Cancer patients can have varying levels of a specific kind of repetitive DNA known as Alu elements in comparison to those without cancer. Despite constituting about 11% of the DNA in humans and other primates, Alu elements have traditionally been considered too complex to be effectively utilized as biomarkers due to their small, repetitive nature. Now, advancements in machine learning can allow for the measurement of these elements through a simple blood draw. Researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine (Baltimore, MD, USA) leveraged this insight to improve a test designed for early cancer detection. They began their study with a sample size that was ten times larger than what is usually seen in such research. Alu elements are relatively small, each being about 300 base pairs in length within the vast 2 billion-step DNA ladder. Yet, changes in the proportion of Alu elements in blood plasma are consistent, irrespective of the ...
Women with atypical endometrial hyperplasia have an increased risk of developing cancer Researchers from the University of Edinburgh have revealed that improved patient care is needed to reduce cancer risk among women with endometrial hyperplasia in a new study. The study compared the treatment that patients living with the condition received before and after the introduction of national guidance. Grouped into two types, atypical endometrial hyperplasia is a precancerous condition that carries an increased risk, and non-atypical endometrial hyperplasia occurs when the womb lining is thicker than normal but less likely to become cancerous. Currently, in the UK, the national guidance for this condition recommends a hysterectomy, a surgical procedure that removes the womb, for patients with atypical endometrial hyperplasia. For those with non-atypical endometrial hyperplasia, guidance recommends a trial of a hormone treatment given directly into the womb, with regular follow-up monitoring to track progress. The study analysed patient ...
Pancreatic cancer ranks as the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths, primarily due to its late detection. Early discovery of the disease, while it’s still treatable, could significantly impact survival rates. For more than a century, scientists have sought to link cancer with cellular energy production and metabolism. The advent of quantitative mass spectrometry has enabled the testing of many such theories. Now, for the first time, researchers have utilized targeted mass spectrometry to demonstrate that pancreatic cancer stems from changes in cellular metabolism that are detectable using a simple blood test. This method could lead to more precise and earlier diagnoses of pancreatic cancer than currently possible with tumor markers or imaging techniques, potentially paving the way for more timely and appropriate therapeutic interventions. In contrast to genomic approaches that measure DNA for early detection and often struggle with false positives and negatives, mass spectrometry can measure extremely low ...
In the UK alone, the aggressive form of cancer affects around 52,000 men every year Researchers from the University of Oxford and the University of Manchester have revealed that prostate cancer is not just a single disease and is made up of two different evotypes – subtypes of the disease. Published in Cell Genomics, the study, funded by Cancer Research UK and Prostate Cancer Research, used artificial intelligence (AI) to reveal a new form of aggressive prostate cancer. Currently the most common cancer affecting men in the UK, prostate cancer is responsible for around 52,000 cases every year. As part of the Pan Prostate Cancer Group; an international consortium set up by the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) and the University of East Anglia (UEA), researchers applied AI to analyse the genetic data of 159 prostate cancer patient samples across nine countries. Using whole genome sequencing to study changes in ...
Prostate cancer ranks as one of the most common cancers affecting men, and while it accounts for a significant number of male cancer fatalities, many men live with it rather than die from it. Understanding when to avoid unnecessary treatments is crucial, as it can prevent side effects like incontinence and impotence. Now, new research has identified two distinct subtypes of prostate cancer, referred to as evotypes. This discovery could lead to major advancements in the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer. This discovery was made by an international consortium, called The Pan Prostate Cancer Group, which involved researchers from the University of Oxford (Oxford, UK), who used artificial intelligence (AI) to make new discoveries about the evolution of prostate cancer. Cancer development, like human evolution, can be traced and studied through its evolutionary history. By examining the cancer’s evolutionary tree, valuable insights about the disease can be gained, potentially ...
FogPharma’s lead program is a peptide that blocks a difficult-to-drug pathway inside of cells. The new financing will go toward an ongoing Phase 1/2 study in advanced solid tumors and support development of pipeline programs for other elusive cancer targets. By FRANK VINLUAN FogPharma has reached early clinical development with a therapeutic candidate that takes a novel approach to treatment of solid tumors. The company now has $145 million to continue the drug’s clinical development and advance more programs in its pipeline. Cambridge, Massachusetts-based FogPharma discovers and develops peptides capable of entering cells to address targets that drive disease. Such targets haven’t been drugged before due to the difficulty of getting a drug to act within a cell. FogPharma says its peptide drugs, which it calls Helicon therapeutics, can get inside a cell to modulate protein-protein interactions as well as protein-DNA interactions. FogPharma’s lead program is FOG-001, a Helicon therapeutic ...
TMR-CT will help doctors select treatment and predict the spread of lung cancer in patients Imperial College London (ICL) researchers have used artificial intelligence (AI) to identify information about the chemical makeup of lung tumours from medical scans of lung cancer. Published in npj Precision Oncology, the study demonstrates, for the first time, how medical imaging in combination with AI can be used to provide ‘virtual biopsies’ for cancer patients. Responsible for around 35,000 deaths each year, lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer death in the UK. Supported with funding from the National Institute for Health and Care Research’s Imperial Biomedical Research Centre, the non-invasive method works to classify the type of lung cancer patients have. Researchers used data from 48 lung cancer patients recruited from University Hospital Reina Sofia in Spain to develop an AI-powered, deep learning assessment tool called tissue-metabolomic-radiomic-CT (TMR-CT). Using the data, researchers ...
February 28, 2024 Davy James NVL-520 is a novel, brain-penetrant, ROS1-selective tyrosine kinase inhibitor under evaluation for patients with metastatic ROS1-positive non–small cell lung cancer. Nuvalent, Inc’s novel, brain-penetrant, ROS1-selective tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) NVL-520 has been granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation by the FDA to treat patients with metastatic ROS1-positive non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who received prior therapy with at least two ROS1 TKIs.1 NVL-520 was developed with the intention of addressing treatment challenges that limit the use of current ROS1 TKIs, including treatment resistance, brain metastases, and off-target central nervous system (CNS) adverse events (AEs) that have been linked to inhibiting the structurally-related tropomyosin receptor kinase family.1 “In line with our commitment to bringing new potential best-in-class medicines to patients with cancer as quickly as possible, we are always looking for opportunities to further accelerate our programs,” James Porter, PhD, CEO of Nuvalent, said in a press release. ...
Recently, Hengrui Pharmaceuticals’ subsidiaries, Shanghai Shengdi Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. and Suzhou Shengdia Biopharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. received the Notice of Approval for Drug Clinical Trial approved by the State Drug Administration, which authorizes the company to carry out the clinical trial of adelberizumab in combination with SHR-A1811 for the treatment of breast cancer. According to the data released by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the World Health Organization in 2020, breast cancer has become the world’s number one malignant tumor and is the most common malignant tumor in women. Statistics show that in 2020, there were about 2.26 million newly diagnosed cases of female breast cancer and 685,000 deaths worldwide, ranking first in female malignant tumor morbidity and mortality. The incidence and mortality rates of breast cancer worldwide vary according to regional distribution. In China, the 2020 China Cancer data show that the incidence rate of breast ...
Eight out of ten patients who took the test were discharged without needing further testing The NHS has announced that a simple sponge-on-a-string test developed by researchers from the early cancer institute at the University of Cambridge will replace the need for endoscopy to prevent oesophageal cancer. The NHS trialled the test to help diagnose Barrett’s oesophagus, a condition that affects the food pipe and can lead to oesophageal cancer. Responsible for around 9,200 new cases every year in the UK, oesophageal cancer occurs in the long, hollow tube that runs from the throat to the stomach, known as the oesophagus. During the pandemic, the NHS began piloting the test at 30 hospitals across 17 areas in England, including Manchester, Plymouth, London, Kent and Cumbria. The test requires the patient to swallow a small capsule-shaped device containing a small sponge that collects cell samples for analysis before being extracted via ...
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