Combining targeted therapy drugs may treat previously resistant tumors

Blocking 2 cell signalling pathways leads to dramatic shrinkage of K-Ras-mutated tumors in animal model

A team of cancer researchers from several Boston academic medical centers has discovered a potential treatment for a group of tumors that have resisted previous targeted therapy approaches. In their Nature Medicine report, which is receiving early online release, investigators from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI), Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Cancer Center, and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) Cancer Center report that combining two different kinase inhibitors – drugs that interfere with specific cell-growth pathways – led to significant tumor shrinkage in mice with lung cancer driven by mutations in the K-Ras gene. In addition to their association with nearly 30 percent of cases of non-small-cell lung cancer – the leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S. – K-Ras mutations are involved in many cases of colon cancer and most pancreatic cancers, which are extremely resistant to treatment.

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Scientists find key to keeping killer T cells in prime shape for fighting infection, cancer

Like tuning a violin to produce strong, elegant notes, researchers at The Wistar Institute have found multiple receptors on the outside of the body’s killer immune system cells which they believe can be selectively targeted to keep the cells in superb infection- and disease-fighting condition.

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Study supports value of advanced CT scans to check for clogged arteries

Catheterization still gold standard, but row scanners now shown equally useful in diagnosis
In a development that researchers say is likely to quell concerns about the value of costly computed tomography (CT) scans to diagnose coronary artery blockages, an international team led by researchers at Johns Hopkins reports solid evidence that the newer, more powerful CT scans can easily and correctly identify people with major blood vessel disease and is nearly as accurate as invasive coronary angiography.

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Experimental TB drug explodes bacteria from the inside out

Research advance may lead to new ways to attack latent TB and other bacteria

An international team of biochemists has discovered how an experimental drug unleashes its destructive force inside the bacteria that cause tuberculosis (TB). The finding could help scientists develop ways to treat dormant TB infections, and suggests a strategy for drug development against other bacteria as well.

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A novel target for therapeutics against Staph infection

Researchers at the Texas A&M Health Science Center Institute of Biosciences and Technology, and the University of Edinburgh have uncovered how a bacterial pathogen interacts with the blood coagulation protein fibrinogen to cause methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections, a finding that could aid in developing therapeutics against the potentially deadly disease. Their work appears November 28 in the open-access journal PLoS Pathogens.

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Major breakthrough for dialysis patients

High efficacy hemodiafiltration : Tomorrow’s extracorporeal blood purification technology

 Suffering from end-stage renal disease (ESRD), a growing number of patients at the Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM), have become the beneficiaries of a North American breakthrough: high efficacy hemodiafiltration (HDF).

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Selenium may slow advance of AIDS

Increasing the production of naturally occurring proteins that contain selenium in human blood cells slows down multiplication of the AIDS virus, according to biochemists.

“We have found that increasing the expression of proteins that contain selenium negatively affects the replication of HIV,” said K. Sandeep Prabhu, Penn State assistant professor of immunology and molecular toxicology. “Our results suggest a reduction in viral replication by at least fold.”

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New Approaches Make Retinal Detachment Highly Treatable

New England Journal of Medicine Study by NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Ophthalmologist and Surgeon Highlights Advanced Techniques Used to Save Vision

Retinal detachment, a condition that afflicts about 10,000 Americans each year, puts an individual at risk for vision loss or blindness. In a new study in today’s issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, a leading ophthalmologist at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center writes, however, that a high probability of reattachment and visual improvement is possible by using one of three currently available surgical techniques.

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Scientists show how a protein that determines cell polarity prevents breast cancer

Proteins that control cell shape are a new class of molecules that regulate cancer

In breast tissue, cells lining the breast’s ducts have a certain shape that is required to maintain both organ structure and function. All breast cancers display a loss of this characteristic organization, but very little is known about the molecules and pathways that regulate tissue structure and the role they play during cancer.

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Researchers find clue to safer obesity drugs

Once hailed as a miracle weight-loss drug, Fen-phen was removed from the market more than a decade ago for inducing life-threatening side effects, including heart valve lesions. Scientists at UT Southwestern Medical Center are trying to understand how Fen-phen behaves in the brain in order to develop safer anti-obesity drugs with fewer side effects.

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