Nanoscopic probes can track down and attack cancer cells
A researcher has developed probes that can help pinpoint the location of tumors and might one day be able to directly attack cancer cells.
A researcher has developed probes that can help pinpoint the location of tumors and might one day be able to directly attack cancer cells.
Bio & Medicine
Mar 16, 2009
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The Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) and IBM Research (IBM) have developed a new non-toxic hydrogel that is capable of shrinking breast cancer tumors more rapidly than existing therapies. As described ...
Bio & Medicine
Nov 1, 2013
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Tiny nanoprobes have shown to be effective in delivering cancer drugs more directly to tumor cells - mitigating the damage to nearby healthy cells - and Purdue University research has shown that the nanoprobes ...
Bio & Medicine
Dec 14, 2009
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India on Monday denied revoking additional patents related to Roche Holding's breast cancer drug Herceptin, saying the Swiss giant failed to follow legal procedures so the applications lapsed.
Business
Aug 6, 2013
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A new method for attaching a large protective polymer molecule to a protein appears to improve protein drugs significantly.
Biotechnology
Aug 19, 2009
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Trastuzumab (Herceptin) is a monoclonal antibody that interferes with the HER2/neu receptor.
The HER receptors are proteins that are embedded in the cell membrane and communicate molecular signals from outside the cell to inside the cell, and turn genes on and off. The HER proteins regulate cell growth, survival, adhesion, migration, and differentiation—functions that are amplified or weakened in cancer cells. In some cancers, notably some breast cancers, the HER2 receptor is defective and stuck in the "on" position, and causes breast cells to reproduce uncontrollably, causing breast cancer.
Antibodies are molecules from the immune system that bind selectively to different proteins. Trastuzumab is an antibody that binds selectively to the HER2 protein. When it binds to defective HER2 proteins, the HER2 protein no longer causes cells in the breast to reproduce uncontrollably. This increases the survival of people with cancer. However, cancers usually develop resistance to trastuzumab.
The original studies of trastuzumab showed that it improved survival in late-stage (metastatic) breast cancer, but there is controversy over whether trastuzumab is effective in earlier stage breast cancer.[citation needed] Trastuzumab is also controversial because of its cost, as much as $100,000 per year[citation needed], and while certain private insurance companies in the U.S. and government health care systems in Canada, the U.K. and elsewhere have refused to pay for trastuzumab for certain patients, some companies have since accepted trastuzumab treatment as a covered preventative treatment.
Trastuzumab was originally developed in mice, as a mouse antibody. Because humans have immune reactions to mouse proteins, it was later developed into a human (humanized) antibody. Because the antibodies were produced from one cell that was grown into a clone of identical cells, it is called a monoclonal antibody.
Trastuzumab is also being studied for use with other cancers. It has been used with some success in women with uterine papillary serous carcinomas that overexpress HER2/neu.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA