Cancer
New device uses light to screen for melanoma
November 7, 2011 9:08 am | by Matthew Perrone, AP Health Writer | News | CommentsThe U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently approved a first-of-its-kind device, called MelaFind, that makes detailed digital images of skin growths and uses a computer to analyze them for signs of cancer, offering a sort of second opinion to doctors.
Cancer cell attacks require the right kind of weapon
October 25, 2011 8:13 am | News | CommentsMathew Maye’s laboratory at Syracuse University has invented a new way to attach DNA to gold nanoparticles. His method has inspired another Syracuse researcher, James Dabrowiak, to attach chemotherapy drugs to the DNA-coated gold, forming a potentially powerful way to attack cancer cells.
Singling out the real breast cancer among the lumps
October 25, 2011 4:48 am | News | CommentsEarly detection of breast cancer saves thousands of lives each year. But screening for breast cancer also produces false alarms, which can cause undue stress and costly medical bills. Now, a recent study using patient blood reveals a possible way to reduce the number of false alarms that arise during early screening.
Carbon nanotubes may find use in breast cancer treatment
October 18, 2011 11:43 am | News | CommentsSingle-wall carbon nanotubes produced by SouthWest NanoTechnologies are being used by researchers in China for promising photothermal therapy to suppress tumor growth in breast cancer. Recent experiments with the nanotubes have minimized tumor growth with little damage to surrounding tissue.
Gene may be good target for tough-to-kill prostate cancer cells
September 27, 2011 9:26 am | News | CommentsPurdue University scientists believe they have found an effective target for killing late-stage, metastatic prostate cancer cells. The team is focusing on the function of a gene called Polo-like kinase (Plk1), a critical regulator of the cell cycle. Plk1 is also an oncogene, which tends to mutate and can cause cancer.
Purdue technology used in first fluorescence-guided ovarian cancer surgery
September 19, 2011 5:17 am | News | CommentsThe first fluorescence-guided surgery on an ovarian cancer patient was performed using a cancer cell "homing device" and imaging agent created by a Purdue University researcher. The surgery was one of 10 performed as part of the first phase of a clinical trial to evaluate a new technology to aid surgeons in the removal of malignant tissue from ovarian cancer patients.
Spicing up broccoli boosts its cancer-fighting power
September 13, 2011 6:06 am | News | CommentsTeaming fresh broccoli with a spicy food that contains the enzyme myrosinase significantly enhances each food's individual cancer-fighting power and ensures that absorption takes place in the upper part of the digestive system where you'll get the maximum health benefit, suggests a new University of Illinois study.
Killing a cancer cell from the inside out
September 6, 2011 4:31 am | by Anne Trafton, MIT News Office | News | CommentsResearchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Switzerland's ETH Zurich have found a way to program cells to determine whether they have become cancerous, and if they have, to order their own suicide.
Tiny oxygen generators boost effectiveness of anticancer treatment
August 31, 2011 4:49 am | News | CommentsResearchers have created and tested miniature devices that are implanted in tumors to generate oxygen, boosting the killing power of radiation and chemotherapy. The technology is designed to treat solid tumors that are hypoxic at the center, meaning the core contains low oxygen levels.
Ultrasensitive particles offer new way to find cancer
August 31, 2011 4:22 am | News | CommentsA team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has engineered a way to detect abnormal microRNA levels in the blood of cancer patients, raising the possibility of developing a simple blood test to diagnose or monitor the disease.
Handheld unit to detect cancer in poorer countries
August 29, 2011 8:52 am | News | CommentsAn engineering researcher and a global health expert from Michigan State University are working on bringing a low-cost, handheld device to nations with limited resources to help physicians detect and diagnose cancer.
Nickel nanoparticles may contribute to lung cancer
August 24, 2011 6:00 am | News | CommentsAll the excitement about nanotechnology comes down to this: Structures of materials at the scale of billionths of a meter take on unusual properties. Technologists often focus on the happier among these newfound capabilities, but new research by Brown University finds that nanoparticles of nickel activate a cellular pathway that contributes to cancer in human lung cells.
Evidence builds that caffeine lowers risk of skin cancer
August 16, 2011 9:14 am | News | CommentsCoffee-based sunscreen may not be so crazy after all. Several years ago, researchers discovered that caffeine has a positive effect against certain types of skin cancers at the molecular level. A new study from Rutgers University strengthens this theory.
Gene therapy wipes out leukemia in study
August 12, 2011 4:36 am | by Stephanie Nano, Associated Press | News | CommentsScientists are reporting the first clear success with a new approach for treating leukemia. The breakthrough involves turning the patients' own blood cells into assassins that hunt and destroy their cancer cells.
Tumor cells go against the flow
July 22, 2011 4:39 am | by Alissa Mallinson, Mechanical Engineering | News | CommentsCancer's uncontrolled spread throughout the body is what makes the disease so deadly. To shed some light on the spreading process, mechanical engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a microfluidic model to better understand how cancer cells break loose from their original tumor, make their way into the body's vascular system, and travel around the body.
New lung cancer gene found
July 20, 2011 4:56 am | by Anne Trafton, MIT News Office | News | CommentsA major challenge for cancer biologists is figuring out which among the hundreds of genetic mutations found in a cancer cell are most important for driving the cancer's spread. Using a new technique called whole-genome profiling, Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientists have now pinpointed a gene that appears to drive progression of small cell lung cancer.
Ovarian cancer genome mapped
June 29, 2011 10:14 am | News | CommentsScientists have developed the first comprehensive catalog of the genetic aberrations responsible for an aggressive type of ovarian cancer that accounts for 70% of all ovarian cancer deaths. Hundreds of researchers from more than 80 institutions deciphered the genome structure and gene expression patterns in high-grade serous ovarian adenocarcinomas from almost 500 patients. The result is the most expansive genomic analysis of any cancer to date and a major step toward the personalized treatment of ovarian cancer.
Raman nanoparticle-aided imaging of tumors moves closer to human trials
June 28, 2011 12:29 pm | News | CommentsIn 2008, Stanford researchers demonstrated the use of nanoparticle-aided Raman spectroscopy to look at microscopic structures, including nascent tumors, deep inside the body. That team has now conducted extensive preclinical tests and shown that the gold nanoparticles can be safely administered into the colon and used with a Raman endoscope to image the inside of the large intestines.
Team identifies new breast cancer tumor suppressor
June 27, 2011 10:46 am | News | CommentsResearchers have identified a protein long known to regulate gene expression as a potent suppressor of breast cancer growth. Their study is the first to demonstrate how this protein, known as Runx3, accomplishes this feat.
Reaching for the stars to discover new cancer therapy
June 24, 2011 7:33 am | News | CommentsAstronomers' research on celestial bodies may have an impact on the human body. Ohio State Univ. astronomers are working with medical physicists and radiation oncologists to develop a potential new radiation treatment—one that is intended to be tougher on tumors, but gentler on healthy tissue.
Single-wall carbon nanotubes absorb phototherapy dye
June 23, 2011 12:21 pm | News | CommentsIn a new research study, single-wall carbon nanotubes produced by SouthWest NanoTechnologies show absorption of indocyanine green (ICG), a functional dye with unique photomechanical, photochemical, and photobiological properties. The complexes are sensitive to a broad light spectrum and may have applications in photothermal cancer therapies.
Gold nanoparticles help earlier diagnosis of liver cancer
June 22, 2011 11:10 am | News | CommentsA research team led by Brown Univ. has devised a new technique to spot cancerous tumors in the liver as small as 5 mm. The technique, using gold nanoparticles, is the first to deploy metal nanoparticles as agents to enhance x-ray scattering of image tumor-like masses.
Device could improve collection of stem cells from umbilical cord blood
June 20, 2011 7:57 am | News | CommentsJohns Hopkins graduate students have invented a system to significantly boost the number of stem cells collected from a newborn’s umbilical cord and placenta, so that many more patients with leukemia, lymphoma, and other blood disorders can be treated with these valuable cells.
Nanoparticles that work together
June 20, 2011 4:03 am | News | CommentsA team of researchers from MIT, the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, and the Univ. of California at San Diego have designed a new type of drug delivery system in which a first wave of nanoparticles homes in on the tumor, then calls in a much larger second wave that dispenses the cancer drug. This communication between nanoparticles, enabled by the body's own biochemistry, boosted drug delivery to tumors by more than 40-fold in a mouse study.
Turning off cancer's growth signals
June 9, 2011 9:35 am | by Anne Trafton, MIT News Office | News | CommentsOne hallmark of cancer cells is uncontrollable growth, provoked by inappropriate signals that instruct the cells to keep dividing. Researchers at MIT and Brigham and Women’s Hospital have now identified a new way to shut off one of the proteins that spreads those signals—a receptor known as HER3.
