Cancer News and Discussions

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CAR-NKT cell therapy shows promising results against neuroblastoma in phase 1 clinical trial
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-05- ... stoma.html
by Baylor College of Medicine

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine/Texas Children's Cancer Center and collaborating institutions report interim results from a first-in-human phase 1 clinical trial evaluating the safety, antitumor activity and immunological characteristics of a genetically engineered natural killer T (NKT) cell immunotherapy for neuroblastoma, a childhood tumor that most commonly arises in the adrenal gland. The study published in Nature Medicine shows the treatment was well tolerated, and researchers observed early evidence of strong antitumor activity.

NKT cells were modified to express a GD2-specific chimeric antigen receptor (GD2 CAR), which enables the immune cells to target a molecule found on the surface of neuroblastoma cells, and interleukin-15 (IL-15), a natural protein that supports NKT cell survival. In a previous Nature Medicine publication, the authors reported interim results from the first three children enrolled on this trial.

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A new tool to study cell movement promises to advance cancer research
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-05- ... ancer.html
by University of Minnesota

Some diseases can be diagnosed by identifying physical changes in tissue, such as the hardening of arteries during heart disease. Diseased cells often exhibit different mechanical characteristics, or mechanotypes, than normal cells. Efficient tools for measuring mechanotypes could allow doctors to diagnose diseases at an early stage, predict whether a tumor might metastasize, and identify effective drugs and genes linked to certain diseases.

In a promising development for cancer screening and treatment, groundbreaking research published in Nature Communications by a team of U of M researchers from the Medical School and College of Biological Sciences has led to a new laboratory test to measure cell mechanotypes quickly and easily.

Cells constantly move through the body and interact with other cells. Cancer cells may move more aggressively than other cells, in some cases pulling on the tissue around them. Metastatic cancer cells sometimes exhibit less pull than others. In the past 25 years, scientists have evaluated these pulling forces with tools like microscopy, which are effective but difficult to use and time-intensive, resulting in bottlenecks for cancer research.

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Researchers identify potential new strategy to prevent side effects from immunotherapy

by Denise Heady, University of California, Los Angeles
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-05- ... erapy.html

A study led by researchers at the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center suggests that IL-21, a soluble molecule involved in activating the immune system, can be a potential therapeutic target to help reduce endocrine autoimmune side effects caused by checkpoint inhibitor cancer therapy.

The investigators found that a specific group of CD8+ immune cells with strong killing activity, called CXCR6+ IFN-γ cytotoxic CD8+ T cells, play a central role in this autoimmune attack. They also found the activity of these CD8+ cells were controlled by IL-21 and blocking IL-21 prevented thyroid autoimmunity.

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Australian nanomedicine research into drug delivery system a 'milestone' in the treatment of childhood cancer
https://phys.org/news/2023-05-australia ... stone.html
by Children's Cancer Institute Australia

Australian nanomedicine researchers have come up with a new approach to solving a decades-old clinical problem: getting treatment drugs to act selectively on cancer cells in the body. Published this week in Science Translational Medicine, the research paves the way to safer and more effective treatment options for children with aggressive blood cancers, and potentially other types of cancer as well.

Chemotherapy is the mainstay of treatment for leukemia, the most common blood cancer in children. However, while chemotherapy can be very effective for certain types of leukemia, it is not as effective for some other types, known as "high-risk" leukemias. Treatment for high-risk leukemias generally involves high doses of toxic drugs that flood the body, indiscriminately affecting cancer cells and healthy cells alike. This often leads to severe side effects, as well as lifelong health issues in survivors.

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Blocking a key immune protein improves radiation therapy for cancer
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-05- ... erapy.html
by University of Chicago

Up to 60% of cancer patients receive radiation therapy, but it doesn't always work. Failure of these treatments results from tumor regrowth at the primary tumor site, or when the tumor metastasizes to another part of the body. New research from the University of Chicago looks to overcome resistance to radiotherapy by suppressing a key protein and allowing the immune system to join the fight as well.

The study, published May 25 in Cancer Cell, shows how a drug treatment that inhibits YTHDF2 (or Y2), a protein that suppresses the immune response following radiotherapy, can improve results from radiation alone or when combined with immunotherapy. This treatment also prevents progression of metastasis at distant sites that sometimes occurs after local radiation, which makes Y2 a promising target for future combined treatment plans.

"These findings are of potential clinical significance because not only can we enhance the local effects of radiation, but we can also eliminate these adverse distant effects of radiation," said Ralph Weichselbaum, MD, Daniel K. Ludwig Distinguished Service Professor and Chair of Radiation and Cellular Oncology at UChicago, and senior author of the study. "I think these findings could alter radiotherapy practice."

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Research team develops new system for imaging and treating tumors
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-05- ... umors.html
by Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres

Thanks to the radiation they emit, radioactive compounds are suited both to imaging and treating cancers. By appropriately combining them in novel, so-called radionuclide theranostics, both applications can be dovetailed. A radiopharmacy team at Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) and Heidelberg University has now presented such a system in the Journal of the American Chemical Society that successfully solves one of the biggest problems to date: it works at physiologically relevant temperatures.

"Basically, we can think of it as functioning like a smart key that we use to control our automobiles. We use so-called radionuclides, i.e., unstable atomic nuclei, that spontaneously emit ionized radiation when they decay. We track down the tumor with a diagnostic radionuclide. The targeted internal irradiation close to the diseased tissue is then taken on by a different, therapeutic radionuclide," says Dr. Manja Kubeil of HZDR's Institute of Radiopharmaceutical Cancer Research, describing her theranostic approach.

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Gas-releasing adjuvant improves efficacy of photothermal therapy for cancer
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-05- ... erapy.html
by Wiley

Hydrogen sulfide is usually a highly toxic gas. However, with careful preparation, it can be used to support photothermal therapy (PTT) in treating cancer, as a team of researchers reporting in the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition has recently discovered. As the team reports, an adjuvant releasing hydrogen sulfide causes tumor cells to lose their natural heat protection and thus to become significantly more sensitive to PTT.

Breathing in gaseous hydrogen sulfide usually causes us to suffocate, because the gas suppresses the respiratory chain in the mitochondria, the power houses of the cells. However, molecular hydrogen sulfide, when delivered in small amounts to cells, is not entirely toxic. Instead, it also acts as a messenger molecule and plays a role in cancer cell growth. With this in mind, a team of researchers working with Xiaoyuan (Shawn) Chen of the National University of Singapore, focused on the effects of hydrogen sulfide in the heat protection mechanisms of tumor cells.

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New molecule chops up RNA of "undruggable" common cancer-causing gene
By Michael Irving
May 28, 2023
https://newatlas.com/medical/rna-myc-un ... sing-gene/

A gene called MYC is implicated in the majority of cancers, but unfortunately it’s often considered “undruggable.” In a new study scientists have developed a molecule that chops up the RNA of this gene, effectively clearing cancer in mice.

The MYC gene plays a key role in regulating cell proliferation, metabolism and controlled cell death, but it’s not always helpful. In fact, it’s been implicated in as many as 70% of all human cancers, covering a wide range of types of the disease, and overexpression is associated with worse outcomes for patients.

That makes it an attractive target for treatment, but unfortunately it’s not that simple. The associated MYC protein has a strange shape that makes it hard for drug molecules to latch onto, leading it to be considered mostly undruggable.

But a new study might be a step towards changing that. Researchers at The Wertheim UF Scripps Institute, Max Planck Institute and the University of Münster have developed a way to bypass the tricky protein and shut down the gene by instead targeting its messenger RNA (mRNA). These molecules transcribe DNA to produce proteins, so interrupting that process can prevent the proteins being made rather than inactivating those already produced.

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Team develops nanoparticles to deliver brain cancer treatment
https://phys.org/news/2023-05-team-nano ... tment.html
by Bridget Druery, University of Queensland

University of Queensland researchers have developed a nanoparticle to take a chemotherapy drug into fast growing, aggressive brain tumors.

Research team lead Dr. Taskeen Janjua from UQ's School of Pharmacy said the new silica nanoparticle can be loaded with temozolomide, a small molecule drug used to treat tumors known as glioblastoma.

"This chemotherapy drug has limitations—it doesn't stay in the blood for very long, it can be pushed out of the brain, and it doesn't have high penetration from blood into the brain," Dr. Janjua said.

"To make the drug more effective, we developed an ultra-small, large pore nanoparticle to help it move through the blood-brain barrier and penetrate the tumor while also reducing unwanted patient side effects.

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Novel bioassay predicts cancer patients' response to immunotherapy
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-05- ... erapy.html
by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

A team of researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) has developed a groundbreaking bio-sensing technology that predicts the response of cancer patients to anti-PD1, an immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy, with significantly greater accuracy than current methods.

The study's results were published late last week in Science Advances.

The study was led by Bar Kaufman, a talented MD-Ph.D. student, and Master's student Orli Abramov, under the guidance of Prof. Moshe Elkabets and Prof. Angel Porgador from the Faculty of Health Sciences at BGU, along with collaborators from Soroka Medical Center and Barzilai Hospital.

This bio-sensing technology, called the Immuno-checkpoint Artificial Reporter with overexpression of PD1 (IcAR-PD1), measures the binding functionality of PD1 ligands, PDL1 and PDL2, to their receptor PD1.

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Multi-cancer blood test shows real promise in NHS study

8 hours ago

A blood test for more than 50 types of cancer has shown real promise in a major NHS trial, researchers say.

The test correctly revealed two out of every three cancers among 5,000 people who had visited their GP with suspected symptoms, in England or Wales.

In 85% of those positive cases, it also pinpointed the original site of cancer.

The Galleri test looks for distinct changes in bits of genetic code that leak from different cancers. Spotting treatable cancer early can save lives.

The test remains very much a "work in progress", the researchers, from Oxford University, say, but could increase the number of cancers identified.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-65775159

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For advanced, HER2-amplified bile duct cancers, antibody treatment trial shows promising results
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-06- ... ncers.html
by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Bile duct cancers are uncommon and aggressive types of gastrointestinal cancer. They include cholangiocarcinomas, which can form inside or outside of the liver, as well as cancers of the gallbladder, and are highly likely to cause serious disease or prove fatal.

Bile duct cancers affect the biliary tract, which consists of organs and ducts that make and store bile and release it into the small intestine. They are known as "silent" cancers, because there are usually no symptoms until they reach later stages. Surgery can be effective if bile duct cancer is caught early, but for most patients there are few good treatments.

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Breast cancer drug shown to reduce recurrence risk
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-06- ... rence.html
by Issam AHMED

A patient is pictured before a mammography at the Paoli-Calmette cancer institute in France in 2017.

Even when the disease is caught early, breast cancer recurrence is relatively commonplace—and for survivors, the prospect can be daunting.

A drug developed by Swiss pharmaceutical maker Novartis has now been shown to reduce this risk by a quarter in a large group of early-stage survivors, offering patients new hope.

Results from a clinical trial were presented Friday at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's (ASCO) annual meeting.

The study of ribociclib, which belongs to a newer class of medicines known as molecularly targeted therapies, was described as a "very important and practice-changing clinical trial," by ASCO expert Rita Nanda, who was not involved in the research.

The majority of the two million new breast cancers diagnosed globally are in the early phases of disease, defined as stages I through III.

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New ovarian cancer screening technique shows reduced false negatives compared to CA125 method
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-06- ... false.html
by Justin Jackson , Medical Xpress

Researchers at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Peking University Third Hospital in Beijing, China, have developed a new ovarian cancer screening technique. In a paper, "Profiling the metabolome of uterine fluid for early detection of ovarian cancer," published in Cell Reports Medicine, the research team details the markers and methods used to develop the test.

The researchers collected uterine fluid from 219 patients with various stages of ovarian cancer or benign gynecological diseases. No healthy patients were tested. The analysis of 1,213 metabolites was narrowed to just seven with significant associations with ovarian cancer.

In testing diagnostic ability, the study finds an overall 88% accuracy with their seven-marker method compared to 79% with the existing CA125 blood marker test.

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Many more women now beating early breast cancer

1 hour ago

Most women with early breast cancer now beat the disease thanks to huge improvements in treatments in recent years, a BMJ analysis has found.

Their risk of dying within five years of diagnosis is estimated to be below 3% - down from 14% in the 1990s.

Cancer Research UK says this offers "reassurance" to many women but warns more highly-trained staff are needed to meet rising demand.

A plan for NHS staffing in England has been repeatedly delayed.

Government ministers say this workforce strategy is due shortly.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-65882229

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https://www.msn.com/en-ca/health/medica ... kbar&ei=10

‘Breakthrough’ in the fight against deadly skin cancer

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Nanoparticles deliver small interfering RNA to slow multiple myeloma
https://phys.org/news/2023-06-nanoparti ... tiple.html
by Justin Jackson , Phys.org

Research led by the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, has used siRNA-based silencing of protein cyclophilin A (CyPA) to reduce tumor burden and extend the lives of patients with multiple myeloma.

In the paper, "In vivo bone marrow microenvironment siRNA delivery using lipid–polymer nanoparticles for multiple myeloma therapy," published in PNAS, the researchers detail a targeted nanoparticle platform to deliver nucleic acid therapeutics to bone marrow endothelial cells with a therapeutic payload.

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a blood cancer that occurs in the bone marrow and can form tumors outside bone marrow in the body's organs (extramedullary disease). MM is currently treatable but incurable, with inevitable relapse after treatment and typically short survival rates of 3 to 6 months for those with relapse as they build resistance to the treatments.

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New nanoparticle design may improve mRNA vaccine treatments for cancer
By Paul McClure
June 28, 2023
https://newatlas.com/medical/new-nanopa ... reatments/

Researchers have designed a new nanoparticle that was shown to more effectively deliver a cancer-fighting mRNA vaccine to mice. The study’s results may lead to the development of better vaccines to treat cancer and infectious diseases like COVID-19.

Cancer treatment has been revolutionalized by advances made, and continuing to be made, in the field of immunotherapy, the treatment of disease by activating or suppressing the body’s immune system. But each patient’s cancer tumor is unique, requiring treatments that target individual tumor-specific mutations. Using messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines to deliver this treatment is a promising strategy.

Vaccines help prevent infection by preparing the body to fight pathogens such as bacteria or viruses. Most traditional vaccines contain a weakened or dead version of the bacteria or viruses to trigger an immune response. However, mRNA vaccines, such as the COVID-19 vaccine, work by introducing a piece of mRNA that corresponds to a protein found on the outside of a virus, causing the creation of antibodies and marking the virus for destruction. Once produced, antibodies remain in the body so it can respond quickly if the immune system is exposed to the pathogen again.

Now, a new study by researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine may have found a way to improve the delivery of mRNA vaccines to treat infectious and non-infectious diseases.

When it comes to using mRNA vaccines to treat non-infectious diseases like cancer, the challenge has been to deliver materials to large numbers of dendritic cells, a special type of immune cells that teaches the immune system, particularly T cells, to seek and destroy cancer cells.

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About the only thing you can drink is coffee and water...Otherwise you're fucked.
sugar = being 500lb's
non-sugar subs = cancer and damaged dna.