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ASCO: New cancer strides to be
unveiled at big meeting Last Updated: 2004-06-02 9:45:48 -0400 (Reuters Health) By Ransdell Pierson and William Borden NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oncologists will meet in New Orleans this Saturday to present advances in cancer treatments, including several new drugs that prolong life without the serious side effects of chemotherapy. An estimated 25,000 oncologists from around the world will attend the four-day meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the largest annual clearinghouse of information for results from clinical trials involving experimental drugs and treatments already on the market. The stakes are high for patients, as results of many studies will help determine whether drugs and drug combinations that may shrink tumors or extend life will move on to later-stage trials, or reach the market. "This traditionally represents one of the most important meetings for the biotechnology sector," said Needham & Co. analyst Mark Monane, who expects more than 130 companies to make presentations. |
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Short Telomeres Linked to Cancer
Development Posted on 01 June 2004 A study has found that abnormally short telomeres appear to play a role in the development of many types of cancer. The study was published in the May 15, 2004, issue of Clinical Cancer Research. Researchers studied tissue from small precancerous lesions in the bladder, esophagus, large intestine, mouth, and cervix, and they found abnormal telomere lengths in 97% of the cases. Abnormally short telomeres were found in 88% of cases. Normal cells monitor the lengths of their telomeres and initiate cell suicide or halt cell division when telomeres get too short. Other research has shown in mice that cancer can occur if this monitoring system breaks down and results in chromosomal abnormalities. The researchers used fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) to compare telomere length in cells from both precancerous lesions and normal cells. FISH is often used to detect gene or chromosome abnormalities, and enables scientists to examine specific chromosomal locations under a microscope for the level of fluorescence that corresponds to telomere length. “It appears that the telomere shortening frequently observed in large advanced tumors has already occurred before it can be detected by standard diagnostic tools, when cellular changes characteristic of early precancer can only be seen through a microscope by a pathologist,” said senior author Angelo M. DeMarzo, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of urology, pathology, and oncology at Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center (Baltimore, MD, USA). This means that strategies directed at preventing or reversing telomere shortening may be able to lower cancer incidence. Also, assessing telomere length may help to improve early diagnosis of precancerous lesions. Previous studies by Hopkins researchers found shortened telomeres in more than 90% of precancerous lesions of the prostate, pancreas, and breast. |