Drug Destroys Human Cancer Stem Cells but Not Healthy Ones

A team of scientists at McMaster University has discovered a drug, thioridazine, successfully kills cancer stem cells in the human while avoiding the toxic side-effects of conventional cancer treatments. "The unusual aspect of our finding is the way this human-ready drug actually kills cancer stem cells; by changing them into cells that are non-cancerous," said Mick Bhatia, the principal investigator for the study and scientific director of McMaster's Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute in the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine. Unlike chemotherapy and radiation, thioridazine appears to have no effect on normal stem cells. The research, published May 24 in the science journal Cell, holds the promise of a new strategy and discovery...

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New twist on ancient math problem could improve medicine, microelectronics

A hidden facet of a math problem that goes back to Sanskrit scrolls has just been exposed by nanotechnology researchers at the University of Michigan and the University of Connecticut. A hidden facet of a math problem that goes back to Sanskrit scrolls has just been exposed by nanotechnology researchers [Credit: © bivainis/Fotolia] It turns out we've been missing a version of the famous "packing problem," and its new guise could have implications for cancer treatment, secure wireless networks, microelectronics and demolitions, the researchers say. Called the "filling problem," it seeks the best way to cover the inside of an object with a particular shape, such as filling a triangle with discs of varying sizes. Unlike the traditional packing...

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Transplanted gene-modified blood stem cells protect brain cancer patients from toxic side effects of chemotherapy

For the first time, scientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have transplanted brain cancer patients' own gene-modified blood stem cells in order to protect their bone marrow against the toxic side effects of chemotherapy. Initial results of the ongoing, small clinical trial of three patients with glioblastoma showed that two patients survived longer than predicted if they had not been given the transplants, and a third patient remains alive with no disease progression almost three years after treatment. "We found that patients were able to tolerate the chemotherapy better and without negative side effects after transplantation of the gene-modified stem cells than patients in previous studies who received the same type of chemotherapy...

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Breathalyzer Device Reveals Signs of Disease

This invention could give new meaning to the term "bad breath!" It's the Single Breath Disease Diagnostics Breathalyzer, and when you blow into it, you get tested for a biomarker—a sign of disease. As amazing as that sounds, the process is actually very simple thanks to ceramics nanotechnology. All it takes is a single exhale. You blow into a small valve attached to a box that is about half the size of your typical shoebox and weighs less than one pound. Once you blow into it, the lights on top of the box will give you an instant readout. A green light means you pass (and your bad breath is not indicative of an underlying disease; perhaps it’s just a result of the raw onions you ingested recently); however, a red light means you might...

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Study reveals huge genetic diversity in cells shed by tumors

The cells that slough off from a cancerous tumor into the bloodstream are a genetically diverse bunch, Stanford University School of Medicine researchers have found. Some have genes turned on that give them the potential to lodge themselves in new places, helping a cancer spread between organs. Others have completely different patterns of gene expression and might be more benign, or less likely to survive in a new tissue. Some cells may even express genes that could predict their response to a specific therapy. Even within one patient, the tumor cells that make it into circulating blood vary drastically. The finding underscores how multiple types of treatment may be required to cure what appears outwardly as a single type of cancer, the...

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Regular jogging shows dramatic increase in life expectancy

Undertaking regular jogging increases the life expectancy of men by 6.2 years and women by 5.6 years, reveals the latest data from the Copenhagen City Heart study presented at the EuroPRevent2012 meeting. Reviewing the evidence of whether jogging is healthy or hazardous, Peter Schnohr told delegates that the study's most recent analysis (unpublished) shows that between one and two-and-a-half hours of jogging per week at a "slow or average" pace delivers optimum benefits for longevity. The EuroPRevent2012 meeting, held 3 May to 5 May 2012, in Dublin, Ireland, was organised by the European Association for Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation (EACPR), a registered branch of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). "The results of...

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Genetic Pathway Impacting the Spread of Cancer Cells Discovered

In a new study from Lawson Health Research Institute, Dr. Joseph Torchia has identified a new genetic pathway influencing the spread of cancer cells. The discovery of this mechanism could lead to new avenues for treatment. Regular cell division is regulated by methylation, a series of chemical changes. Methylation modifies DNA to ensure cells divide at a healthy, balanced rate. In cancer, the methylation process is unbalanced, causing cells to resist regulation and divide uncontrollably. Research suggests changes in genetics play a role in this process, yet little is known about the mechanism. In a new study led by Dr. Torchia and his colleagues, a hormone called Transforming Growth Factor Beta (TGF-β) is starting to show the answers....

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Dynamic Changes in Gene Regulation in Human Stem Cells Revealed

A team led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute and the University of California (UC) San Diego has discovered a new type of dynamic change in human stem cells. Last year, this team reported recurrent changes in the genomes of human pluripotent stem cells as they are expanded in culture. The current report, which appears in the May 4, 2012 issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell, shows that these cells can also change their epigenomes, the patterns of DNA modifications that regulate the activity of specific genes -- sometimes radically. These changes may influence the cells' abilities to serve as models of human disease and development. "Our results show that human pluripotent stem cells change during expansion and differentiation...

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Keep aging brains sharp

Exercising, eating a healthy diet and playing brain games may help you keep your wits about you well into your 80s and even 90s, advises a new book by researchers at George Mason University.  "These are all cheap, easy things to do," says Pamela Greenwood, an associate professor in the Department of Psychology on Mason's Fairfax, Va. campus. "We should all be doing them anyway. You should do them for your heart and health, so why not do them for your brain as well?"  For the past 20 years, Greenwood and Raja Parasuraman, University Professor of Psychology, have studied how the mind and brain age, focusing on Alzheimer's disease. Their book, "Nurturing the Older Brain and Mind" published by MIT Press, came out in March. The cognitive...

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DNA sequencing lays foundation for personalized cancer treatment

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are using powerful DNA sequencing technology not only to identify mutations at the root of a patient's tumor – considered key to personalizing cancer treatment – but to map the genetic evolution of disease and monitor response to treatment.  The Genomics of Drug Sensitivity in Cancer project released its first results on July 15th. Researchers released a first dataset from a study that will expose 1,000 cancer cell lines (including ovarian) to 400 anticancer treatments [Washington University] "We're finding clinically relevant information in the tumor samples we're sequencing for discovery-oriented research studies," says Elaine Mardis, PhD, co-director of The Genome...

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'Backpacking' bacteria help ferry nano-medicines inside humans

To the ranks of horses, donkeys, camels and other animals that have served humanity as pack animals or beasts of burden, scientists are now enlisting bacteria to ferry nano-medicine cargos throughout the human body. They reported on progress in developing these "backpacking" bacteria -- so small that a million would fit on the head of a pin -- in San Diego on March 29 at the 243rd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS).  Bacterial cells could deliver diagnostics, therapeutics or sensors to where they are needed most in the body ]Credit:Sean Parsons, ACS] "Cargo-carrying bacteria may be an answer to a major roadblock in using nano-medicine to prevent, diagnose and treat disease," David H. Gracias,...

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Gene sequencing at warp speed

One million vocalists singing the same song will sound cacophonous to an audience member if the singers belt out the tune at different tempos.  “But if you’re listening to one person sing, and he changes his tempo, you’re still going to stay in tune with him,” said Meni Wanunu, an assistant professor of physics in Northeastern’s College of Science.  Wanunu used the analogy to explain the difference between older and newer gene sequencing techniques. Old techniques, he said, analyzed millions of DNA molecules at a time. But new techniques take a single-molecule approach, a strategy that has the potential to revolutionize the field — once a few significant challenges are overcome.  By obtaining the sequence of an organism’s...

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Permafrost bacteria may slow down aging

A hardy type of bacteria recently discovered in the permafrost of Siberia could help slow down the ageing process, Russian scientists claimed on Tuesday.  The species of bacteria -- given the name Bacillius F -- was found in laboratory tests to have shown signs of slowing down the process of ageing on mice, the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAN) said.  The Siberian branch of the RAN said Bacillius F lags 3 million years behind similar bacteria in evolutionary terms, according to the characteristics of proteins and some other factors.  "Taking into consideration the unusual living environment, one can only marvel at the resilience of these bacteria," it said.  It added that the organisms found in Russia's northern...

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Opioids Erase Memory Traces of Pain

A team of researchers at the MedUni Vienna's Department of Neurophysiology (Centre for Brain Research) has discovered a previously unknown effect of opioids: the study, which has now been published in the journal Science and was led by Ruth Drdla-Schutting and Jurgen Sandkuhler, shows that opioids not only temporarily relieve pain, but at the right dose can also erase memory traces of pain in the spinal cord and therefore eliminate a key cause of chronic pain.  The scientists recreated a surgical procedure in vivo in which pain fibres were stimulated under controlled conditions.  Says Sandkuhler: "Although deep anaesthesia prevents any sensations of pain, we were able to reserve long-term synaptic potentiation in the spinal...

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Studies identify risk factors in rising trend of liver cancer

Doctors have known for years that the incidence of deadly liver cancer is on the rise, but what is causing that trend has remained a mystery. Two recent Mayo Clinic studies published in the January issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings offer a clearer picture of the rise of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), or liver cancer, which has tripled in the U.S. in the last three decades and has a 10 to 12 percent five-year survival rate when detected in later stages. "The studies illuminate the importance of identifying people with risk factors in certain populations to help catch the disease in its early, treatable stages," said W. Ray Kim, M.D., a specialist in Gastroenterology and Hepatology and principal investigator of one study. Dr. Kim's...

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Deep brain stimulation shows promising results for unipolar and bipolar depression

A new study shows that deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a safe and effective intervention for treatment-resistant depression in patients with either unipolar major depressive disorder (MDD) or bipolar ll disorder (BP). The study was published Online First by Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.  The study was led by Helen S. Mayberg, MD, professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Neurology at Emory University School of Medicine, with co-investigators Paul E. Holtzheimer, MD, lead psychiatrist and now associate professor and director of the Mood Disorders Service, Dartmouth Medical School, and neurosurgeon Robert E. Gross, MD, PhD, associate professor in the Departments of Neurosurgery...

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