New study aims to improve anti-cancer drug response predictions across cancer types
The goal of precision oncology is to be able to tailor treatments to each individual patient based on their cancer s unique molecular fingerprints.
New technologies and large, -omics datasets are now allowing researchers to examine shared features not just within a single type of cancer -; such as breast cancer -; but to look for patterns across many types of cancer. These data offer great clues that an approach that has shown success in one type of cancer may also work well against a different type of cancer based on common underlying features.
NIH-funded preclinical study suggests new approach to treat a type of brain tumor
Artist’s rendering of a glioma cell under attack from the immune system.Ella Marushchenko
What
Gliomas are common brain tumors that comprise about one third of all cancers of the nervous system. In a study funded by the National Institutes of Health, researchers tested a novel combination treatment approach on mice with tumors with characteristics similar to human astrocytomas a type of slow-growing glioma and found tumor regression in 60 percent of the mice treated. These encouraging results, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, could be the first step toward developing a treatment for this type of brain cancer.
A urine test based on University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center research could have avoided one third of unnecessary prostate cancer biopsies while failing to detect only a small number of cancers, according to a validation study that included more than 1,500 patients.
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A urine test based on University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center research could have avoided one third of unnecessary prostate cancer biopsies while failing to detect only a small number of cancers, according to a validation study that included more than 1,500 patients. The findings appear in the March issue of the
Journal of Urology.
The MyProstateScore test, which is being commercialized by LynxDX, a U-M startup company, measures levels of cancer-specific genes in a patient s urine. It is based on U-M research that discovered that half of all prostate tumors harbor a certain genetic anomaly in which the genes TMPRSS2 and ERG relocate on a chromosome and fuse together creating an on-switch for prostate cancer development.
Farming natural killer exosomes to fight cancer
New research published in
Advanced Science from scientists at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center and U-M College of Engineering highlights development in cancer-fighting efforts. The research details how the exosomes of natural killer cells (NK cells) can be targeted, harvested, and redirected to attack cancer cells. Exosomes are small sacs of proteins and other molecules that are naturally released by almost every type of cell in the body, says co-author Yoon-Tae Kang, Ph.D. In this case, we wanted to expand our understanding of NK exosomes and try to harness their cancer-killing potential.