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Breast cancer in a test tube

Date: 10.5.2007 

UK researchers have developed a three-dimensional model of human breast cancer in the laboratory. The model, which includes normal cells and tumour cells, should help experts understand how breast cancer develops in the early stages. And it may replace the need for experiments in animals, the team at Queen Mary, University of London said. More women are being diagnosed with cancer in the early stages and the model could lead to new treatments. The model replicates a specific type of early breast cancer - known as ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS)... Whole article "BBC NEWS":[ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6636373.stm]

Gene cancer tests 'need review' - Decisions over who to test for a high-risk breast cancer gene should not be made solely on the basis of family history, US research suggests Predictions as to whether a woman may develop hereditary breast cancer are often reached by counting the number of female relatives with the disease But this excludes women who do not have many female relatives in whom the disease could have manifested itself The Journal of American Medicine study said testing criteria needed reviewing The study looked at 306 women who had breast cancer and, crucially, no close female relatives with the disease BRCA genes were found in 13 The genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 account for about 10% of inherited breast cancers, and they are also associated with an increased risk of ovarian cancer BBC (21.6.2007)

Important cause of breast cancer found - Researchers of the University Hospital, Basel and the Hamburg-Eppendorf University Hospital have discovered an important cause of the onset of breast cancer It has been long known that the abnormal increase of the copy number of genes, the so-called gene amplification, plays a role in the onset of breast cancer Whole article www (24.4.2007)

Scientists Stop Genes that Help Breast Cancer to Spread - US scientists have demonstrated a way to stop breast cancer spreading to other parts of the body by either switching off the genes involved or blocking them with drugs Tumours formed from cancer that has spread or metastased from the primary site to other parts of the body cause 90 per cent of cancer deaths The process of metastasis or cancer spread is still much of a mystery to scientists Dr Joan Massagué from the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, US, has been working in this field for some time Whole article www (13.4.2007)

Peptide Vaccine Fights Off Breast Tumors with Aid of Bacteria-mimicking Agents - With the help of immune system-stimulating molecules that mimic bacterial components, researchers have used a type of cancer vaccine to both delay and prevent breast tumors in mice Researchers from the Mayo Clinic, University of South Florida, and University of Torino employed substances called toll-like receptor agonists to help a synthetic peptide vaccine raise the immune system response against breast cancer tumors In the February 1 issue of Cancer Research, the researchers report that their strategy was effective in preventing spontaneous tumors in transgenic mouse models for breast cancer, even when the vaccine was given when the mice already had early stage cancer Whole article: www (6.2.2007)

Breast Cancer Gene Screen Better Than Pathologist's - The screen, developed by Sara Sukumar, Ph Reporting in the June 1 issue of Clinical Cancer Research, the scientists say they have tested their screening tool on breast fluid, in search of cells shed from growing tumors "This screening method can see what the eye cannot see," says Sukumar, who is the Barbara B Pathologists look for telltale shapes of cells to determine if cancer is present, but molecular changes in cells, especially for early cancers, are beyond the reach of even the most powerful microscopes Sukumar's test searches for unusually high amounts of chemical tags embedded by a process called methylation within critical regions of DNA The Hopkins test, called quantitative multiplex methylation-specific PCR or QM-MSP, determines the percentage of methylation present in each of five to ten cancer genes In the study, Hopkins researchers compared the cancer-detection rates of their QM-MSP test versus microscopic review by a pathologist on breast fluid samples Cytopathologists correctly identified seven of 21 (33 percent) fluid samples containing cancer, and ruled out the disease in nearly all cases negative for cancer (92 of 93 samples, 99 percent) "Now that we know the screening tool is effective in finding cancer cells within breast duct fluid, we need to improve the accuracy of obtaining the fluid," says Sukumar, who believes that their gene screen may miss cancers if they overlook any hidden breast ducts Improvements in getting an accurate representation of fluid from all the breast ducts are underway by other investigators, and include using sound waves to locate all the ducts Source (16.8.2006)

 

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