Medical News Today: Oncology News

With temperatures set to plummet below freezing across the UK this week, leading cancer charity Macmillan Cancer Support is warning that keeping warm will be even harder for cancer patients undergoing treatment, as they are already twice as likely to fall into fuel poverty as the general population 1 ...

Responding to the decision by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) not to recommend sorafenib (Nexavar®) as a treatment for advanced liver cancer, Mike Hobday, Head of Campaigns at Macmillan Cancer Support, said: 'We are extremely disappointed that NICE has decided not to recommend sorafenib as a treatment for people with advanced liver cancer...

A series of studies published in the September Journal of Nuclear Medicine (JNM) show that molecular imaging plays a critical role in the evaluation and treatment planning for a broad spectrum of cancers, including thyroid cancer and lymphoma...

One of the most difficult aspects of working at the nanoscale is actually seeing the object being worked on. Biological structures like viruses, which are smaller than the wavelength of light, are invisible to standard optical microscopes and difficult to capture in their native form with other imaging techniques...

The first study of Ewing's sarcoma that screened hundreds of genes based on how they affect cell growth has identified two potential anti-cancer drug targets, according to a scientific paper by the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) published in the journal Molecular Cancer...

When it comes to the mechanics of the human immune system, we are all more alike than previously thought, according to a new study by scientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. This finding has significant implications for developing new ways to detect, diagnose and treat cancer and diseases of the immune system, according to Harlan Robins, Ph.D...

INFECTIOUS DISEASE: Modified adenovirus malaria vaccine works a treat in mice Malaria kills more than 1 million individuals each year. Despite intensive research, there is still no malaria vaccine approved for use. A team of researchers, led by Moriya Tsuji, at the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, New York, has now designed a new vaccine that provides protection from malaria in mice...

Two studies reveal that smokers may have a significantly lower risk of developing lung cancer and colorectal cancer with the drug metformin, which is commonly prescribed for diabetes type 2 treatment, the medical journal Cancer Prevention Research informs...

Pawlenty's Order Pure Politicking The Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer The move can be explained in no other way than in being a totally partisan decision, intended to shore up his conservatism in what will be a 2012 battle of who is more conservative to wear the Republican mantle for president (9/1)...

Cancer Research UK's Drug Development Office has launched a clinical trial* to test an experimental drug in patients with advanced (Stage IV) pancreatic cancer - one of the most difficult cancers to treat. Around 60 patients with advanced pancreatic cancer will be recruited for the first Phase I/IIclinical trial of a drug called MK-0752** in this disease...

Scientists are reporting new evidence that the fat tissue in those spare tires and lower belly pooches - far from being a dormant storage depot for surplus calories - is an active organ that sends chemical signals to other parts of the body, perhaps increasing the risk of heart attacks, cancer, and other diseases...

Accuray Incorporated (Nasdaq: ARAY), a global leader in the field of radiosurgery, announced that the first CyberKnife VSI System to be installed in Europe was placed at the Leon-Berard Cancer Multidisciplinary Center (CLB) in Lyon, France. The CyberKnife VSI System is the newest addition to the CyberKnife product family...

Agensys, Inc., an affiliate of Tokyo-based Astellas Pharma Inc., announced that they have initiated a Phase I clinical trial of AGS-16M8F an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) that is being developed for the treatment of metastatic renal cancer. An ADC uses the specific binding properties of an antibody to target a toxin in tumor cells, resulting in selective tumor cell killing...

Gulf Coast Cancer Treatment Center, the area's only American College of Radiology-accredited radiation oncology center, introduces the Elekta Synergy system. The new technology will be showcased at the center's Open House on Thursday, September 16, 2010 from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. Gulf Coast Cancer Treatment Center (GCCTC) is located at 2100 State Avenue in Panama City. Radiation oncologists Dr. D.B...

Radiation Oncology Services of America, Inc. (ROSA), a subsidiary of Ambulatory Services of America, Inc. (ASA), announced that it has entered into an agreement with the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine to embark on a Cooperative Quality Assurance Project...

Michael Douglas told a US television audience on Tuesday night that he has been diagnosed with and is receiving treatment for stage four throat cancer. Speaking on David Letterman's "Late Show" to promote the release of his new film "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps", the 65- year old American actor and producer said his doctors had told him he has an 80 per cent chance of survival...

Detection of circulating and disseminated tumor cells in blood is a promising methodology to diagnose cancer dissemination or to follow up cancer patients during therapy. Today, the detection analyses of these cells are performed in medical laboratories requiring labor intensive, expensive and time-consuming sample processing and cell isolation steps...

Using readily available computer programs, researchers have developed a system to identify genes that will be useful in the classification of breast cancer. The algorithm, described in BioMed Central's open access Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research will enable researchers to quickly generate valuable gene signatures without specialized software or extensive bioinformatics training...

Two new groundbreaking scientific papers by researchers at UC Santa Barbara demonstrate the synthesis of nanosize biological particles with the potential to fight cancer and other illnesses. The studies introduce new approaches that are considered "green" nanobiotechnology because they use no artificial compounds...

A "game-changing" technique using near infrared light enables scientists to look deeper into the guts of cells, potentially opening up a new frontier in the fights against cancer and many other diseases. University of Central Florida chemists, led by Professor Kevin Belfield, used near infrared light and fluorescent dye to take pictures of cells and tumors deep within tissue...