New drug to treat brain and breast
cancer found!
Researchers have discovered two chemical compounds that
effectively stop the growth of brain cancer cells
and breast tumours, opening the way for potential new drugs to be developed.
‘It is particularly encouraging for brain tumour patients, who do not currently
have effective treatment options besides surgery,’ said James Turkson from
University of Hawaii Cancer Centre in the US. ‘The targeted treatments are less
toxic and therefore will give cancer patients a better quality of life when
both compounds are developed as drugs,’ Turkson said.
In the study published in the journal Cancer Research, the
researchers examined compounds that inhibit Stat3, a protein implicated in a
variety of cancers that include brain and breast cancers. In mouse models of
brain and breast cancer, the two compounds effectively inhibited tumour growth,
the results said.
The two chemical compounds, a hydroxamic acid-based
inhibitor (SH5-07), and a benzoic acid-based inhibitor (SH4-54) designed at the
UH Cancer Center stopped the growth of brain and breast cancer cells
by blocking a certain function of the Stat3 protein. The two compounds stop the
protein from promoting cancer cells to grow, thus stopping the tumours from
growing. ‘Our results offer preclinical proof of concept for SH5-07 and SH4-54
as candidates for further development as cancer therapeutics,’ the study said.
Source: www.thehealthsite.com
17.07.2015
Using drugs for
a long time affects women’s brain volume
A recent study has claimed that the long-term stimulant
abuse has more significant effects on brain volume in women than in men.
University of Colorado researchers tried to determine how the brains of people
previously dependent on stimulants are different from the brains of healthy
people.
Researcher Jody Tanabe said that during the research,
while the women previously dependent on stimulants demonstrated widespread
brain differences when compared to their healthy control counterparts, the men
demonstrated no significant brain differences. The women who were former
stimulant abusers showed significant loss of gray matter volume in their
brains while men who were former stimulant abusers demonstrated no
significant brain differences compared to their healthy counterparts.
Tanabe further said that she hopes that her findings would
lead to further investigation into gender differences in substance dependence
and more effective treatments.
The results are published in the journal Radiology.
Source: www.thehealthsite.com
17.07.2015
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