(Press-News.org) Ovarian cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer-related death in women and is often not detected until the later stages of disease, which contributes to poor prognosis. Biomarkers that can be used for early diagnosis and outcome have been identified; however, many of these have not been evaluated at the biological and clinical levels. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Michael Birrer and colleagues at Massachusetts General Hospital identify fibroblast growth factor 18 (FGF18) as a predictive marker for poor overall survival in ovarian cancer patients. Overexpression of the gene encoding FGF18 was associated with enhanced tumor blood vessel formation and expression of cancer promoting cytokines. These data indicate that further studies on the predictive potential FGF18 and its use as a therapeutic target in ovarian cancer are warranted.
###
TITLE:
FGF18 as a prognostic and therapeutic biomarker in ovarian cancer
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Michael Birrer
Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Phone: 617-724-4800; E-mail: mbirrer@partners.org
View this article at:
http://www.jci.org/articles/view/70625?key=0daf1c1350c8820558ad END
Study identifies fibroblast growth factor 18 as an ovarian cancer biomarker
2013-09-09
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Insulin secretion disrupted by increased fatty acids
2013-09-09
Patients with type 2 diabetes have increased levels of circulating glucose and fatty acids, which lead to disease complications. In healthy individuals, β cells within pancreatic islets release insulin in response to glucose and incretins, which are gastrointestinal hormones. Coordination between β cells is predicted to be important for insulin release. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, David Hodson and colleagues at Imperial College London demonstrate that β cell-β cell interactions are important for insulin secretion in human ...
Cancer researchers discover root cause of multiple myeloma relapse
2013-09-09
(TORONTO, Canada – Sept. 9, 2013) – Clinical researchers at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre have discovered why multiple myeloma, an incurable cancer of the bone marrow, persistently escapes cure by an initially effective treatment that can keep the disease at bay for up to several years.
The reason, explains research published online today in Cancer Cell, is intrinsic resistance found in immature progenitor cells that are the root cause of the disease – and relapse – says principal investigator Dr. Rodger Tiedemann, a hematologist specializing in multiple myeloma and ...
Breath tests could be used to diagnose lung cancer
2013-09-09
Barcelona, Spain: Collecting samples of exhaled breath from people at a high risk of lung cancer could be a cheap and non-invasive method of diagnosing the disease, according to new research.
The findings will be presented today (9 September 2013) at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) Annual Congress in Barcelona.
Current tests for lung cancer include blood and urine tests, followed by CT scans and chest radiographs. This new method could see people at a high risk of lung cancer receiving an initial breath test to quickly assess their symptoms.
Previous research ...
Severe asthma patients less responsive to treatment
2013-09-09
Barcelona, Spain: People with severe asthma, who are often described as 'steroid-dependent', are actually less likely to respond to the treatment they depend on, when compared to people with mild asthma.
The study, presented at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) Annual Congress in Barcelona today (9 September 2013), represents the first analysis of a cohort of patients from an unparalleled research project that will collect over 3 million samples from 300 children and 700 adults with severe and non-severe asthma, and without asthma.
Although asthma is common, ...
Severity of sleep apnea predicts aggressiveness of melanoma
2013-09-09
Barcelona, Spain: The severity of sleep apnoea can independently predict the aggressiveness of malignant skin melanoma, according to a new study.
The research, presented today (9 September 2013) at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) Annual Congress, adds new evidence to a number of studies that have found a link between cancer and the sleep disorder.
Previous studies have looked at a link between sleep apnoea and both mortality and incidence rates from cancer. Some experimental studies in mice have also shown that reduced oxygen levels in the blood, which is common ...
New muscular dystrophy treatment shows promise in early study
2013-09-09
HEIDELBERG -- A preclinical study led by researchers in the United States has found that a new oral drug shows early promise for the treatment of muscular dystrophy. The results, which are published today in EMBO Molecular Medicine, show that VBP15 decreases inflammation in mice with symptoms similar to those found in patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The authors found that the drug protects and strengthens muscle without the harsh side effects linked to current treatments with glucocorticoids such as prednisone.
Duchenne muscular dystrophy results in severe ...
First animal model of adult-onset SMA sheds light on disease progression & treatment
2013-09-09
Cold Spring Harbor, NY – A research team at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) has used a recently developed technology they call TSUNAMI to create the first animal model of the adult-onset version of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a devastating motor-neuron illness.
The same team, led by CSHL Professor Adrian R. Krainer, Ph.D., and including scientists from California-based Isis Pharmaceuticals, as well as the University of Southern California and Stony Brook University, succeeded a year ago in using TSUNAMI to make a mouse model of the disease as it is manifest in ...
MRI spectroscopy is highly sensitive for lipid-soluble metabolites from UC-MSCs
2013-09-09
The water-soluble metabolite profile of human mesenchymal stem cells is known, but the lipid profile remains unclear. Haiyang Dai and colleagues from Shantou University Medical College used methanol-chloroform and perchloric acid to extract lipid-soluble metabolites and water-soluble metabolites, respectively. Furthermore, a dual phase extraction method using methanol-chloroform and water was used to obtain both water and lipid fractions simultaneously. Among the different extraction procedures, perchloric acid was more efficient in extracting water-soluble metabolites ...
Role of autophagic and lysosomal pathways in ischemic brain injury
2013-09-09
Previous studies by Shaohua Gu and team from Shanghai Pudong New Area Zhoupu Hospital showed that rapamycin-induced autophagy decreased the rate of apoptosis, but the rate of apoptosis was increased after the autophagy inhibitor, 3-methyladenine, was used, indicating autophagy may be involved in mediating neuronal death in cerebral ischemia. A recent study reported by Gu et al showed that autophagic and lysosomal activity is increased in ischemic neurons, and the activation of autophagic and lysosomal pathways can provide nutrition and energy for the survival of ischemic ...
Combined treatment shows a better curative effect on spinal cord contusion
2013-09-09
Following spinal cord injury, astrocyte proliferation and scar formation are the main factors inhibiting the regeneration and growth of spinal cord axons, leading to motor and sensory function loss below the level of spinal cord injury. Cell transplantation, bioengineering technology, drugs and other methods can reduce voids of injured spinal cord and suppress glial scar formation, but clinical application results show these methods used alone have no obvious effects. Liang Wu and colleagues from Capital Medical University used rat models of T8 spinal cord contusion, which ...