Health News

Magnetic nanoparticles can ‘burn’ cancer cells: Magnetic hyperthermia is still a highly experimental cancer treatment, but new research shows that the therapy is tunable

Unfortunately, cancer isn’t simply a single disease, and some types, like pancreas, brain or liver tumours, are still difficult to treat with chemotherapy, radiation therapy or surgery, leading to low survival rates for patients. Thankfully, new therapies are emerging, like therapeutic hyperthermia, which heats tumours by firing nanoparticles into tumour cells. In a new study […]

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Drug takes aim at cancer metastasis

Many cancers are relatively harmless at their site of origin, and it is only when they metastasize to sites like the brain, bones, lungs, and liver that they become especially dangerous. And so, in addition to stopping the growth of cancer at its primary site, an ongoing goal of cancer research is to keep cancer […]

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Tiny DNA reader to advance development of anticancer drugs: Researchers use tiny probes and an electrical current to locate anticancer drug molecules incorporated into single strands of DNA

DNA is small. Really, really, small. So, when researchers want to study the structure of a single-stranded DNA, they can’t just pull out their microscopes: they have to get creative. In a study published this week in Scientific Reports, researchers from Japan’s Osaka University explain how they came up with a really small solution to […]

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Increased muscle mass improves response to cancer treatment

As far back as Ancient Greece, a sculptured physique has been heralded as the pinnacle of physical perfection. But now, researchers from Japan have found that increased muscle mass doesn’t just make you look good, it could literally save your life. In a study published in Scientific Reports, researchers from Osaka University have revealed that […]

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New therapy for aggressive blood cancer discovered

Researchers at the Vetmeduni Vienna and the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Cancer Research have identified a new therapeutic strategy for Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), the most common form of acute leukemia. They found that the activity of the mutated oncogenic protein C/EBPα is dependent on a functional epigenetic helper, the MLL1 histone methyltransferase complex. Laboratory […]

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A better way to measure cell survival: New test rapidly evaluates the effect of drugs and potentially toxic compounds on cells

Measuring the toxic effects of chemical compounds on different types of cells is critical for developing cancer drugs, which must be able to kill their target cells. Analyzing cell survival is also an important task in fields such as environmental regulation, to test industrial and agricultural chemicals for possible harmful effects on healthy cells. MIT […]

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Cancer: A mutation that breaks gene interplay in 3D

Inside the cell, DNA is tightly wrapped around proteins and packed in a complex, 3D structure that we call “chromatin.” Chromatin not only protects our genetic material from damage, but also organizes the entire genome by regulating the expression of genes in three dimensions, unwinding them to be presented to the cell’s gene-expression machinery and […]

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Cancer has a biological clock and this drug may keep it from ticking: A promising drug slows cancer’s circadian clock, halts its spread

A new drug shows potential to halt cancer cells’ growth by stunting the cells’ biological clock. The findings from scientists at the USC Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience and Nagoya University’s Institute of Transformative BioMolecules (ITbM) advance a burgeoning area of research: turning the body’s circadian rhythms against cancer. Their study, conducted on human kidney […]