Research - June 2014 Archives

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. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biPY4-SkYbk 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.

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.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGd5cIM5U0Q&feature=youtu.be&hd=1 ROCHESTER, Minn. — Researchers at Mayo Clinic released a new study reversing current thought on the treatment of cirrhotic patients with type 2 diabetes. The study found that the continuation of metformin after a cirrhosis diagnosis improved survival rates among diabetes patients. Metformin is usually discontinued once cirrhosis is diagnosed because of concerns about an increased risk of adverse effects associated with this treatment in patients with liver impairment. The Mayo Clinic study was recently published in Hepatology. Cirrhosis is scarring of the liver caused by forms of liver diseases, such as chronic viral hepatitis, chronic alcohol abuse and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. This condition is the consequence of damage done to the liver over many years. As cirrhosis progresses, more and more scar tissue forms, impeding proper liver functions.

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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. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujP6gPfHVUQ

Research conducted by Mayo Clinic investigators has found that two common gene variants that lead to longer telomeres — the caps on chromosome ends thought by many scientists to confer health by protecting cells from aging — also significantly increase the risk of developing gliomas, a deadly form of brain cancer. The genetic variants, in two telomere-related genes known as TERT and TERC, are respectively carried by 51 percent and 72 percent of the general population. Because it is somewhat unusual for such risk-conferring variants to be carried by a majority of people, the researchers propose that, in these carriers, the overall cellular robustness afforded by longer telomeres trumps the increased risk of high-grade gliomas, which are invariably fatal but relatively rare. The research was published online in the journal Nature Genetics.

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.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAyvFbGlWKY&feature=youtu.be CHICAGO — No maior estudo clínico já realizado para analisar a eficácia do tratamento do câncer de mama HER2 positivo, com um ou com a combinação de dois medicamentos, os pesquisadores relataram que o uso do lapatinibe (Tykerb) não apresentou  benefício ao tratamento auxiliar padrão com trastuzumabe (Herceptin), conforme apresentado durante o  50º encontro anual da Sociedade Americana de Oncologia Clínica (ASCO — American Society of Clinical Oncology). Resultados do estudo clínico de fase III ALTTO (Adjuvant Lapatinib and/or Trastuzumab Treatment Optimization Study) demonstraram que ao acrescentar lapatinibe ao tratamento com trastuzimabe e quimioterapia não melhorou os resultados gerais para os pacientes (definidos como sobrevida livre da doença ou sobrevida total) e que o uso de lapatinibe aumentou de forma significativa a toxicidade do tratamento.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8PYNOBQyhM&feature=youtu.be CHICAGO — Ao examinar porque alguns pacientes com melanoma avançado respondem tão bem à imunoterapia experimental MK-3475, enquanto outros obtêm uma resposta mais fraca, pesquisadores da Clínica Mayo de Jacksonville, na Flórida, descobriram que o tamanho dos tumores, antes do tratamento, era a variável mais forte.

JACKSONVILLE, Flórida — Neurocientistas da Clínica Mayo em Jacksonville, na Flórida, e da Universidade de Aarhus, na Dinamarca, trouxeram uma luz para a compreensão de falhas na conexão dos neurônios no sistema de compensação cerebral cérebro, contribuindo para problemas como o transtorno do déficit de atenção com hiperatividade (TDAH).

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.