Pancreatic cancer has a dismal prognosis: only a quarter of those diagnosed survive past one year and only about six percent live beyond five years. Its strong resistance to chemotherapy makes pancreatic cancer one of the most aggressive, deadly cancers and leaves doctors with few treatment options. New ways to study pancreatic cancer are desperately … Continue reading Shedding Light on a Path to Halting Deadly Pancreatic Cancers
Cancer Stem Cells
Outsmarting cancer’s deadly tricks
Cancer cells are devious monsters that kill people by sabotaging normal cell functions toward a path of uncontrolled cell growth. Without an effective treatment, aggressive cancers can crowd out healthy tissue and ultimately cause organ failure and death. This devastation by design makes it seem as though a cancer cell has a mind of its … Continue reading Outsmarting cancer’s deadly tricks
Achilles’ Heel of Brain Cancer Identified in Tumor Stem Cells
Few words strike me with more dread than glioblastoma, the name for a very aggressive, incurable cancer of the brain. Although surgery and chemotherapy can help hold off or reverse a glioblastoma’s growth for a while, almost inevitably the tumor comes back along with a terrible prognosis: an average survival time of 12 to 15 … Continue reading Achilles’ Heel of Brain Cancer Identified in Tumor Stem Cells
Stem cell stories that caught our eye: fighting cancer, a cell’s neighborhood matters, funding next generation scientists
Here are some stem cell stories that caught our eye this past week. Some are groundbreaking science, others are of personal interest to us, and still others are just fun. Reprogramming skin to fight cancer. Earlier CIRM-funded research showed that adult nerve stem cells can home to the residual brain cancer left behind after surgery … Continue reading Stem cell stories that caught our eye: fighting cancer, a cell’s neighborhood matters, funding next generation scientists
New drug kicks the cancer stem cell addiction
Did you know that cancer stem cells have an addiction problem? This might sound bizarre, but the science checks out. Cancer stem cells are found in many different types of cancer tumors. They have the uncanny ability to survive even the most aggressive forms of treatment. After weathering the storm, cancer stem cells are able … Continue reading New drug kicks the cancer stem cell addiction
Using baking ingredient to create “nano” bombs and destroy cancer stem cells
"I am not a cook". Richard Nixon and the baking ingredient that could help win the "war on cancer" In 1971 President Richard Nixon declared a “war on cancer” and signed the National Cancer Act into law. Forty years later we’re still waging that war, and cancer is still one of the leading causes of … Continue reading Using baking ingredient to create “nano” bombs and destroy cancer stem cells
Smoking out Leukemia Cells to Prevent Cancer Relapse
Ninety-five percent of all patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), carry a Frankenstein-like gene, called BCR-ABL, created from an abnormal fusion of two genes normally found on two separate chromosomes. Like a water faucet without a shutoff valve, the resulting mutant protein is stuck in an “on” position and leads to uncontrolled cell division and … Continue reading Smoking out Leukemia Cells to Prevent Cancer Relapse
Three teams empower patients’ immune systems to oust cancer
Immuno-oncology is all the rage now in biotech publications, with due cause. It is producing some pretty impressive results in patients who failed other therapies. Most of what gets written about involves strengthening or unlocking the action of one immune cell, the T cell. But our immune systems are armed with many types of ammunition; … Continue reading Three teams empower patients’ immune systems to oust cancer
One man’s story points to hope against a deadly skin cancer
At our May Board meeting a gentleman presented his story, which exemplifies being a patient and patient advocate. His name is Norm Beegun. And this is his story. Norm lives in Los Angeles. In 2002 he went to see his regular doctor, an old high school friend, who suggested that since it had been almost … Continue reading One man’s story points to hope against a deadly skin cancer
CIRM fights cancer: $56 million for 5 clinical trials to vanquish tumors for good
[This is the first of three stories on CIRM’s Cancer Fight that we will post this week. Tomorrow’s will discuss two projects that attack cancer stem cells directly and Thursday's will describe three projects that help our immune system wipe out the traitorous cells.] It’s back—two words we would like to remove from the cancer … Continue reading CIRM fights cancer: $56 million for 5 clinical trials to vanquish tumors for good
The Stem Cellar 