Category Biology/Biotechnology

Men with inflammatory bowel disease have 4 to 5 times higher risk of being diagnosed with prostate cancer, reports a 20-year study from Northwestern Medicine. This is the first report to show men with inflammatory bowel disease have higher than average PSA (prostate-specific antigen) values, and this group also has a significantly higher risk of potentially dangerous prostate cancer.

About 1 million men have inflammatory bowel disease in the U.S. Inflammatory bowel disease is a common chronic condition that includes Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. “These patients may need to be screened more carefully than a man without inflammatory bowel disease,” said lead study author Dr...

A tumor cell that has acquired high metastatic potential during chemotherapy lights up with high FRET biosensor readout, whereas the cells that are sensitive to chemotherapy (and hence, low potential) stays dark.

Researchers engineered sensors to detect and measure the metastatic potential of single cancer cells. Metastasis is attributed as the leading cause of death in people with cancer.
Cancer would not be so devastating if it did not metastasize,” said Pradipta Ghosh, MD, professor in the UC San Diego School of Medicine departments of Medicine and Cellular and Molecular Medicine, director of the Center for Network Medicine and senior study author.

“Although there are many ways to detect metastasis once it has occurred, there has been nothing available to ‘see’ or ‘measure’ the potentia...

A mouse study shows that a single workout can activate POMC neurons (shown in green in yellow) for up to 2 days. The activity of these neurons are important regulators of blood glucose levels and energy balance.

Study offers insight into brain’s potential role in fitness, diabetes therapy. A new study from UT Southwestern Medical Center shows neurons in mice that influence metabolism are active for up to two days after a single workout. The research offers new insight into the brain’s potential role in fitness and – in the longer term – may provide a target for developing therapies that improve metabolism.

“It doesn’t take much exercise to alter the activity of these neurons,” said Dr. Kevin Williams, a neuroscientist at UT Southwestern...

Brentuximab vedotin mechanism of action.

A new combination of three drugs that harness the body’s immune system is safe and effective, destroying most cancer cells in 95% of patients with recurrent Hodgkin lymphoma, according to the results of an early-phase study.

Presented Dec. 3 at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology in San Diego, the study in 19 men and women found that injections of ipilimumab (marketed as Yervoy), nivolumab (Opdivo), and brentuximab vedotin (ADCETRIS) safely decreased tumor size or spread to some degree in 18 patients after at least six months of treatment, with 16 patients showing complete disappearance (remission) of tumors. After nine months of treatment, 15 remained in complete remission with no sign of their cancer’s return (relapse).

Resear...