Aided by ultrasound guidance, treating tumors with extreme heat or moderate heat may provide a possible therapeutic option, according to early research presented at the second AACR Dead Sea International Conference on Advances in Cancer Research: From the Laboratory to the Clinic, held March 7-10, 2010. “Low temperature controlled hyperthermia and high temperature treatments are beneficial in curing both malignant and benign tumors using minimally invasive and noninvasive ultrasound techniques,” said Osama M. Al-Bataineh, Ph.D…

New breakthrough treatments for the most common cancers could soon come from cutting-edge research into some of the world’s rarest tumors. At the ESMO Conference on Sarcoma and GIST, to be held in Milan, Italy, on 9 and 10 March 2010, researchers and some of the world’s leading experts will discuss exciting new science on sarcomas - a group of rare tumors found in muscle, blood vessels, deep skin tissues, nerves and the tissues around joints. Although these cancers only affect a relatively small number of people, researchers say understanding them could have far wider ramifications…

Predictive Biosciences announced that the Company will be presenting its novel Multi-Analyte Diagnostic Readout (MADR™) approach to the development of a non-invasive, urinary biomarker based assay for the detection of bladder cancer during the 2010 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium (GU Symposium), being held March 5-7 in San Francisco. The GU Symposium is co-sponsored by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) and the Society of Urologic Oncology (SUO)…

Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA), a bile duct cancer, is one of the major cancers in Northeast Thailand. This cancer is difficult to diagnose and has high metastatic and mortality rates. Overexpression of Met, a hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) receptor, has frequently been found in CCA and is correlated with progression of this type of cancer. HGF/Met activation induces a variety of cellular processes, including cell scattering, invasion and proliferation…

Freezing a cancer kills it in its place, and also appears to generate an immune response that helps stop the cancer’s spread, leading to improved survival rates over surgery, according to a new study in mice from researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center. Researchers looked at two different cryoablation techniques, which both involve applying a cold probe to a tumor to freeze it. The study was done in mice with breast cancer. One method involves freezing the tumor rapidly, in about 30 seconds; the other freezes the tumor slowly, taking a few minutes…

A combination of two targeted therapies already shown to be effective in breast cancer packs an effective one-two punch against a subset of gastric cancers that have a specific genetic mutation, a study at UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center has found. The drugs Herceptin and Tykerb when given together proved to significantly inhibit tumor growth in gastric cancers that had amplified levels of HER2, a mutation that results in an aggressive form of the disease, causing the cancers to grow and spread faster…

Overexpression of the ARD1A gene (arrest-defective protein 1225) in mice reduced the number and size of both primary tumors and metastases, researchers report in a new study published online March 1 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. ARD1A blocks the expression of VEGFA (vascular endothelial growth factor A), an important mediator of blood vessel growth in tumors. It regulates VEGFA expression indirectly by acetylating the transcription factor that induces VEGFA expression - hypoxia inducible factor 1(HIF-1α)…

Overexpression of the ARD1A gene (arrest-defective protein 1225) in mice reduced the number and size of both primary tumors and metastases, researchers report in a new study published online March 1 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. ARD1A blocks the expression of VEGFA (vascular endothelial growth factor A), an important mediator of blood vessel growth in tumors. It regulates VEGFA expression indirectly by acetylating the transcription factor that induces VEGFA expression - hypoxia inducible factor 1(HIF-1α)…

Ark Therapeutics Group plc (AKT: LSE) (”Ark” or “the Company”), announces that it has filed documentation with the European Medicines Agency (”EMA”) in relation to its request for re-examination of the marketing approval application (”MAA”) for Cerepro®, Ark’s novel gene based therapy for the treatment of operable malignant glioma (brain cancer). The EMA have acknowledged receipt of the filing. The re-examination filing provides evidence from the Phase III trial (Study 904) in relation to possible bias in the decision to re-intervene, and the validity of the endpoint…

Genta Incorporated (OTCBB: GETA) announced that the Company has initiated a new dose-ranging study of tesetaxel, the Company’s novel oral tubulin inhibitor, using a weekly dosing regimen. Tesetaxel — a late Phase 2 oncology product — is the leading oral taxane currently in clinical development. Genta has recently completed a dose-ranging and pharmacokinetic study using tesetaxel administered once every 3 weeks, a schedule that has shown anticancer activity in several Phase 2 clinical trials…