brain cancer

Scientists have isolated three important genes involved in the development of a type of childhood brain cancer. Researchers have found three genes associated with specific characteristics of ependymoma — the third most common form of childhood brain cancer.

As potential cancer therapies proliferate, researchers and clinicians are striving to measure their effectiveness and to more accurately predict which patients will receive the most benefit.

At the American Association for Cancer Research 2008 Annual Meeting, April 12-16, 2008, researchers present data on a new role for MRI in brain cancer, how doctors can more effectively measure response to commonly used cancer drugs, and a unique method for predicting the risk of breast cancer spread.

Researchers have developed a new algorithm for ranking abnormal genes according to their likelihood of contributing to a cancer.

They also show that a gene identified by the algorithm as a likely restrainer of tumor growth does indeed play that role in a common type of brain cancer, and is not a mere "bystander" to another restrainer gene.

New studies at the University of Adelaide, Australia, will delve into some of the crucial issues surrounding death by brain tumors and stroke.

Gliomas are an aggressive form of brain cancer that affects dogs and people. To develop more precise systems for administering therapeutic agents to cancer cells, veterinary researchers are attempting to further establish the molecular similarity of human and canine gliomas.

The Center for Comparative Oncology at Virginia Tech has opened a clinical trial and is enrolling animals from the region that have been positively diagnosed with a brain mass consistent with the appearance of a glioma.

A special type of magnetic resonance imaging can depict changes in blood volume in the brain that often precede cancerous transformation of brain tumors, according to a new study.

The protein REST protects the pluripotentiality and self-renewal of embryonic stem cells by suppressing a specific microRNA.

The basic finding has implications for regenerative medicine. The new research builds on earlier work connecting the protein to medulloblastoma -- an aggressive childhood brain cancer.

A novel drug that fully eliminated brain tumors from mice in a dramatic 2004 study has shown a darker side -- causing permanent bone damage in younger mice.

The researcher who conducted both studies says the disappointing new finding raises concerns about using similar drugs to treat children's cancers, at least until there is a more thorough understanding of possible risks.