A new approach to metastatic melanoma discovered

Combining chemotherapy with a BRAF oncogene inhibitor proves effective at treating this disease in a mouse model. This alternative paves the way toward a new approach for patients affected by this type of tumor, which has no cure in the most advanced stages or cases of relapse.

Quelle: Sciencedaily

Sensing ‚junk‘ RNA after chemotherapy enhances blood regeneration

Scientists reveal that during hematopoietic regeneration, RNA expressed from a part of the genome considered ‚junk DNA‘ is used by hematopoietic stem cells to get activated and proliferate. The study shows that these so-called transposable elements make RNA after chemotherapy and activate an immune receptor which induces inflammatory signals enhancing hematopoietic stem cell cycling and thus participating in the regeneration of the hematopoietic system.

Quelle: Sciencedaily

New findings offer improved therapy of early-stage, BRCA mutation-associated breast cancer

A new treatment has potential to improve the outcomes for patients with hereditary BRCA mutations and high-risk, early-stage breast cancer. These results represent the first time a PARP inhibitor has been shown to significantly reduce the risk of breast cancer returning in high-risk patients following completion of standard chemotherapy, surgery and radiation therapy.

Quelle: Sciencedaily

Stem cell drugs surprise researchers: Could lead to better drugs in the future

Chemotherapy destroys stem cells, which then cannot develop into immune cells and become part of the body’s defenses. There are drugs that can remedy this, but previously we did not know exactly how these drugs worked. Now, a new study details their function providing new knowledge that may improve stem cell transplantation and lead to better drug design in the future.

Quelle: Sciencedaily

Good bacteria can temper chemotherapy side effects

A new study found that specific types of gut bacteria can protect other good bacteria from cancer treatments — mitigating harmful, drug-induced changes to the gut microbiome. By metabolizing chemotherapy drugs, the protective bacteria could temper short- and long-term side effects of treatment.

Quelle: Sciencedaily

PARP inhibitor shrinks tumors in pancreatic cancer patients with mutations

More than two-thirds of pancreatic cancer patients harboring genetic mutations saw their tumor stop growing or shrink substantially after being switched from intensive chemotherapy to the PARP inhibitor rucaparib as a maintenance therapy.

Quelle: Sciencedaily

Microglia, Stockholm syndrome and miraculous cures in glioblastoma patients

University of Minnesota Medical School researchers revealed why some glioblastoma patients see exceptional benefits from chemotherapy and survive beyond expectations.

Quelle: Sciencedaily

Chemo for glioblastoma may work better in morning than evening

An aggressive type of brain cancer, glioblastoma has no cure. Patients survive an average of 15 months after diagnosis, with fewer than 10% of patients surviving longer than five years. While researchers are investigating potential new therapies via ongoing clinical trials, a new study suggests that a minor adjustment to the current standard treatment — giving chemotherapy in the morning rather than the evening — could add a few months to patients‘ survival.

Quelle: Sciencedaily

Double trouble for drug-resistant cancers

New research identifies chemotherapy-resistant cancers‘ escape mechanism, which offers new anti-cancer treatment options.

Quelle: Sciencedaily

Cancer cells may evade chemotherapy by going dormant

Cancer cells can dodge chemotherapy by entering a state that bears similarity to certain kinds of senescence, a type of ‚active hibernation‘ that enables them to weather the stress induced by aggressive treatments aimed at destroying them, according to a new study. These findings have implications for developing new drug combinations that could block senescence and make chemotherapy more effective.

Quelle: Sciencedaily

Therapy sneaks into hard layer of pancreatic cancer tumor and destroys it from within

Researchers demonstrated that a new tumor-penetrating therapy could enhance the effects of chemotherapy, reduce the spread of pancreatic cancer and increase survival in animal models.

Quelle: Sciencedaily

New inhibitor found to combat drug-resistant cancer cells

A new substance could improve the treatment of persistent cancers. Researchers have developed a new inhibitor that makes drug-resistant tumor cells respond again to chemotherapy. The new substance blocks a protein in the cancer cells that normally transports the cancer drugs back out of the cells.

Quelle: Sciencedaily

Single cell sequencing opens new avenues for eradicating leukemia at its source

Cancer stem cells that elude conventional treatments like chemotherapy drive long-term cancer growth and relapse. These cells are difficult to isolate and study because of their low abundance and similarity to other stem cells. Researchers have created a new method that can distinguish cancer stem cells, mature cancer cells and otherwise healthy stem cells based on their genetics and gene expression. The findings open new avenues for cancer research personalised medicine.

Quelle: Sciencedaily

Ionic liquid uniformly delivers chemotherapy to tumors while destroying cancerous tissue

Vascular and interventional radiologists report the development of a new ionic liquid formulation that killed cancer cells and allowed uniform distribution of a chemotherapy drug into liver tumors and other solid tumors in the lab. This discovery could solve a problem that has long plagued drug delivery to tumors.

Quelle: Sciencedaily

Finding a way to stop chemotherapy from damaging the heart

There could be an intervention on the horizon to help prevent heart damage caused by the common chemotherapy drug doxorubicin, new research suggests.

Quelle: Sciencedaily

New maintenance treatment for acute myeloid leukemia prolongs the lives of patients

Patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), the most common form of acute leukemia in adults, that has gone into remission following initial chemotherapy remain in remission longer and have improved overall survival when they are given a pill form of the cancer drug azacitidine as a maintenance treatment, according to a randomized, international phase 3 clinical trial.

Quelle: Sciencedaily

Cancer cells hibernate like bears to evade harsh chemotherapy

Researchers show that cancer cells hijack an evolutionary conserved program to survive chemotherapy. Furthermore, the researchers show that novel therapeutic strategies aimed at specifically targeting cancer cells in this slow-dividing state can prevent cancer regrowth.

Quelle: Sciencedaily

Statins may protect the heart from chemotherapy treatment of early breast cancer

Women who take statins, the common cholesterol-lowering medication, during chemotherapy with anthracyclines for early-stage breast cancer are half as likely to require emergency department visits or hospitalization for heart failure in the 5 years after chemotherapy.

Quelle: Sciencedaily

Heat treatment may make chemotherapy more effective

The study found that ‚loading‘ a chemotherapy drug on to tiny magnetic particles that can heat up the cancer cells at the same time as delivering the drug to them was up to 34% more effective at destroying the cancer cells than the chemotherapy drug without added heat.

Quelle: Sciencedaily

Surgery may offer survival advantage in certain metastatic breast cancers

Surgery, in addition to treatments like chemotherapy and radiation therapy, may increase the length of survival for metastatic breast cancer patients, according to researchers.

Quelle: Sciencedaily