Potential new drug for some patients with treatment-resistant lung cancer
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The investigational drug AZD9291, a third-generation EGFR inhibitor, showed promise in preclinical studies and provides hope for patients with advanced lung cancers that have become resistant to existing EGFR inhibitors, according to results presented at the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics.
Statin, osteoporosis drug combo may help treat parasitic infections
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Researchers at the University of Georgia have discovered that a combination of two commonly prescribed drugs used to treat high cholesterol and osteoporosis may serve as the foundation of a new treatment for toxoplasmosis, a parasitic infection caused by the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii. They published their findings recently in PLOS Pathogens.
New discovery in quest for better drugs
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Scientists have combined cutting edge computer modelling with pharmacology and medicinal chemistry to reveal new insights into how the body interacts with novel drug treatments, in research that could lead to the creation of drugs that are more targeted and with fewer side effects. In a paper published in Nature, researchers from the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MIPS) were part of an international team who investigated alternative drug recognition sites on G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) - the largest and most important family of receptor proteins in the human body.
Drug activates virus against cancer
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Parvoviruses cause no harm in humans, but they can attack and kill cancer cells. Since 1992, scientists at the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) have been studying these viruses with the aim of developing a viral therapy to treat glioblastomas, a type of aggressively growing brain cancer. A clinical trial has been conducted since 2011 at the Heidelberg University Neurosurgery Hospital to test the safety of treating cancer patients with the parvovirus H-1.
Aging tumor cells may be an effective cancer treatment
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Scientists at the University of Massachusetts Medical School have shown that diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) may be susceptible to treatment by re-activating the normal aging program in tumor cells so they can no longer divide. The study, published in Nature Communications, details a novel, tumor-suppressive role for the Smurf2 protein - which typically plays an "enforcer" role in cellular aging, also called senescence - in a subset of DLBCL.
Compound in grapes, red wine could help treat multiple types of cancer
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A recent study by a University of Missouri researcher shows that resveratrol, a compound found in grape skins and red wine, can make certain tumor cells more susceptible to radiation treatment. This research, which studied melanoma cells, follows a previous MU study that found similar results in the treatment of prostate cancer. The next step is for researchers to develop a successful method to deliver the compound to tumor sites and potentially treat many types of cancers.
Stem cell breakthrough could set up future transplant therapies
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- Category: Research
A new method for creating stem cells for the human liver and pancreas, which could enable both cell types to be grown in sufficient quantities for clinical use, has been developed by scientists. Using the technique, researchers have for the first time been able to grow a pure, self-renewing population of stem cells specific to the human foregut, the upper section of the human digestive system.
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