News

Yale scientist’s ‘powerful,’ new gene editing technique promises to speed research

CT Insider — New Haven, CT (February 21, 2023) A new gene editing technique developed by scientists from Yale University offers a powerful new tool to interrogate how genes work across a swath of biological disciplines, from cancer research to immunology.  According to a study published in Nature Biotechnology, the technique called “CLASH” allows potentially thousands … Continued

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Colorectal cancer tumors both helped and hindered by T cells

Colorectal tumors are swarming with white blood cells, but whether these cells help or hinder the cancer is hotly debated. While some studies have shown that white blood cells heroically restrict tumor growth and combat colorectal cancer, equally compelling evidence casts the white blood cells as malignant co-conspirators—bolstering the tumor and helping it spread. Now, … Continued

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Scientists Discover Gene Mutation That Signals Aggressive Melanoma

Newswise — New York, NY (April 6, 2022)— Mutation of a gene called ARID2 plays a role in increasing the chance that melanoma, a deadly skin cancer, will turn dangerously metastatic, Mount Sinai researchers report. The findings suggest that patients whose melanoma tumors have an ARID2 mutation may have a more aggressive cancer and may need to be treated … Continued

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HIV drug shows promise against metastatic cancer

A drug widely used in HIV therapy has shown to stop disease progression in 25 percent of patients with fourth-line metastatic colorectal cancer. Findings from the trial, published in Cancer Discovery, raise the possibility of an unexpected promising direction in cancer treatment, not just colorectal cancer. The drug used in the study was lamivudine, a reverse transcriptase inhibitor. … Continued

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Hands, Feet, and Fins: The Connection That Explains Acral Melanoma

To understand cancer in humans, researchers at the Sloan Kettering Institute (SKI) are turning to our distant relatives from 425 million years ago: fish. A lot has evolved since then: Fish use their fins to swim, whereas we use our hands to play Wordle. But there remains a deep similarity, explains 2017 Pershing Square Sohn Prize winner Richard … Continued

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SKI Scientists Discover a New Twist on an 80-Year-Old Biochemical Pathway

Every year, thousands of biochemistry majors and medical students around the world learn to memorize the major biochemical pathways that allow cells to function. How these 10 or so pathways are described in textbooks hasn’t changed much since the early 20th century, when they were first discovered. But with the resurgence of interest in cancer metabolism in … Continued

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Old Drug May Have New Trick: Protecting Against COVID-19 Lung Injury

An FDA-approved drug that has been in clinical use for more than 70 years may protect against lung injury and the risk of blood clots in severe COVID-19 and other disorders that cause immune-mediated damage to the lungs, according to a preclinical study from researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. The … Continued

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Why Are Only Some Cells ‘Competent’ to Form Cancer? MSK Scientists Say Context Is Key

Right now, in your body, lurk thousands of cells with DNA mistakes that could cause cancer. Yet only in rare instances do these DNA mistakes, called genetic mutations, lead to a full-blown cancer. Why? The standard explanation is that it takes a certain number of genetic “hits” to a cell’s DNA to push a cell … Continued

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Can mRNA Vaccines Fight Pancreatic Cancer? MSK Clinical Researchers Are Trying to Find Out

Messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines may be the hottest thing in science now as they help turn the tide against COVID-19. But even before the pandemic began, Memorial Sloan Kettering researchers had already been working to use mRNA vaccine technology to treat cancer. Vinod Balachandran a physician-scientist affiliated with the David M. Rubenstein Center for Pancreatic Cancer Research and … Continued

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How pancreatic cancer cells dodge drug treatments

Cancer cells can become resistant to treatments through adaptation, making them notoriously tricky to defeat and highly lethal. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) Cancer Center Director and Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research Alliance Scientific Review Council member David Tuveson and his team investigated the basis of “adaptive resistance” common to pancreatic cancer. They discovered one of the backups … Continued

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