Failing to keep your teeth clean could lead to more than yellowing and bad breath, according to research by a Hebrew University team. A study of oral pathogen Fusobacterium nucleatum, commonly found in the mouth, indicates that it can actually impede the body’s immune system from fighting certain diseases – like cancer.
Un groupe de chercheurs de l'Institut de physique appliquée du Conseil national de recherches (Ifac-Cnr) et de l'Université de Florence a utilisé la capacité des cellules tumorales à survivre dans des conditions de mauvaise oxygénation pour les rendre reconnaissables par des nanoparticules d'or en mesure de les localiser et les détruire. La nouvelle technologie, illustrée sur Advanced Functional Materials, est brevetée.
There’s no doubt that cancer is one of the world’s most vicious diseases. For decades, scientists have been trying to find a cure for cancer, a terminal illness that kills 8 million people worldwide every year. With 14 million new cancer cases diagnosed around the globe every year, according to the World Health Organization, the need for prevention is vital. Now, an Israeli biotechnology company is developing a vaccine for cancer, which is not designed to treat the disease – but to prevent it from returning.
Des chercheurs de la National University of Galway (NUIG) ont identifié un enzyme clef dans la diffusion et la survie de cellules du myélome multiple, le sialytransferase. Le myélome multiple est un cancer du sang qui résulte d'une surproduction de plasmocytes (globules blancs qui produisent les anticorps) et peut provoquer anémie, lésions osseuses, insuffisance rénale et hausse des taux de calcium dans le sang.
Une recherche conduite à l'Université de Tel Aviv a débouché sur un algorithme permettant de repérer des interactions génétiques létales au sein d'un large échantillon. Il renforce l'espoir d'une thérapie anticancéreuse plus précise et plus personnalisée.
Agios Pharmaceuticals turned heads in April when it showed its first drug prospect might be able to treat a devastating blood cancer, acute myeloid leukemia (AML), in people who have a specific genetic mutation. It was the first shred of validation, in humans, for Agios’s work in a raw field of oncology—cancer metabolism—and the company’s shares have zoomed upwards ever since.
Au cours des dernières semaines, le groupe de recherche de Ron Heeren du M4I (Maastricht MultiModal Molecural Imaging Institute) à l'Université de Maastricht, a fait une percée technologique dans leur laboratoire : une technique d'imagerie permettant une vision très précise pendant des opérations de tissus tumoraux malins. Cette percée du M4I permettrait aux chirurgiens de voir et de supprimer ce tissu dangereux en 10 minutes, ces résultats pourraient donc donner naissance à une révolution dans le domaine de la chirurgie du cancer. En effet, des études préliminaires montrent que le risque de récidive d'un cancer de l'estomac est réduit de façon spectaculaire grâce à cette nouvelle technique.
Patients and doctors often don’t know if surgery to remove cancerous tissue was successful until scans are performed months later. A new kind of nanoparticle could show patients if they’re in the clear much earlier.
The nanoparticles—dubbed nanoflares—attach themselves to individual cancer cells in a blood sample and then glow, allowing cancerous cells to be detected and sorted with the help of a laser. Since different types of cancer cells—some of which are far more lethal than others—can be detected and collected using the technique, and since those cells can then be cultured in a dish, the nanoparticles may also make it easier to test potential treatments before giving them to patients.
Few biotech startups have burst onto the scene like Juno Therapeutics. The Seattle company secured $310 million in private financing in less than a year, budding out of cancer immunotherapy work at three of the nation’s premier cancer centers in New York and Seattle.
With that type of momentum, it was only a matter of time until Juno took itself public. And today Juno is showing it’s ready to take the plunge.
The Hong Kong scientist who invented a simple blood test to show pregnant women if their babies have Down syndrome is now testing a similar technology for cancer.
Yuk Ming “Dennis” Lo says screening for signs of cancer from a simple blood draw could cost as little as $1,000. The test works by studying DNA released into a person’s bloodstream by dying tumor cells.
The idea is to create a cheap screening test that people might get annually at a doctor’s office to spot a tumor at its earliest stage, when it’s more easily treated. “It took 13 years to develop the prenatal tests, but the path was untrodden,” says Lo, who is based at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. “Cancer will take a shorter time.”
