Neoplasms

New evidence that aging tumor cells may be an effective cancer treatment
Scientists at the University of Massachusetts Medical School have shown that diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) may be susceptible to treatment by re-activating the normal aging program in tumor cells so they can no longer divide. The study, published in Nature Communications, details a novel, tumor-suppressive role for the Smurf2 protein—which typically plays an "enforcer" role in cellular aging, also called senescence —in a subset of DLBCL. Identification of this novel function for Smurf2 provides a new therapeutic target for treating this cancer. MedicalXpress

Drug activates virus against cancer
Parvoviruses cause no harm in humans, but they can attack and kill cancer cells. Since 1992, scientists at the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) have been studying these viruses with the aim of developing a viral therapy to treat glioblastomas, a type of aggressively growing brain cancer. A clinical trial has been conducted since 2011 at the Heidelberg University Neurosurgery Hospital to test the safety of treating cancer patients with the parvovirus H-1. Eurekalert!

Anesthesia technique may reduce breast cancer recurrence and death
Breast cancer patients who received the combination of a nerve block with general anesthesia for their breast cancer surgery had less cancer recurrence and were three times less likely to die than those who received only general anesthesia, according to a study presented at the ANESTHESIOLOGY 2013 annual meeting. Additionally, patients who received the nerve block needed less opioid pain relief from drugs such as fentanyl and oxycodone. MedicalXpress

Blood test can differentiate between benign lung nodules and early stage lung cancer, study suggest
Indi (Integrated Diagnostics), an emerging leader in molecular diagnostics, today announced the results of a major study which suggests that quantifying a combination of blood proteins can distinguish between benign lung nodules and early-stage lung cancer with high probability. The study, which was published today in Science Translational Medicine (STM), suggests that when this group of proteins (or 'classifier') is detected, and their relative concentrations are used to identify a patient's lung nodule (a round lesion of up to three cm) as benign, the classifier result is correct more than 90 percent of the time. MedicalXpress

Study finds high variability among primary care physicians in rate of PSA screening of older men
"No organization recommends prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening in men older than 75 years. Nevertheless, testing rates remain high," write Elizabeth Jaramillo, M.D., of the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, and colleagues in a Research Letter appearing in the October 16 issue of JAMA. The authors examined whether PSA screening rates would vary substantially among primary care physicians (PCPs) and if the variance would depend on which PCP patients used. MedicalXpress