Life Sciences and Chemistry

A new strategy for cancer therapy, which converts the tumor-promoting effect of the immune system’s inflammatory response into a cancer-killing outcome, is suggested in research findings by investigators at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine.

The findings provide new insight into the immune system’s response to inflammation, the connection between inflammation and malignancy, and how the delicate balance between cancer promotion and inhibiti

Scientists have identified what may be the first nontoxic treatment for a subset of medulloblastoma, the most common type of malignant pediatric brain tumor. The finding is encouraging in that such precise, targeted therapies may someday replace traditional treatments that can have overwhelmingly negative side effects for pediatric cancer patients. The research is published in the September issue of Cancer Cell.

“Therapy for pediatric cancers of the central nervous system has not i

A new research study identifies a molecule that promotes one of the most deadly cancers in humans and reveals the molecular mechanisms underlying the protective effects of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) against the disease. The research, published in the September issue of Cancer Cell, identifies potential targets for future therapeutics aimed at the prevention and treatment of cancer of the colon and rectum.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second most common caus

Researchers have combined sophisticated biochemical and imaging techniques to get a glimpse of the stepwise assembly of amyloid fibers in a yeast prion protein. Their findings suggest that these structured fibers form in competition with the amorphous globules that some believe may cause toxicity in amyloid diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. The researchers say this may have important implications for those designing drugs to prevent formation of the brain-damaging proteins i

A single gene called cylE within the important bacterial pathogen Group B Streptococcus (GBS), controls two factors that act together as a “sword” and “shield” to protect the bacteria from the killing effects of the immune system’s white blood cells, according to researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine.

GBS is the leading cause of serious bacterial infections such as meningitis and pneumonia in newborns and is increasingly recognized as

Researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center now have evidence that receptors found on tumors that were believed to function only on the surface of cells can actually switch on genes inside a cell’s nucleus, thus promoting cancer development in two distinct ways.

They specifically found that HER-2 cell surface receptors, known to promote breast and other cancers when they allow too many growth signals to enter a cell, can actually travel into the nucleu