Plants could act as safe, speedy factories for growing antibodies for personalized treatments against a common form of cancer, according to new findings from the Stanford University School of Medicine. The findings came in the first human tests of an injectable vaccine grown in genetically engineered plants.
The treatments, which would vaccinate cancer patients against their malignant cells, could lead to earlier personalized therapy to tackle follicular B-cell lymphoma, an immune-system malignancy diagnosed in about 16,000 people each year.

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The Healthcare practice at Frost & Sullivan is pleased to announce its 2008 Quarterly Analyst Briefing Presentation on the North American cancer molecular diagnostics market to be held on Thursday July 24, 2008 at 10:00 a.m. PDT.
The presentation will cover strategic insight into the U.S. cancer molecular diagnostics market and how the market correlates with growth in the world of personalized medicine.

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Unnecessary biopsies could be a thing of the past for patients undergoing treatment for head and neck cancer. New Saint Louis University research found that when nuclear medicine clinicians and treating physicians work together to interpret PET-CT scan results, the accuracy dramatically improves, sparring patients unnecessary pain and suffering.
Often used prior to and after cancer treatment, the highly sensitive PET-CT has improved the ability to detect and treat head and neck cancer.

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For patients with head and neck cancer, accurately determining how advanced the cancer is and detecting secondary cancers usually means undergoing numerous tests - until now. New Saint Louis University research has found that the PET-CT scanner can be used as a stand-alone tool to detect secondary cancers, which occur in 5 to 10 percent of head and neck cancer patients.
The study findings, which were presented on Tuesday, July 22, at the 7th International Conference on Head and Neck Cancer in San Francisco, Calif., will streamline care for head and neck cancer patients allowing them to begin treatment earlier, says Michael Odell, M.D., assistant professor of otolaryngology at Saint Louis University School of Medicine.

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Because insufficient evidence was provided by the manufacturers, NICE is unable to recommend the use the following treatments in the NHS:
– bevacizumab in combination with paclitaxel for the first-line treatment of metastatic breast cancer
– bevacizumab in addition to platinum-based chemotherapy for the first-line treatment of patients with inoperable advanced, metastatic or recurrent non-small-cell lung cancer (other than predominantly squamous cell histology)

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Researchers have found differences in hospitals giving care to patients with gastric or pancreatic cancer. The report, published in the July issue of Archives of Surgery, found that if patients are treated at hospitals that conduct relatively more cancer surgeries or at hospitals deemed comprehensive care centers, the patients have more lymph nodes examined by physicians who are investigating the spread and prognosis of their disease.

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In an ironic twist to the relationship between tobacco and human health, it would seem that the future of the plant may lie in growing vaccines against cancer. Researchers in the US took antibodies from patients with a type of lymphoma, grew them in tobacco plants, extracted them, and reinjected the individualized vaccines back into the patients, where in most cases it produced an immune response that helped to fight the cancer.
The research was the work of scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine in California, and constitutes the first human tests of an injectable vaccine grown in plants. The study was published online ahead of print on 21st July in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, PNAS.

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MIT biological engineers have developed a new imaging system that allows them to see cells that have undergone a specific mutation.
The work, which could help scientists understand how precancerous mutations arise, marks the first time researchers have been able to pinpoint the number and location of mutant cells - cells with a particular mutation - in intact tissue. In this case, the researchers worked with mouse pancreatic cells.

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Rexahn Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (AMEX:RNN), a, leader in innovative therapeutics for life-threatening and life-debilitating diseases, today announced that the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office has issued to the Company U.S. Patent 7,388,014, entitled “Quinazoline Derivatives and Therapeutic Use Thereof.”
Patent 7,388,014 covers Rexahn’s anticancer candidate, RX-0183 and related compounds, and are targeted, small molecule quinazoline analogues that inhibit key molecules such as c-Fos and Akt proteins.

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Logic says it has to be the niche. As air and water preceded life, so the niche, that hospitable environment that shelters adult stem cells in many tissues and provides factors necessary to keep them young and vital, must have emerged before its stem cell dependents.
A team of scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies led by Leanne Jones, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Laboratory of Genetics, now suggests that this is not always the case.

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