(Posted: 10/04/2012) - Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine report the discovery of microbial–dependent mechanisms through which some cancers mount an inflammatory response that fuels their development and growth. The findings are published in the October 3, 2012 Advanced Online Edition of Nature. UCSD is home to the Moores Comprehensive Cancer Center.

(Posted: 10/03/2012) - Over the last two decades, scientists have come to understand that the genetic code held within DNA represents only part of the blueprint of life. The rest comes from specific patterns of chemical tags that overlay the DNA structure, determining how tightly the DNA is packaged and how accessible certain genes are to be switched on or off. Now, research from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine has established the first link between the two most fundamental epigenetic tags -- histone modification and DNA methylation -- in humans. The study, which was published Sept. 30, 2012 by the journal Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, implicates a protein called UHRF1 in the maintenance of these epigenetic tags. Because the protein has been found to be defective in cancer, the finding could help scientists understand not only how microscopic chemical changes can ultimately affect the epigenetic landscape but also give clues to the underlying causes of disease and cancer. UNC is home to the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.

(Posted: 10/03/2012) - Indoor tanning is already an established risk factor for malignant melanoma, the less common but deadliest form of skin cancer. Now, a new study confirms that indoor tanning significantly increases the risk of non-melanoma skin cancers, the most common human skin cancers. In the most extensive examination of published findings on the subject, the UCSF-led researchers estimate that indoor tanning is responsible for more than 170,000 new cases annually of non-melanoma skin cancers in the United States — and many more worldwide. UCSF is home to the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center.

(Posted: 10/02/2012) - One year of treatment with the targeted drug trastuzumab is as good as two years of treatment for women with HER2-positive early breast cancer who have already received initial treatment with surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy as needed, researchers have found. The HERA trial, which has been run by the Breast International Group since 2001--and led by researchers from the Harvard Medical School and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute--is an international, multi-center, phase III randomized study involving 5,102 women with early HER2-positive breast cancer. Details of the study were presented at the ESMO 2012 Congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology in Vienna.

(Posted: 10/01/2012) - The hormone prolactin is produced by the pituitary gland in the brain and then travels via the bloodstream to cells throughout the body, where it exerts multiple reproductive and metabolic effects, most notably on the breast where it is the master regulator of lactation. In recent years researchers have found that prolactin is also produced by some tissues outside the brain, however little is known about the functions of extra-pituitary prolactin or how its production is regulated in these tissues. Now, researchers in the Department of Cancer Biology at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, report in Genes & Development that activation of the PI3K-Akt oncogenic signaling pathway in the mammary glands of mice rapidly induces cells in the breast itself to produce prolactin. This, in turn, triggers Stat5 activation, mammary epithelial differentiation and milk production in virgin mice within a matter of hours.

(Posted: 09/28/2012) - Using a newly discovered cell technology, Georgetown University Medical Center researchers were able to identify an effective therapy for a patient with a rare type of lung tumor. The single case study, reported in the September 27 issue of New England Journal of Medicine, provides a snapshot of the new technology’s promising potential; however, researchers strongly caution that it could be years before validation studies are completed and regulatory approval received for its broader use.

(Posted: 09/27/2012) - In the first study of its kind, a research team led by Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and Mount Sinai School of Medicine discovered 12 genetic markers associated with the development of erectile dysfunction (ED) in prostate cancer patients who were treated with radiation. The findings, published online in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology • Biology • Physics, are an important step toward helping clinicians determine the best course of treatment for prostate cancer patients and may lead to the development of therapies that alleviate side effects.

(Posted: 09/26/2012) - A new research model has estimated that the difference in prostate cancer mortality among men with low-risk disease who choose active surveillance versus those who choose immediate treatment with radical prostatectomy is likely to be very modest, possibly as little as two to three months. The model, developed by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, is among the first to use specific data from published studies to project the likelihood of prostate cancer mortality among men with low-risk disease who choose active surveillance.

(Posted: 09/26/2012) - UC Davis cancer researchers have discovered significant differences in radiation-therapy response among patients with oropharyngeal cancer depending on whether they carry the human papillomavirus (HPV), a common sexually transmitted virus. The findings, published online today in The Laryngoscope Journal, could lead to more individualized radiation treatment regimens, which for many patients with HPV could be shorter and potentially less toxic.

(Posted: 09/26/2012) - A receptor protein suppresses local invasion and metastasis of breast cancer cells, the most lethal aspect of the disease, according to a research team headed by scientists from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Reporting in Nature Medicine, the team described using high-throughput RNA sequencing to identify the leukemia inhibitory factor receptor (LIFR) as a novel suppressor of breast cancer metastasis, the spread of the disease to other organs.