Defining and defeating metastasis

Researchers create copolymer to hold drugs that incapacitate defenses of tumor cells

Antitumor agents must kill off cancer cells while protecting healthy tissue and create no toxic side-effects. A novel approach based on "self-immolative" polyferrocenes—copolymers that split apart into their components as soon as they enter a tumor cell—could meet these demands. The drugs they hold then synergistically cause an abrupt increase in free radicals and incapacitate the defenses of tumor cells, as reported by a research team in the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition.

Illuminating tumor cells with dark proteins

Columbia researchers have shined new light on how the "dark" part of the genome allows cancer cells to be detected by the immune system, which could lead to better immunotherapies.

Researchers identify two compounds capable of inhibiting growth of brain tumor cells

Glioblastoma is a malignant tumor of the central nervous system (brain or spinal cord) and one of the deadliest types of cancer. Few drugs have proved effective at combating this uncontrolled growth of glial cells, which anyway constitute a large proportion of the brain tissue in mammals.

Tumor cells' response to chemotherapy is driven by randomness, shows study

Cancer cells have an innate randomness in their ability to respond to chemotherapy, which is another tool in their arsenal of resisting treatment, new research led by the Garvan Institute of Medical Research shows.

Challenge #159

Genetic tests promise targeted cancer therapies, yet the effectiveness of drugs is different from patient to patient.  Researchers at the Max

Antibody-based therapy eliminates circulating tumor cells in mouse models of breast and pancreatic cancer

Investigators have designed an antibody-based treatment that eliminated circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in mouse models of breast and pancreatic cancer. The research, which was led by scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and is published in PNAS, represents a promising strategy to halt the spread of cancer.