Levels of two proteins in a woman's ovarian cancer are strongly associated with her likelihood of survival, a research team led by scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center reports in the Dec. 18 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The study shows that women with high levels of Dicer and Drosha, two proteins that are vital to a cell's gene-silencing machinery, had a median survival of 11 years. For those with low levels of both proteins, median survival...

Cell-substratum adhesion is mediated by integrins, a family of transmembrane, heterodimeric, extracellular matrix receptors that are concentrated at focal adhesions. Integin engagement influences a variety of signaling pathways and regulates cell behaviors including motility, proliferation, and survival. Disturbance of normal integrin function is associated with a variety of pathologic conditions including cancer. In the first segment of my seminar, I provide a broad overview of the cancer...

Imatinib (Gleevec) has become a paradigm for targeted cancer therapies. The first part of this lecture will describe the clinical features and the molecular pathogenesis of the disease for which imatinib was developed, chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). This overview will trace the history of the identification of the target of imatinib, BCR-ABL. The preclinical development of the BCR-ABL kinase inhibitor, imatinib and highly successful clinical trials of this agent for patients with CML will be...

ADVANCED SYSTEMS FOR RADIOTHERAPY PLANNING USING DISTRIBUTED COMPUTATION. See http://eimrt.cesga.es for detailed information.

Carriers of mutations in the breast cancer genes BRCA1 or BRCA2 have very high lifetime risks for breasts/ovarian cancer. Products of either gene have multiple functions including involvement in error-free double strand break repair. BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes are both components of a DNA damage response pathway that has the ability to return fragments of broken chromosomes back into their correct positions without ligating them elsewhere. But cancers at other sites may also occur without this...

Evolutions of oxygen concentration and formation of hypoxic zones during tumour growth in the vascular network. This simulation was produced with an experimental modification to the model, where vessels are oxygen sources inside the simulation domain, cells do not switch to anaerobic metabolism in this simulation. For more information refer to http://code.google.com/p/cord/.

This is a simulation of tumour cord growth , where cells suffer from hypoxia (energy deficit shown with colour). The tumour grows along the blood vessel (coincides with x -axis). Red line shows the position of the tumour–host interface. This particular simulation was programmed in FreeFEM++ out of curiousity. The source code for simulation may be found at http://code.google.com/p/cord . This video reflects work in progress and may be different from the final results .

Trudy Forte discusses her work developing nano-sized low-density lipoprotein (LDL) particles that can be used as a safe and effective means of delivering anticancer drugs to brain tumors, particularly the most common malignant brain tumor in adults and one of the deadliest forms of cancer. Series: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Summer Lecture Series [Health and Medicine] [Science] [Show ID: 13002]

A research team led by scientists at MD Anderson Cancer Center report that 2 specific common inherited genetic variations are associated with increased risk of lung cancer for smokers and former smokers. Dr. Amos talks about how the findings are a major step forward in identifying those at high risk for non-small cell lung cancer and for understanding how smoking and genetic factors interact to cause the disease.

Identifying protein interactions suitable for therapeutic intervention. Design of short peptides and peptidomimetics. Pharmacogenetics. Part of the Computer-Aided Discovery Methods course taught at Baylor College of Medicine.