CANCER: Strategy

Showing posts with label Strategy. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

New Strategy For Defeating Neuroblastoma

Main Category: Pediatrics / Children's Health
Also Included In: Cancer / Oncology;??Neurology / Neuroscience
Article Date: 05 Jun 2013 - 2:00 PDT Current ratings for:
New Strategy For Defeating Neuroblastoma
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Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have found a promising strategy for defeating neuroblastoma - a malignant form of cancer in children - that focuses on the so-called MYCN protein. A specific chemical molecule helps to break down MYCN, which either kills the cancer cell or makes it mature into a harmless neuron. The discovery, which is published in the scientific journal PNAS, raises hopes for new and more effective treatments in the future.

Neuroblastoma is the third most common form of cancer in children. It usually develops before the age of two and affects around two dozen children per year in Sweden and around 800 in the US. The tumours are normally located in the peripheral nervous system, but in very young infants they can sometimes spread over the entire body. Current therapies are tough and have serious side effects, and for many of the patients the prognosis is poor. In its most aggressive form only a minority survive, which makes finding alternative treatments particularly urgent.

In the case of neuroblastoma, extra copies of the gene that encodes the MYCN protein are normally found in the cancer cell. This in turn is a clear indication of a poor prognosis, as it has long been known that the incorrect activation of the MYCN and similar MYC genes causes cancer. The strategy of the research group for defeating the disease was therefore to identify substances that prevent MYC-triggered cell division or that kill cancer cells in an MYC-specific manner.

-"We have found that a small chemical molecule, that is known from previous studies to inhibit the activity of the c-MYC-protein, also inhibits the activity of MYCN," says Principal Investigator Marie Arsenian Henriksson, Professor of molecular tumour biology at Karolinska Institutet. "The substance disrupts the binding between MYCN and another protein called Max, which results in the degradation of MYCN and subsequently either to cell death in neuroblastoma cells with extra copies of the MYCN gene, or to their development into neurons, at which point their malignity disappears. Small chemical molecules that knock out MYCN are therefore a possible therapy option for children with neuroblastoma as well as for other MYC-driven tumours."

The molecule used by the researchers is no drug candidate; instead the finding is to be seen as a model that can inspire future cancer therapies. However, the researchers did find that the survival rate increased when they applied test treatments on mice with neuroblastoma. The study also led to a new discovery on what happens inside the cancer cell, where the treatment caused an accumulation of fat droplets, suggesting that the MYC proteins affect tumour cell metabolism and the normal breakdown of fatty acids.

"This is an original finding," says Professor Arsenian Henriksson. "It has not previously been observed that the inhibition of MYC affects tumour cells in this way. This does not only open new avenues for novel therapies for certain forms of cancer, but may also have implications for metabolic diseases, such as diabetes."

The study was financed with grants from several bodies, including the Swedish Childhood Cancer Foundation, the Swedish Cancer Society, the Swedish Research Council, Karolinska Institutet, and the Hedlund Foundation.

Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release. Click 'references' tab above for source.
Visit our pediatrics / children's health section for the latest news on this subject. “MYC inhibition induces metabolic changes leading to accumulation of lipid droplets in tumor cells”,
Hanna Zirath, Anna Frenzel, Ganna Oliynyk, Lova Segerstrom, Ulrica K. Westermark, Karin Larsson, Matilda Munksgaard Person, Kjell Hultenby, Janne Lehtio, Christer Einvik, Sven Pahlman, Per Kogner, Per-Johan Jakobsson, and Marie Arsenian Henriksson.
PNAS 3-7 June 2013 Please use one of the following formats to cite this article in your essay, paper or report:

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Friday, May 31, 2013

Early Stage Testicular Cancer - Surveillance Is Best Follow-Up Strategy

Editor's Choice
Academic Journal
Main Category: Urology / Nephrology
Also Included In: Cancer / Oncology
Article Date: 17 May 2013 - 0:00 PDT Current ratings for:
Early Stage Testicular Cancer - Surveillance Is Best Follow-Up Strategy
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A long-term study of men with stage I seminoma, a common form of testicular cancer, suggests that surveillance for cancer recurrence, rather than additional chemotherapy or radiation therapy, is sufficient for the vast majority of patients who have undergone successful surgery for their cancer.

In a new long-term study conducted in Denmark, researchers analyzed a national clinical database and found that 99.6% of patients who only underwent surveillance (following a successful surgery) were alive after 10 years of being diagnosed with testicular cancer.

Surveillance means carrying out routine CT scans, physical exams, chest X-ray exams, and blood tests for a period of five years after surgery.

In some countries, such as Denmark (where the study took place), the preferred follow-up strategy is surveillance alone. In the U.S. half of patients undergo either radiotherapy or chemotherapy as follow-up treatment, while the other half only receive surveillance.

There has been a recent increase in the number of patients undergoing surveillance alone in the U.S., a trend that will likely continue following this new finding.

Treatment options such as chemotherapy or radiotherapy can cause very harmful side effects, including a higher risk of secondary cancers (such as leukemia). Therefore, other follow-up strategies that don't incur such drastic risks, such as surveillance alone, are preferred.

Mette Sakso Mortensen, MD, a PhD student at the Department of oncology at the Copenhagen University Hospital in Copenhagen, Denmark, said:

"To our knowledge, this study is the largest to address this issue in patients with stage I seminoma, and with the longest follow-up. Now we have solid proof that surveillance is safe and appropriate for most patients with this particular cancer.
We also characterized key prognostic factors for relapse, which can help us identify high-risk patients who may need adjuvant therapy instead of surveillance. However, in general, seminoma stage I patients can safely be followed on a surveillance program."

A total of 1,822 men with stage I seminoma, who underwent successful surgery were followed on a five year surveillance program. The researchers were able to follow the patients for an average of 15.4 years.

19.5 percent of the patients experienced a relapse, of whom 216 received radiotherapy while 136 received chemotherapy and only 3 underwent surgery.

The 10-year-cancer-specific survival rate was 99.6 percent, which translates into four men dying out of every 1,000 who underwent surveillance alone.

The risk of relapse increased among patients whose tumor size was bigger than 1.5 inches and spread to lymphatic vessels or blood, as well as those whose levels of a blood marker called human chorionic gonadotropin were high.

Even though testicular cancer is quite rare among the general population, it is the most common solid tumor among young men. Approximately 4,000 people will be diagnosed with stage I seminoma this year in the U.S.

ASCO President-Elect Clifford A. Hudis, MD, said:

"This important study is one of several recent reminders that sometimes "less is more? in patient care. Opting for surveillance spares patients, most of whom are young men, from the harmful side effects of chemotherapy and radiation without diminishing their chances for a long and healthy life."

Scientists at UC Davis found that frequent CT scanning for testicular cancer surveillance was associated with secondary malignancies.

Written by Joseph Nordqvist
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today

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