Genes quash lung cancer in mice: study

Professur

Professur

Well-Known Member
Mon Jan 15, 2:50 PM ET

CHICAGO (AFP) - An experimental lung cancer treatment that drastically suppresses tumors in mice may point the way to more effective and less toxic therapies for this type of cancer in humans, a study said.


Texas researchers who administered two cancer-suppressing genes to mice reported that the combination gene therapy reduced the number of non-small-cell lung cancer tumors per mouse by 75 percent and the weight of tumors by 80 percent.

"We saw significant tumor regression, with minimal side effects," said Jack Roth, a professor at the University of Texas Anderson Cancer Center, and author of the study. "The low toxicity of this treatment suggests we should be able to give high doses of it."

The researchers said that the two genes, which are delivered to the tumors via nanoparticles, work synergistically to induce the cancer cells to kill themselves, a process known as apoptosis.

On its own, the gene p53 causes defective cells to commit suicide. It is often lacking or defective in cancer cells. FUS1 is a tumor-suppressor that is lacking in most human cancers, but it also boosts the effect of p53 by inhibiting the release of a protein that degrades p53.

Doctors at the Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, are testing the FUS1 gene in patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer -- the most common type of lung cancer. The researchers who conducted this study said this therapy could be a viable alternative to chemotherapy for aggressive lung cancers that have spread to other organs, because, unlike chemotherapy, it spares healthy cells, and in mice, at least, it has a better response rate.

In a separate study in the same issue of the journal Cancer Research, researchers from Dartmouth Medical School said they may have identified a biomarker for a particularly deadly form of breast cancer.

The researchers say the biomarker, a protein called nestin, is present in abundance in basal epithelial tumors, a highly aggressive form of cancer that can be difficult to diagnose and manage.

If a non-invasive test could be devised to detect nestin, the protein could be used to screen for women at risk for this type of cancer, which accounts for a disproportionate amount of breast cancer deaths.
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All without ripping a baby's brain apart (with federal funding). How remarcable.

Source
 
not here

Starting this summer, Fort Wayne residents will likely have far fewer places to light up.

After nearly two hours of debate, the Fort Wayne City Council overwhelmingly supported stricter citywide restrictions on smoking but provided an exemption for tobacco stores.

The council voted 7-1-1 to support an almost complete ban on smoking in public places throughout the city. The council will take a final vote on the issue next Tuesday, but preliminary votes are almost always an exact indicator of final votes. If the ban is approved next week, it would take effect June 1.
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Next it'll be multi-unit housing, then cars with kids (can you say Bangor?)


WHy not just outlaw it altogether?
 
Gonz said:
If tobacco is illegal to use in public, will a joint be okay?
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It is if you look at the lobbying going around. Even in this forum, you have quite a few pro-weed folks about who are anti-tobacco...Strange, but true...:shrug:
 
The advantage goes to smokers. Nicotine doesn't make one as stupid, in its throes, as marijuana.
 
Gonz said:
The advantage goes to smokers. Nicotine doesn't make one as stupid, in its throes, as marijuana.
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Dude, you're sucking on a burning leaf. I don't thing anything is needed to 'make one stupid' at that point. The journey's done.
 
Professur said:
Dude, you're sucking on a burning leaf. I don't thing anything is needed to 'make one stupid' at that point. The journey's done.
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That coming from a former smoker. :D

Anyway...marijuanas effects are just as bad, or worse, than the effects of cigarettes. The only difference is one is legal and one is not, although the powers that be are moving towards making both illegal...:shrug: IMO, though, the only people who need protection from cigarette smoke are children, invalids, and complete morons who can't figure out that they can actually leave the area if they're offended. I wonder which catagory most non-smokers are in...Smokers can also fall into catagories. Those who choose to smoke from time to time, those who smoke socially, and those who allowed to themselves to become addicted. :devious:
 
I'm the first one to admit, I was stupid to do it. When I realized just how stupid I was being ... I quit.
 
The long term mental effects of marijuana are far worse than that of nicotine. I'd have no problem allowing a doctor who smoked operate on me. If they prefer da weed, never.

Higher carcinogens of marijuana smoke have also been noted.
 
Gonz said:
The long term mental effects of marijuana are far worse than that of nicotine. I'd have no problem allowing a doctor who smoked operate on me. If they prefer da weed, never.

Higher carcinogens of marijuana smoke have also been noted.
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Don't confuse the issue with facts...*handonhip :devious:
 
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