No reason to worry that vaccination will encourage girls to have more sex, suggests a survey of British teenagers (Source: New Scientist – Health)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Childhood cancer survivors are 18 times more likely to develop thyroid cancer than the general population, UK researchers report. (Source: Reuters: Health)

Authors: Gallant P
Myc genes play a major role in human cancer, and they are important regulators of growth and proliferation during normal development. Despite intense study over the last three decades, many aspects of Myc function remain poorly understood. The identification of a single Myc homolog in the model organism Drosophila melanogaster more than 10 years ago has opened new possibilities for addressing these issues. This review summarizes what the last decade has taught us about Myc biology in the fruit fly.
PMID: 19854354 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Advances in Cancer Research)

Authors: Benhenda S, Cougot D, Buendia MA, Neuveut C
Despite the existence of effective vaccines, HBV infection remains a major health problem with 2 billion people infected worldwide. Among them, 350 million are chronically infected, a major risk factor for the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). There is a strong need to develop new and efficient treatments against chronic infection and HCC. It is therefore important to understand HBV replication and persistence as well as the role of HBV in liver carcinogenesis. This chapter focuses on the regulatory protein HBx which is thought to play a central role in HBV regulation and pathogenesis. HBx has been shown to modulate a myriad of viral and cellular functions, yet its role in virus replication and pathogenesis in infected i…

Authors: Rahman M, Pumphrey JG, Lipkowitz S
Breast cancers can be classified into those which express the estrogen (ER) and progesterone (PR) receptors, those with HER-2 amplification, and those without expression of ER, PR, or amplified HER-2 (referred to as triple-negative or basal-like breast cancer). Tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) activates apoptosis upon binding to its receptors in many tumor types and the ligand and agonist antibodies are currently being studied in patients in clinical phases I and II trials. Cell line studies suggest that many breast cancer cell lines are very resistant to TRAIL-induced apoptosis. However, recent data suggest that a subset of triple-negative/basal-like breast cancer cells is sensitive to TRAIL as a single agent. …

Authors: Cuevas I, Boudreau N
It is now well established both experimentally and clinically, that new blood vessel growth is required for tumors to grow beyond a few millimeters and metastasize [Folkman, J. (1995). In: Mendelsohn, L., Howley, P., Israel, A. (Eds.), The Molecular Basis of Cancer, WB Saunders Company, Philadelphia, pp. 206-225]. Angiogenesis, the process of forming new blood vessels from preexisting vessels, provides the tumor with additional oxygen and nutrients for its continued growth. In addition, the proximity and increase in vascular density enhance the likelihood of tumor cells entering the bloodstream to eventually metastasize. Since the initial observations of Dr. Folkman in the late 1970s, research over the past 30 years has focused intensely on identifying poi…

Authors: Hanna JA, Bordeaux J, Rimm DL, Agarwal S
The hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and its receptor, the Met receptor tyrosine kinase, form a signaling network promoting cell proliferation, invasion, and survival in normal and cancer cells. Improper regulation of this pathway is attributed to many cancer types through overexpression, activating mutations, or autocrine loop formation. Many studies describe the localization of Met as membranous/cytoplasmic, but some studies using antibodies targeted to the C-terminal domain of Met report nuclear localization. This chapter seeks to highlight the histopathology and expression of Met in cancer and its association with clinicopathological characteristics. We also discuss recent studies of the proteolytic processing of Met and effects of th…

Soaring numbers of Scottish women are dying of lung cancer despite survival rates among men improving significantly new figures show. (Source: Telegraph Health)

Authors: Aragon-Ching JB
Bisphosphonates have a firm role in the treatment of metastatic prostate cancer as it has been shown to retard skeletal events secondary to prostate cancer. Recent studies also show possible anti-tumor and anti-angiogenic effects from the use of bisphosphonates, specifically with the aminobisphosphonates. Clodronate is an older first-generation bisphosphonate that has recently been shown to improve overall survival in metastatic prostate cancer as reported by Dearnaley and colleagues in the September issue of The Lancet Oncology. The finding of improved overall survival has significant implications since no therapy to date, except for docetaxel-based regimens, has been shown to improve overall survival in metastatic prostate cancer. However, this trial also mer…

The number of women attending cervical screening appointments has risen in England, a trend that is largely being attributed to the so-called ‘Jade Goody effect’.