Health officials in Havana announce they’ve approved the first vaccine for treating lung cancer but, travel restrictions may keep US patients from using it.

A major university and a biotech company in Korea collaborate to create four adorable puppies, clones of a black labrador prized for her ability to detect cancer.

The World Health Organization estimates tobacco use kills 1 adult every 6 seconds. Saturday’s World No Tobacco Day hopes to reverse that deadly trend.

Canadian officials begin a new smoking ban in federal prisons. Some think it’s the perfect chance to quit — others worry withdrawal will lead to violence.

A study led by the Methodist Hospital Research Institute indicates extracts from a tropical fungus called Phellinus linteus may combat breast cancer. Methodist Hospital’s results add to previous research suggesting the yellow mushroom is also effective for slowing lung, prostate and skin cancers. Phellinus linteus grows on the bark of mulberry trees and has been [...]

Most people think of breathalyzers as a tool to combat drunk driving, but a new type of breathalyzer could soon help doctors detect cancer, kidney failure, and other diseases impacting the lungs while they’re still in the early stages. Researchers at JILA, an institution jointly operated by the University of Colorado at Boulder and the [...]

World Health Organization statistics released this week project one billion people will die as a result of tobacco use during this century if smoking rates are not significantly reduced. Cancer and other health risks associated with tobacco use are widely publicized so why do so many people continue to pick up the habit? A study [...]

The US Department of Defense (DoD) Medical Research Program is making mesothelioma research a priority for the 2008 grant cycle, a move which potentially makes millions of grant dollars available to civilian scientists studying the deadly disease. Mesothelioma, a rare cancer strongly linked to asbestos exposure, occurs at elevated rates in certain populations of military [...]

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 [...]

Scientists from the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) BioMicroMechanical Systems (BioMEMS) Resource Center and the MGH Cancer Center have developed a new microchip-based device that can isolate circulating tumor cells (CTC) in a blood sample. The new CTC-chip is a business-card sized silicon chip covered with almost 80,000 microscopic posts smaller than a human hair. The [...]