A new RNA editing tool could enhance cancer treatment
Cell therapies for cancer can be potentially enhanced using a CRISPR RNA-editing platform, according to a new study published Feb. 21 in Cell.
Cell therapies for cancer can be potentially enhanced using a CRISPR RNA-editing platform, according to a new study published Feb. 21 in Cell.
Cell & Microbiology
Feb 21, 2024
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70
According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, roughly 1 in 5 cats and 1 in 4 dogs will, at some point in their life, develop tumors, with estimations that almost half of dogs over the age of 10 will develop a ...
Veterinary medicine
Feb 5, 2024
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Scientists have solved a cellular murder mystery nearly 25 years after the case went cold. Following a trail of evidence from fruit flies to mice to humans revealed that cannibalistic cells likely cause a rare human immunodeficiency. ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jan 7, 2024
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98
ETH researchers are shedding light on what can happen when cells exceed their normal size and become senescent. The new findings could help to optimize cancer therapies.
Cell & Microbiology
Nov 17, 2023
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80
Using nanoparticles administered directly into the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), a research team has developed a treatment that may overcome significant challenges in treating a particularly deadly brain cancer.
Bio & Medicine
Nov 2, 2023
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65
Optical tweezers manipulate tiny things like cells and nanoparticles using lasers. While they might sound like tractor beams from science fiction, the fact is their development garnered scientists a Nobel Prize in 2018.
General Physics
Nov 1, 2023
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18
A team of researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center has developed a new method for using extracellular vesicles to enhance responses to immunotherapy in glioblastoma, potentially opening the door for ...
Bio & Medicine
Oct 19, 2023
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83
How we grow old gracefully—and whether we can do anything to slow down the process—has long been a fascination of humanity. However, despite continued research the answer to how we can successfully combat aging still ...
Cell & Microbiology
Oct 12, 2023
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204
Fluorescence-guided intervention strategies can improve standard therapies to detect and treat microscopic tumors to thereby prevent lethal recurrence. Cancer biologists have made tremendous progress in photoimmunotherapy ...
In a breakthrough in cancer therapeutics, a team of researchers at the Magzoub Biophysics Lab at NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) has made a significant advance in light-based therapies—biocompatible and biodegradable tumor-targeting ...
Bio & Medicine
Sep 4, 2023
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Cancer (medical term: malignant neoplasm) is a class of diseases in which a group of cells display uncontrolled growth (division beyond the normal limits), invasion (intrusion on and destruction of adjacent tissues), and sometimes metastasis (spread to other locations in the body via lymph or blood). These three malignant properties of cancers differentiate them from benign tumors, which are self-limited, and do not invade or metastasize. Most cancers form a tumor but some, like leukemia, do not. The branch of medicine concerned with the study, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of cancer is oncology.
Cancer may affect people at all ages, even fetuses, but the risk for most varieties increases with age. Cancer causes about 13% of all human deaths. According to the American Cancer Society, 7.6 million people died from cancer in the world during 2007. Cancers can affect all animals.
Nearly all cancers are caused by abnormalities in the genetic material of the transformed cells. These abnormalities may be due to the effects of carcinogens, such as tobacco smoke, radiation, chemicals, or infectious agents. Other cancer-promoting genetic abnormalities may be randomly acquired through errors in DNA replication, or are inherited, and thus present in all cells from birth. The heritability of cancers are usually affected by complex interactions between carcinogens and the host's genome. New aspects of the genetics of cancer pathogenesis, such as DNA methylation, and microRNAs are increasingly recognized as important.
Genetic abnormalities found in cancer typically affect two general classes of genes. Cancer-promoting oncogenes are typically activated in cancer cells, giving those cells new properties, such as hyperactive growth and division, protection against programmed cell death, loss of respect for normal tissue boundaries, and the ability to become established in diverse tissue environments. Tumor suppressor genes are then inactivated in cancer cells, resulting in the loss of normal functions in those cells, such as accurate DNA replication, control over the cell cycle, orientation and adhesion within tissues, and interaction with protective cells of the immune system.
Diagnosis usually requires the histologic examination of a tissue biopsy specimen by a pathologist, although the initial indication of malignancy can be symptoms or radiographic imaging abnormalities. Most cancers can be treated and some cured, depending on the specific type, location, and stage. Once diagnosed, cancer is usually treated with a combination of surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. As research develops, treatments are becoming more specific for different varieties of cancer. There has been significant progress in the development of targeted therapy drugs that act specifically on detectable molecular abnormalities in certain tumors, and which minimize damage to normal cells. The prognosis of cancer patients is most influenced by the type of cancer, as well as the stage, or extent of the disease. In addition, histologic grading and the presence of specific molecular markers can also be useful in establishing prognosis, as well as in determining individual treatments.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA