When cells become cancerous, they also become 100 times more likely to genetically mutate than regular cells, researchers have found. The findings may explain why cells in a tumor have so many genetic mutations, but could also be bad news for cancer treatments that target a particular gene controlling cancer malignancy.

Increasing the ability to identify sentinel nodes-the very first lymph nodes that trap cancer cells draining away from a breast lesion site-has a major impact in the treatment and outcome of breast cancer patients, possibly eliminating the need for unnecessary and painful surgery.

Antibodies that selectively bind and destroy cancer cells represent some of the most promising cancer therapy approaches being developed today. Several of these antibodies have reached the market, including cetuximab (Erbitux®, ImClone Systems), which targets the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) protein.

A new nanotechnology that can examine single molecules in order to determine gene expression, paving the way for scientists to more accurately examine single cancer cells, has been developed by an interdisciplinary team of researchers at UCLA's California Nanosystems Institute (CNSI), New York University's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, and Veeco Instruments, a nanotechnology company.

Scientists at Rice University and pediatric specialists at Baylor College of Medicine have discovered a new way to use Rice's famed buckyball nanoparticles as passkeys that allows drugs to enter cancer cells.

Researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University's Massey Cancer Center have created a new method to improve the antileukemic activity of a novel agent that triggers programmed cell death, a development that could lead to more effective strategies for fighting leukemia and other malignancies.

The investigators found that during stress, the PMR1 enzyme interacts directly with another protein called TIA-1, a key protein involved in assembling stress granules. This interaction draws the enzyme-mRNA complex into stress granules.

Associate Professor Michael King of the University of Rochester Biomedical Engineering Department has invented a device that filters the blood for cancer and stem cells.

Lab tests of sugar and short-chain fatty acid combo point to new strategy to combat disease

It is widely hoped that neural stem cells will eventually be useful for replacing nerves damaged by degenerative diseases like Alzheimer disease and multiple sclerosis. But there may also be another use for such stem cells--delivering anti-cancer drugs to cancer cells.