News by Subject Medicine & Health

In general, women who have had children have a lower risk of breast cancer compared to women who have never given birth. However, new research has found that moms don't experience this breast cancer protection until many years later and may face elevated risk for more than 20 years after their last pregnancy.

How does a normal cell turn into a deadly cancer? Seeking an answer to this Question researchers from Charité -- Universitätsmedizin Berlin examined the tumor genomes of nearly 300 prostate cancer patients. Their findings describe the ways in which changes in the prostate cells' genetic information pave the way for cancer development. Using a newly developed computer model, it is now possible to predict the course of the disease in individual patients. The results of this study were now published in Cancer Cell.

Recently, electrospun polymeric nanofibers have proven to be an interesting strategy for drug delivery systems application.This review presents an overview of the reported drugs loaded into polymeric nanofibers, to be used as drug delivery systems.

Vinorelbine bitartrate (VRL), a semi synthetic vinca alkaloid approved for breast cancer, has been proven to be beneficial as first line and subsequent therapies. However, its hydrophilic and thermo labile nature provides hindrance to oral clinical translation. The current work focused on the application of DOE a modern statistical optimization tool for the development and optimization of a solid lipid nanoparticle (SLN) formulation that can encapsulate hydrophilic and thermolabile Vinorelbine bitartrate (VRL) to a maximum extent without compromising integrity and anticancer activity of the drug.

A new compound that targets a receptor within sarcoma cancer cells shrank tumors and hampered their ability to spread in mice and pigs, a study from researchers at the University of Illinois reports. The researchers conducted a multi-year, cross-disciplinary study that went from screening potential drug candidates to identifying and synthesizing one compound, to packaging it into nanoparticles for delivery in cells, to testing it in cell cultures and finally in mice and pigs with sarcoma tumors.