Cancer News and Discussions

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Machine-learning-based method provides a comprehensive diagnosis of head and neck tumors

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-10- ... nosis.html

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Implantable microparticles can deliver two cancer therapies at once
https://phys.org/news/2024-10-implantab ... apies.html
by Anne Trafton, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Patients with late-stage cancer often have to endure multiple rounds of different types of treatment, which can cause unwanted side effects and may not always help.

In hopes of expanding the treatment options for those patients, MIT researchers have designed tiny particles that can be implanted at a tumor site, where they deliver two types of therapy: heat and chemotherapy.

This approach could avoid the side effects that often occur when chemotherapy is given intravenously, and the synergistic effect of the two therapies may extend the patient's lifespan longer than giving one treatment at a time. In a study of mice, the researchers showed that this therapy completely eliminated tumors in most of the animals and significantly prolonged their survival.

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Computational tool can assess immunotherapy outcomes for patients with metastatic breast cancer

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-10- ... tatic.html

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New nanocatalyst targets tumors without oxygen
https://phys.org/news/2024-10-nanocatal ... xygen.html
by Ruhr-Universitaet-Bochum

Tumors often contain areas of oxygen-deficient tissue that frequently withstand conventional therapies. This is because the drugs applied in tumors require oxygen to be effective. An international research team has developed a novel mechanism of action that works without oxygen: polymeric incorporated nanocatalysts target the tumor tissue selectively and switch off the glutathione that the cells need to survive.

The group headed by Dr. Johannes Karges from the Faculty of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, published their findings in Nature Communications.

"As tumors grow very quickly, consume a lot of oxygen and their vascular growth can't necessarily keep pace, they often contain areas that are poorly supplied with oxygen," explains Johannes Karges. These areas, often in the center of the tumor, frequently survive treatment with conventional drugs, so that the tumor initially shrinks but doesn't disappear completely. This is because the therapeutic agents require oxygen to be effective.

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Gluing proteins together kills cancer super selectively
By Michael Irving
November 08, 2024

https://newatlas.com/cancer/gluing-prot ... selective/
Scientists have demonstrated a creative new way to kill cancer cells effectively, with few side effects. Gluing two particular proteins together tricks the tumors into destroying themselves.

Cells in our bodies naturally die off in a process called apoptosis, to be replaced by others. But when something goes wrong with that process, some cells can continue growing out of control – a condition we know as cancer.

Certain genes have the potential to mutate into oncogenes, which are a major driver of cancer. Often, these oncogenes are related to cell proliferation and disposal, so affected cells can evade apoptosis. Understandably, oncogenes and the proteins they encode are a common target for cancer treatments, but the new study, from researchers at Stanford, tackles the problem from a different angle.

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Researchers Find Metabolic Mechanism that Blocks Immune Response, Immunotherapy in Cancer
November 7, 2024

Introduction:

(Eurekalert) ANN ARBOR, Michigan — The immune system is a major target for cancer treatments. Immune checkpoint inhibitors and CAR-T cell therapy can dramatically improve outcomes for many cancers. But for about 70% of patients, these therapies don’t work.

Researchers at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center have discovered a key reason why some cancers do not respond to immunotherapy: A metabolite transporter within the tumor microenvironment that blocks a key type of tumor cell death integral to immune response.

“Tumor cells adapt their metabolic mechanisms to evade immune-base therapies. Understanding how these mechanisms of immune resistance work can provide new targets to refine immune-based treatments so they benefit more patients. Our discovery is one step in that direction,” said senior study author Weiping Zou, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Center of Excellence for Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy at the Rogel Cancer Center.

Researchers identified SLC13A3 as a transporter of the metabolite itaconate in tumor cells that causes the cell to be resistant to ferroptosis, a form of regulated cell death. Zou and colleagues were first to report that immune-regulated ferroptosis occurs in tumor cells and plays a key role in cancer immunotherapy, in two previous papers.

Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1064096

A definition:

Itaconic acid (it·a·con·ic acid ˌit-ə-ˌkän-ik-) : a crystalline dicarboxylic acid C5H6O4 obtained usually by fermentation of sugars with molds of the genus Aspergillus

Source: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictio ... ictionary

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This scientist treated her own cancer with viruses she grew in the lab

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03647-0

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Omega-3 and omega-6 supplements reduce risk of 19 types of cancer
By Paul McClure
November 09, 2024

https://newatlas.com/cancer/omega-3-and ... ls-cancer/
New research has linked higher plasma levels of the healthy fats omega-3 and omega-6 to a reduced risk of developing particular types of cancer. The study adds to the on-again/off-again relationship that exists between scientists and the common supplements.

Omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, usually found in fish supplements, have enjoyed their time in both the (scientific) sun and the cold, cold shade. On the one hand, studies have found that fish supplements reduce the risk of childhood asthma and have cardiovascular benefits. However, studies have also found that they don’t reduce heart disease or cancer risk and don’t prevent depression.

A new study led by the University of Georgia (UGA) in the US falls squarely in the ‘pro’ pile (at least for now). Researchers have found that omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids reduce the risk of developing a pretty large number of site-specific cancers.

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City of Hope Researchers Discover Why Taking a Mushroom Supplement Slows or Prevents Prostate Cancer from Getting Worse
by Zen Logsdon
November 12, 2024

Introduction:

(City of Hope) LOS ANGELES — Researchers at City of Hope®, one of the largest and most advanced cancer research and treatment organizations in the United States, ranked among the nation’s top 5 cancer centers by U.S. News & World Report and a national leader in providing cancer patients with best-in-class, integrated supportive care programs, now understand why taking an investigational white button mushroom supplement shows promise in slowing and even preventing prostate cancer from spreading among men who joined a phase 2 clinical trial studying “food as medicine.” Looking at preclinical and preliminary human data, the City of Hope scientists found that taking white button mushroom pills reduces a class of immune cells called myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), which has been linked to cancer development and spread.

“City of Hope researchers are investigating foods like white button mushroom, grape seed extract, pomegranate, blueberries and ripe purple berries called Jamun for their potential medicinal properties. We’re finding that plant-derived substances may one day be used to support traditional cancer treatment and prevention practices,” said Shiuan Chen, Ph.D., the Lester M. and Irene C. Finkelstein Chair in Biology, professor and chair of the Department of Cancer Biology and Molecular Medicine at Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope, and senior author of the new Clinical and Translational Medicine study. “This study suggests that ‘food as medicine’ treatments could eventually become normal, evidence-based cancer care that is recommended for everyone touched by cancer.”

The use of naturally derived therapies for cancer treatment — called integrative oncology — is growing in popularity as people become more health conscious and aware of the benefits of whole-person cancer care. Supported by a $100 million gift from Panda Express Co-CEOs Andrew and Peggy Cherng, City of Hope’s Cherng Family Center for Integrative Oncology is accelerating the research, education and clinical care needed to ensure cancer patients and their doctors have access to safe, proven approaches.

At City of Hope, lab researchers work closely with physicians, allowing for streamlined bidirectional research so that laboratory findings can be taken to patients and what is observed in patients can be taken and put back under the microscope for the development of expedited, more effective cancer treatments.

Read more here: https://www.cityofhope.org/city-of-hop ... prostate

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Engineered Receptors Help the Immune System Home In On Cancer
November 14, 2024

Introduction:

(Eurekalert) Most cancer treatments – from chemotherapies to engineered immune cells – have a host of side effects, in large part because they affect healthy cells in the body at the same time as targeting tumor cells. For the same reason, designing new cancer drugs can be challenging due to the molecular similarities between tumor cells and healthy cells.

Now, UC San Francisco researchers have designed highly customizable biological sensors which can ensure that engineered cells are only activated in certain environments – such as the vicinity of a tumor. This could yield cancer therapies that are precisely delivered to tumors, making them more effective and giving them fewer side effects than today’s treatments. It also could lead to new, targeted therapies for other diseases.

The breakthrough, described today in Nature, revolves around engineered receptors on the surface of cells that can sense molecules in the surrounding environment and, in response, change the expression of genes inside the cells.

“We can now program a cell to localize to a site of disease and then carry out a very specific set of therapeutic tasks,” said Kole Roybal, PhD, a co-senior author of the new paper and an associate professor of microbiology and immunology at UCSF. “This is the culmination of more than a decade of work into the molecular details of these receptors and how they can be modified.”

Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1064627

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Sugar-like nanoparticle covering could boost cancer drug delivery

https://phys.org/news/2024-11-sugar-nan ... -drug.html

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Cervical cancer deaths are plummeting among young U.S. women

By Andrea Tamayo
1 hour ago

Rates of cervical cancer have decreased since a vaccine for human papillomavirus, or HPV, was introduced in 2006 (SN: 10/6/08). Now, a new study is the first to show a steep decline in cervical cancer deaths among the first women who were eligible for that vaccine in the United States.

“We had a hypothesis that since it’s been almost 16 years, that maybe we might be starting to see [the] initial impact of HPV vaccination on cervical cancer deaths,” says Ashish Deshmukh, an epidemiologist at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. “And that’s exactly what we observed.”

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/cer ... oung-women

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Scientists Glue Two Proteins Together, Driving Cancer Cells to Self-destruct
November 27, 2024

Introduction:

(Eurekalert) Our bodies divest themselves of 60 billion cells every day through a natural process of cell culling and turnover called apoptosis.
These cells — mainly blood and gut cells — are all replaced with new ones, but the way our bodies rid themselves of material could have profound implications for cancer therapies in a new approach developed by Stanford Medicine researchers.

They aim to use this natural method of cell death to trick cancer cells into disposing of themselves. Their method accomplishes this by artificially bringing together two proteins in such a way that the new compound switches on a set of cell death genes, ultimately driving tumor cells to turn on themselves. The researchers describe their latest such compound in a paper published Oct. 4 in Science.

Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1066405

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Novel CAR T cell therapy obe-cel demonstrates high response rates in adult patients with advanced B-cell ALL

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-11- ... e-cel.html

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Glioblastoma treatment shows promise in mouse study
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-11- ... mouse.html
by Justin Jackson , Medical Xpress

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center-led researchers have identified a small molecule called gliocidin that kills glioblastoma cells without damaging healthy cells, potentially offering a new therapeutic avenue for this aggressive brain tumor.

Glioblastoma remains one of the most lethal primary brain tumors, with current therapies failing to significantly improve patient survival rates. Glioblastoma is difficult to treat for several reasons. The tumor consists of many different types of cells, making it difficult for treatments to target them all effectively.

There are few genetic changes in the cancer for drugs to target, and the tumor creates an environment that weakens the body's immune response against it. Even getting medications near targets in the brain is challenging because the protective blood-brain barrier blocks entry for most potential drug treatments.

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A new method for efficient synthesis of anti-cancer drugs
https://phys.org/news/2024-12-method-ef ... ancer.html
by Tokyo University of Science

The Wadsworth–Emmons (HWE) reaction is a fundamental reaction in organic chemistry, widely used to create conjugated carbonyl compounds. Conjugated carbonyl compounds are used in many industries for synthesizing perfumes, plastics, and pharmaceuticals and are also involved in biological processes. Consequently, methods for improving HWE reactions are an active area of research.

One potential application of HWE reactions is to develop (E)-isomers of conjugated carbonyl compounds that are useful for synthesizing chemicals called hynapene analogs with promising anti-cancer properties. Unfortunately, traditional HWE reaction methods are sometimes inconsistent in their (E)- and (Z)-selectivity and require several steps to get further elongated compounds.

Several studies have investigated new reagents to improve the selectivity of HWE reactions. However, the reason for their enhanced selectivity has not yet been examined enough, nor has the range of substrates suitable for these Weinreb amide-type HWE reagents been fully explored. Additionally, the effect of different reaction conditions on the HWE reaction using the same substrate hasn't been studied.

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Remote-controlled gene therapy uses ultrasound to kill cancer
By Michael Irving
December 09, 2024

A new kind of cancer gene therapy can be remotely activated at a specific part of the body. The team developed a version of CRISPR that responds to ultrasound, and demonstrated how it can be used to clear cancer in mice.

CRISPR is a powerful genetic editing tool that uses an enzyme called Cas9 to make precise edits to targeted genes. The problem is, it doesn’t always stay in the right part of the body, and can continue editing genes long after it’s needed, potentially triggering an immune response.

Now, scientists at the University of Southern California (USC) have demonstrated a new way to control when and where CRISPR does its work. In tests in mice, they used it to clear out cancer.

In practice, CRISPR could be incorporated into virus delivery vehicles and delivered intravenously to a patient. Then, focused ultrasound pulses can be directed at the desired part of the body, which activates the gene editing tool there and there alone. The trick is that the cells are designed to produce the Cas9 enzyme in response to heat, and that heat is induced by the ultrasound.

https://newatlas.com/cancer/remote-cont ... ll-cancer/

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Genetic Code Revealed that Recruits and Deploys Tumor Cells to Invade Healthy Organs and Overpower Normal Cells
December 9, 2024

Introduction:

(Eurekalert) A group of scientists at VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center has revealed a new genetic code that acts like a cancer ringleader, recruiting and deploying a gang of tumor cells to incite a biological turf war by invading healthy organs and overpowering the normal cells. This discovery — published today, Dec. 9, in Nature Biotechnology — could unveil an entirely different understanding of the origins of cancer within the body, as well as offer groundbreaking insight into new treatment strategies that could target the growth of tumors in their earliest stages.

The study authors have also developed an intravenous therapy that empowers healthy cells to mount an immune response and build up a defensive resistance against these invading tumor cells. This treatment has already been proven effective in ovarian tumors, but the implications of this research could be universal to all cancer types.

“We identified a biological mechanism through which cancer cells gaslight the human body, altering the genome of the host cells and forcing them into a state of low fitness, creating an enormous advantage for the cancer to take over,” said study author Esha Madan, Ph.D., member of the Cancer Biology research program at Massey and an assistant professor in the Department of Surgery at the VCU School of Medicine. “We have developed a monoclonal antibody which can stop this process. There are many targeted drugs already available to treat tumors, but for the first time ever we are enabling our entire body, beyond the immune system, to fight back against cancer.”

Through previous research, Madan, study co-author Rajan Gogna, Ph.D., and their collaborators found that, in addition to the immune system, the human body has an inherent neighborhood watchdog function, where healthy cells detect abnormal cells and alert other normal cells to effectively prevent invasive cells from doing any damage. However, somewhere along the way, this function fails during cancer progression.

Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1067576

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GDF-15 inhibitors show promise against hard-to-treat tumors in clinical trial
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-12- ... nical.html
by Justin Jackson , Medical Xpress

A multi-institutional clinical trial led by the University of Navarra, Spain, found that blocking growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF-15) can counteract resistance to anti-PD-1 and anti-PD-L1 therapies in solid tumors.

Cancer immunotherapies targeting immune checkpoint molecules have revolutionized treatment across various cancer types, significantly improving patient outcomes. Treatments can be limited in some cases by poor response rates and unmitigated tumor progression. Factors within the tumor microenvironment, including cytokines like GDF-15, are thought to contribute to immune suppression and resistance to treatment.

In the study, "Neutralizing GDF-15 can overcome anti-PD-1 and anti-PD-L1 resistance in solid tumors," published in Nature, researchers explored enhanced immunotherapeutic strategies in the GDFATHER-1/2a trial. The team tested the efficacy of visugromab, a neutralizing anti-GDF-15 antibody, in combination with the anti-PD-1 antibody nivolumab.

The Phase 1/2a clinical trial enrolled patients with advanced, refractory cancers unresponsive to prior anti-PD-1 or anti-PD-L1 therapies. Treatment involved escalating doses of visugromab alongside standard nivolumab administration. The study monitored safety, tolerability, and antitumor activity through sequential tumor biopsies and immune cell analysis.