malignant tumor Archives - Amazing Health Advances

New Method Measures Temperature Inside the Body for Detecting Cancer, Other Diseases

AHA Publisher — Tue, 26 Oct 2021 07:00:34 +0000

RUDN University via News-Medical – Russian researchers have proposed a method for detecting cancer and other diseases by measuring the temperature inside the body. Results were published in Sensors. Cancers, blood flow disorders, arthritis, and other diseases alter body temperature, so one way to diagnose such diseases is to detect a temperature change. It is easy to do on the surface of the skin, for example with an infrared pyrometer. But it is impossible to accurately measure the temperature inside the body without damaging the skin with existing tools. A group of researchers with the participation of a RUDN University scientist proposed a radiothermography method that allows measuring the temperature distribution inside the body. “The purpose of this study is to show the possibility of 3D visualization of the internal thermal field of a person using the results of measurements of radio brightness temperatures, simultaneously measured at different points of the body, using a multi-channel multi-frequency radiothermograph. The novelty of the approach considered is an attempt to more accurately localize the heat source position due to 3D visualization of the internal heat field of a body and monitoring the temperature dynamics of a heat point source inside the human body,” said Svetlana Agasieva, Associate Professor of the Department of Nanotechnology and Microsystem Technology at the Academy of Engineering of RUDN University. Researchers have proposed a method, device and software to accurately determine the location of the source of increased heat in the body. A small antenna is installed on the surface of the body, which can measure the internal temperature with an accuracy of one degree. The patient drinks an aqueous glucose solution, it is quickly absorbed into the blood and carried through the cells. Because of this, the body temperature rises evenly by one to two-tenths of a degree. However, if there is a malignant formation somewhere, the temperature in it will rise sharply by one or two degrees for a few minutes. This change can be detected by the device. To clarify the depth of the pathology location, the researchers developed a calculation method. The device and the simulation results were tested experimentally with real patients. The method visualises temperature “layers” on the screen of a computer. One can scroll through them with the mouse to accurately determine the depth of the heat source. Moreover, you can see on the video how the temperature changed in this area. In the future, the researchers will realize clinical trials of the device. “The detailed information about the internal thermal field of a human body has made possible not only detection of an internal malignant tumor, but also the determination of the depth of its location. The new radiothermograph gives an opportunity for more detailed analysis of the state of the vascular system of the brain and early diagnosis of various brain pathologies. Of course, it is too early to talk about all the possibilities and advantages of the new radiothermograph, which will be confirmed during clinical tests that will begin in the nearest future,” Svetlana Agasieva, Associate Professor of the Department of Nanotechnology and Microsystem Technology at the Academy of Engineering of RUDN University. To read the original article click here.

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Researchers Engineer Cells to Destroy Malignant Tumor Cells but Leave the Rest Alone

AHA Publisher — Fri, 09 Jul 2021 07:00:04 +0000

McMaster University via EurekAlert – Researchers at McMaster University have developed a promising new cancer immunotherapy that uses cancer-killing cells genetically engineered outside the body to find and destroy malignant tumors. The modified “natural killer” cells can differentiate between cancer cells and healthy cells that are often intermingled in and around tumors, destroying only the targeted cells. The natural killer cells’ ability to distinguish the target cells, even from healthy cells that bear similar markers, brings new promise to this branch of immunotherapy, say members of the research team behind a paper published in the current issue of the journal iScience, newly posted on the PubMed database. The experimental treatment is an alternative to chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, or CAR-T, which received FDA approval in 2017. The engineered T-cells used in CAR-T therapy are highly effective against some blood-borne cancers but cannot distinguish between cancerous and non-cancerous cells, so while they offer important benefits, they are not uniformly applicable to all forms of cancer. In patients with solid tumors, the T-cells can cause devastating, even lethal side effects. The team behind the research wanted a treatment with the same power as CAR-T, but which could be used safely against solid-tumor cancers. They first propagated natural killer cells taken from the blood of patients with breast cancer. Such cells perform a similar function to T-cells in the immune system. The researchers then genetically modified them to target specific receptors on cancer cells, successfully testing the CAR-NK cells in the laboratory on tumor cells derived from breast cancer patients “We want to be able to attack these malignancies that have been so resistant to other treatments,” says lead author Ana Portillo, a PhD candidate in the Department of Medicine. “The efficacy we see with CAR-NK cells in the laboratory is very promising and seeing that this technology is feasible is very important. Now, we have much better and safer options for solid tumors.” “These CAR-NK cells are a little bit smarter, in a way, in that they only kill the enemy cells and not good cells that happen to have the same marker,” says Ashkar, Portillo’s supervisor and a Professor of Medicine at McMaster. “These cells have a sober second thought that says, ‘I recognize this target, but is this target part of a healthy cell or a cancer cell?’ They are able to leave the healthy cells alone and kill the cancer cells.” Portillo and Ashkar’s 12 co-authors, most associated with McMaster’s Department of Medicine and its Immunology Research Centre, include McMaster’s Bindi Dhesy-Thind (Associate Professor, Oncology), who provided blood samples from patients being treated for breast cancer in her clinical practice at Hamilton Health Sciences’ Juravinski Cancer Centre. “These are very exciting results, as to date the benefits of immunotherapy in breast cancer have lagged behind that of other malignancies,” she said. “These engineered CAR-NK cells are an important step towards having a viable immunotherapy option in this large group of patients.” Ashkar says there is good reason to believe the technology would have a similar effect on solid tumors associated with lung, ovarian and other cancers. The next step in moving the therapy toward clinical use is to conduct human trials, which the researchers are now arranging. To read the original article click here.

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Exploiting Careless Cancer Cells to Develop New Drugs

AHA Publisher — Wed, 18 Mar 2020 07:00:33 +0000

Uppsala University via News-Medical Net – Could the ability of cancer cells to quickly alter their genome be used as a weapon against malignant tumors? Researchers at Uppsala University have succeeded in developing a substance that has demonstrated promising results in experiments on both animal models and human cancer cells. The study is published in the journal Nature Communications. Could the ability of cancer cells to quickly alter their genome be used as a weapon against malignant tumors? Researchers at Uppsala University have succeeded in developing a substance that has demonstrated promising results in experiments on both animal models and human cancer cells. The study is published in the journal Nature Communications. It is typical of cancer cells that they can quickly alter their DNA; however, in their haste to acquire new mutations, they carelessly discard many of their inherited genetic variations. This may lead to cancer cells only retaining a defective allele of a gene from one parent, whereas healthy cells also have a functioning allele from the other parent. This characteristic of cancer cells may well be an Achilles heel that can be utilized in the development of new drugs. “We searched for genes of which many people carry both a functioning and defective allele in their DNA. One such gene, NAT2, produces a protein that metabolizes a number of drugs and is of particular interest as one allele is often lost during the development of colon and rectal cancer.” (Tobias Sjöblom of Uppsala University’s Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology) Based on their discovery, the researchers developed a substance that kills cells lacking NAT2 and were also able to demonstrate that it can be used to treat animal models of cancer and tumor cells from patients. “The conditions for treatment exist in 50,000 of the colorectal cancer patients diagnosed globally each year and we will therefore continue working to identify substances with even better properties for pharmaceutical development,” says Tobias Sjöblom. To read the original article click here.

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