human tumors

(Jackson Laboratory) The Scripps Translational Science Institute of San Diego, Calif., has joined a national consortium of research institutions headed by the Jackson Laboratory that is building a library of primary human tumors with the goal of developing highly targeted cancer therapies.

(California Institute of Technology) A Caltech-led team of researchers and clinicians has published the first proof that a targeted nanoparticle -- used as an experimental therapeutic and injected directly into a patient's bloodstream -- can traffic into tumors, deliver double-stranded small interfering RNAs, and turn off an important cancer gene using a mechanism known as RNA interference.

Moreover, the team provided the first demonstration that this new type of therapy can make its way to human tumors in a dose-dependent fashion.