ohio state university medical

(Ohio State University Medical Center) A new study shows that a strain of measles virus engineered to kill cancer cells can prolong survival in a model of medulloblastoma that is disseminated in the fluid around the brain.

Treatment with the oncolytic virus called MV-GFP extended survival of animals with disseminated human medulloblastoma up to 122 percent, with treated animals surviving 82 days on average versus 37 days for controls.

Two of the eight treated animals were left cancer-free.

(Ohio State University Medical Center) A new study shows that it is possible to selectively target and block a particular microRNA that is important in liver cancer.

The findings might offer a new therapy for this malignancy, which kills an estimated 549,000 people worldwide annually.

The study focused on miR-221, which is consistently present at abnormally high levels in human liver cancer.

The treatment significantly prolonged survival in an animal model and promoted the activity of important tumor-suppressor genes.

(Ohio State University Medical Center) A new study may help explain why men are three times more likely than women to develop a common form of skin cancer.

The study found that male mice had lower levels of an important skin antioxidant than female mice and higher levels of certain cancer-linked inflammatory cells.

As a result, men may be more susceptible to oxidative stress in the skin, which may raise their risk of skin cancer compared to women.

(Ohio State University Medical Center) A new fourth-generation oncolytic virus designed to both kill cancer cells and inhibit blood-vessel growth has shown greater effectiveness than earlier versions when tested in animal models.

The virus is being developed as a treatment for glioblastoma, the most common and deadly form of brain cancer.

The new virus improved survival of mice with transplanted human glioblastoma tumors by 50 percent in a majority of cases compared with the previous-generation oncolytic virus.

(Ohio State University Medical Center) Cloud computing is a term used to describe a system that allows easy access to a shared pool of resources.

The "cloud" acts like a virtual supercomputer that can pull together a cluster of other computers to work together to perform certain tasks.

The system works well when the data that are being stored, accessed and shared are in common formats that are universally "recognized" by end user tools.

But research data are often not captured or stored in formats that are compatible.

(Ohio State University Medical Center) New research proves that a change in a particular gene can identify which patients with a specific kind of brain cancer will respond better to treatment.

Testing for the gene can distinguish patients with a more- or less-aggressive form of glioblastoma, the most common and an often-fatal type of primary brain cancer, and this can help guide therapy.

The prospective study looked for a change in the MGMT gene in tumors from 833 glioblastoma patients.

(Ohio State University Medical Center) Researchers have identified characteristic patterns of molecules called microRNA in the blood of people with lung cancer that might reveal both the presence and aggressiveness of the disease, and perhaps who is at risk of developing it.

These patterns may be detectable up to two years before the tumor is found by computed tomography (CT) scans.

The findings could lead to a blood test for lung cancer.

(Ohio State University Medical Center) The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center -- Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J.

Solove Research Institute and Friends of Cancer Research are convening a high-level group of stakeholders to discuss current obstacles halting co-development of two or more experimental drugs for the treatment of cancer.

The objective of the Cancer Drug Development Roundtable is to develop a set of recommendations for the FDA to be revealed later this year.

(Ohio State University Medical Center) A new study suggests that combining two experimental anticancer peptide agents might simultaneously block formation of new tumor blood vessels while also inhibiting the growth of tumor cells.

The findings suggest that the double hit can stifle tumor progression, avoid drug resistance and cause few side effects, say the researchers who developed the agents and evaluated their effectiveness in laboratory and animal tests.

(Ohio State University Medical Center) The human T-lymphotropic virus type 1, a cancer-causing retrovirus, exploits key proteins in host cells to extend the life of those cells, thereby prolonging its own survival and ability to spread, according to a new study.

The virus, which causes adult T-cell leukemia and lymphoma, produces a protein called p30 that targets two important cell proteins, one involved in DNA damage repair, the other involved in the destruction of proteins within the cell.