It's no secret human biology is complex. But a team of researchers at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research recently added yet another head-scratcher to the list. The researchers noted that when the function of one tumor supressor gene was lost a tumor will grow faster, but if the function…

Liquid biopsies in oncology initially focused on detecting and analyzing the numbers and types of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in the blood, but more recently many researchers have come to include analysis of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) or circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA). cfDNA testing was first used in the United States…

Researchers at the Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) have uncovered a novel method for quickly and efficiently mapping the genome of single cells within the body—clearing the way for significant advances in precision medicine. The findings from this new study, which were published recently in Nature Methods through an…

Researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (CSMC) in Los Angeles recently highlighted the challenges of treating cancer due to tumor heterogeneity by identifying more than 2,000 genetic mutations in tissue samples of esophageal cancer. The results, published in Nature Genetics, help explain why the treatment of cancer is so complex and…

Scientists at Stanford University School of Medicine have just described in a new study how sequencing minute bits of DNA circulating in the blood of lymphoma patients can accurately identify the cancer subtype and pinpoint mutations that might cause drug resistance. The findings from this new study were published recently…

In his 2015 State of the Union address, President Obama stated his intention to fund a national Precision Medicine Initiative (PMI), defined by the NIH as an emerging approach for disease prevention and treatment that takes into account individual variations in genes, environment, and lifestyle. The White House said that it will ask Congress…

Transgenomic said today it has won a two-year $1.5 million Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grant from the NIH toward a collaborative project with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to enhance the company’s ICE COLD-PCR™ (ICP) technology. The STTR grant will support the addition of greater multiplexing capabilities to ICP, a…

In 1971, President Nixon signed the National Cancer Act, declaring a War Against Cancer. Over the past 30 years, there has been an explosion in molecular oncology with consequent clinical approval of anticancer drugs targeted at specific molecules. The power of drugs, such as trastuzumab, bevacizumab, and gefitinib has resulted…

It seems every week that a new publication extols the benefits of next-generation sequencing (NGS), often from sequencing the genome of a medically relevant organism in record time or identifying the polymorphisms that may lead to drug resistance in cancer. One could make an educated guess that NGS is poised…

The use of targeted agents against key signaling kinases is transforming cancer treatment. Drugs such as Herceptin and Zelboraf have increased progression-free survival in breast cancer and melanoma respectively and are far from the only examples. However, the complexity of signaling pathway networks allows tumor cells to adapt under monotherapy…