Comprehensive framework outlined for addressing early-onset colorectal cancer research
Peer-Reviewed Publication
The reasons for rising rates of colorectal cancer in people younger than 50 are largely unknown, but a paper by Vanderbilt researchers published Jan. 25 in The Lancet Oncology sets a comprehensive framework for addressing research challenges and patient needs.
Faulty versions of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes are well known to increase the risk of breast cancer in men and women, and in ovarian cancer. Now BRCA1 and BRCA2 have been linked to several other cancers, including those that affect men. A study published today in the Journal of Clinical Oncology has provided the strongest evidence to date of these links and helped researchers estimate more accurately the associated risk.
Two recent discoveries by stem cell scientists at Cedars-Sinai may help make cancer treatment more efficient and shorten the time it takes for people to recover from radiation and chemotherapy.
CHAMPS (Communities and Hospitals Advancing Maternity Practices), a multi-year quality improvement (QI) initiative in the state of Mississippi led by Boston Medical Center (BMC) researchers, has increased breastfeeding rates and reduced racial inequities in breastfeeding. These results, published in Pediatrics, demonstrate that the successful implementation of Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative guidance can lead to increased rates of breastfeeding, skin-to-skin contact for mother and baby immediately after birth, and rooming-in practices (keeping mother and baby together in the same hospital room) while also reducing racial inequities.
The University of Cincinnati's Dr. Timothy Phoenix has received three separate grants from philanthropic organizations and the National Institutes of Health to learn more about the genetic workings of pediatric diffuse midline gliomas, a deadly brain tumor.
Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai discovered that the chance a pathogenic genetic variant may actually cause a disease is relatively low - about 7 percent. They also found that some variants, such as those associated with breast cancer, are linked to a wide range of risks for disease. The results could alter the way the risks associated with these variants are reported, and one day, help guide the way physicians interpret genetic testing results
Blocking expression of a protein called PKN2 in the healthy cells of a pre-clinical model changes the way pancreatic cancer develops and promotes tumour inflammation, which could help make immunotherapy work better. The researchers now want to investigate this further as a potential drug target for pancreatic cancer.
UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center has received a $25 million gift to establish the UNC Lineberger Center for Triple Negative Breast Cancer and to support other key UNC Lineberger initiatives. This is the largest donation in UNC Lineberger’s history, and it enables the cancer center to advance its groundbreaking research of a highly aggressive breast cancer that disproportionately affects Black, Latina and young women and historically has limited research funding.
MIT Biologists have designed a screening method to understand how short stretches of amino acids — called short linear motifs (SLiMs) — selectively bind to certain proteins, and distinguish between binding partners with similar structures. Using the detailed information they gleaned from studying these interactions, the researchers created their own synthetic molecule capable of binding extremely tightly to a protein called ENAH, which is implicated in cancer metastasis.
The 24-year-old physician Dr. Laura Hinze from Hannover Medical School receives the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize for Young Researchers 2022, as announced today by the Scientific Council of the Paul Ehrlich Foundation. Laura Hinze is being honoured for her significant contribution to the understanding of signal transduction in cancer cells. She has discovered how leukaemia cells develop resistance to the chemotherapeutic agent asparaginase, thereby presenting a novel target for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), the most common cancer in children. Her discovery also derives a new approach for the treatment of colorectal cancer and other solid tumours.