11/18/10     Doxorubicin, a drug commonly used to treat leukemia and other cancers, kills tumor cells by damaging their DNA. Though the drug is effective, it can also be toxic to heart cells. In 2005, the FDA approved a new type of doxorubicin, known as Doxil. In this new formulation, the drug is wrapped in a fatty coating called a liposome, which hinders its ability to enter heart cells (and other healthy cells).  Doxil, usually prescribed for late-stage ovarian cancer, represents the first generation of cancer treatments delivered by tiny particles.  Doxil particles are on the scale of millionths of a meter, but KI scientists are now working on nano-sized particles, which are measured in billionths of meters. Such particles could allow doctors to give larger doses of chemotherapy while sparing healthy tissue from dangerous side effects. 

MORE>>

11/17/10   When a virus invades the human body, the immune system springs into action. Specialized cells called killer T cells roam the body, identifying and killing infected cells, with help from countless other cells and molecules. MIT's cancer biologists have long been intrigued by the prospect of harnessing those T cells to attack tumors, either to supplement or replace traditional chemotherapy. Using T cells to wipe out tumor cells could avoid the side effects often seen with chemotherapy. However, success has been limited, KI's Jianzhu Chen says, because the exquisite coordination needed to launch a T-cell attack has proven difficult to replicate. Using new nano materials, these cancer specific T cells are bringing drugs into tumors.

MORE>>

11/16/10   A single cancer cell may harbor dozens or even hundreds of mutant genes. Some of those genes instruct the cell to grow abnormally large.  Others tell it to divide repeatedly or to detach itself and roam the body looking for a new home. What if you could shut off one, two or even a dozen of those genes, all at once? KI scientists are striving to do just that through RNA interference, a natural process that happens within cells.

MORE >>

11/15/10  In 2004, the drug company AstraZeneca launched a clinical trial for a new type of lung-cancer drug. The drug, called gefitinib, interferes with EGFR, a molecule that abounds on the surface of many cancer cells. Although gefitinib had shown promise in earlier studies, this time the results were disappointing: most patients did not live longer. Cancer biologists later showed that gefitinib should only work in patients with a specific mutant form of EGFR. Since then, trials that screen patients for that mutation before giving them the drug have produced better results, and the drug is now available to certain lung-cancer patients.  

MORE >>

11/9/10   Suppressing cancer cells’ ability to cope with damage to their DNA could enhance dramatically the effectiveness of chemotherapy drugs such as cisplatin, according to a pair of PNAS papers from KI's Hemann Lab and Graham Walker's Lab. Concurrently, the researchers' teams have found that slowing down a specific system for tolerating DNA damage in cancer cells not only prolonged the lives of the mice, but also prevented relapsed tumors from becoming resistant to chemotherapy, and made tumors much less likely to spread to other parts of the body.

MORE >>