(Press-News.org) Cushing disease is a hormone disorder that causes a diverse array of symptoms, including fat accumulation, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, muscle wasting, and ultimately death. It is caused by a tumor in the anterior pituitary gland that results in the secretion of excess amounts of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH). Treatment options are essentially limited to surgical resection. However, tumors commonly recur, meaning that new treatment options are needed. A team of researchers, led by Shlomo Melmed, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, has now identified a potential new therapeutic target -- the protein EGFR, which is the target of a drug used to treat some patients with non–small cell lung cancer (gefitinib). As discussed by Melmed and colleagues in their paper, as well as Frederic Wondisford, at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, in an accompanying commentary, the data generated in human, canine, and mouse models provide strong support to investigate the clinical effects of gefitinib in patients with Cushing disease.
### TITLE: EGFR as a therapeutic target for human, canine, and mouse ACTH-secreting pituitary adenomas
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Shlomo Melmed
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Phone: 310-423-4691; Fax: 310-423-0119; E-mail: Melmed@csmc.edu.
ACCOMPANYING COMMENTARY
TITLE: A new medical therapy for Cushing disease?
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Fredric E. Wondisford
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Phone: 410-502-5761; Fax 410-502-5779; E-mail: fwondisford@jhmi.edu.
Expanding treatment options for Cushing disease
2011-11-22
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
JCI online early table of contents: Nov. 21, 2011
2011-11-22
EDITOR'S PICK: Boosting the aged immune response to flu virus
As people age, their immune system becomes less robust. This makes them more susceptible to serious and frequently life-threatening infections with viruses that affect the respiratory tract such as influenza A virus (IAV). Stanley Perlman and colleagues, at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, have now identified a new immune system defect in aged mice that makes them more susceptible than young mice to developing severe clinical disease upon infection with respiratory viruses such as IAV. Importantly, they were ...
Tuning out: How brains benefit from meditation
2011-11-22
Experienced meditators seem to be able switch off areas of the brain associated with daydreaming as well as psychiatric disorders such as autism and schizophrenia, according to a new brain imaging study by Yale researchers.
Meditation's ability to help people stay focused on the moment has been associated with increased happiness levels, said Judson A. Brewer, assistant professor of psychiatry and lead author of the study published the week of Nov. 21 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Understanding how meditation works will aid investigation into ...
The Best Affiliate Marketing Companies Ranked by topseos.com for November 2011
2011-11-22
topseos.com, the independent authority on search vendors, has released their list of the best affiliate marketing companies for November 2011. An evaluation of affiliate marketing companies has led to the creation of a list of rankings showcasing the top ten affiliate marketing services in the online marketing industry. The process for evaluating the best affiliate marketing services includes the use of a set of evaluation criteria which consists of the five most important aspects of these services.
The Top 10 Affiliate Marketing Companies for November 2011 are:
1) ...
Cancer screening reform needed
2011-11-22
Since the National Cancer Institute developed the first guidelines on mammography screening over thirty years ago, advocacy and professional groups have developed guidelines focused on who should be screened, instead of communicating clearly the risks and benefits of screening, according to a commentary by Michael Edward Stefanek, Ph.D., the associate vice president of collaborative research in the office of the vice president at Indiana University, published online Nov. 21 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Stefanek writes that too much time has been spent ...
Attention Talk Radio presents "Audio Stimulation--Neuroplasticity: Helping ADHD and Autism," with Dr. Ron Minson and Rebecca Goniwich of Integrated Listening Systems on November 30
2011-11-22
Attention Talk Radio presents "Audio Stimulation: Its Impact on Neuroplasticity to Help Treat ADHD and Autism" with show host, Jeff Copper, in an interview of Dr. Ron Minson of Integrated Listening Systems (iLs) on how the iLs program impacts neuroplasticity, which is an often overlooked form of treatment. Copper also interviews Rebecca Goniwich, certified iLs advanced practitioner, who shares how the iLs program helps her manage her own ADHD, as well as her two sons' ADHD and autism.
Dr. Minson has a unique background in public health, family practice, and ...
Time to test assumptions about health effects that guide risk assessment, says toxicologist
2011-11-22
AMHERST, Mass. – Governments and the nuclear industry have failed to address serious data gaps and untested assumptions guiding exposure limits to Cesium (Cs)-137 released in the Chernobyl accident in 1986 and this year's incident at Fukushima, says University of Massachusetts Amherst toxicologist Edward Calabrese. It's time now to move toward adopting more evidence-based risk assessment for the future, he adds.
"It is also critical that the linear, no-threshold (LNT) model and the alternative models, such as the threshold and hormesis models, be objectively assessed ...
Critical molecules for hearing and balance discovered
2011-11-22
Researchers have found long-sought genes in the sensory hair cells of the inner ear that, when mutated, prevent sound waves from being converted to electric signals – a fundamental first step in hearing. The team, co-led by Jeffrey Holt, PhD, in the department of otolaryngology at Children’s Hospital Boston, and Andrew Griffith, MD, PhD, of the NIH’s National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), then restored these electrical signals in the sensory cells of deaf mice by introducing normal genes.
The study paves the way for a test of gene ...
Body mass index associated with short-term mortality rates following surgery
2011-11-22
CHICAGO – Body Mass Index (BMI) appears to be associated with 30-day mortality risk following surgical procedures, and patients with a BMI of less than 23.1 appear to be at highest risk of death, according to a report published Online First by Archives of Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
"Recent reports suggest that the prevalence of obesity among U.S. adults has increased more than 100 percent since 1990," the authors write as background information in the article. "This analysis examines the relationship between obesity (as measured by body mass index [BMI; ...
Study examines racial disparities in surgical outcomes among patients with diverticulitis
2011-11-22
CHICAGO – Among older Medicare beneficiaries who underwent surgical treatment for diverticulitis, black race was associated with increased risk of urgent/emergency surgery, high risk of in-hospital mortality and higher total hospital charges, according to a report in the November issue of Archives of Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
"Observed racial disparities in diverticulitis surgery have been attributed to differences in health insurance status and medical comorbidity," the authors write as background information in the article. "This study explores the ...
Lynn Marie White Joins BookDaily.com
2011-11-22
As a featured author, the first chapter of White's book is now available to thousands of readers to sample - free of charge. At BookDaily.com, book fans can browse, search and read first chapters from a selection of more than 80,000 titles.
White is currently promoting "Because, I Love You", a Christian devotional style book about the amazing love that God has and the personal relationship He desires to have with you, His child. Filled with countless nuggets of wisdom, it encourages readers to search out their own intimacy with God and ask Him for their own ...