(Posted: 05/13/2013) - A new study looking at the genomes of more than 13,000 men identified four new genetic variants associated with an increased risk of testicular cancer, the most commonly diagnosed type in young men today. The findings from this first-of-its-kind meta-analysis were reported online May 12 in Nature Genetics by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, home of the Abramson Cancer Center.

(Posted: 05/10/2013) - A new study from the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center showed that targeting both hormone receptors (HRs) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) in first-line treatment of metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients significantly increased overall survival times.

(Posted: 05/08/2013) - A seven-year quest to understand how breast cancer cells resist treatment with the targeted therapy lapatinib has revealed a previously unknown molecular network that regulates cell death. The discovery provides new avenues to overcome drug resistance, according to researchers at Duke Cancer Institute.

(Posted: 05/07/2013) - Researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine (home of the Stanford Cancer Institute) have developed a new technique to see how different types of cells interact in a living mouse. The process uses light-emitting proteins that glow when two types of cells come close together. Using the technique, the team was able to pinpoint where in the body metastatic cancer cells ended up after they broke off from an initial tumor site, using readily available lab reagents. The team chose chemicals that are easily available in most life sciences laboratories because they wanted to develop a technique that could be widely used.

(Posted: 05/06/2013) - Cancer chemotherapy can cause peripheral neuropathy—nerve damage often resulting in pain and muscle weakness in the arms and legs. Now, researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University (home of the Albert Einstein Cancer Center) have discovered that chemo also induces an insidious type of nerve damage inside bone marrow that can cause delays in recovery after bone marrow transplantation. The findings, made in mice and published online today in Nature Medicine, suggest that combining chemotherapy with nerve-protecting agents may prevent long-term bone marrow injury that causes anemia and may improve the success of bone marrow transplants.

(Posted: 05/06/2013) - Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis (home of the Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center) have discovered why breast cancer patients with dense breasts are more likely than others to develop aggressive tumors that spread. The finding opens the door to drug treatments that prevent metastasis.

(Posted: 05/06/2013) - Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine (home of the Stanford Cancer Institute) have identified a group of proteins that are mutated in about one-fifth of all human cancers. The finding suggests that the proteins, which are members of a protein complex that affects how DNA is packaged in cells, work to suppress the development of tumors in many types of tissues.

(Posted: 05/06/2013) - Breast cancer brain metastases present a challenge to clinicians because there are few systemic therapies capable of crossing the blood-brain barrier to control the disease. An international team, led by scientists at the University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, reports pre-clinical research showing improved efficacy of a PEGylated liposomal (encapsulated) anti-cancer agent compared with a non-liposomal formulation of the same drug in an intracranial model of breast cancer.

(Posted: 05/03/2013) - A common cancer pathway causing tumor growth is now being targeted by a number of new cancer drugs and shows promising results. A team of researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine (home of the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center) have developed a novel method to disrupt this growth signaling pathway, with findings that suggest a new treatment for breast, colon, melanoma and other cancers. The research team has pinpointed the cancer abnormality to a mutation in a gene called PIK3CA that results in a mutant protein, which may be an early cancer switch.

(Posted: 05/03/2013) - Researchers at Johns Hopkins (home of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center) have identified a gene that, when repressed in tumor cells, puts a halt to cell growth and a range of processes needed for tumors to enlarge and spread to distant sites. The researchers hope that this so-called “master regulator” gene may be the key to developing a new treatment for tumors resistant to current drugs.