PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Study reveals that chemotherapy works in an unexpected way

2013-04-04
(Press-News.org) It's generally thought that anticancer chemotherapies work like antibiotics do, by directly killing off what's harmful. But new research published online on April 4 in the Cell Press journal Immunity shows that effective chemotherapies actually work by mobilizing the body's own immune cells to fight cancer. Researchers found that chemo-treated dying tumors secrete a factor that attracts certain immune cells, which then ingest tumor proteins and present them on their surfaces as alert signals that an invader is present. This new understanding of how chemotherapy works with our immune systems could prompt new tactics for treating cancer.

"Successful chemotherapeutics convert the tumor into a therapeutic vaccine, hence mobilizing the host's immune system against the cancer," explains senior author Dr. Guido Kroemer, of the Institut Gustave Roussy, in France.

Dr. Kroemer and his colleagues found that when chemotherapy kills and bursts open cancer cells, the cells release a factor called ATP. The factor recruits immune cells to the tumor site, where they are educated to acquire their function—namely, to ingest and present tumor proteins on their surfaces. The researchers found that when these trained immune cells are blocked, chemotherapy (specifically, anthracyclines) cannot efficiently reduce the growth of tumors in mice. Also, when these trained immune cells are injected into other mice, the mice can fight off cancer cells that are subsequently injected.

The findings point to a new strategy to improve cancer treatments. "Anticancer therapies and immunotherapies might be combined in a way to optimize the local recruitment and function of immune cells—for instance, by increasing extracellular ATP levels—with the goal of boosting the chemotherapy-induced anticancer immune response," says Dr. Kroemer. Also, measuring the recruitment of immune cells to tumor sites after chemotherapy might help predict how well a patient's cancer will respond to the treatment.

### Immunity, Ma et al.: "Anticancer chemotherapy induced intratumoral recruitment and differentiation of antigen presenting cells."


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

New genetic markers may signal who is at increased risk for Alzheimer's disease

2013-04-04
People who have a buildup of certain proteins in the brain and spinal fluid have an increased likelihood of developing Alzheimer's disease, but it's currently unclear who will develop these protein accumulations. Now researchers reporting online April 4th in the Cell Press journal Neuron have identified mutations in certain genetic regions that influence the levels of these protein accumulations. The findings may not only help identify people most at risk of developing Alzheimer's disease well before they show signs of cognitive decline, but also offer new information for ...

Bumblebees use logic to find the best flowers

2013-04-04
Scientists at Queen Mary, University of London and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), have discovered why bees copy each other when looking for nectar – and the answer is remarkably simple. Despite their tiny brains, bees are smart enough to pick out the most attractive flowers by watching other bees and learning from their behaviour. By using simple logic, they see which coloured flowers are the most popular, and conclude that those of the same colour must also contain lots of energy-rich nectar. "Learning where to find nectar by watching others seems fantastically ...

Obesity without the health problems? There could be a way

2013-04-04
Obesity is linked to the widespread epidemics of diabetes and heart disease that plague society, but a lesser-known fact is that the weight can also lead to autoimmune disease. Now, researchers have new information about how that damaging immune response happens and how it might be stopped, published on April 4 in Cell Reports, a Cell Press publication. The key, they show, may be to block an important element known as AIM (for apoptosis inhibitor of macrophage) in the bloodstream and, ultimately, the production of antibodies that attack the self. The discovery is especially ...

On Twitter, anti-vaccination sentiments spread more easily than pro-vaccination sentiments

2013-04-04
On Twitter, a popular microblogging and social-networking service, statements about vaccines may have unexpected effects -- positive messages may backfire, according to a team of Penn State University researchers led by Marcel Salathé, an assistant professor of biology. The team tracked the pro-vaccine and anti-vaccine messages to which Twitter users were exposed and then observed how those users expressed their own sentiments about a new vaccine for combating influenza H1N1 -- a virus strain responsible for swine flu. The results, which may help health officials improve ...

Protein maintains order in the nucleus

2013-04-04
This press release is available in German. Freiburg: Two metres of DNA are packed into the cell nucleus, presumably based on a strictly defined arrangement. Researchers working with biologist Patrick Heun from the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics in Freiburg have now succeeded in explaining a phenomenon, which was first observed 40 years ago. The centromeres, namely the structures at the primary constriction of the X-shaped chromosomes, are clustered in a few specific locations in the cell nucleus. Using fruit flies as a model, the researchers ...

Shutting down DNA construction: How senescence halts growth of potential cancers

2013-04-04
Researchers from The Wistar Institute explain a new molecular mechanism behind the phenomenon of oncogene-induced senescence. By depriving the cell of the ability to make new nucleotides—the building blocks of DNA molecules—cells can suppress cancer development by forcing a damaged cell into a senescent state, where the cell remains alive yet cannot reproduce. According to the researchers, their findings may offer a new strategy to strengthen the effects of anti-cancer drugs and chemotherapies. Their results, which appear in the April 25 issue of Cell Reports (available ...

Scissor-like enzyme points toward treatment of infectious disease

2013-04-04
DALLAS – April 4, 2013 – UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers report that a pathogen annually blamed for an estimated 90 million cases of food-borne illness defeats a host's immune response by using a fat-snipping enzyme to cut off cellular communication. "Our findings provide insight into severe bacterial infectious diseases, as well as some forms of cancer, in which the attachment of fat molecules to proteins is an essential feature of the disease process," said Dr. Neal Alto, assistant professor of microbiology and senior author of the study in today's print ...

Genetic markers ID second Alzheimer's pathway

2013-04-04
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a new set of genetic markers for Alzheimer's that point to a second pathway through which the disease develops. Much of the genetic research on Alzheimer's centers on amyloid-beta, a key component of brain plaques that build up in the brains of people with the disease. In the new study, the scientists identified several genes linked to the tau protein, which is found in the tangles that develop in the brain as Alzheimer's progresses and patients develop dementia. The findings may help ...

Dwarf whale survived well into Ice Age

2013-04-04
Research from New Zealand's University of Otago detailing the fossil of a dwarf baleen whale from Northern California reveals that it avoided extinction far longer than previously thought. Otago Department of Geology PhD student Robert Boessenecker has found that the fossil of the 4-5 meter long Herpetocetus, thought to be the last survivor of the primitive baleen whale family called cetotheres, may be as young as 700,000 years old. Mr Boessenecker says the previously youngest-known fossils of this whale were from the pre-Ice Age Pliocene epoch; approximately 3 million ...

How rats see things

2013-04-04
Sight is such a spontaneous activity that we are unaware of the complexity of the brain mechanisms it implies. For instance, we easily recognize objects, which appear to look always the same, without realizing that we observe them from ever-changing points of view and that their image – the luminance profile cast onto the retina –varies significantly each time we look at them. To maintain such "invariance" in the shape, our brain performs procedures that extract from the two-dimensional image "key" visual information that enables us to recognize the object under any condition. ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Family ties and firm performance: How cousin marriage traditions shape informal businesses in Africa

Novel flu vaccine adjuvant improves protection against influenza viruses, study finds

Manipulation of light at the nanoscale helps advance biosensing

New mechanism discovered in ovarian cancer peritoneal metastasis: YWHAB restriction drives stemness and chemoresistance

New study links blood metabolites and immune cells to increased risk of urolithiasis

Pyruvate identified as a promising therapeutic agent for ulcerative colitis by targeting cytosolic phospholipase A2

New insights into the clinical impact of IKBKG mutations: Understanding the mechanisms behind rare immunodeficiency syndromes

Displays, imaging and sensing: New blue fluorophore breaks efficiency records in both solids and solutions

Sugar, the hidden thermostat in plants

Personality can explain why some CEOs earn higher salaries

This puzzle game shows kids how they’re smarter than AI

Study suggests remembrances of dead played role in rise of architecture in Andean region

Brain stimulation can boost math learning in people with weaker neural connections

Inhibiting enzyme could halt cell death in Parkinson’s disease, study finds

Neurotechnology reverses biological disadvantage in maths learning

UNDER EMBARGO: Neurotechnology reverses biological disadvantage in maths learning

Scientists target ‘molecular machine’ in the war against antimicrobial resistance

Extending classical CNOP method for deep-learning atmospheric and oceanic forecasting

Aston University research: Parents should encourage structure and independence around food to support children’s healthy eating

Thunderstorms are a major driver of tree death in tropical forests

Danforth Plant Science Center adds two new faculty members

Robotic eyes mimic human vision for superfast response to extreme lighting

Racial inequities and access to COVID-19 treatment

Residential segregation and lung cancer risk in African American adults

Scientists wipe out aggressive brain cancer tumors by targeting cellular ‘motors’

Capturability distinction analysis of continuous and pulsed guidance laws

CHEST expands Bridging Specialties Initiative to include NTM disease and bronchiectasis on World Bronchiectasis Day

Exposure to air pollution may cause heart damage

SwRI, UTSA selected by NASA to test electrolyzer technology aboard parabolic flight

Prebiotics might be a factor in preventing or treating issues caused by low brain GABA

[Press-News.org] Study reveals that chemotherapy works in an unexpected way