Reading time: 5 minutes Muhammad Ayhan Murtaza The word phototherapy comes from two words, “photo” and “therapy” which, evidently so, means “medical treatment using light”. The word has its roots in the older Greek language, but much like this old language, cancer is by no means a newer predicament. In fact, it actually predates human... Continue Reading →
Reading time: 5 minutes Aya Elmeligy Angiogenesis is the formation of blood vessels within the body to provide oxygen and nutrients to tissues. Tumors will hijack this process to allow for continued growth and metastasis by forming their own vascular system. Microvessel density within a tumor is often used as a prognosis tool, as the... Continue Reading →
Reading time: 4 minutes Deepika Jayaprakash What is common to eukaryotic organisms like animals, plants, fungi, and unicellular organisms? Ubiquitous Ubiquitin! Ubiquitin (ub) is a small protein found in all eukaryotes that when attached to its target protein can bring about a myriad of cellular processes. The first observed effect of ubiquitination was degradation of... Continue Reading →
Reading time: 5 minutes Susan Egbert Statistics show that about 80 percent of the world’s population consume herbal/dietary supplements without specific recommendations to take them1, with some cancer patients using herbal/dietary supplements to alleviate their symptoms (e.g. pain, nausea, etc),2,3,4,5. Generally, patients consider herbal/dietary supplements “safe” since they are “natural,” however, herb-drug interactions (HDI) (e.g.... Continue Reading →
Reading time: 3 minutes Bhavuk Garg Cancer treatment options have undergone multiple strategic shifts over the course of the last century starting with resection and moving to chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and chemical inhibitors. Major challenges faced by many therapeutics are adverse toxic reactions inflicted on the patients and the development of therapeutic resistance due to high... Continue Reading →
Reading time: 4 minutes Melanie Padalino “Do you have any spices?” my friend Elizabeth asked while cooking an omelet in my kitchen. “Yep, there should be a whole bunch in the cabinet” I replied. Without hesitation, she went straight for the little glass jar of ground turmeric, an ancient spice known for its bright orange... Continue Reading →
Reading time: 4 minutes Ifeoluwa Oyelade Imagine a scenario where an individual is diagnosed with a type of cancer, and physicians only need to prescribe a treatment that is specific and optimized to that individual and the type of cancer, with little or no undesirable side effects. That is the goal of precision medicine in... Continue Reading →
Reading time: 5 minutes “It cannot get any better with our three-in-one device…buy one get one free today,” sings my radio as I commute to the lab daily. I nod in agreement to such commercials because I love to do more with less. Currently, many products are often rebranded as multi-purposed because products and services... Continue Reading →
Reading time: 4 minutes Bhavuk Garg Cancers are characterized by uncontrolled growth and failure of differentiation, whereby cells lose their physiological characteristics and acquire malignant phenotypes, also known as neoplastic properties. Examining the distinct properties of cancer cells and their underlying mechanisms are active areas of investigation. Broadly, these properties are summarized as hallmarks of... Continue Reading →
Reading time: 5 minutes Deanna MacNeil One goal in cancer therapy is to strike a balance between treatment efficacy and toxicity. While treatments such as surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation are meant to kill cancer cells, healthy tissues can be adversely affected in the process. Common side effects of systemic cancer treatment occur because treatments work... Continue Reading →
Reading time: 4 minutes Susan Egbert Did you know that researchers are trying to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) with cancer treatments? There are plenty of studies in oncology available that range from diagnostic to treatment that are peer-reviewed (experts looking at the articles before publishing). This is useful for AI as the more data that... Continue Reading →
Reading time: 5 minutes Mahrukh Fatima Did you know that some animals, like salamanders and axolotls, can regenerate their limbs? They have this spectacular ability due to a small and rare subset of primitive cells called stem cells. These cells have the ability to differentiate into many different types of specialized cells from brain cells... Continue Reading →
Reading time: 4 minutes Keighley Reisenauer One of the “hot button” topics right now in the cancer therapeutics industry is precision medicine. This is a practice whereby a tumor’s genetics, immune landscape, and biomarkers are compiled and evaluated holistically in order to more accurately make treatment decisions. Breast cancer especially has benefited from the targeted... Continue Reading →
Reading time: 4 minutes Kate Secombe Most cancer treatments can cause side effects during or beyond treatment. While some of these side effects will not be bothersome to a person going through treatment, others may be more painful, annoying, or indicative of a problem that requires medical attention. Previous research has shown that clinicians tend... Continue Reading →
Reading time: 6 minutes Taylor A. Johnson Over the past few months, we have repeatedly discussed ways in which cancer may intersect with reproduction. On the female side, we have seen some of the challenges women face with fertility as well as links between bacterial infections and the development of ovarian cancer. On the male... Continue Reading →
Reading time: 4 minutes Garima Khanna Marijuana, a popular plant cultivated throughout the globe has caught the eye of scientists to unravel the mysteries of it’s medicinal properties. The dried buds and leaves derived from Cannabis sativa and Cannabis indica have shown potential to cater pain management. While the active cannabinoid properties in marijuana have... Continue Reading →
Reading time: 5 minutes Varshit Dusad Gene therapy has rapidly become one of the most promising new medical developments of our time. It has significant advantages over traditional therapies including the potential for one-time dosage instead of recurring treatment and higher specificity compared to traditional chemotherapy. Cancer is a genetic disease! It occurs when normal... Continue Reading →
Reading time: 3 minutes Michael Marand You may be familiar with the handy ‘Find My iPhone’ feature that comes with Apple cell phones. This feature uses radio waves from cell towers to direct you precisely to the spot where you dropped your device. Following similar principles, physicians can use imaging techniques to obtain signals from... Continue Reading →
Reading time: 3 minutes Natasha Vinod In 2018, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to the inventors of immune checkpoint blockade therapy, a “game-changing” technology that initiated a paradigm shift in cancer management. Checkpoint blockade therapy works by unleashing the immune surveillance against cancer by blocking the “natural brakes” (checkpoints) in the... Continue Reading →
Reading time: 5 minutes Patty Spears When talking to, or about patients, words matter. Words can hurt and make patients feel blame or guilt about having cancer. It’s not usually done on purpose, so with increased awareness of what words mean to patients, everyone can be a bit more conscientious about what they say and... Continue Reading →
Reading time: 4 minutes Swetha Srinivasan If you’ve been following the Democratic primary presidential debates, then you’re likely familiar with the spirited debate around the future of the healthcare system in the US, as well as the question: “How will we pay for it?” The world of health policy research has been evaluating on-the-ground solutions... Continue Reading →
Reading time: 5 minutes Garima Khanna Figure 1: Gold Nanoparticles Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) possess exceptional characteristics, including high surface area to volume ratio, easy synthesis, surface chemistry, multi functionalization, stable nature and surface plasmon resonance. Because of these unique properties, they are emerging as a powerful tool for early tumor diagnosis and chemotherapeutic drug delivery... Continue Reading →
Reading time: 7 minutes Patty Spears There is a lot of effort to find new drugs to treat cancer. When a new drug works well, we all cheer when it is approved and then use the new drug the same way in all patients. Then we move to the next new drug. But, should we... Continue Reading →
Reading time: 5 minutes Tamara Vital How do you stop an accident from happening? You could try to prevent the conditions that contribute to accidents by establishing rules that encourage and reward caution and safe behavior. On the road, licensing laws, traffic lights, and speed limits set the rules of the road, and those who... Continue Reading →
Reading time: 4 minutes Michael Marand In my last article, A Profile of Electric Fields in Cancer Therapeutics, I discussed Optune System, an electric field therapy for glioblastoma that disrupts cancer cell division and results in extended patient survival. I also presented an overview of some other potential applications of electric fields in cancer therapeutics,... Continue Reading →
Reading time: 3 minutes Kedar Puvar At first glance, mushrooms, being immobile and nutritious, seem to be rather unassuming. Why, then, would you want to turn to mushrooms of all things as a source of new medicines? It turns out that they make up for their evolutionary weaknesses with a powerful toolbox of molecular defenses... Continue Reading →
Reading time: 6 minutes Nisitha Sengottuvel So far, a lot of the articles we have been discussing here on Oncobites have been revolving around bench research regarding cancer biology and therapeutics. On the public health side of cancer care, there are a lot of emerging fields: one of which investigates the economic burden of cancer... Continue Reading →
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