Category Health/Medical

The image on the left shows high-grade aggressive prostate cancer before treatment. the image on the right shows no evidence of cancer after combined gene therapy and radiotherapy. Credit: Houston Methodist

Results from a long-term clinical trial conducted by cancer researchers show that combining radiation treatment with ‘suicide gene therapy’ provides a safe and effective one-two punch against the disease. The researchers compared 2 arms of patients and report high 5-yr overall survival rates of 97% and 94% respectively. That’s a 5 to 20% improvement for survival over historical studies.

66 prostate cancer patients participated in the Phase II clinical trial between 1999 and 2003 and were split into two groups...

A three-drug nanoscale drug delivery system designed for preferential lymphatic uptake for the treatment of metastatic melanoma

A new 3-drug delivery system for cancer treatment, especially metastatic melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, has been developed by researchers. The work has demonstrated that the system may have particular value with cancers like this that often spread through the lymphatic system. It may offer a novel therapeutic option for more effective cancer treatment.

The new technology takes advantage of nanoparticles that can migrate to, and increase the effectiveness of an attack on cancer cells in the body’s lymph nodes. This can also reduce the development of drug resistance and the broader toxicity often associated with this type of chemotherapy.

“Melanoma has...

Two brain slices show different memory traits. Credit: Rotman Research Institute

Tendency to remember episodic details vs facts is reflected in intrinsic brain patterns. Why is it that some people have richly detailed recollection of past experiences (episodic memory), while others tend to remember just the facts without details (semantic memory)?

A research team from the Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest Health Sciences has shown for the first time that these different ways of experiencing the past are associated with distinct brain connectivity patterns that may be inherent to the individual and suggest a life-long ‘memory trait’.

“For decades, nearly all research on memory and brain function has treated people as the same, averaging across individuals,” said lead investigator Dr...

DM1 is the most common form of adult-onset muscular dystrophy. “This finding opens a new avenue for a therapeutic strategy for this disease,” said Prof. Andrew Berglund, Ph.D. “This is the first evidence that specifically inhibiting transcription can be effective in knocking down the toxic material that causes the disease.”

In myotonic dystrophy and other related neurological disorders, the symptoms stem from repeated individual nucleotides in the RNA in muscle tissue cells that can build up over time. These repeats, called CTG expansions in myotonic dystrophy type 1, become “toxic” when transcribed from DNA...