Showing posts tagged with: clinical trials

Cancer 'Smart Bomb' Successfully Tested in US

Scientists have successfully tested a capillary "smart bomb" that simultaneously attacks cancer and boosts the immune system.

The tiny hollow spheres become trapped in leaky tumour blood vessels, where they unleash an anti-cancer drug.

At the same time the spheres, called nanolipogels (NLGs), release a protein that rallies the body's own defences.

Researchers tested the spheres in mice on melanoma skin cancer that had spread to the lungs.

Tumour growth was significantly delayed and the survival of the mice increased.

The new technology overcomes a problem with cancer treatment that has been difficult to tackle using conventional therapies, say the scientists.

Cancer tumours are known to secrete chemicals that confuse the immune system.

But attempts to boost patient immunity while at the same time neutralising the cancer's chemical arsenal rarely work.

The NLGs, described in the journal Nature Materials, package together two completely different kinds of molecule.

One is designed to overcome a potent cancer defence weapon called TGF-beta, which stunts the local immune system.

The other, an interleukin signalling molecule, boosts immune system activity.

Researcher Dr Stephen Wrzesinski, from Yale University School of Medicine in the US, said: "One problem with current metastatic (spreading) melanoma immunotherapies is the difficulty managing autoimmune toxicities when the treatment agents are administered throughout the body.

"The novel nanolipogel delivery system we used will hopefully bypass systemic toxicities while providing support to enable the body to fight off the tumour at the tumour bed itself."

Each NLG is small enough to travel through the bloodstream, but large enough to get entrapped in leaky cancer blood vessels. Once trapped, they biodegrade to release their cargo.

Article taken from Sky News - click here to view.

Beta-blockers 'may lower dementia risk'

Taking beta-blocker drugs may cut the risk of dementia, a trial in 774 men suggests.

The medication is used to treat high blood pressure, a known risk factor for dementia.

In the study, which will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's annual meeting in March, men on beta-blockers were less likely to have brain changes suggestive of dementia.

Experts say it is too early to recommend beta-blockers for dementia.  The findings are preliminary and larger studies in men and women from different ethnicities are needed to see what benefit beta-blockers might offer.

To read the full article click here.

Breast cancer drug tamoxifen recommended for 'high risk' women

Women in England and Wales with a strong family history of breast cancer could be offered medication on the NHS to try to prevent the disease.

The National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence has launched a consultation on whether tamoxifen could be given for up to five years.

If approved later this year, the draft guidelines would be the first of their kind in the UK.

Charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer welcomed the "exciting, historic step".

To read the full article click here.

Drug 'may slow' Alzheimer's brain death

A drug appears to slow the brain's death and preserve mental function in patients with Alzheimer's disease, a study shows.

Hundreds of volunteers to help spot early Alzheimer's

British researchers are hoping to shed new light on the very early stages of Alzheimer's disease, with the help of hundreds of volunteers.