New platform developed to link clinical data with electronic health records
NCI News Note
(Posted: 02/21/2012) - To make data gathered from patients in clinical trials available for use in standard care, NCI has created a new computer tool to support interoperability between clinical research and electronic health record systems. This new software represents an innovative solution for rapid and accurate data exchange between systems with diverse applications and information models, a task that is normally time and resource-intensive.

MD Anderson study finds telomere failure, telomerase activation drive prostate cancer progression
NCI Cancer Center News
(Posted: 02/21/2012) - Genomic instability caused by an erosion of the protective caps on chromosomes, followed by activation of an enzyme that reinforces those caps, allows malignant cells to evade destruction and acquire more deadly characteristics, MD Anderson Cancer Center researchers report in an Online Now article at the journal Cell.

Wistar Institute study finds 'traitorous' immune cells promote sudden ovarian cancer progression
NCI Cancer Center News
(Posted: 02/21/2012) - Aggressive ovarian tumors begin as malignant cells kept in check by the immune system until, suddenly and unpredictably, they explode into metastatic cancer. New findings from scientists at The Wistar Institute demonstrate that ovarian tumors don’t necessarily break “free” of the immune system, rather dendritic cells of the immune system seem to actively support the tumor’s escape. The researchers show that it might be possible to restore the immune system by targeting a patient’s own dendritic cells.

University of Pennsylvania Study finds new combo of chemo and well-known malaria drug delivers double punch to tumors
NCI Cancer Center News
(Posted: 02/21/2012) - Blocking autophagy -- the process of "self-eating" within cells -- is turning out to be a viable way to enhance the effectiveness of a wide variety of cancer treatments, report researchers from the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania. Specifically, blocking the action of an acidic inner cell part, which acts like a stomach and chews up proteins for recycling, is the main attack strategy.

Salk researchers find potential new drug target for lung cancer
NCI Cancer Center News
(Posted: 02/17/2012) - Drugs targeting an enzyme involved in inflammation might offer a new avenue for treating certain lung cancers, according to a new study by scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.

Children's Hospital Boston scientists look to the genome’s 3D structure to understand chromosome reshuffling
NCI Cancer Center News
(Posted: 02/17/2012) - That our chromosomes can break and reshuffle pieces of themselves is nothing new; scientists have recognized this for decades, especially in cancer cells. The rules for where chromosomes are likely to break and how the broken pieces come together are only just now starting to come into view. Researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston and the Immune Disease Institute (IDI) have helped bring those rules into clearer focus by discovering that where each of the genome’s thousands of genes lie within the cell’s nucleus – essentially, the genome’s three-dimensional organization – holds great influence over where broken chromosome ends rejoin, knowledge that could shed light on fundamental processes related to cancer andnormal cellular functions, for example in immunity.

MGH Cancer Center team identifies potential treatment target for KRAS-mutated colon cancer
NCI Cancer Center News
(Posted: 02/17/2012) - Researchers from the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Cancer Center have identified a new potential strategy for treating colon tumors driven by mutations in the KRAS gene, which usually resist both conventional and targeted treatments. In a paper appearing in the Feb. 17 issue of Cell, the team reports that targeting a later step in the pathway leading from KRAS activation to tumor growth may be able to halt the process.

UC San Diego scientists study how proteins cooperate to regulate gene splicing
NCI Cancer Center News
(Posted: 02/17/2012) - Understanding how RNA binding proteins control the genetic splicing code is fundamental to human biology and disease — much like editing film can change a movie scene. Abnormal variations in splicing are often implicated in cancer and genetic neurodegenerative disorders. In a step toward deciphering the "splicing code" of the human genome, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have comprehensively analyzed six of the more highly expressed RNA binding proteins collectively known as heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoparticle (hnRNP) proteins.