicine & Health Thu, 09 Jul 2009 17:24:48 EST news166379059 Cancer patients often suffer from severe pain that cannot be effectively treated with conventional medication. Researchers at the Pharmacology Institute of the University of Heidelberg have found the possible reasons for this - tumors release two signal substances that make nerve cells especially sensitive and enhance tumor growth. In animal tests, when the researchers blocked the effect of the signal substances on the nerve cells, the sensitivity of the nerve cells and tumor growth were reduced. http://www.physorg.com/news165147030.html Medicine & Health Thu, 25 Jun 2009 11:10:52 EST news165147030 Cancer develops when cells known as cancer stem cells begin to divide in an uncontrolled manner. Researchers from the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center have identified roles for the gene PTEN, which is already well known for its ability to suppress tumor growth, and for several pathways linked to PTEN in the growth of cells that give rise to breast cancer. The work, published in this week's issue of the open-access journal PLoS Biology, also reports that a drug that interferes with the activity of one of these pathways leads to a 90 percent decrease in the number of cells able to form tumors in mice. http://www.physorg.com/news163145779.html Biology Tue, 02 Jun 2009 07:16:42 EST news163145779 Restricting carbohydrates, regardless of weight loss, appears to slow the growth of prostate tumors, according to an animal study being published this week by researchers in the Duke Prostate Center. http://www.physorg.com/news162563042.html Medicine & Health Tue, 26 May 2009 13:24:41 EST news162563042 Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center researchers have uncovered a gene signature that may help predict clinical outcomes in certain types of breast cancer. http://www.physorg.com/news161959531.html Medicine & Health Tue, 19 May 2009 13:49:32 EST news161959531 On the heels of dismaying reports that a promising antitumor drug could, in theory, shorten patients' long-term survival, comes a promising study by a Japanese team of researchers that suggests a potentially better option. The study appears in the May 11 issue of the Journal of Experimental Medicine (online April 27). http://www.physorg.com/news160129043.html Medicine & Health Tue, 28 Apr 2009 09:17:43 EST news160129043 In a small, early clinical trial, researchers at the University of Chicago Medical Center have found that combining eight ounces of grapefruit juice with the drug rapamycin can increase drug levels, allowing lower doses of the drug to be given. They also showed that the combination can be effective in treating various types of cancer. http://www.physorg.com/news159461243.html Medicine & Health Mon, 20 Apr 2009 15:48:08 EST news159461243 Researchers at Amgen are testing a fully human monoclonal antibody that inhibits the activity of insulin-like growth factors (IGF-1 and IGF-2) and appears to reduce pancreatic cancer cells in early testing, according to a report in Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. http://www.physorg.com/news158936367.html Medicine & Health Tue, 14 Apr 2009 14:00:10 EST news158936367 Yuan et al. have identified another anti-cancer effect of the "longevity" protein SIRT1. By speeding the destruction of the tumor promoter c-Myc, SIRT1 curbs cell division. The study will be published online April 13 and will appear in the April 20 print issue of the Journal of Cell Biology. http://www.physorg.com/news158835232.html Biology Mon, 13 Apr 2009 09:54:19 EST news158835232 (AP) -- A drug from Novartis has won U.S. approval as a treatment for patients with kidney cancer that has returned after treatment with older drugs. http://www.physorg.com/news157655661.html Medicine & Health Mon, 30 Mar 2009 18:14:46 EST news157655661 For women with recurrent breast cancer, the treatment the doctor chooses is usually based on the properties of their original breast cancer. A group from Toronto has recently completed the world's first study that compared original breast cancer tumors with a biopsy of suspected tumors that recurred elsewhere in the body. http://www.physorg.com/news156663554.html Medicine & Health Thu, 19 Mar 2009 06:40:00 EST news156663554 The experiments, thus far performed only in mice, appear to overcome a major drawback of vaccinations - the lag time of days, or even weeks, that it normally takes for immunity to build against a pathogen. This new method of vaccination could potentially be used to provide instantaneous protection against diseases caused by viruses and bacteria, cancers, and even virulent toxins. http://www.physorg.com/news155239090.html Medicine & Health Mon, 02 Mar 2009 17:59:09 EST news155239090 Current research suggests that lowering cholesterol may block the growth of prostate tumors. The related report by Solomon et al, "Ezetimibe Is an Inhibitor of Tumor Angiogenesis," appears in the March 2009 issue of The American Journal of Pathology. http://www.physorg.com/news154618084.html Medicine & Health Mon, 23 Feb 2009 13:29:20 EST news154618084 University of Cincinnati (UC) researchers have discovered that estrogen receptors are present in medulloblastoma -the most common type of pediatric brain tumor -leading them to believe that anti-estrogen drug treatments may be beneficial in limiting tumor progression and improving patients' overall outcome. http://www.physorg.com/news154094134.html Medicine & Health Tue, 17 Feb 2009 11:56:39 EST news154094134 For patients with a particularly aggressive form of skin cancer - malignant melanoma - stress, including that which comes from simply hearing that diagnosis, might amplify the progression of their disease. http://www.physorg.com/news152540593.html Medicine & Health Fri, 30 Jan 2009 12:23:46 EST news152540593 Cancer and cell biology experts at the University of Cincinnati (UC) have identified a new tumor suppressor that may help scientists develop more targeted drug therapies to combat lung cancer. http://www.physorg.com/news150389078.html Medicine & Health Mon, 05 Jan 2009 14:44:38 EST news150389078