The transcription factor GABP - a member of a family of crucial gene-regulating proteins - is required to jump-start the process of cell division, according to research from The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and Rhode Island Hospital. The work, published in Nature Cell Biology, uncovers a new way to control cell growth and points up potential targets for cancer treatments.

Researchers have found a marker on head and neck tumor cells that indicates which cells are capable of fueling the cancer's growth. The finding is the first evidence of cancer stem cells in head and neck tumors.

In laboratory tests on mice, researchers found that a medication often used to reduce toxic side effects of chemotherapy induced bone loss and helped tumors grow in bone. So the researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are recommending increased awareness of bone health during cancer treatments.

Utilization of cancer treatments with limited evidence of benefit may depend on the therapy's availability according to a new study. The study reveals that patients with pancreatic cancer were almost twice as likely to receive radiotherapy, for which there is more controversy regarding efficacy, when the treating hospital had radiotherapy available compared to patients who were treated at centers where radiotherapy was not available.