Approximately 11,000 people between the ages of 15 and 40 are diagnosed with cancer each year in England. While many patients in this age group go on to become long-term cancer survivors, a large percentage of them are rendered infertile as a result of their cancer treatments. Modern medicine continues to offer new options for [...]

A cooperative effort between the The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Nanotechnology Characterization Laboratory (NCL) of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) has yielded the first reference standards for nanoscale particles used by scientists conducting biomedical research. Nanoparticles have played a major role in many cancer research projects in recent years — [...]

Scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine have isolated a human blood cell involved in the creation of all blood cells found in the body. This cell, called the multipotent progenitor, is the offspring of stem cells found in bone marrow. Later generations of progenitor cells become the red blood cells, platelets, and immune [...]

Scientists from Carnegie Mellon University, Hebrew University, the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg and the New York University School of Medicine have used computational biology techniques to identify 480 genes that control human cell division, including 118 that could contribute to cancer. Rather than focusing on missing genes, this international team decided to concentrate [...]

A study published in the January 10, 2008, edition of Cancer Investigation reports 49 proteins contained in saliva can reveal whether or not a woman has breast cancer. The findings were obtained by researchers from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston who analyzed saliva samples from 10 healthy women, 10 women with [...]

A multi-million dollar government contract awarded to develop a treatment for military personnel attacked with radioactive weapons could also benefit leukemia patients whose bodies reject bone marrow transplants. Osiris Therapeutics, Inc (NASDAQ: OSIR) will receive up to $224.7M from the US Department of Defense to speed development of Prochymal™, an intravenous drug designed to treat [...]

Scientists in Spain have detected an enzyme which is present while lung lesions — especially those caused by cigarette smoking — are still precancerous. The discovery could help assess who’s at risk of developing lung cancer. During their study researchers found that an enzyme, known as AKR1B10, lowered levels of retinoic acid, a form of [...]

Every year patients in the United States and around the world die while they wait on organ transplant lists for organs that never become available. While surveys indicate a majority of people are willing to donate organs after their death, a much lower percentage actually get around to registering as an organ donor. Now Scotland [...]

Effective April 1, 2008, Aetna (NYSE: AET) will no longer cover an anesthetic commonly used during colonoscopies, a diagnostic tool used to detect colorectal cancer. Similar exclusions have already been implemented by WellPoint (NYSE: WLP) and Humana (NYSE: HUM). The drug propofol, marketed under the trade name Diprivan, is used to thoroughly sedate patients so [...]

A team of international researchers has discovered a platinum-based compound which is activated by light and potent enough to kill cancers resistant to Cisplatin treatments. Scientists from the University of Warwick, the University of Edinburgh, the University of Dundee and the Czech Republic’s Institute of Biophysics found the new compound, known as light-activated PtIV complex, [...]