Dec 16, 2005

Book Marks For The Cancer Cells

"Cellular bookmarks" are established by non-malignant bone marrow cells in target organs, which direct the spread of cancer cells to their predetermined destination. The researchers of Howard Hughes Medical institute says.

This discovery may help identify subsets of high-risk cancer patients who are prone to distant metastases. Those patients would likely benefit from a more aggressive adjuvant therapy to prevent cancer relapse.

The researchers, led by David Lyden and Shahin Rafii , published their findings in a January issue of the journal Nature. Lyden and his colleagues are at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the Weill Medical College. Shahin Rafii is an investigator at Howard Hughes Medical Institute at weill Medical college of Cornell University.

Rafii and Lyden's group had established that a specific subset of bone marrow derived cells (BMDCs ) - involving hematopoietic progenitor cells capable of dividing and forming colonies- are recruited by tumors to help the growth of new blood vessels.

In experiments with mice that had been implanted with highly metastatic lung cancers or melanoma cells, the scientists discovered that BMDCs did, indeed, arrive at the pre-metastatic sites before the arrival of cancer cells.

The researchers showed that there was a significant decrease in succeeding tumor metastasis by the intervention with the mobilization of VEGFR1-positive cells from the bone marrow and incorporation into the pre-metastatic niche.

A number of regulatory molecules were identified by the researcher, including the adhesion molecule VLA4 and the protease MMP-9, which were necessary for BMDCs to establish the pre-metastatic niches in target organs and for tumor cells to find and attach to those niches.

Janet      

Do You Read All Of Our Cancer Blogs?

Do you read all of the blogs published by medicineworld.org? Many of our bloggers are busy keeping you updated on the various health related topics. We publish the following blogs at this time.

Cancer blog: I manage the cancer blog with lots of help and support form other bloggers. Through this cancer blog my friends and I try to bring stories of hope for patients with cancer. The cancer blog often republishes important blog posts from other cancer related blogs at Medicineworld.org. If you are searching for a blog that covers wide variety of cancer topics, this may be the one for you.

Breast cancer blog: Breast cancer blog is run by Emily and other bloggers and they bring you the latest stories, news and events that are related to breast cancer. Increasing awareness about breast cancer among women and in the general population is the main goal of this breast cancer blog.

Lung cancer blog: Lung cancer blog is managed by Scott with the help of other bloggers. Through this blog Scott and his friends constantly remind the readers about the dangers of smoking. It's a never-ending struggle against this miserable disease with which a social stigma of smoking is associated.

Colon cancer blog: Colon cancer blog is run by Sue and other bloggers. Sue brings a personal touch to the colon cancer blog since her mother died of colon cancer few years ago. She writes about stories, research news and advances in treatment related to colon cancer.

Prostate cancer blog: Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among American men. American Cancer Society estimates that over 230,000 new cases of prostate cancer occur in the United state every year. This important blog about prostate cancer is run by Mark and other bloggers. This blog brings news, stories, and other personal observations related to prostate cancer.

Medicineworld.org publishes a diabetes watch blog and this blog is run by JoAnn other bloggers. This diabetes watch blog brings you the latest in the field of diabetes. This includes personal stories, advances in diagnosis and treatment, and other observations about diabetes. Improving awareness about diabetes is an important mission of this group.

Janet      

Cancer
Cancer is a very common disease, approximately one out of every two American men and one out of every three American women will have some type of cancer at some point during the course of their life. Cancer is more common in the elderly and 77 percent of cancers occur in people above age 55 or older. Cancer is also common in children. Cancer incidence is said to have two peaks once during early childhood and then during late years in life. No age period is completely exempted from development of cancers. Some cancers occur predominantly in the elderly, other types occur in children, Cancer occurs in all ethnic races, however the cancer rates and rates of specific cancer types may vary from group to group. Late stages of cancer may be incurable in most cases, but with the advancement of medicine, more and more cancers are becoming curable.