June 26th, 2014 · Leave a Comment
Mayo Clinic Recommends New Routine Testing for some Non-Hodgkin Lymphomas
By Sam Smith 
ROCHESTER, Minn. — A Mayo Clinic-led group of researchers has discovered three subgroups of a single type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma that have markedly different survival rates. These subgroups could not be differentiated by routine pathology but only with the aid of novel genetic tests, which the research team recommends giving to all patients with ALK-negative anaplastic large-cell lymphoma (ALCL). Findings are published in the journal Blood.
Journalists: Sound bites with Dr. Feldman are available in the downloads.
Patients whose lymphomas had TP63 rearrangements had only a 17 percent chance of living five years beyond diagnosis, compared to 90 percent of patients whose tumors had DUSP22 rearrangements. A third group of tumors, those with neither rearrangement, was associated with an intermediate survival rate. Read the rest of this entry »
June 22nd, 2014 · Leave a Comment
Twitter Chats Connect Medical Experts
By Dennis Douda 
Twitter boasts hundreds of millions of subscribers. So, why wouldn't doctors with important news to share about treatment see if they could get the word out with a few well-worded tweets? Take a discussion recently on immunotherapy and ways medicine can work with our immune systems to fight cancer. Here's Dennis Douda with the Mayo Clinic News Network.
Journalists: The video package is available in the downloads.
To read the video script, click here.
Mayo Clinic regularly participates in Twitter chats on a wide variety of medical interests and specialties. In addition, other social media platforms are used daily to share news about health care and research, including Facebook, Pinterest and Google +.
June 12th, 2014 · Leave a Comment
Mayo Clinic Researchers Discover New Form of Cancer
By Bob Nellis 
Potentially disfiguring facial tumor caused by chromosomal chimera
ROCHESTER, Minn. — This is the story of two perfectly harmless genes. By themselves, PAX3 and MAML3 don’t cause any problems. However, when they combine during an abnormal but recurring chromosomal mismatch, they can be dangerous. The result is a chimera — a gene that is half of each — and that causes biphenotypic sinonasal sarcoma. The tumor usually begins in the nose and may infiltrate the rest of the face, requiring disfiguring surgery to save the individual. Because Mayo Clinic pathology researchers have now described the molecular makeup of the rare tumor, several existing cancer drugs may be targeted against it. The findings appear in the current issue of Nature Genetics.
June 4th, 2014 · Leave a Comment
Mayo Clinic Moves Small-Molecule Drugs Through Blood-Brain Barrier
By Bob Nellis
ROCHESTER, Minn. — Researchers at Mayo Clinic have demonstrated in a mouse model that their recently developed synthetic peptide carrier is a potential delivery vehicle for brain cancer chemotherapy drugs and other neurological medications. The findings appear in PLOS ONE.
“Not only have we shown that we can transport eight different molecules, we think this method will be less disruptive or invasive because it mimics a normal physiological process,” says Mayo Clinic neuroscientist Gobinda Sarkar, Ph.D., the corresponding author of the study. The researchers are able to transport the drugs without modifying any of the molecules involved. They say this development will aid in evaluation of potential new drugs for brain cancer.
The blood-brain barrier is meant to protect the brain from numerous undesirable chemicals circulating in the body, but it also obstructs access for treatment of brain tumors and other conditions. Too often the only recourse is invasive, which often limits a drug’s effectiveness or causes irreversible damage to an already damaged brain. Nearly all of the drugs that could potentially help are too large to normally pass through the barrier. Additionally, other methods may damage the vascular system.
Read the rest of this entry »
June 2nd, 2014 · Leave a Comment
Mayo Clinic Study Finds Immunotherapy May be Option Challenging Breast Cancer
By Admin 
![3086990_096_(Electronic_Presentation)[1]](http://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/files/2014/06/3086990_096_Electronic_Presentation1.jpg)
PHOENIX — A promising new study from Mayo Clinic, in conjunction with Caris Life Sciences, points to immunotherapy as a possible treatment option for patients with the difficult-to-treat triple negative breast cancer mutation. The study was presented this week at the 50th annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago.
“This study may change our ability to treat triple negative breast cancer patients,” says Barbara Pockaj, M.D., lead investigator of the study and Mayo Clinic surgeon. “We may have signs that these patients can be treated with immunotherapy. We don’t have a lot of options for these patients and this would really expand our options.” Read the rest of this entry »
May 16th, 2014 · Leave a Comment
Mayo Clinic First to Show Virotherapy is Promising Against Multiple Myeloma (pkg)
By Bob Nellis
ROCHESTER, Minn. — May 14, 2014 — In a proof of principle clinical trial, Mayo Clinic researchers have demonstrated that virotherapy — destroying cancer with a virus that infects and kills cancer cells but spares normal tissues — can be effective against the deadly cancer multiple myeloma. The findings appear in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings.
Journalists: The video package and extra b-roll are available in the downloads. The video package script, including intro and anchor tags, is available here.
Two patients in the study received a single intravenous dose of an engineered measles virus (MV-NIS) that is selectively toxic to myeloma plasma cells. Both patients responded, showing reduction of both bone marrow cancer and myeloma protein. One patient, a 49-year-old woman, experienced complete remission of myeloma and has been clear of the disease for over six months.
“This is the first study to establish the feasibility of systemic oncolytic virotherapy for disseminated cancer,” says Stephen Russell, M.D., Ph.D., Mayo Clinic hematologist, first author of the paper and co-developer of the therapy. “These patients were not responsive to other therapies and had experienced several recurrences of their disease.”
Multiple myeloma is a cancer of plasma cells in the bone marrow, which also causes skeletal or soft tissue tumors. This cancer usually responds to immune system-stimulating drugs, but eventually overcomes them and is rarely cured.
Read the rest of this entry »
March 20th, 2014 · Leave a Comment
Minnesota Partnership Launches Six Research Projects
By Bob Nellis
Laser-guided Malaria Detectors
Smart Socks that Predict Heart Attacks
Mouse Avatars to Study Ovarian Cancer
These are just three of the joint projects now underway involving collaborative research teams from Mayo Clinic and the University of Minnesota. Over $4 million in research awards from the Minnesota Partnership for Biotechnology and Medical Genomics will make those investigative projects possible. The research grants are intended to jump start innovative ideas and generate scientific data in order to secure more long-term funding. These "seed" grants are for two years and involve ideas that have a strong likelihood of turning into marketable products or processes.
The other three projects include development of a genomic research tool to help scientists engineer DNA, a study looking for links between stress and obesity, and an exploration of the causes of and possible therapies for irritable bowel syndrome involving microbiotics. The funding comes from the state of Minnesota.
Read entire news release.
March 19th, 2014 · Leave a Comment
Advanced Home Stool Test Finds Colorectal Cancer’s DNA
By Dennis Douda
Mayo Clinic research results presented in NEJM could change colorectal screening practice
A clinical trial of Cologuard shows unprecedented results for finding colorectal cancer with a noninvasive test. “Cologuard detection rates of early stage cancer and high-risk precancerous polyps validated in this large study were outstanding and have not been achieved by other noninvasive approaches,” says the study’s author David Ahlquist M.D., a Mayo Clinic gastroenterologist and co-inventor of the Cologuard test.
Colorectal cancer has become the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States, but it is highly treatable if found early. Cologuard uses a self-contained collection kit that allows patients to send stool samples to a high-tech lab for screening.
Journalists: Sound bites with Dr. Ahlquist, animation and b-roll of the Cologuard test kit are available in the downloads.
Read the rest of this entry »
March 19th, 2014 · Leave a Comment
Minority disparities evident in prostate cancer survival rate, Mayo Clinic study shows
By Jim McVeigh 
PHOENIX — March 19, 2014 — A Mayo Clinic study reviewed data on more than 290,000 men with prostate cancer from the past 20 years and found that African-American men are at increased risk for poorer survival rate following prostate cancer treatment compared to other minority groups. The study was recently published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings.
Researchers say that it has long been known that the survival rates of African-American men are less than Caucasian men but there was less information about other minorities such as Hispanics and Asians. Using data from the National Cancer Institute, the researchers used consistent clinical parameters among the groups and found that the survival rates for Hispanics and Asians were about the same as Caucasian.
“Theoretically, if all clinical and demographic variables are the same and people have similar access to treatment, they should have the equal survival rates,” says Mark D. Tyson, II, M.D, a urologist at Mayo Clinic in Arizona. “We found that is not the case.”
Dr. Tyson said the research team believes that the disparity can be attributed to post treatment factors. He said the next phase of the research will examine what post treatment factors contribute to the survival rate. He said that it is important for both physicians and patients to know that the disparity exists and there could be a variety of reasons why.
“What we do know is that with all other things being equal there is still this disparity… and the study really points to that post treatment period,” Dr. Tyson says. “The message that patients and clinicians can take away from this study is that patients need to be followed closely particularly if they are of African-American descent.”
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About Mayo Clinic
Recognizing 150 years of serving humanity in 2014, Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit worldwide leader in medical care, research and education for people from all walks of life. For more information, visit 150years.mayoclinic.org, http://www.mayoclinic.org and newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org.
MEDIA CONTACT: Jim McVeigh, Mayo Clinic Public Affairs, 480-301-4222, mcveigh.jim@mayo.edu
March 13th, 2014 · Leave a Comment
Large Waist Linked to Poor Health, Even Among Those in Healthy Body Mass Index Ranges
By Nick Hanson
Journalists: Sound bites with Dr. Cerhan are available in the downloads.
ROCHESTER, Minn. — March 12, 2014 — Having a big belly has consequences beyond trouble squeezing into your pants. It’s detrimental to your health, even if you have a healthy body mass index (BMI), a new international collaborative study led by a Mayo Clinic researcher found. Men and women with large waist circumferences were more likely to die younger, and were more likely to die from illnesses such as heart disease, respiratory problems, and cancer after accounting for body mass index, smoking, alcohol use and physical activity. The study is published in the March edition of Mayo Clinic Proceedings.
The researchers pooled data from 11 different cohort studies, including more than 600,000 people from around the world. They found that men with waists 43 inches or greater in circumference had a 50 percent higher mortality risk than men with waists less than 35 inches, and this translated to about a three-year lower life expectancy after age 40. Women with a waist circumference of 37 inches or greater had about an 80 percent higher mortality risk than women with a waist circumference of 27 inches or less, and this translated to about a five-year lower life expectancy after age 40.