Cancer

The Breast Cancer Genome Guided Therapy Study (BEAUTY Project) will help physicians tailor chemotherapy to breast cancer patients based on their individual genomes and the ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. — April 9, 2012.   The Breast Cancer Genome Guided Therapy Study (BEAUTY Project) will help physicians tailor chemotherapy to breast cancer patients based on their individual genomes and the genomes of their tumors. Mayo Clinic researchers will obtain three whole genome sequences: one from the patients' healthy cells before treatment, and two tumor genomes – one before chemotherapy and one after. Patients will be paired with mouse "avatars" that will help physicians identify the best treatment for each person. "What is so exciting about this study is that it has the potential to really bring individualized medicine to our patients," says Matthew Goetz, M.D., Mayo oncologist and study co-leader. "It will transform how we conduct breast cancer research and how drug therapies are delivered to women with breast cancer." In phase one of the BEAUTY Project, researchers will study the first 200 participants to look for common mutations that allow some tumors to adapt and thrive during chemotherapy. This information will help doctors identify new drugs and treatment strategies. Women diagnosed with "high-risk" cancers who are scheduled to receive standard chemotherapy before surgery will have their healthy genome and their breast cancer tumor cells sequenced before treatment, and then receive the commonly prescribed chemotherapy to shrink the tumor. At surgery, the residual cancer tumor cells will be sequenced again to evaluate how they have mutated and adapted to chemotherapy. In addition, patients' tumor tissue will be kept alive by implanting cell lines in immune-compromised mice — before and after chemotherapy. The use of these mouse "avatars'' will let researchers study the effects of chemotherapy on individual patient tumors and identify the best treatment, without risk of harm to the patient. "Patients are pleased after definitive breast surgery to be cancer free," says Judy Boughey, M.D., a Mayo breast surgeon and study co-leader. "Unfortunately, a subset of high-risk patients still may experience recurrence, even months or years later. We designed this study to give those patients hope that our ability to decode the genome of every patient might give us new tools to treat cancer."

Tanning seems to be a year-round business but with recent news about melanoma increasing for people under forty, some might think twice before baking in the sun or ...

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — April 2, 2012.  The combination of the novel drug TH-302 with the standard drug gemcitabine has shown early signs of delaying the ...

Mayo Clinic researchers are close to developing a quick noninvasive test that uses a small sample of a patient’s stool to check for specific DNA ...

Cancer cells in mice are reportedly being killed by a dietary supplement.  Mayo Clinic researchers say the supplement gamma-linoleic acid can inhibit the growth of a ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. — April 2, 2012.  A study presented today by Mayo Clinic researchers at the American Association for Cancer Research(AACR) Annual Meeting 2012 in ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. — The dietary supplement gamma-linolenic acid can inhibit the growth of a subset of pancreatic cancer cells and selectively promote cancer cell death in mice, a Mayo Clinic study has found. The supplement, a fatty acid also known as GLA, worked particularly well when combined with the chemotherapy drug gemcitabine, the researchers say. The findings were presented today by Mayo Clinic pathologist Ruth Lupu, Ph.D., at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2012. "One of the most devastating facts about pancreatic cancer is the paucity of effective drugs that exist to halt a tumor," Dr. Lupu says. "We knew from studies done about 20 years ago that polyunsaturated fatty acids such as GLA could influence cancers in general, but we didn't know which type of fatty acids and to what degree." Dr. Lupu's team first tested GLA against a variety of pancreatic cancer cell lines, and found that it was effective only against a subtype, expressing a gene for fatty acid synthase (FASN). Earlier studies by Dr. Lupu's team had demonstrated that FASN is highly expressed in pancreatic adenocarcinomas and appears to be a marker for poor overall survival in patients. "This was very exciting finding, because we realized that GLA was working selectively and had a particular target within cells," Dr. Lupu says. As researchers tested the GLA against cells with high levels of FASN, they found GLA inhibited about 85 percent of cell growth, while gemcitabine alone, the standard chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer, had a modest effect on cell inhibition. When researchers combined GLA with gemcitabine, the cell growth was inhibited completely. Then the team investigated the combination in mouse models of pancreatic cancer and found GLA in combination with gemcitabine significantly inhibited tumor growth. "The two treatments worked synergistically, and we achieved a significantly higher inhibition of cell growth and higher incidence of dead pancreatic carcinoma cells," Dr. Lupu says. "We don't yet know why the combination works better, but we know that many drugs work better when used together." Dr. Lupu says that because GLA targets FASN, which is present in high levels in certain pancreatic cancers, the supplement has real potential for individualized therapy. Dr. Lupu cautions that patients or healthy individuals should not rush to take GLA or alter their chemotherapy without consulting their oncologist. Her next stage of research will be to develop a Phase I clinical trial to test the GLA-gemcitabine combination in human patients. Her group will also test GLA in combination with other chemotherapy drugs currently used to treat pancreatic cancer.

The combination of two drugs can slow down the advancement of pancreatic cancer.  Mayo Clinic researchers say the novel drug TH-302 with the standard drug ...

Mayo Clinic is noticing an alarming trend: the rate of skin cancer, especially in people under 40, is dramatically increasing.  In the April issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, researchers published ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. — March 26, 2012.  Even as the rates of some cancers are falling, Mayo Clinic is seeing an alarming trend: the dramatic rise ...

This year tobacco-related illness will kill nearly 6-million people worldwide. That's more people than AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined. Just this week in Singapore, at a ...