Scientists have uncovered a new mechanism by which important components of cells can be damaged. Such a discovery could provide new insight into the biology of aging, cancer, and degeneration, as well as development of new drugs and strategies for food preservation. Continue reading A Radical New Mechanism for Cell Damage
by Catherine Gutierrez figures by Aparna Nathan Forty-nine years ago, President Richard Nixon launched a “War on Cancer”. That war has not ended—it rages on today, with cancer right behind heart disease as the leading cause of death in the United States. Nearly 1.8 million new cases of cancer are expected in 2020 in the U.S. alone, and rising rates of cancer risk factors such … Continue reading Cancers Evolve – Tagging and Tracking Can Help Us Understand How
Flu shots have an exciting new role in the world of cancer therapy! A recent study shows that flu vaccines could be used to boost the effects of cancer immunotherapy. Continue reading Take your flu shots! Fighting cancer with flu vaccines.
by Jordan Wilkerson figures by Nicholas Lue Desimond Viray is a Californian in his early ‘30s. He works in IT support for Jelly Belly Candy Company and lives with his wife and four children. Ten years ago, he was diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer, chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). Each year, nearly 9000 new cases of CML arise in the U.S. While Viray — … Continue reading Racial Minorities Face a Dearth of Stem Cell Donors
Cancers have long been known to adapt to their particular environment. Multiple new studies show brain cancers tapping into brain activity with neuron-like connections and how this can inform treatment Continue reading Glioma cancer cells are listening in on brain activity
Turkish engineer and activist Bülent Şık was convicted and sentenced to 15 months in jail for publishing confidential results of a government study. His team discovered poisonous chemicals in food and water samples, linked to the high cancer incidence in western Turkey. Continue reading Turkish Environmental Researcher Imprisoned for Publicizing Cancer Study
by Rosie Rosati On September, 11th 2001, hundreds of thousands of firefighters, responders, and volunteers rushed to Lower Manhattan to aid those lost in the destruction of the World Trade Center. U.S. citizens will never forget the devastation that swept the nation that day, however, those who so graciously lent a helping hand are still suffering the consequences of toxic airborne emissions. Upon the attacks, … Continue reading America’s Turn to Protect 9/11 Responders this Mesothelioma Awareness Day
Cancer immunotherapy exploits our immune system to kill cancerous cells. Recently, researchers have discovered a novel way to do this. They engineered cells that are programmed to die and injected them into tumor. They have successfully shown that the dying cells is able to kill tumor cells via recruitment of the immune system. This strategy might be a potential new method to improve the efficacy of current cancer immunotherapy methods. Continue reading The New Trojan Horse: Using tumor cells to kill tumors
by Apurva Govande figures by Rebecca Clements The single greatest challenge of fighting cancer is that cancerous cells come from our body’s own cells. Because cancer cells are similar to healthy cells, successfully and specifically targeting cancerous cells with minimal damage to healthy cells and tissue is difficult. A major advance against cancer in the past decade, cancer immunotherapy is a therapeutic treatment that helps our own … Continue reading Checks and Balances: “Unblocking” the fight against cancer
by Michael Vinyard figures by Nicholas Lue Most therapeutic drug candidates that are put through clinical trials fail. Given that most of these fail during early development, the cost of bringing a single drug to market is now over $2.5 billion. If we focus on cancer alone, this high cost of drug development, combined with the fact that cancer is one of the leading killers in … Continue reading CRISPR-Scanning Towards New Drugs — drug discovery is difficult, but CRISPR might be able to help