How breast cancer spreads into the brain
Cancer cells can escape from tumors, sneak through the bloodstream, and seed new tumors, or metastases, in distant organs. In a recent study of breast cancer, researchers captured the rogue individuals among these circulating tumor cells (CTCs) that metastasized to the brain - a deadly kind of metastasis. They hope to use these cells to understand the fundamentals of brain metastasis, and eventually to detect the early stages of metastasis and prevent it.
Almost all cancer deaths are caused not by the patient's primary tumor but by metastasis, and a sizable portion of breast cancers metastasize to the brain, explains Dr. Dario Marchetti, director of the CTC Core Facility at Baylor College of...
Cancer drug works by recruiting tumor 'killer' cells
New research from the Manchester Collaborative Centre for Inflammatory Research in the UK explains why the cancer drug Rituximab is so effective at killing cancerous cells.
Rituximab is a drug widely used in treatments of diseases where an excess of B white blood cells is produced, such as in many blood cell cancers and in autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis. Rituximab acts by triggering the destruction of B cells by forcing them to commit suicide, or by recruiting so-called natural killer white blood cells to destroy them. Despite the efficacy of this important drug, it is not...
Kidneys grown in the lab work in animals
Researchers from the Massachusetts General Hospital in the US have grown rat kidneys in the laboratory that produced urine when transplanted into living animals. This is an important step towards the production of customised organs for transplantation into people with kidney failure, which could replace donor organ transplants.
Patients with kidney failure can be treated with dialysis, but can only be cured with a kidney transplant. About 8,000 people are waiting for a donor kidney in Germany, but only 3,000 kidney transplants take place each year. Patients may wait up to seven years for a...
Symptoms of diabetes
If you are constantly hungry, experience increased thirst and urination and have blurred vision, this may not be a very good sign as you may be suffering from type 1 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease that usually develops over a short period of time, meaning that the body's own immune system destroys its insulin-producing cells. The cells in the pancreas produce too little insulin or no insulin at all. A person who has type 1 diabetes must take insulin every day.
Diabetes is a chronic condition in which the body cannot properly convert food into energy. There are three main...
Diabetes is a chronic condition in which the body cannot properly convert food into energy. There are three main...
Antibiotics during pregnancy may lead to asthma in children
(Reuters) - According to a Danish study, children whose mothers took antibiotics while they were pregnant are slightly more likely than other children to develop asthma. There is however, no proof that antibiotics cause the higher asthma risk.
The results support a current theory that the body's own "friendly" bacteria have a role in whether a child develops asthma or not. Antibiotics tend to disrupt beneficial bacteria.
According to Hans Bisgaard, one of the study's authors and a professor at the University of Copenhagen, it is speculated that mothers' use of antibiotics changes the balance...
The results support a current theory that the body's own "friendly" bacteria have a role in whether a child develops asthma or not. Antibiotics tend to disrupt beneficial bacteria.
According to Hans Bisgaard, one of the study's authors and a professor at the University of Copenhagen, it is speculated that mothers' use of antibiotics changes the balance...
Antibiotic resistance and health
The spread of antibiotic resistance among pathogenic microbes poses a growing threat to health. A new study shows how one resistance factor evicts an antibiotic from its binding site. The findings could open a route to better anti-bacterial drugs.
Many bacterial infections can be cured by treatment with antibiotics, but overuse and inappropriate dosage have led to the rapid emergence of resistances, rendering several of our most valuable anti-bacterial agents ineffective. Antibiotics with novel modes of action are therefore urgently needed, and, to develop new drugs, one needs to understand...
Many bacterial infections can be cured by treatment with antibiotics, but overuse and inappropriate dosage have led to the rapid emergence of resistances, rendering several of our most valuable anti-bacterial agents ineffective. Antibiotics with novel modes of action are therefore urgently needed, and, to develop new drugs, one needs to understand...
Prostate cancer: Curcumin curbs metastases
Powdered turmeric has been used for centuries to treat osteoarthritis and other illnesses. Its active ingredient, curcumin, inhibits inflammatory reactions. A new study led by a research team at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) in Munich now shows that it can also inhibit formation of metastases.
Prostate cancer is one of the most prevalent malignancies in the Western world, and is often diagnosed only after metastatic tumors have formed in other organs. In three percent of cases, these metastases are lethal. A research team led by PD Dr. Beatrice Bachmeier at LMU Munich has been studying...
Prostate cancer is one of the most prevalent malignancies in the Western world, and is often diagnosed only after metastatic tumors have formed in other organs. In three percent of cases, these metastases are lethal. A research team led by PD Dr. Beatrice Bachmeier at LMU Munich has been studying...
Brain cells made from skin raise hopes for new neurodegenerative disease treatments
A research team led by Dr Paul Tesar at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, USA, has transformed skin cells into a type of brain cells that is destroyed in neurodegenerative diseases, such as multiple sclerosis and cerebral palsy.
These cells - oligodendrocytes - produce a protective layer of fat called myelin around nerve cells, ensuring accurate transmission of brain impulses. Loss of myelin in neurodegenerative diseases can have a devastating impact. For example, in multiple sclerosis, poor coordination is an indication that brain signals fail to transmit properly...
A mathematical window into schizophrenia
The Oscar-winning movie "The Beautiful Mind" shows the mathematical prodigy John Nash having many imaginary conversations with people. It was not until he realised that the little girl with whom he had been talking with never grew up, even though years had passed since their first encounter, did he finally admit to be schizophrenic. Schizophrenia is a life long brain disorder where patients usually reside in a "non-existent" alternative reality, similarly to John Nash. According to reports from the World Health Organisation, seven in a thousand adults are afflicted by this disorder. Overall,...
Cardiovascular disease: Leading cause of death in Germany
Wiesbaden (dapd) - Cardiovascular disease is still the leading cause of death in Germany. According to reports by the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden on Thursday, 40.2 percent of all deaths last year were due to diseases of the cardiovascular system.
Of the approximately 342,000 deaths, 145,500 were men and 196,600 women. The statistics show that 92 percent of them were at least 65 years old at the time of death, meaning that cardiovascular diseases often lead to death, especially in older people.
The second most common cause of death was reported to be cancer with 221,500 people...
Of the approximately 342,000 deaths, 145,500 were men and 196,600 women. The statistics show that 92 percent of them were at least 65 years old at the time of death, meaning that cardiovascular diseases often lead to death, especially in older people.
The second most common cause of death was reported to be cancer with 221,500 people...
Lung-on-a-chip: a human disease model that could revolutionize drug discovery
Scientists used a microchip that recreates a breathing lung to study pulmonary edema and test a new drug against this life-threatening disease, raising hopes that this organ-on-chip technology could speed up drug development and replace animal testing.
The lung-on-a-chip was first developed by Donald Ingber's team at the Harvard University Wyss Institute two years ago using technology from the computer microchip industry. The microdevice mimics the tiny air sacs in the lungs where gases from the air we breathe are exchanged with the blood.
About the size of a memory stick, the plastic microchip...
The lung-on-a-chip was first developed by Donald Ingber's team at the Harvard University Wyss Institute two years ago using technology from the computer microchip industry. The microdevice mimics the tiny air sacs in the lungs where gases from the air we breathe are exchanged with the blood.
About the size of a memory stick, the plastic microchip...
Heart attack preventable someday?
New studies suggest that certain microRNAs play a role in the development of arteriosclerosis. Inhibition of a specific microRNA has been shown to suppress inflammatory reactions in an animal model, and it may someday help to prevent heart attacks.
Arteriosclerosis results from a persistent inflammatory response in the blood vessel wall that begins with the buildup of cholesterol.. These deposits are infiltrated by the immune system's waste disposal squad, the macrophages, which can provoke a full-blown inflammatory response. Inflammation promotes further growth of the lesions, and obstruction...
Arteriosclerosis results from a persistent inflammatory response in the blood vessel wall that begins with the buildup of cholesterol.. These deposits are infiltrated by the immune system's waste disposal squad, the macrophages, which can provoke a full-blown inflammatory response. Inflammation promotes further growth of the lesions, and obstruction...
Did You Know...
A breakthrough technique could detect Parkinson's disease simply by using voice recordings from a thirty second phone call.
Parkinson's disease is a degenerative neurological disorder that affects around 6.5 million people throughout the world. The disease causes the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons which results in depleted levels of dopamine - the neurotransmitter that controls movement. Typical symptoms of the disease include slowness, rigidity, postural instability and the classic 'tremor at rest' that we associate with the disease.
Unfortunately there currently exists no cure or any...
Parkinson's disease is a degenerative neurological disorder that affects around 6.5 million people throughout the world. The disease causes the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons which results in depleted levels of dopamine - the neurotransmitter that controls movement. Typical symptoms of the disease include slowness, rigidity, postural instability and the classic 'tremor at rest' that we associate with the disease.
Unfortunately there currently exists no cure or any...
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