New 'Achilles' Heel' In Breast Cancer: Tumor Cell Mitochondria
Researchers at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson have identified cancer cell mitochondria as the unsuspecting powerhouse and "Achilles' heel" of tumor growth, opening up the door for new therapeutic targets in breast cancer and other tumor types. Reporting in the online Dec.1 issue of Cell Cycle, Michael P. Lisanti, M.D., Ph.D., Professor and Chair of Stem Cell Biology & Regenerative Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University, and colleagues provide the first in vivo evidence that breast cancer cells perform enhanced mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) to produce high amounts of energy.
Kidney Patients Have Better Chances In Germany
In complex cases of kidney failure, medical care in Germany evidently operates better than in the US. Scientists at Charità Università tsmedizin Berlin were able to show that German patients who have an increased risk of rejection reactions due to prior immunization have better survival rates than people with diseases of similar severity in the US. This applies not only during dialysis but also to the period after receiving a new kidney. The researchers regard the reasons for this as being not only the better quality of dialysis in Germany but particularly a highly efficient European organ donation system, with the aid of which data of organ donors and recipients are recorded, analyzed and thus optimally assigned to suitable patients.
What Wakes Dormant Tumor Cells
Prostate tumor cells can be lulled to sleep by a factor released by bone cells, according to a study published online this week in the Journal of Experimental Medicine. Disease recurs in up to half of prostate cancer patients after treatment, often as a result of metastases that spread to distant organs. Kounosuke Watabe and colleagues at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine now show that BMP7, a protein pumped out by cells that line the bone interior, signals tumor cells to enter a state of hibernation.