Tag: Cancer
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Nation & World
Six new breast cancer-susceptibility genes found
The discovery of six new cancer-susceptibility genes grew out of more than 10 years of research by Alan D’Andrea into Fanconi anemia, a condition known to affect only 500 families…
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Nation & World
Your community may be harmful to your health
In 1996 the Harvard Center for Cancer Prevention reported that 50 percent of all cancer risk could be eliminated though a modified diet, increased exercise, limited alcohol intake and cessation…
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Nation & World
Cell surface proteins can have pro- and anti-angiogenic face
Angiogenesis is the process by which cancer tumors develop a network of blood vessels to feed them, so that they may continue their growth. The strategy that cancer cells use…
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Nation & World
Minimally invasive surgical procedure offers limited benefits for colon cancer patients
A national clinical trial compared the effects of standard colon cancer surgery with a newer, minimally invasive procedure for removing tumors called laparoscopic surgery. Researchers from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and…
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Nation & World
Discovery could aid in therapeutic cloning, clamping down on cancer
“Our focus is to understand the very first few steps that drive a cell to become an intestinal cell instead of a muscle cell,” says Yang Shi, Harvard Medical School…
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Nation & World
Diagnosis by database shows promise
A relatively new approach to researching cancer involves looking at the actions of thousands of genes in cancer tumors. This technique just recently became possible because, using new applications of…
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Nation & World
Scientists using gene chips identify unique form of leukemia
Currently, physicians diagnose and treat a rare form of cancer that strikes infants as a particularly aggressive form of the more common acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The cancer may respond to…
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Nation & World
No innocent bystanders
When cancer cells begin to do their destructive work, they have accomplices — normal cells that help nourish the cancerous ones. As Jack Lawler, Harvard Medical School associate professor of…
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Nation & World
Cell protein potently blocks enzyme linked to cancer
The ends of chromosomes in normal cells eventually unravel, causing the cells to die. This does not happen in cancer cells, however. Cancer cells use an enzyme named telomerase to…
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Nation & World
Researchers discover new type of cancer
A team led by a Harvard researcher has identified a new type of cancer that primarily affects young girls. Sara Vargas, an instructor in pathology at Harvard Medical School and…
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Nation & World
Drug hits new molecular target in mice
When doctors diagnose and plan treatment for breast cancers they look for various indicators of how aggressive they are and what treatments will work best. Two-thirds of breast tumors are…
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Nation & World
Study shows obesity can increase risk of pancreatic cancer
Each year almost 30,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. About the same number of people are killed by it. Pancreatic cancer is the fifth-leading cause…
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Nation & World
Preventing cervical cancer in developing nations
Cervical cancer kills approximately 190,000 women each year, most of them in developing nations. It is the third most common cancer world wide. Women who live in more affluent nations…
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Nation & World
Cancer cells’ immortality may depend on longevity protein
A team of Harvard Medical School researchers has identified a protein that 10 percent of tumor cells use to attain an immortal state. By blocking the molecule, it may be…
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Nation & World
Increased fruit and vegetable consumption does not reduce risk of breast cancer
A recent Harvard study examined the association between fruit and vegetable consumption and breast cancer. The researchers drew participants from eight separate studies that spanned four countries and involved more…
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Nation & World
Surprise route found for spread of breast cancer
Cancer cells are thought to enter the lymph nodes through the lymphatic system — a multipurpose welter of vessels — but how the cells actually make their way out of…
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Nation & World
Determining colon cancer risk is becoming easier
More than 50 percent of colon cancers can be prevented through lifestyle changes and regular screening tests. The lifestyle changes are the same ones that reduce your risk of heart…
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Nation & World
Researchers see better treatments for cancer
“Before the development of insulin, diabetes was as deadly as many cancers are today,” says Harvard researcher Joseph Paul Eder, who is testing Endostatin on patients with advanced cancers. “In…
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Nation & World
Potent cancer drugs made from sea squirts
In May 2000, researchers at Harvard University announced that they had succeeded in synthesizing a complex anti-tumor drug that is more powerful than any other known drug. The drug, ecteinascidin,…
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Nation & World
Researchers switch cancer off and on in mice
An antibiotic added to the drinking water of mice stops the progress of leukemia. Harvard researcher Claudia Huettner cannot do the same thing in humans, unfortunately, but through such experiments…
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Nation & World
Study says children with cancer often suffer needlessly
“Since caregivers are very committed to curing their patients, it may be difficult for them to recognize when to incorporate palliative care into treatments, even when there’s little hope of…