Funding Ban Lifted on Human Stem Cell Research
Yesterday, President Barack Obama signed a Presidential Executive Order removing federal funding barriers to scientific research involving human embryonic stem cells. For background on stem cells and their potential impact on scientific research, please visit NIH’s stem cell information page.
Melanoma skin cancers are notoriously resistant to chemotherapy and radiation therapy, and most patients have few treatment options once the cancer has spread to other parts of the body. Researchers have now identified a protein called SOX9 that both inhibits the proliferation of melanoma cells and makes them sensitive to the chemotherapy drug retinoic acid. These findings, published March 9 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, suggest that SOX9 may be a promising new target for melanoma therapies. Read more > >
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Some patients who received temozolomide and radiotherapy benefited for up to 5 years
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Findings confirm some early results of increased risk, but also suggest protective effect for several cancer types
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Risk was more than 25 times that of the general population and highest in radiation patients who had also received chemotherapy
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A variety of smoking behaviors may involve genes already implicated in tobacco use
By Dr. Robert Croyle
Convincing evidence has been found associating excess body fat and colorectal, pancreatic, esophageal, endometrial, postmenopausal breast, kidney, and thyroid cancers, as well as associating excess abdominal fat and colorectal cancer.
This is why NCI has signed on to be part of an ambitious new initiative that we believe can help improve the health of families in communities across the country. Dubbed the National Collaborative on Childhood Obesity Research (NCCOR), other partners in the initiative include four NIH institutes, divisions and offices in the CDC, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Read more > >
More Information about the Recovery Act and Challenge Grants
NCI has created a Web site—http://www.cancer.gov/
recovery—in recognition of the cancer community’s interest in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The site includes an overview of the legislation and will be updated regularly with NCI’s implementation plans and related announcements, including links to detailed information about the NIH Challenge Grants in Health and Science Research and recently posted funding opportunities. Updated information on NCI’s Recovery Act efforts will also be made available on HHS’ Recovery Web site. Your suggestions about NCI’s participation in meeting the Recovery Act goals are important, and we welcome your comments and suggestions.
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Researchers have found a susceptibility gene for familial pancreatic cancer by sequencing all the genes in the patient's normal cells and tumor cells
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A new study provides a clearer picture of the real-world use of CT angiography, including efforts to limit radiation dose and cancer risk
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Probiotics and colonic hydrotherapy are gaining popularity, but cancer prevention claims remain unproven
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Will studying patients with NF1 and their healthy siblings over time help us better understand how the genetic condition progresses and can be treated?
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- New NCI Fellowship Honors Dr. Alan Rabson
- NCI Lecture Series Features Dr. Michael Jung
- Call for U.S.-Japan Workshop Proposals
- BSA Meeting Held
- First Lady of Senegal Visits NCI
- New Orleans Community Clinical Programs Honored
The NCI Cancer Bulletin is produced by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), which was established in 1937. Through basic, clinical, and population-based biomedical research and training, NCI conducts and supports research that will lead to a future in which we can identify the environmental and genetic causes of cancer, prevent cancer before it starts, identify cancers that do develop at the earliest stage, eliminate cancers through innovative treatment interventions, and biologically control those cancers that we cannot eliminate so they become manageable, chronic diseases.
For more information about cancer, call 1-800-4-CANCER or visit http://www.cancer.gov.
NCI Cancer Bulletin staff can be reached at ncicancerbulletin@mail.nih.gov.