Synthetic RNAs designed to fight cancer
In search of better cancer treatments, Xiaowei Wang, PhD, and his colleagues at the School of Medicine have designed synthetic molecules that combine the advantages of two experimental RNA therapies.
Washington University receives $3 million to design cancer-killing viruses
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have received a $3 million grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to develop a triple threat in the fight against cancer: a single virus equipped to find, image and kill cancer cells, all at once.
New subtype of breast cancer responds to targeted drug
A newly identified cancer biomarker could define a new subtype of breast cancer as well as offer a potential way to treat it, say researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The biomarker is found frequently in breast cancers that have poorer outcomes and can be inhibited by a protein discovered in the same laboratory, which could become an effective drug against the breast cancer type.
Avoiding esophagitis
Lung cancer tumor to be treated with radiation.More than half of the lung cancer patients who receive radiation treatment for their illness develop a painful swelling and inflammation in the esophagus known as esophagitis. Although treating the lung cancer is the top priority for doctors, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis hope to lower the risk of this unpleasant side effect. They have quantified risk factors for esophagitis, linking it to the amount of radiation a patient’s esophagus receives and to simultaneous chemotherapy. The findings mean it may be possible to predict and potentially avoid esophagitis, according to Jeffrey D. Bradley, M.D., assistant professor of radiation oncology and lead author of a paper published recently in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics.