Tag: Cancer

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A new medical implant might greatly reduce the risk of chemotherapy treatment

Chemotherapy is a common and dangerous cancer treatment due to the negative effects on everything that is not a tumor cell. Researchers from Columbia University have invented a soft medical implant capable of administering drugs from inside the body. The ability to place this device close to the target area allows for a significant (90%) reduction of the drug dosage to be used. Similarly, avoiding body-wide administration of the drug can greatly reduce the damage inflicted by normal chemotherapy dosages. Continue reading A new medical implant might greatly reduce the risk of chemotherapy treatment

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The Tricky Business of Targeting Cancers’ “Master Regulators”

Over the past few decades, cancer therapies have become increasingly targeted, with protein and antibody drugs targeting specific proteins with exquisite selectivity. Often, however, the utility of targeted therapies is limited; there are many different paths to outwardly similar cancers, and targeted therapies are often only effective against very specific cancer subtypes. An alternative strategy, championed by cancer researchers at Columbia University, is to target … Continue reading The Tricky Business of Targeting Cancers’ “Master Regulators”

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FDA suspends (and promptly restarts) clinical trial for new cancer therapy

Bringing a new medical therapy to market is rarely a straightforward task, as a biotech company called Juno Therapeutics learned firsthand.  Juno specializes in CAR-T therapy, which uses genetic engineering to teach a patient’s own immune system to destroy cancer cells. Unfortunately, 3 of the 129 patients who had received this treatment in a clinical trial recently died from excessive brain swelling, prompting the FDA to … Continue reading FDA suspends (and promptly restarts) clinical trial for new cancer therapy

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Opinion: Can Obama’s Plan Cure Cancer? Shooting the moon one patient at a time

by Steph Guerra During his last State of the Union address, President Obama announced a new national effort for ‘a moonshot’ to cure cancer. He wants “America to be the country to cure cancer once and for all.” Still reeling from the premature loss of his son to brain cancer, Joe Biden is set to spearhead this major push for federal cancer research funding. Cancer … Continue reading Opinion: Can Obama’s Plan Cure Cancer? Shooting the moon one patient at a time

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Oncolytic viruses- A one of a kind FDA approval

by Nishita Parnandi figures by Krissy Lyon One of the biggest challenges in treating cancer is to specifically target the cancerous site in a tissue without killing the surrounding normal cells. The use of oncolytic viruses is a new cancer treatment that is excellent at achieving just that. An oncolytic virus named ImlygicTM manufactured by Amgen recently received the stamp of approval from the FDA … Continue reading Oncolytic viruses- A one of a kind FDA approval

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New Directions for Cancer Therapy: Targeted Medicine

by Zachary Hauseman figures by Michael Gerhardt The cure for cancer: something we all hear about but never seems to arrive. It’s easy to get frustrated about decades and decades of research while thousands of people still succumb to the disease daily [1]. However, recent cancer treatments offer exciting potential for the field of cancer therapeutics in the future. Cancer is a complicated illness that … Continue reading New Directions for Cancer Therapy: Targeted Medicine

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The Elephant in the Room: Gene Copy Number and Cancer

by Caitlin Nichols figures by Krissy Lyon We’ve all heard the saying that quality is more important than quantity. The preference for quality over quantity applies in the human body as well. Cancer, for instance, is caused by malfunctioning cells that grow and divide uncontrollably, creating life-threatening health challenges for patients [1]. It’s easy to see that in the case of cancer, an individual should … Continue reading The Elephant in the Room: Gene Copy Number and Cancer

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Reproduce or Bust?!: Bringing Reproducibility Back to Center Stage

by Steph Guerra figures by Krissy Lyon Reproducibility in science is not very sexy. Because our scientific culture generally rewards innovation over cautiousness, replicating a study conducted by others will not get a researcher a publication in a high-end journal, a splashy headline in a newspaper, or a large funding grant from the government. In fact, only an estimated 0.15% of all published results are … Continue reading Reproduce or Bust?!: Bringing Reproducibility Back to Center Stage

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Rabbit virus sinks teeth into cancer, aids bone marrow transplants

A common treatment for blood cancers, such as leukemia, is to replace damaged, cancerous bone marrow with donated healthy marrow.  Marrow is the flexible tissue in your bones that contains stem cells that give rise to all the blood and immune cells in the body.  When marrow comes from a donor, the donor’s and the recipient’s blood and tissue types must directly match.  If not, … Continue reading Rabbit virus sinks teeth into cancer, aids bone marrow transplants

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Discovery of Anti-aging in Mammary Gland

A study shows that when a certain protein called Timp is lacking, there is an increase in the number of stem cells of the mammary gland (an organ in the breast), which prevents it from aging, thus reducing one of the risk factors of breast cancer. The study shows great insights into stem cell regulation. However, it has lead to overblown ‘fountain of youth’ claims. … Continue reading Discovery of Anti-aging in Mammary Gland

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