New research from Rhode Island Hospital may help predict outcomes for stomach cancer patients

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PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Researchers at Rhode Island Hospital have identified two potential molecular markers that may predict outcomes for patients with stomach cancer, one of the most common and fatal cancers worldwide.

According to the study, published in the July 1 issue of Clinical Cancer Research, patients who had poor outcomes following surgery for stomach cancer also had extremely low amounts of two proteins, known as gastrokine 1 and 2 (GKN1 and GKN2), which are produced by normal stomach cells.

Using magenetic nanoparticles to combat cancer

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Scientists at Georgia Tech have developed a potential new treatment against cancer that attaches magnetic nanoparticles to cancer cells, allowing them to be captured and carried out of the body. The treatment, which has been tested in the laboratory and will now be looked at in survival studies, is detailed online in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Researchers discover link between organ transplantation and increased cancer risk

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PHILADELPHIA – Researchers have determined a novel mechanism through which organ transplantation often leads to cancer, and their findings suggest that targeted therapies may reduce or prevent that risk.

In the July 15, 2008, issue of Cancer Research, researchers at Harvard Medical School found in animal and laboratory experiments that the anti-rejection, immunosuppressive drug cyclosporine ramps up expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which signals the growth of new blood vessels that can feed tumors.

Improved culture system for hepatitis C virus infection

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A University of California, San Diego School of Medicine researcher has developed the first tissue culture of normal, human liver cells that can model infection with the Hepatitis C virus (HCV) and provide a realistic environment to evaluate possible treatments. The novel cell line, described in the July 16 issue of PLoS ONE, will allow pharmaceutical companies to effectively test new drug candidates or possible vaccines for the HCV infection, which afflicts about 170 million people worldwide. Currently, there is no animal model that is effective for testing such therapies.

Study shows paradoxical relationship between dengue hemorrhagic fever and its carrier mosquitoes

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A study by researchers in Thailand, Japan, and the UK has shown a negative correlation between dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) and the density of the Aedes mosquitoes that transmit the virus. The study, published July 16th in the open-access journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, explains how current efforts to reduce the mosquitoes may actually increase the incidence of the potentially fatal viral disease.

Female monkeys more dominant in groups with relatively more males

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Female monkeys are more dominant when they live in groups with a higher percentage of males. This is caused by self-organisation. This surprising discovery was made by researchers at the University of Groningen. What makes the study particularly interesting is that the researchers used a computer model which can simulate interaction between monkeys. Their findings will be published on July 16 in the open-access journal PLoS ONE.

Resistance to widely-used antibiotics among inhabitants of remote South American villages

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Resistance to ciprofloxacin, a member of one of the most commonly used groups of antibiotics in the world, has been discovered by a team of Canadian researchers among people in remote South American villages who are believed to have never taken this medication. The findings are published July 16 in the online, open-access journal PLoS ONE.

Frogs with disease-resistance genes may escape extinction

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As frog populations die off around the world, researchers have identified certain genes that can help the amphibians develop resistance to harmful bacteria and disease. The discovery may provide new strategies to protect frog populations in the wild.

New work, published in the online, open-access journal PLoS ONE, examines how genes encoding the major histocompatibility (MHC) complex affect the ability of frogs to resist infection by a bacterium that is commonly associated with frog population declines.

Study shows 28,000 year-old Europeans' DNA was like ours

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40,000 years ago, the Cro-Magnoid people – the first people who had a skeleton that looked anatomically modern – entered Europe, coming from Africa. In the July 16 issue of the open-access journal PLoS ONE, a group of geneticists, coordinated by Guido Barbujani and David Caramelli of the Universities of Ferrara and Florence, shows that a Cro-Magnoid individual who lived in Southern Italy 28,000 years ago was a modern European, genetically as well as anatomically.

Vitamin A pushes breast cancer to form blood vessel cells

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Washington, DC – Researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center have discovered that vitamin A, when applied to breast cancer cells, turns on genes that can push stem cells embedded in a tumor to morph into endothelial cells. These cells can then build blood vessels to link up to the body's blood supply, promoting further tumor growth.