University of Minnesota researchers discover enzyme behind breast cancer mutations
NCI Cancer Center News
(Posted: 02/07/2013) - Researchers at the University of Minnesota and its Masonic Cancer Center have uncovered a human enzyme responsible for causing DNA mutations found in the majority of breast cancers. The discovery of this enzyme – called APOBEC3B – may change the way breast cancer is diagnosed and treated.

University of Michigan study finds potential to match tumors with known cancer drugs
NCI Cancer Center News
(Posted: 02/07/2013) - In a new study, University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers assess the complete landscape of a cancer’s “kinome” expression and determine which kinases are acting up in a particular tumor. They go on to show that those particular kinases can be targeted with drugs – potentially combining multiple drugs to target multiple kinases.

UCSF-led study finds mammogram every two years has same benefit as yearly mammogram for older women
NCI Cancer Center News
(Posted: 02/07/2013) - Among older women, getting a mammogram every two years was just as beneficial as getting a mammogram annually, and led to significantly fewer false positive results, according to a study led by UC San Francisco (home of the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center). The national study of more than 140,000 women between the ages of 66 and 89 appeared online on Feb. 5 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Cancer deaths fall for African-American men, disparities remain
CNN
(Posted: 02/06/2013) - The latest report on cancer among African-Americans shows a good-news, bad-news scenario. While racial gaps are closing for some types of cancers, including fewer cancer deaths among African-American men, disparities are increasing for some cancers that can be found through routine screenings. Every two years, the American Cancer Society reports on the latest data, based on reports from NCI, CDC, and NAACCR. The newest information includes data for the year 2009.

Roswell Park study finds substantial use of e-cigarettes by smokers
NCI Cancer Center News
(Posted: 02/06/2013) - Nearly 80 percent of smokers who use electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, believe the devices are less harmful than traditional cigarettes, according to a study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine and authored by a team of scientists at Roswell Park Cancer Institute.

NIH scientists identify molecular link between metabolism and breast cancer
NCI Press Release
(Posted: 02/05/2013) - A protein associated with conditions of metabolic imbalance, such as diabetes and obesity, may play a role in the development of aggressive forms of breast cancer, according to new findings by researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, and their colleagues.

Fred Hutchinson-led trial finds high-dose Vorinostat effective at treating relapsed lymphomas
NCI Cancer Center News
(Posted: 02/05/2013) - Patients whose aggressive lymphomas have relapsed or failed to respond to the current front-line chemotherapy regimen now have an effective second line of attack against their disease. Reporting the results of a first-of-its-kind phase 1 clinical trial to test the effectiveness of a new class of drugs to augment standard chemotherapy, a team led by Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center scientists found that giving patients high doses of Vorinostat (suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid) in combination with another round of commonly used second-line drugs resulted in a 70 percent response rate, including several patients whose lymphoma cells disappeared entirely.

Stanford researchers find antibody hinders growth of Gleevec-resistant gastrointestinal tumors in lab tests
NCI Cancer Center News
(Posted: 02/05/2013) - An antibody that binds to a molecule on the surface of a rare but deadly tumor of the gastrointestinal tract inhibits the growth of the cancer cells in mice, according to researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine (home of the Stanford Cancer Institute). The effect remains even when the cancer cells have become resistant to other treatments, and the findings may one day provide a glimmer of hope for people with the cancer, known as gastrointestinal stromal tumor, or GIST. The scientists hope to move into human clinical trials of the antibody within two years.

How cancer cells rewire their metabolism to survive
NCI Cancer Center News
(Posted: 02/04/2013) - Cancer cells need food to survive and grow. They’re very good at getting it, too, even when nutrients are scarce. Many scientists have tried killing cancer cells by taking away their favorite food, a sugar called glucose. Unfortunately, this treatment approach not only fails to work, it backfires—glucose-starved tumors actually get more aggressive. In a study published January 31 in the journal Cell, Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute researchers discovered that a protein called PKCζ is responsible for this paradox. The research suggests that glucose depletion therapies might work against tumors as long as the cancer cells are producing PKCζ.

MD Anderson study finds blood vessel cells coax colorectal cancer cells into more dangerous state
NCI Cancer Center News
(Posted: 02/04/2013) - Blood vessels that supply oxygen and nutrients to tumors can also deliver something else -- a signal that strengthens nearby cancer cells, making them more resistant to chemotherapy, more likely to spread to other organs and more lethal, scientists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center report online in Cancer Cell. Working in human colorectal cancer cell lines and tumor samples, as well as mouse models, the researchers found that endothelial cells, which line the inside of blood vessels, can trigger changes in cancer cells without even coming into direct contact with them.