Contact Information Available for logged-in reporters only Newswise Researchers from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine are part of a five-university collaboration receiving a $12.6 million, four-year grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to identify rare genetic variants that may either protect against, or contribute to Alzheimers disease risk. At Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, the Consortium for Alzheimers Sequence Analysis (CASA) is led by Jonathan Haines, PhD, chair of the department of epidemiology & biostatistics and director of the Institute for Computational Biology. Fellow Case Western Reserve investigator is William Bush, PhD, assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics. CASA investigators will analyze whole exome and whole genome sequence data generated during the first phase of the NIH Alzheimers Disease Sequencing Program, an innovative collaboration that began in 2012 between NIA and the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), also part of NIH. They will analyze data from 6,000 volunteers with Alzheimers disease and 5,000 older individuals who do not have the disease. In addition, they will study genomic data from 111 large families with multiple members who have Alzheimers disease, mostly of Caucasian and Caribbean Hispanic descent … Continue reading →

July 7, 2014 Image Caption: The newly developed antibody brings hope for dogs. Credit: Michael Bernkopf / Vetmeduni Vienna University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna Nearly every second dog develops cancer from the age of ten years onward. A few therapies derived from human medicine are available for dogs. A very successful form of therapy by which antibodies inhibit tumor growth has not been available for animals so far. Scientists at the inter-university Messerli Research Institute of the Vetmeduni Vienna, the Medical University of Vienna, and the University of Vienna have developed, for the first time, antibodies to treat cancer in dogs. The scientists published their research data in the journal Molecular Cancer Therapeutics. As in humans, cancers in dogs have complex causes. The interaction of the environment, food, and genetic disposition are the most well known factors. Today nearly all methods of human medicine are basically available for dogs with cancer, but this was not true of cancer immunotherapy so far. So-called cancer immunotherapy which is the treatment of tumors by the use of antibodies has been established and used very successfully in human medicine for about 20 years. Since cancer cells bear very specific antigens on the surface, the … Continue reading →

Doctors of Hue Central Hospital have used stem cell transplantation to successfully treat a cancer patient of the last stage. The Hue Central Hospital announced on June 26 that its doctors have cured Le Thi Sau, 52, who was suffering ovarian cancer in the last stage, with stem cell transplant. The operation is the success of the scientific project Using stem cell in breast cancer and cervical cancer managed by Professor Nguyen Duy Thang, deputy head of the hospital. Adult stem cells have been used to treat certain cancers through bone marrow transplants. In this therapy, the stem cells that give rise to the different blood cells in the body are transplanted into the bone marrow of the patient, where they regenerate the blood. The project was given green light to carry out in the Hue Central Hospital by the Ministry of Science and Technology. Professor Nguyen Duy Thang said the success of this method will pave the way for next operations on breast and ovarian cancer patients. In the time ahead, the hospital continues to treat two other cancer female patients with the stem cell treatment. It is hoped that the treatment will save many cancer patients. (www.saigon-gpdaily.com.vn June … Continue reading →