- Researchers from Virginia Commonwealth University conducted studies that shed new light on the role of the hormone prolactin. While prolactin has been known for its role in breast development and milk production in pregnancy, this new research established that it also plays an important part in breast cancer development. This finding may lay the foundation for creating new targeted drug therapies to treat breast cancer. The study was published in NPJ Breast Cancer.
- Two researchers from Germany conducted a study revealing a new understanding of the activation mechanism of a cell growth protein SHP2. The excessive activity of this protein stimulates increased cell proliferation thus triggering cancers such as leukemia. Knowing the mechanism of activation of this protein is crucial for designing therapeutic strategies to inhibit this protein. The study proves wrong the prior understanding of this mechanism. The new insight paves the way for developing new targeted therapies to prevent excessive cell proliferation caused by this protein. The study was published in PNAS.
- A researcher from the Purdue University found a way to synthesize a compound that can fight a protein involved in multiple cancers, including breast, brain, colorectal, prostate, lung, and liver cancers. The protein, called BRAT1, was previously considered unsuitable as a drug target because of its chemical properties. The compound, Curcusone D, which belongs to a Curcusone family of compounds and originally came from a shrub named Jatropha curca, can now be synthesized in a lab. The compound kills cancer cells and can keep cancer from metastasizing. As Curcusone D compound is very hard to extract from the plant and since it is the only compound that can inhibit BRAT1 protein, synthesizing it in a lab is a very important discovery. Pending some toxicity studies, this compound could be a significant addition to the therapeutics against cancer. This research was reported in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
- A group of scientists from Japan conducted a study on how cell proliferation (oncogenesis) and cell death were regulated, focusing on genes p38, JNK, and slpr. Based on the knowledge that dietary nutrients can control p38, the study was done on fruit flies. Researchers manipulated the amount of dietary amino acid methionine and established that decreasing the amount of the methionine in the diet prevented p38-controlled oncogenesis. One of the study findings was that the oncogene slpr could mediate the signaling pathways controlled by other oncogenes. The researchers hope that their findings can be translated to human cancers and help explain how they develop. The study was published in eLIfe.
Author Archives: Marina
Keyword Proximity Searching
Sometimes just combining search terms (keywords) with the standard Boolean ‘AND’ operator is not granular enough to focus results in to retrieve relevant articles. Typically, in addition to Boolean Operators and double quotes for exact phrases, many databases also allow specifying that the keywords searched be within a certain number of words of each other in either direction. This bridge between the narrow exact phrase search and the broad ‘AND’ operator search is called Proximity or Adjacency searching and it uses Proximity, or Adjacency, operators. Proximity searching is not applicable to searching with subject headings, it is applicable to keyword searching only. Proximity operators help increasing specificity of the search. Typically, in complex search strategies, both Proximity and Boolean operators are used.
Proximity searching is available in major proprietary databases, including Embase, Scopus, CINAHL, Web of Science, and databases on OVID platform, such as Medline and PsycINFO. Proximity searching is not available in Pubmed.
Proximity operators and rules for using them vary by database.
An example of Proximity Operators in Embase:
The databases specific Proximity Operators and the rules for their use can be found in the Help pages for each database.
Pre-metastatic Cancer Stage Intervention, Anti-Cancer Drug Ranking Algorithm, Melanoma Vaccine and More
- In a new National Cancer Institute study, the researchers interfered with the cancer metastasizing process at the premetastatic stage to prevent metastatic spread and shrink tumors. The scientists used myeloid cells that were known to promote cancer metastasizing by sending a signal from the primary cancer to the other sites in the body where the metastatic spread was going to occur and lowering the immune response. The researchers added a gene to these myeloid cells forcing them to activate and strengthen the immune response. This animal study was published in Cell.
- The Miami Miller School of Medicine researchers conducted a study that clarified the nature of the association between fat metabolism, obesity and kidney cancer. The study was published in Cancer Discovery.
- Researchers from Rutgers University found that bariatric surgery significantly reduced cancer risk in patients with severe obesity and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The risk reduction was especially prominent in obesity-related cancers, such as colorectal, pancreatic, endometrial, and thyroid cancers, as well as hepatocellular carcinoma and multiple myeloma. The study was published in Gastroenterology.
- An international group of researchers used Artificial Intelligence (AI) for mining “big data” to gain more insight into the development and prognosis of mesothelioma, a cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. The initial exploration revealed that mesothelioma development followed specific trajectories, which could also predict the degree of mesothelioma aggressiveness. The study was published in Nature Communications.
- Researchers from Queen Mary University of London, UK, have developed a machine-learning algorithm that ranked cancer drugs based on their efficacy. Along the lines of personalized medicine, this will enable oncologists to select the best drugs for treating individual cancer patients. The study was published in Nature Communications.
- Researchers from the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago developed a new strategy for the immunotherapy of melanoma. They created a therapeutic vaccine that uses a patient’s own tumor cells to train their immune system to find and kill cancer. The strategy is very promising and truly adheres to personalized medicine principles. The study was published in Science Advances.
- Developments in Biomedical Engineering consistently create new opportunities for personalized medicine. Scientists from Japan created special hydrogel that reprogramed and reverted differentiated cancer cells into cancer stem cells within 24 hours. This innovation may help creating new stem cell targeting drugs and personalized therapies in the future. The study was published in Nature Biomedical Engineering.