Category: Research News

Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania reported yesterday that they have made yet another breakthrough in finding a way to enhance the effectiveness of cancer treatments.  This time using a drug commonly used to treat malaria. The finding comes on the heels of a report from Penn last month …

The Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation announced last week that it has awarded $500,000 in grants to the “best and most promising” mesothelioma research projects for its 2011/2012 Mesothelioma Research Grant Awards.  Funding of these projects is critically important for helping researchers find new, effective treatments that could lead to a cure for the asbestos-caused cancer.   …

For years, researchers have studied the make-up of lung cancer and mesothelioma cells in an effort to determine what drives the deadly cancer cells to divide and grow, and what makes them resistant to standard treatments.  Pleural mesothelioma and lung cancer are aggressive and the mortality rate is so high that it is critical to …

The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2012 there will be 226,160 new diagnoses and 160,340 deaths associated with lung cancer.  According to Northwestern University’s Vadim Backman, however, “Early detection is probably the only way for us to win the war against cancer.”  Backman is doing something about it, and he believes biophotonics may be …

Researchers at McGill University and the University of Montreal conducting a follow-up study to the previous findings that the diabetic medication metformin can slow the growth of lung cancer cells, and potentially suppress mesothelioma growth, not only confirmed the results, but they also have a better understanding of how the drug works to fight cancer.   …

The American Cancer Society (ACS) released its annual report on cancer statistics earlier this month and reports that the number of Americans diagnosed with cancer and dying from cancer have decreased slightly.  The ACS anticipates this trend to continue.  Unfortunately, the number of cases of mesothelioma is expected to increase, according to other researchers.  Mesothelioma, …

Mesothelioma, an asbestos-caused cancer, is often referred to as an orphan disease due to the minimal amount of research dedicated to finding a cure.  The federal government, however, is offering the National Mesothelioma Virtual Bank (NMVB) to researchers  so that they might discover an effective treatment, a new procedure for diagnosing the disease, or even …

Researchers at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center report that they have developed an “extremely sensitive test” that allows them to indentify as few as three circulating tumor cells (CTC) in non-small cell lung cancer patients.  This breakthrough is beneficial for allowing medical teams to track cancer progress and efficacy of treatments for …

India’s union health minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad, told the Rajya Sabha (India’s Council of States, or the upper house of the Parliament of India), that the government will screen all 1.25 billion citizens of India for cancer, heart disease and diabetes, in the next five years.  While this major undertaking is being met with consternation …

Cancer Research UK has announced a partnership with AstraZeneca and Pfizer that will move them one step closer to building a foundation to offer personalized medicine to cancer patients in the UK.  Personalized care is treatment targeted to the patients’ unique genetic characteristics, and offers the right treatment at the right time.  Mesothelioma is one …