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Date: Wednesday November 30, 2011
Cancer cells grow in an unregulated manner. To be able to grow and divide, the cells need large amounts of energy and resources.
The Krebs cycle, also called the tricarboxcylic acid cycle (TCA), or citric acid cycle (CAC), is a central part of cell metabolism and normally provides cells with several useful products. This pathway takes in a breakdown product of glucose, called acetyl-CoA, and produces usable forms of energy (GTP) and
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Date: Monday August 15, 2011
Cells of the immune system are able to fight off infection and to kill cancer cells. Unfortunately, cancer cells frequently develop ways to hide from the immune system and are able to avoid being killed. New results show that immune cells from patients with cancer can be modified and turned into potent killers of cancer cells.
The treatment was used in patients with chronic lymphcytic leukemia (CLL). In CLL, the cancer cells are white blood cells. B cells, a type of white blood cell have a protein on their surface called CD19. This protein helps normal B cells perform their job, the production of antibodies. CD19 is also found on cancerous B cells.
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Date: Thursday March 24, 2011
This is the first in a series of featured articles that have been chosen to highlight key aspects of cancer biology and treatment. These articles may be older but they clearly present the defining 'Hallmarks of cancer'.
In this research, mice were genetically engineered to produce too much of two different oncogenes. The first is MYC, a transcription factor that drives cell division forward. To control the types of cancer arising in the mice, the researchers created a version of the MYC genet that would only be active in B lymphocytes (B cells).
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Date: Friday February 25, 2011
Tumor suppressor genes ususally function to limit cell growth. Loss of tumor suppressors is a critical step in the development of cancer. One of the most important tumor suppressors is p53 (or TP53). The p53 protein integrates signals affecting a cell (growth factors, DNA damage, oncogene signaling, etc.). The result of p53 activation can be either the suspension of cell division or the death of the cell via apoptosis.
Because p53 activity is lost in over half of all cancers, of any origin, there has been lots of research into what would happen to cancer cells if p53 could be re-activated.
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Date: Tuesday January 25, 2011
Melanoma is an aggressive form of skin cancer. When detected early, melanoma can be surgically removed, with good outcomes. Researchers from North Carolina, New Mexico and Minnesota have developed a genetic test that is able to determine whether a biopsy sample is melanoma or a non-cancerous growth (nevus; plural-nevi).
While much cancer research focuses on changes in the sequence of DNA (mutations), the researchers chose to look at very subtle changes;they looked at changes in the methylation of the DNA.
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