cancer Archives

Nivolumab against lung cancer: How is the gut–lung axis involved?

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The study of the gut microbiome, which is the total of all the microbes living in the intestines, has been shown to not only play an important role in the health of the bowel itself, but also in the health of distant organs such as the lungs. Lung cancer is one of the diseases that is often difficult to treat […]

CRISPR gene editing: Can we make cancer cells easier to kill?

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Researchers at the Gene Editing Institute have developed a CRISPR gene editing tool to disable genes causing resistance to standard care in cancer patients.

Lung cancer accounts for approximately one in five cancer deaths globally. The high death toll makes the development of new treatments and improvement of old ones a top priority. One of the challenges with traditional chemotherapy is that tumours can develop resistance to treatment. For several years, Eric B Kmiec, PhD, at the Gene Editing Institute of ChristianaCare, USA and […]

Nanoparticles as Trojan horses: A safe and effective way to deliver oncolytic viruses to treat all cancers

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Tumour microenvironment, including immune cells and fibroblasts.

Advanced cancer often comes with a lack of treatment options. Immunotherapies like cancer-killing viruses – oncolytic viruses (OVs) – are becoming increasingly popular but are currently limited by their inability to be administered into the blood. However, Dr Faith Howard and Dr Munitta Muthana, researchers at the University of Sheffield in the UK, demonstrate that OVs can be injected into […]

Rethinking a tenet of cancer risk assessment for low radiation doses

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The LNT model is fundamental to radiation risk assessment.

Science isn’t perfect, but it does theoretically correct itself, and in the process even overturns keystones to fields of knowledge. However, such shifts don’t occur without pushback, especially from individuals and organisations with something to protect. The Health Physics Society, which is dedicated to radiation safety, produced a documentary that exposes a history of scientific errors, profound bias, professional self-interest, […]

Spiking of urinary biomarker with exercise: A marker of muscle inflammation?

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Seeking a sensitive biomarker of inflammation, Emeritus Professor Isao Okayasu of Kiryu University and Kitasato University, Japan and his colleagues have spent over two decades investigating chronic organ inflammation and its links to cancer. They have developed methods to measure prostaglandin E-major urinary metabolite (PGE-MUM) as a surrogate marker, which has opened the door for its investigation in different physiological […]

Simple blood tests could predict immunotherapy effectiveness

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Dr George Laliotis and his team predict the response of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients to immunotherapy using precision-medicine techniques.

Despite the extensive use of immunotherapy in patients suffering from head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, this therapy has significant limitations. Not everyone responds to treatment and current therapies can have serious adverse side effects. When working at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, USA, Dr George Laliotis and his team discovered that biochemical factors, measured […]

Breast Cancer Awareness Month 2022 – #GetScreened!

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Breast Cancer Awareness Month 2022 raises awareness about one of the world’s most prevalent forms of cancer. Breast cancer usually starts in the lining cells of breast ducts, but in 15% of cases arises first in lobules in the glandular tissue of the breast. While initially harmless, Breast cancer is potentially dangerous due to the risk of metastasis, which is […]

Skin cancer awareness month

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As balmy, long evenings and temperate sunshine return to the western hemisphere, May marks the arrival of more than just the first of the season’s strawberries and the smell of sun cream. May is skin cancer awareness month. Skin cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer, making up a third of all diagnosed cases. They are abnormal […]

Targeting cancer stemness: A new approach to target tumour metastasis in colorectal cancer

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Targeting cancer stemness and analysing a new approach to target tumour metastasis in colorectal cancer

At COARE Holdings in the US, Dr Courtney W Houchen and Edwin Bannerman-Menson examine innovative ways to target and treat metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). Their research focuses on the ‘stemness’ of cancer cells – a property by which the cells within a tumour are able to divide and give rise to every cancerous cell within the tumour. When these cancerous […]

Antilope: A low-cost portable sensor system for air quality monitoring

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Antilope is a low-cost portable sensor system for air quality monitoring

Monitoring air quality and assessing personal pollutant exposure in urban settings remain challenging tasks in atmospheric science. As part of this monitoring, low-cost sensors have become increasingly available. This allows makers to assemble their own air quality stations according to online instructions, and institutions to multiply the number of measurement points. However, most of these commercial devices suffer from limitations […]