Category Health/Medical

Nearly three-quarters of patients with advanced cancer could be referred to a potential targeted treatment based on the results of a comprehensive analysis of their tumor’s genetic landscape, a new analysis finds.

More biomarker-based clinical trials will increase opportunities. A new analysis finds that nearly 3/4 of 500 patients with advanced cancer could be referred to a potential targeted treatment based on the results of a comprehensive analysis of their tumor’s genetic landscape. The study suggests the value of next generation sequencing, a sophisticated method of evaluating the DNA and RNA of a tumor to help direct treatment.

A report on the first 500 patients with advanced solid tumors to go through the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center’s sequencing program found...

Highlights
•OA inhibits the binding of proteins containing RRM.
•OA rescues processing of pri-miR-7 in vitro.
•OA induces mature miR-7 production in HeLa cells.

A compound found in olive oil may help to prevent cancer developing in the brain, a study shows. Research into oleic acid – the primary ingredient in olive oil – has shown how it can help prevent cancer-causing genes from functioning in cells. The oily substance – a fatty acids – stimulates the production of a cell molecule whose function is to prevent cancer-causing proteins from forming.

The study team says it is too soon to say whether dietary consumption of olive oil may help prevent brain cancer. Their findings, however, point towards possible therapies based on the oil to prevent brain cancer from occurring...

Might it be possible to ‘turn off’ a food allergy? Credit: © bit24 / Fotolia

A team led by A/Prof Ray Steptoe at UQ Diamantina Institute has been able to ‘turn-off’ the immune response which causes allergic reaction in animals. “When someone has an allergy or asthma flare-up, the symptoms they experience results from immune cells reacting to protein in the allergen,” Professor Steptoe said. “The challenge in asthma and allergies is that these immune cells, known as T-cells, develop a form of immune ‘memory’ and become very resistant to treatments.

“We have now been able ‘wipe’ the memory of these T-cells in animals with gene therapy, de-sensitising the immune system so that it tolerates the protein...

Confocal image showing glucose signalling.

Glucose may actually be crucial in the fight against cancer and inflammatory disease as scientists have just discovered a new role in which it stimulates cells that work on the front line in the fight against tumours and infection. The immune cells become very active during an immune response, such as when responding to infection, and as a result they tend to have high demands for glucose. Unsurprisingly, when immune cells are starved of glucose, as might occur within tumours for instance, they become dysfunctional.

However, new research led by scientists at Trinity College Dublin shows that the immune cells that monitor our bodies for signs of danger (dendritic cells) are different—when they are starved of glucose they actually become better at s...