Free Republic

Extracts of a plant used in traditional medicine for centuries have shown anti-proliferative effects against breast cancer in a small early-stage clinical trial. Researchers provided breast cancer patients with an extract of the Boswellia tree—probably best known as the source of frankincense—and instructed them to take it each day until surgery. The researchers then compared the activity of cancer cells in each woman's tumor removed during surgery with the activity in the piece of her tumor that was removed during the biopsy. "We looked at differences in the growth rate of the tumors before and after treatment, and we found...

A customized Moderna Inc. vaccine combined with a Merck & Co. cancer drug helped ward off the recurrence of the skin cancer melanoma after surgery in patients in a mid-stage clinical trial, the companies said. The companies said Tuesday the combination of Moderna’s personalized cancer vaccine and Merck’s Keytruda cancer immunotherapy reduced patients’ risk of relapse or death by about 44%, versus Keytruda alone, in the 150-volunteer study. The results, which the companies said were statistically significant but haven’t been reviewed by independent scientists, suggest promise for an emerging but unproven class of vaccines that aim to treat diseases rather...

Recently, a tiny group of people with rectal cancer saw their disease vanish after experimental treatment. Now, in another breakthrough, a new compound synthesized by Dr. Jung-Mo Ahn, a University of Texas at Dallas researcher, has been found to kill a broad spectrum of hard-to-treat cancers, including triple-negative breast cancer, leaving healthy cells unscathed. He exploited a weakness in cells that were hitherto not targeted by the other drugs. The study, which was carried out in isolated cells, both in human cancer tissue and in human cancers grown in mice, was published in the journal Nature Cancer. Only a few...

A protein that destroys hard to treat cancers has been discovered by scientists - offering hope of effective new treatments. Experiments on mice and human tissue found it is effective against the most aggressive tumors. They include those of the breast, pancreas, ovaries and brain. The compound, known as ERX-41, leaves healthy tissue unscathed. It is one of the most promising breakthroughs to date - offering hope of a "one size fits all"' pill that was once thought impossible. Results were so encouraging clinical trials are expected to begin in the next few months. Lead author Professor Ratna Vadlamudi, of...

President Joe Biden touted his past support for an organization called the Biden Cancer Initiative on Wednesday, as he announced a “Moonshot” on cancer research — but ignored its scandal-plagued history, which arose in the 2020 campaign. As the New York Post reported in 2020, the organization — which Biden opened after leaving office in 2017, but closed just two yeas later — spent no money on cancer research, but spent millions of dollars of donors’ money on staff salaries. The Washington Free Beacon had reported earlier in 2020 that the Biden Cancer Initiative spent 65 percent of its total...

3D tumors that disintegrate within a few days thanks to the action of a well-known omega-3 (DHA, found mainly in fish) -- this is a promising discovery. Hungry for fatty acids, tumor cells in acidosis gorge themselves on DHA but are unable to store it correctly and literally poison themselves. The result? They die. …the team quickly identified that these acidotic tumour cells responded in diametrically opposite ways depending on the fatty acid they were absorbing. Within a few weeks, the results were both impressive and surprising. "We soon found that certain fatty acids stimulated the tumour cells while others...

An article titled "m6A RNA modification as a new player in R-loop regulation," by the Dynamic Gene Regulation research group led by Arne Klungland at IMB, was published in the January edition of Nature Genetics. Following a new collaboration between UiO and research groups in Nottingham and Oxford, it has now been revealed that RNA has a direct effect on DNA stability, according to Professor Klungland's research. He believes the discovery will provide the health service with an important tool, since many studies have shown that the regulation of modifications to RNA is important for the development of cancer. If...

Going solar isn’t necessarily any protection from California’s new “planned” power outages, and local residents and businesses are enduring a lot more than just a few inconveniences. Bloomberg’s Chris Martin has a story on California’s troubles with one of my favorite headlines ever: “Californians Learning That Solar Panels Don't Work in Blackouts.” Apparently, many of California’s would-be Earth-savers had no idea that just putting solar panels on their roofs doesn’t mean they’ll have power when PG&E switches it off. As Martin explains:

Injecting minute amounts of two immune-stimulating agents directly into solid tumors in mice can eliminate all traces of cancer in the animals, including distant, untreated metastases, according to a study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. The approach works for many different types of cancers, including those that arise spontaneously, the study found. The researchers believe the local application of very small amounts of the agents could serve as a rapid and relatively inexpensive cancer therapy that is unlikely to cause the adverse side effects often seen with bodywide immune stimulation. "When we use these two agents...

MIT biologists have designed a new peptide that can disrupt a key protein that many types of cancers, including some forms of lymphoma, leukemia, and breast cancer, need to survive. The new peptide targets a protein called Mcl-1, which helps cancer cells avoid the cellular suicide that is usually induced by DNA damage. By blocking Mcl-1, the peptide can force cancer cells to undergo programmed cell death. "Some cancer cells are very dependent on Mcl-1, which is the last line of defense keeping the cell from dying. It's a very attractive target," says Amy Keating, an MIT professor of biology...

Today, breast cancer kills 39 percent fewer women than 25 years ago. Prostate cancer kills 52 percent fewer men, the American Cancer Society announced last week. You can thank new technologies that detect cancer early and defeat it for many of the lives saved. Americans diagnosed with most types of cancer have better odds of surviving it in the U.S. than anywhere else on the planet. But watch out. These staggering achievements are at risk. A chorus of Democratic politicians is kicking off 2018 with renewed calls for universal, government-run health care. Leading the pack for single-payer are presidential contenders...

Representation of the organic-osmium compound, which is triggered using a non-toxic dose of sodium formate, a natural product found in many organisms, including nettles and ants. Credit: Dr James Coverdale/University of Warwick ================================================================================================================== Cancer cells can be destroyed more effectively and selectively with a unique new reusable treatment, activated with a substance found in stinging nettles and ants—thanks to new research by the University of Warwick. Led by Professor Peter J. Sadler from Warwick's Department of Chemistry, researchers have developed a new line of attack against cancer: an organic-osmium compound, which is triggered using a non-toxic dose of sodium formate,...

A New York Doctor was found murdered shortly after reporting a “breakthrough” discovery in the cure for cancer. Dr. Miguel Crespo’s body was found in the bathroom of the Weill Cornell Medical Center on the Upper East Side where he worked, after having gone missing for several hours. Police initially thought that Dr. Crespo had committed suicide by drug overdose after they found vomit next to his body and “foaming at his mouth.” However, close friends and family say his death is suspicious, noting that Dr. Crespo had just made an exciting discovery in the field of cancer research and...

My wife has stage 4 metastatic cancer. She has battled this before and survived twice. This time the cancer has reached her brain and the doctors are a bit more apprehensive than before. Does anyone know about grants? All of her doctors are telling us to apply for grants to pay for her medicine. Any advice would be appreciated. I may not be able to respond right away, but I will do my best. Lots of planning and preparation on my part.

The conviction last week of Ali al-Timimi, an American-born Islamic scholar, on terrorism charges thrust the so-called "Virginia Paintball Jihad" case to the forefront as the federal government's greatest court victory against terrorism. All told, federal prosecutors counted 10 convictions in the case. Al-Timimi's conviction marked the first post-Sept. 11 case in which the government won a terrorism conviction for actions tied to philosophy and words designed to help the enemy, rather than deeds, such as providing money, equipment or actual combat help to that enemy. "Until now these people have escaped. It is a very powerful position to be...

Transcript: Against all odds, Elizabeth Marek is alive, she has a device that attacks brain cancer cells with electric fields to thank. Elizabeth has glioblastoma, a deadly and aggressive form of brain cancer with no cure and a life expectancy of just over two years. 26 weeks pregnant with her second child, 3 years after a small tumor was found in her brain, Elizabeth began suffering from extreme headaches. She thought it was migraines, but it wasn't. SOUNDBITE (English) ELIZABETH MAREK, BRAIN CANCER PATIENT, SAYING: "It ended up being a tumor that was the size of my fist on the...

In breakthrough, researchers in Technion lab of Nobel laureate Aaron Ciechanover discover proteins that affect cancerous cells’ growth and development team of Israeli researchers at the Technion has discovered two proteins that can suppress cancer and control the cells’ growth and development. The study was conducted in the laboratory of Prof. Aaron Ciechanover, an Israeli Nobel-prize winner in chemistry, and led by Dr. Yelena Kravtsova-Ivantsiv. The team included research students and physicians from the Rambam, Carmel and Hadassah Medical Centers. In a paper published in the journal Cell last week, the researchers showed how the proteins could repress cancerous tissues...

Abstract Here, we propose a new strategy for the treatment of early cancerous lesions and advanced metastatic disease, via the selective targeting of cancer stem cells (CSCs), a.k.a., tumor-initiating cells (TICs). We searched for a global phenotypic characteristic that was highly conserved among cancer stem cells, across multiple tumor types, to provide a mutation-independent approach to cancer therapy. This would allow us to target cancer stem cells, effectively treating cancer as a single disease of “stemness”, independently of the tumor tissue type. Using this approach, we identified a conserved phenotypic weak point – a strict dependence on mitochondrial biogenesis for...

Australian researchers published findings this week on a newly-discovered plant compound that destroys cancer cells, but leaves healthy cells unharmed. They found it in possibly the last place you'd look for a cancer cure: the family of plants that brings us cancer's number-one culprit, tobacco.

Fifteen-year-old Jack Andraka took home top science fair honours this year for the development of a cancer-testing method found to be 168 times faster, 26,000 times cheaper and 400 times more sensitive than the current gold-medal standard. His work was impressive enough to earn the Maryland high school student a total of $100,500 in grants and prizes at the 2012 Intel Science Fair. Even more impressive is the source he credits for much of his success: Google. "I definitely could not have done this research and project without the use of the internet", Andraka told BBC News in an interview...