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NEWS, PUBLICATIONS, AND RELATED STORIES  Increased expression of SULF2 enhances cancer cell growth and migration, whereas decreased expression reduces both. Deadly and difficult to treat, liver cancer has long resisted attempts by researchers to develop ways to prolong life and prevent recurrence. But Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, in collaboration with the National Cancer Institute, reports in the April issue of Hepatology that the protein sulfatase 2 (SULF2) may provide one of the keys needed to begin the design of new therapies. View Abstract   The research team discovered that women whose atypia tissue expressed COX-2 enzymes were more likely to develop breast cancer subsequently, and that the more the enzyme expressed, the higher the risk. View Abstract Agreement strengthens relationship and spawns new scientific collaborations "TGen takes seriously our commitment to work toward helping patients with cancer and other disorders. This announcement is another mechanism allowing TGen and Mayo faculty to work bi-directionally in a more seamless fashion," said Jeffrey Trent, Ph.D., TGen's president and scientific director. View Related  Discovery's Edge "When we examined human breast tissue we were blown away by how dramatic and obvious the centrosome abnormalities were in the tumors," says Jeffrey Salisbury, Ph.D. "And that was literally on day one." View Related  Presented at the 2007 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium "We need to be aware that this kind of cancer is high risk and we should do all that we can to prevent brain metastasis," says Stephanie Hines, M.D. "For women with triple negative breast cancer, improvements in outcome will likely come when new treatments for this type of cancer are successfully developed." View Related  Presented at the 2007 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium "It appears that biology and not only size matters when it comes to selecting therapy for small, invasive tumors," says the study's lead researcher, Surabhi Amar, M.D., a fellow in Hematology/Oncology at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville. View Related    The study, which was done in mouse models, is featured on the cover of the November issue of Cancer Research. There are few effective treatments for advanced breast cancer, but in this case, the study authors feel that 2ME2 has the potential to improve the prognosis of patients with advanced breast cancer. View Related  Study presented at the American Society of Human Genetics Annual Meeting http://genetics.faseb.org/genetics/ashg/ashgmenu.htm View Related       The findings may also be relevant to other cancers, such as breast, ovarian, prostate, bladder, lung and colon cancers, in which loss of sFRP-1 function is common. "Through understanding the important role sFRP-1 plays, we may be able to eventually tailor human therapies to restore its function in this type of kidney cancer and in other cancers," explains the study's senior investigator, John A. Copland, Ph.D., a molecular biologist at Mayo Clinic Cancer Center. View Abstract  Highly effective translational research collaboration continues Mayo Clinic Cancer Center is a national recognition of excellence in education, research and treatment of cancer. The lymphoma SPORE is one of six SPORE cancer research programs at Mayo's locations in Arizona, Florida and Minnesota. Mayo Clinic also has been awarded SPORE grants in brain, breast, pancreatic and prostate cancer, and shares a SPORE for myeloma. View Related   Mayo Clinic Cancer Center had researchers from many disciplines presenting more than 60 oral abstracts and dozens of posters, also educational sessions and other special events throughout the 2007 ASCO program, June 1-5. View Related  The National Institutes of Health chose Mayo Clinic as one of the first 12 institutions to receive Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) in October 2006. "There are two objects in medical education: to heal the sick and advance the science." - Dr. Charles H. Mayo View Related  Yuan-Ping Pang, Ph.D. established the Computer-Aided Molecular Design Laboratory (CAMDL) to learn more about how biological systems function and to establish models that could lead to new treatments for infectious diseases and cancer. View Related  Osteoporosis was not even considered a disease before Mayo Clinic's 1980s groundbreaking epidemiology studies. Funded by a $1.2 million per year NIH Program Project grant, the osteoporosis research team is also taking their research to the genetic and molecular levels to study the physiology of bone metabolism in an aging population. Their studies investigate the TGF-beta-Inducible Early Gene (TIEG) gene's role in bone and skeletal disorders such as osteoporosis and breast cancer metastasis to the bone. View Related  Prognostic enzyme for nasopharyngeal cancer identified "We continue to look for ways to combat health disparities in the United States and throughout the world," said Lewis Roberts, M.B.Ch.B., Ph.D., the study's principal investigator and a gastroenterologist at Mayo Clinic. "Our research into SULF2 suggests a number of promising possibilities for the development of more effective treatments for cancer." View Abstract  Research Lost in Hurricane Katrina. Researchers Return to Mayo to Start Again Cancer vaccines are still considered experimental and so far, research results have been mixed. New studies, such as this, demonstrate that researchers are closing in on designing viable cancer vaccines, the investigators say. View Abstract  Mayo Clinic Cancer Center researchers have found that chaetocin, a by-product of a common wood mold, has promise as a new anti-myeloma agent. Results of their study are available online in the March 15, 2007, issue of Blood. Mayo Clinic has a long tradition of leadership in myeloma research and novel therapeutic development, with the oldest and largest myeloma program in the country. Dr. Bible’s research is part of an ongoing initiative within Mayo’s Dysproteinemia and Myeloma Groups to find promising natural or man-made agents for the treatment of myeloma and other blood diseases; and to investigate at a basic science level and subsequently translate that research into clinical practice. View Abstract  From studies reviewing basic laboratory science, to clinical trials and the final translation of that research to individualized patient care, Mayo Clinic Cancer Center has a broad portfolio of presentations at the 2007 AACR meeting. View Related    Double-strand breaks in DNA can result from external agents such as ultraviolet (UV) radiation or mutagenic chemicals. If left unrepaired, a single DNA double-strand break can lead to cell death or cancer. The Mayo research team showed that 53BP1 -- a human protein essential for repairing DNA double-strand breaks -- is recruited to the sites of DNA damage by direct interaction with histone H4, a protein constituent of the DNA packaging structure called chromatin. Findings are published in Dec. 29, 2006, issue of Cell. View Abstract  Findings may help target specific, individualized treatments to patients Certain patients suffering from multiple myeloma, a difficult-to-treat cancer of the plasma cells, may respond positively to a drug that shows potential to extend their survival rates by as much as six months, according to researchers at the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center. For the first time, Mayo researchers have identified tumor-specific alterations in the cellular pathway by which the multiple myeloma drug, bortezomib (Velcade), works, as well as nine new genetic mutations in cancer cells that should increase a patient's chance of responding to the agent. View Related  Inside Mayo Clinic Magazine Mayo Clinic researchers have challenged the conventional teaching about a common cancer trait, and in doing so, they discovered how cells are naturally “cancer proofed.“ Their findings were published in the journal Nature. View Abstract  Custom-fitting a Drug for a Child with Leukemia Some 20 years ago, Mayo Clinic researcher Richard Weinshilboum, M.D., and colleagues made a groundbreaking discovery: They determined why a dose of a drug that could produce astonishing cures in a lethal childhood cancer sometimes also could produce side effects that killed children. The reason behind this strikingly individual response to a drug was found in the genes. With this profound insight into the role that a patient's genetic make-up plays in how the patient responds to a drug, the new field of pharmacogenomic medicine was born. It continues to grow today—Mayo Clinic research leading the way discovering new treatment applications that range from depression, to breast cancer, to chemical dependency. View Related The collaboration will allow Mayo Clinic and Colorado State to combine expertise in comparative oncology and new treatments for disease. The goal of this collaboration is to bring new diagnostic tests specifically related to cancer and infectious diseases to help us advance biomedical research and bring new diagnostics and therapeutics to patients," says Ronald J. Marler, D.V.M, Ph.D., and associate director for Research/Research Alliances at Mayo Clinic in Arizona. View Related  Researcher-clinician offers advice for navigating the new world of molecular treatment The news that the world's first targeted therapy, trastuzumab (Herceptin), is now available for many women with early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer "highlights a truly significant advance in the management of breast cancer," says Edith Perez, M.D., director of Mayo Clinic's Breast Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla. Dr. Perez, who led one of the four pivotal studies that proved the drug's benefit in early-stage disease, says the approval of trastuzumab by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Nov. 16 for this new use now allows physicians to manage an aggressive type of breast cancer much more effectively than just a few years ago. View Related  Mayo Clinic Cancer Center's Specialized Programs of Research Excellence (SPORE) grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) for prostate cancer research has been renewed for an additional five years. SPORE grants are highly competitive awards given to institutions on the cutting edge of translational research in specific types of cancer. View Related  More than 200 clinicians and researchers attended the 2nd Mayo Clinic Angiogenesis Symposium, Oct. 27-29, 2006. Angiogenesis is the specific growth of new blood vessels to accommodate tumor growth and the spread of many cancers. View Related  Publication: Cancer Research -- Oct. 15, 2006 Combined deletion of chromosomes 1p and 19q is associated with improved prognosis and responsiveness to therapy in patients with anaplastic oligodendroglioma. Jenkins et al. used stem cell culture techniques to recover a t(1;19)(q10;p10) from an oligodendroglioma, suggesting that the translocation likely mediates the combined 1p and 19q deletions. The authors then developed an interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) strategy to detect the t(1;19) in paraffin-embedded tumors. Using gliomas from patients enrolled on NCCTG trials, the FISH test demonstrated that the translocation is highly prevalent in oligodendrogliomas and is associated with superior survival. View Related  Publication: Cancer Research -- Oct. 15, 2006 To understand better the underlying mechanisms by which tumor cells are resistant to CTL-mediated apoptosis, Yang et al. used a human model of B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (B-cell NHL) to show that intratumoral Treg cells inhibit the proliferation and granule production of activated autologous infiltrating CD8+ T Cells. View Related  Publication: Science -- Oct. 13, 2006 Biochemistry and Molecular Biology department researchers report that a protein that initiates a “quality control check” during cell division also directs cell death for those cells damaged during duplication. View Related  Mayo Clinic Cancer Center researchers see CDK2/FOXO1 as drug target Mayo Clinic researchers have found that a protein that initiates a "quality control check" during cell division also directs cell death for those cells damaged during duplication. This knowledge represents a potential "bulls eye" for targeting anti-tumor drugs. View Abstract  This annual education event brings cutting-edge research and the clinicians and scientists who study it to those who are interested in women's cancers. View Related Mayo Awarded $72 Million for Clinical and Translational Research "The Mayo Clinic Center for Clinical and Translational Research will coordinate the efforts of our outstanding clinical research education and training programs, our world-class scientists and clinical research investigators, and the vast resources of Mayo Clinic to speed the process of turning our research discoveries into the medications and treatments our patients need and expect," says Robert Rizza, M.D., Mayo Clinic's director for research and the director of the new center. View Related  The Clinical Research Training Program provides a formal education in all aspects of clinical research, including grant-writing, legal and ethical issues, statistics, epidemiology and study design and protocols. "I realized how exciting research can be, and how exciting it is to advance the science." Jon Ebbert, M.D. View Related  Publication: Journal of Cell Biology -- Sept. 25, 2006 p120 catenin is a protein known for as a key cell adhesion component. New findings by Mayo Clinic Cancer Center researchers at Jacksonville show that p120 also works to break cells apart from one another and promote cellular movement when tumors metastasize. The study illuminate a very early step involved in metastasis, the spread of cancer that makes the disease difficult to treat, and suggests that a future designer drug might be able to block the beginning of this dangerous process – or stop it once it starts. View Related     "This collaboration will enable us to work with the Indian Health Service to address health care-related needs specific to Native Americans, ranging from developing research initiatives to address unique problems, to finding ways to improve access to medi View Related  Publication: Cancer -- July 1, 2006 Mononuclear cell infiltration is associated with death from renal cell carcinoma even after multivariate adjustment. Routine documentation of mononuclear cell infiltration is recommended during the pathologic assessment of renal cell carcinoma. View Related  Medical Edge Television One in eight. Those are the odds that your mom, sister, wife or friend has of getting breast cancer in her lifetime. The risk goes way up if you have one of two known breast cancer genes. Read Script  Mayo Clinic researchers have shown that the molecule B7-H4 helps renal cell carcinoma (RCC) grow and spread by blocking the immune system. The findings may one day help physicians predict patient outcome and direct treatment, as well as serve as a target at which to aim new and better therapies for this most lethal urologic malignancy. View Abstract In helping young investigators, Mayo Clinic again is connecting all the dots -- leading back to the same point, the same mission, ongoing and yet unchanged for over a century: the needs of the patient come first. New, young investigators are critical to biomedical research. Their fresh ideas, innovativeness, and enthusiasm are necessary for scientific progress. Yet the steps from a junior research position toward a self-sufficient laboratory can be difficult. Mayo Clinic is dedicated to fostering future, investigators. Here we look at two of them and what Mayo is doing to help. View Related  In scientific literature, epidemiologic studies have linked reduced rates of certain cancers to cultures in Asia where green tea is a popular drink. Legend has it that the Chinese Emperor Shen Nung discovered tea around 2737 B.C.E. He was known as the Divine Healer, and that title is almost all one needs to know about why legends, right or wrong, persist. Green tea has come down through the ages, trailing behind it mythic tales of health benefits from "cheering the heart" to reducing inflammation, from improving bladder function to treating tumors. View Related  Robert B. Diasio, M.D., has been appointed Mayo Clinic Cancer Center Director, succeeding Franklyn Prendergast, M.D., Ph.D. Dr. Diasio, who will be based at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, will also direct cancer center activities at Mayo Clinic in Arizona and Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla. View Related The first radiation therapy and respiratory care baccalaureate classes of Mayo School of Health Sciences and the University of Minnesota will be conferred on Friday, May 12, 2006, at Mayo Clinic. View Related  Mayo Clinic researchers have shown that a subset of T-cells found in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) patients inhibits the normal immune response to the cancer. "Treg cells normally control the immune response process, ensuring that the body doesn't fight against itself," says Stephen Ansell, M.D., Ph.D., Mayo Clinic hematology researcher. "This study has shown that there is more to the story for NHL patients, and that the most common Treg cell, which is positive for the cell surface markers CD4 and CD25, actually contributes to disease progression by suppressing a healthy immune response to cancer cells View Abstract Now that this signal has been identified, new strategies can be generated for enhancing the ability of the immune system to kill tumor cells in patients with cancer. "Because NK cells can communicate different messages -- one that serves health by clearing tumors and viruses and one that serves disease by blocking the response to cancer -- understanding which signals result in effective tumor clearance is a high priority for those of us fighting cancer," explains Paul Leibson, M.D., Ph.D., the Mayo Clinic immunologist and pediatrician who led the study. View Abstract  Mayo Clinic researchers have discovered clues about new molecular partnerships involving a key protein that naturally guards against cancer because it promotes repair of damaged DNA. Research shows that loss of p53 is directly related to cancer. People born without enough p53 function get spontaneous cancers. In about half of all cancers, the two genes that give the instructions for making p53 (each person gets one gene from each parent) are missing or shut off. This suggests that loss of p53 function is a common event in the origin of many different kinds of cancer. Therefore, an appealing research strategy is to devise ways to restore or protect p53 function. Discovering all the ways p53 gets turned on is an important first step toward doing that. View Abstract Mayo Clinic researchers have uncovered a new cellular secret that may explain how certain cancers move and spread -- a feature of cancers that makes treatment especially difficult. "These findings have broad implications toward the general understanding of how specific processes in the wave may affect such things as cell growth, cell movement and metastasis," explains Mark McNiven, Ph.D., the lead researcher on the Mayo Clinic team. "Our work provides new insights into a novel mechanism by which cells can internalize growth factor information. Understanding this process is the first step toward one day halting it, preventing it or reversing it therapeutically." View Related  Identifying alterations in DNA methylation may also be useful in determining cancer progression Researchers at Mayo Clinic have narrowed the search for effective prostate cancer biomarkers (genetic variations that point to a specific disease or condition), identifying changes in the expression of genes of the whole genome closely correlated to prostate cancer development and progression. They also showed that DNA hypermethylation (DNA modification without changing sequence) plays a significant role in these processes. Results of their study were published in the Feb. 15, 2006, issue of Clinical Cancer Research. View Abstract  Renal cell carcinoma is one of most dangerous forms of kidney cancer. An interdisciplinary team of Mayo Clinic investigators and Mayo's Comprehensive Cancer Center are pursuing improved treatments by pooling data and expertise with support from Florida. "With this approach, we can halt the disease and begin to cure kidney cancer." John Copland, M.D. View Related  Mayo Clinic’s Molecular Medicine Program has three gene therapy clinical trials open in which the entire preclinical cycle—concept, discovery of agent, vector manufacture, toxicology and efficacy studies, and new drug application—was conducted at Mayo The projects engineered strains of the measles virus, MV-CEA and MV-NIS, which kill multiple cancer cells, and can be monitored easily. The open trials are in ovarian cancer, glioblastoma multiforme (brain cancer), and multiple myeloma. This article discusses the general research and the first trial which opened -- ovarian cancer. The projects are a fine example of a clear translational effort from bedside to bench and back to the bedside. View Related In terms of a medical diagnosis, nothing is more devastating than hearing the "C" word - cancer. But now, ASU and Mayo Clinic are hoping that five different C's will become the best arsenal against the big C. The organizations have teamed up to introduce a new research entity called MAC5. MAC5 is short for the Mayo Clinic - ASU Center for Cancer-related Convergence, Cooperation and Collaboration. View Related  A first step toward creating anti-tumor drug, Mayo has found a therapeutic gold compound to block cancer-promoting signals between key proteins involved in the development of non-small cell lung cancer. The Mayo Clinic report describing these findings appears in the Feb. 1, 2006, edition of Cancer Research. In it, the Mayo team provides the first laboratory evidence supporting the concept of blocking "oncogenic" -- cancer promoting -- communication between a specific cellular protein known as Protein Kinase C iota (PKC1) and a second protein, Par6, that relays oncogenic signals from PKC1. View Abstract           Publication: Journal of Clinical Oncology -- May 1, 2004 North Central Cancer Treatment Group study View Related   The recurrent IgH translocations are highly associated with nonhyperdiploid variant multiple myeloma Publication: Blood -- Oct. 1, 2003 View Related Publication: Blood -- Aug. 1, 2003 |