Florida - June 2014 Archives

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A gene known to control brain growth and development is heavily involved in promoting clear cell renal cell carcinoma, the most common form of kidney cancer, researchers from Mayo Clinic in Florida are reporting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJ_8vv97wIA Their study, published in Cancer Research, reveals that the gene NPTX2, plays an essential role in this cancer type, which is resistant to common chemotherapy and has a five-year overall survival rate of less than 10 percent in patients with metastatic disease.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLz4lUkPs28 JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — June 6, 2014 — An optical blood oxygen sensor attached to an endoscope is able to identify pancreatic cancer in patients via a simple endoscopic procedure, according to researchers at Mayo Clinic in Florida. The study, published in GIE: Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, shows that the device, which acts like the well-known clothespin-type finger clip used to measure blood oxygen in patients, has a sensitivity of 92 percent and a specificity of 86 percent. That means, of 100 patients with pancreatic cancer, this sensor would detect 92 of them, based on the findings. And of 100 patients who don’t have pancreatic cancer, the test would correctly identify them 86 percent of the time.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Neuroscientists at Mayo Clinic in Florida and at Aarhus University in Denmark have shed light on why neurons in the brain’s reward system can be miswired, potentially contributing to disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). They say findings from their study, published online today in Neuron, may increase the understanding of underlying causes of ADHD, potentially facilitating the development of more individualized treatment strategies. The scientists looked at dopaminergic neurons, which regulate pleasure, motivation, reward, and cognition, and have been implicated in development of ADHD. They uncovered a receptor system that is critical, during embryonic development, for correct wiring of the dopaminergic brain area. But they also discovered that after brain maturation, a cut in the same receptor, SorCS2, produces a two-chain receptor that induces cell death following damage to the peripheral nervous system. The researchers report that the SorCS2 receptor functions as a molecular switch between apparently opposing effects in proBDNF. ProBDNF is a neuronal growth factor that helps select cells that are most beneficial to the nervous system, while eliminating those that are less favorable in order to create a finely tuned neuronal network.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAyvFbGlWKY&feature=youtu.be Journalists: Broadcast soundbites with Dr. Perez are available in the downloads. CHICAGO — In the largest clinical trial testing the effectiveness of one versus two drugs to treat HER2-positive breast cancer, lapatinib (Tykerb) did not add benefit to the standard trastuzumab (Herceptin) adjuvant therapy, researchers report at the 50th annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). Results of the phase III clinical trial, ALTTO (Adjuvant Lapatinib and/or Trastuzumab Treatment Optimization study), demonstrated that adding lapatinib to trastuzumab and chemotherapy did not improve patient outcome (defined as disease-free survival or overall survival), and that use of lapatinib significantly increased toxicity. “These findings suggest that standard adjuvant (post-surgery) treatment for early stage HER2-positive breast cancer should remain trastuzumab in combination with chemotherapy,” says Edith A. Perez, M.D., deputy director at large of the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, and director of the Breast Cancer Translational Genomics Program at Mayo Clinic in Florida.