New drug raises potential for cancer treatment revolution
A revolution in cancer treatment could soon be underway following a breakthrough that may lead to a dramatic improvement in cancer survival rates. A new study at the University of Warwick, published today in the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition, has developed a new drug that can manipulate the body's natural signalling and energy systems, allowing the body to attack and shut down cancerous cells. Called ZL105, the drug is a compound based on the precious metal iridium. The study has found ZL105 could potentially replace currently used anticancer drugs, which become less effective over time, cause a wide-range of side-effects and damage healthy cells as well as cancerous.
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New approach makes cancer cells explode
Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have discovered that a substance called Vacquinol-1 makes cells from glioblastoma, the most aggressive type of brain tumour, literally explode. When mice were given the substance, which can be given in tablet form, tumour growth was reversed and survival was prolonged. The findings are published in the journal Cell. The established treatments that are available for glioblastoma include surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. But even if this treatment is given the average survival is just 15 months. It is therefore critical to find better treatments for malignant brain tumours.
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Cancer therapy may be too targeted
Researchers have identified two novel cancer genes that are associated with the development of a rare, highly aggressive, cancer of blood vessels. These genes may now act as markers for future treatments and explain why narrowly targeted therapies that are directed at just one target fail. Angiosarcoma is a rare cancer of blood vessels. It occurs either spontaneously or can appear after radiotherapy treatment. Although quite rare, with approximately 100 people diagnosed with the cancer in the UK each year, the survival outcomes for the cancer are poorer than many other cancer types.
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New IMI Project to Incorporate Real Life Data into Drug Development
The Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) has launched a new project called GETREAL that will investigate new ways of integrating data from real life settings, such as clinics, into drug development. This will assist healthcare decision makers when deciding how best to grant patients access to a new treatment and help pharmaceutical companies to take better decisions during drug development. Once a new drug has been developed, it must be reviewed by both the marketing authorisation and health technology assessment (HTA) bodies. HTA organisations assess the drug's 'relative effectiveness', which is the extent to which a treatment does more good than harm when compared to one or more alternative treatments when provided under normal healthcare circumstances.
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Strategies on the Internet to discredit generic drugs
Although there is widespread consensus among the scientific community that the composition of generic drugs is identical to that of brand name drugs, this is not the case among the public. In a four-year study of over 3,000 opinions on Spanish web pages, researchers at the National University of Distance Education (UNED) of Spain have identified communication strategies aimed at creating risk perceptions about generic drugs, which may influence the low usage of these drugs. Generic drugs, which are copies of brand name drugs whose patent has expired, have exactly the same composition, quality, effectiveness and safety as their brand-name counterparts since they share the same active ingredient.
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Epigenetic changes could explain type 2 diabetes
People with type 2 diabetes have epigenetic changes on their DNA that healthy individuals do not have. This has been shown in a major study by researchers at Lund University. The researchers also found epigenetic changes in a large number of genes that contribute to reduced insulin production. "This shows that the risk of developing type 2 diabetes is not only genetic, but also epigenetic", said Charlotte Ling, who led the study. Epigenetic changes occur as a result of factors including environment and lifestyle, and can affect the function of genes.
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Study suggests higher levels of omega-3 in diet are associated with better sleep
A randomised placebo-controlled study by the University of Oxford suggests that higher levels of omega-3 DHA, the group of long-chain fatty acids found in algae and seafood, are associated with better sleep. The researchers explored whether 16 weeks of daily 600 mg supplements of algal sources would improve the sleep of 362 children. The children who took part in the study were not selected for sleep problems, but were all struggling readers at a mainstream primary school. At the outset, the parents filled in a child sleep questionnaire, which revealed that four in ten of the children in the study suffered from regular sleep disturbances. Of the children rated as having poor sleep, the researchers fitted wrist sensors to 43 of them to monitor their movements in bed over five nights.
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