Bone cancer in children begins years before tumour is visible

Scientists have discovered that some childhood bone cancers start growing years before tumours appear and get diagnosed. Ewing sarcoma is a rare cancer found mainly in bone or soft tissue of young teenagers as they grow, and is the second most commonly diagnosed bone cancer in children and young people. Researchers at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) discovered large scale rearrangements in Ewing Sarcomas and other children’s cancers, and showed that these can take years to form in bone or soft tissue. In Ewing sarcoma, two specific…

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Cancer rarely affects elephants, here’s the real reason behind it

Researchers have identified a “zombie” gene that protects elephants from cancer, a finding that may pave the way for a new treatment for humans. Globally, nearly 1 in 6 human deaths occur due to cancer, whereas less than 5% of captive elephants — who also live for about 70 years, and have about 100 times as many potentially cancerous cells as humans — die of the disease. Humans and elephants have one copy of the master tumour suppressor gene p53, which recognises unrepaired DNA damage — a precursor of cancer and…

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Adding cabbage and broccoli to your diet may help prevent colon cancer

Chemicals produced by vegetables such as kale, cabbage and broccoli could help to maintain a healthy gut and prevent colon cancer, a study has found. The research, published in the journal Immunity, shows that mice fed on a diet rich in indole-3-carbinol – which is produced when we digest vegetables from the Brassica genus – were protected from gut inflammation and colon cancer. While the health benefits of vegetables are well-established, many of the mechanisms behind them remain unknown. This study offers the first concrete evidence of how I3C in…

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Adding cabbage and broccoli to your diet may help prevent colon cancer

Chemicals produced by vegetables such as kale, cabbage and broccoli could help to maintain a healthy gut and prevent colon cancer, a study has found. The research, published in the journal Immunity, shows that mice fed on a diet rich in indole-3-carbinol – which is produced when we digest vegetables from the Brassica genus – were protected from gut inflammation and colon cancer. While the health benefits of vegetables are well-established, many of the mechanisms behind them remain unknown. This study offers the first concrete evidence of how I3C in…

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Chronotherapy Could Make Cancer Treatments More Effective, Here’s How

Chi Van Dang generally declines to discuss the science that made him famous. A leading authority on cancer metabolism, he routinely is asked to speak about how tumors reprogram biochemical pathways to help them slurp up nutrients and how disrupting these noxious adaptations could be a powerful approach to treating cancer. Instead of doing so, Dang uses his soapbox at every research meeting, lecture and blue-ribbon panel to advocate for something else: a simple yet radical tweak to how oncologists administer cancer drugs. The approach, known as chronotherapy, involves timing…

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Fake tanning products don’t protect you from skin cancer

Sunless tanning or fake tanning products like sprays, ointments, creams, foams, or lotions that promise tan skin without increased risk of skin cancer do not actually help prevent cancer. A new study conducted by the researchers of the University of Minnesota Medical School sought to assess the demographic characteristics and skin cancer risk behaviours of adult sunless tanners. Other factors associated with sunless tanning included having a family history of skin cancer. Adults who used sunless tanning products were more likely to use indoor tanning beds and were less likely to wear protective…

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