Wednesday, February 10, 2010

“Biology of lung cancer in women dramatically different from men - New Kerala” plus 3 more

“Biology of lung cancer in women dramatically different from men - New Kerala” plus 3 more

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Biology of lung cancer in women dramatically different from men - New Kerala

Posted: 10 Feb 2010 12:49 AM PST

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Washington, Feb 10 : A new study led by Indian-origin scientist at Duke Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy (IGSP) has revealed that the biology of lung cancer in women is dramatically different from what is seen in men.

Dr Anil Potti, an oncologist in the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy (IGSP) and the senior author of the study, said that physicians have had to rely on very rough measures to categorize patients'' lung cancers, factors such as the size of the tumour, the tissue type and the degree to which the cancer had spread.

"But this new information tells us that we can analyze patients'' disease much more discretely," he added.

He said the information could also be used to enrich the selection process in clinical trials designed to evaluate new drugs aimed at specific molecular targets.

Women with lung cancer tend to do a little better than men. They also discovered that there is a subset of elderly patients would probably benefit from treatments that are normally reserved for younger patients.

The research team showed that women tend to have only a few cancer-promoting pathways activated in their tumours, where men may have twice as many.

In the study involving 787 patients with predominantly early stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the most common form of the disease, the researchers identified any patterns linking the pathways to age, sex and time to recurrence.

They sorted the patients by age and sex and then again into low- and high-risk groups, based on five-year, recurrence-free survival.

They found that certain molecular pathways were more frequently activated in some groups than others and that certain pathway patterns were associated with better long-term survival in patients with lung cancer.

"People still don''t realize how bad a disease this is," said Jeffrey Crawford, M.D., a study co-author and the chief of medical oncology at Duke.

"So being able to better understand the disease and stratify patients by their individual molecular profiles means we can do a much better job pairing the right drug with the right patient," Crawford added.

--ANI

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International Stem Cell Corporation Opens Facility for Development and ... - Forbes

Posted: 04 Feb 2010 04:06 PM PST

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BusinessWire - International Stem Cell Corporation (OTCBB:ISCO), www.internationalstemcell.com, announced today that its new cell production facility has passed final building inspection, which will enable development and manufacturing of the company and its partners' clinical-grade stem cell products.

ISCO has designed and built a unique cell manufacturing facility in Oceanside, California consisting of separate "suites" for development and production of different cell types from the company's proprietary human parthenogenic stem cell (hpSC) technology. The facility is located in close proximity to the fertility clinics that provide donated human eggs (oocytes) under ISCO's recently-established partnerships and also near leading Californian research institutions with whom ISCO collaborates on fundamental stem cell biology and therapeutic applications.

ISCO will implement its parthenogenic stem cell processes at this facility during 2010 and adopt current good manufacturing practice (cGMP) standards. In parallel, ISCO will collaborate with world-leading scientists to demonstrate the therapeutic applicability and the potential immune-rejection advantages of hpSC lines relative to other stem cell classes.

Like embryonic stem cells (ESCs), hpSCs are pluripotent (i.e. have the capacity to become almost any cell type in the body), yet avoid ethical issues associated with destruction or use of viable human embryos. Unlike induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSs), hpSCs do not require manipulation of gene expression back to a less differentiated stage, which may prove to be a safety or regulatory obstacle. However, unlike both ESCs and iPSs, hpSCs can be created in a homozygous form such that each line can be an immunological match for millions of patients.

Dr. Andrey Semechkin, ISCO's CEO, says: "Our ability to work in this modern facility gives International Stem Cell Corporation the capacity to generate the world's first cGMP quality hpSC lines. It marks an important milestone since it both expands the resources available to our scientists and expands ISCO's ability to execute on its plan to become the premier provider of immune-matched stem cells to the global research community. Through these cells, ISCO will be able to treat a range of degenerative diseases in genetically diverse populations around the world."

ABOUT INTERNATIONAL STEM CELL CORPORATION (ISCO.OB)

International Stem Cell Corporation is a California-based biotechnology company focused on therapeutic and research products. ISCO's core technology, parthenogenesis, results in the creation of parthenogenetic human stem cells from unfertilized eggs (oocytes). Like embryonic stem cells (ESCs), hpSCs are pluripotent (i.e. have the capacity to become almost any cell type in the body), yet avoid ethical issues associated with use or destruction of viable human embryos. ISCO scientists have created the first parthenogenic, homozygous stem cell line that can be a source of therapeutic cells with minimal immune rejection after transplantation into hundreds of millions of individuals of differing sexes, ages and racial groups. This offers the potential to create the first true stem cell bank, UniStemCell(TM), while avoiding the ethical issue of using fertilized eggs. ISCO also produces and markets specialized cells and growth media for therapeutic research worldwide through its subsidiary Lifeline Cell Technology. More information is available at ISCO's website, www.internationalstemcell.com.

To subscribe to receive ongoing corporate communications please click on the following link: http://www.b2i.us/irpass.asp?BzID=1468&to=ea&s=0.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS:

Statements pertaining to anticipated future financial and/or operating results, future growth in research, technology, clinical development and potential joint venture and other opportunities for the company and its subsidiary, along with other statements about the future expectations, beliefs, goals, plans, or prospects expressed by management constitute forward-looking statements. Any statements that are not historical fact (including, but not limited to statements that contain words such as "will," "believes," "plans," "anticipates," "expects," "estimates,") should also be considered to be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, risks inherent in the development and/or commercialization of potential products, uncertainty in the results of clinical trials or regulatory approvals, need and ability to obtain future capital, application of capital resources among competing uses, and maintenance of intellectual property rights. Actual results may differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements and as such should be evaluated together with the many uncertainties that affect the company's business, particularly those mentioned in the cautionary statements found in the company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings. The company disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

Key Words: Stem Cells, Biotechnology, Parthenogenesis

SOURCE: International Stem Cell Corporation

International Stem Cell Corporation Kenneth C. Aldrich, Chairman 760-940-6383 kaldrich@intlstemcell.com or Brian Lundstrom, President 760-640-6383 bl@intlstemcell.com

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Indiana congressman Steve Buyer to retire - Courier-Journal

Posted: 29 Jan 2010 09:39 AM PST

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INDIANAPOLIS — Republican U.S. Rep. Steve Buyer announced Friday that he will not seek re-election this fall and will leave Congress after 18 years because his wife is ill.

Buyer choked back tears as he stood next to his wife, Joni, saying she had been diagnosed with an incurable autoimmune disease.

"As part of her prognosis she has been advised to de-stress her life," he said. "Now is the time for me to step back. It's been an honor."

Buyer, 51, is the top Republican on the House Veterans Affairs Committee. He was the committee's chairman for two years before Democrats won the House majority in the 2006 election.

Buyer has faced questions in recent months about a private scholarship foundation he created that had raised more than $880,000 since 2003 without awarding any scholarships. He has defended his handling of the foundation, but didn't mention it during Friday's announcement and didn't take any questions.

Buyer represents Indiana's heavily Republican 4th District, which stretches from the Lafayette area, through the western and southern suburbs of Indianapolis to Bedford. He won re-election in 2008 with 60 percent of the vote even as Barack Obama became the first Democratic presidential candidate to win the state since 1964.

A possible Republican candidate for the seat is state Sen. Brandt Hershman, R-Wheatfield, who is Buyer's district operations director. Candidates face a Feb. 19 deadline to file for the May 4 primary.

Purdue University biology professor David Sanders, who lost badly to Buyer in the 2004 and 2006 elections, is the only Democrat to announce a campaign.

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A systems biology approach to invasive behavior: comparing cancer ... - BioMed Central

Posted: 10 Feb 2010 07:16 AM PST

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Abstract (provisional)

Background

Despite constant progress, cancer remains the second leading cause of death in the United States. The ability of tumors to metastasize is central to this dilemma, as many studies demonstrate successful treatment correlating to diagnosis prior to cancer spread. Hence a better understanding of cancer invasiveness and metastasis could provide critical insight.

Presentation of the hypothesis

We hypothesize that a systems biology-based comparison of cancer invasiveness and suburban sprawl will reveal similarities that are instructive.

Testing the hypothesis

We compare the structure and behavior of invasive cancer to suburban sprawl development. While these two systems differ vastly in dimension, they appear to adhere to scale-invariant laws consistent with invasive behavior in general. We demonstrate that cancer and sprawl have striking similarities in their natural history, initiating factors, patterns of invasion, vessel distribution and even methods of causing death.

Implications of the hypothesis

We propose that metastatic cancer and suburban sprawl provide striking analogs in invasive behavior, to the extent that conclusions from one system could be predictive of behavior in the other. We suggest ways in which this model could be used to advance our understanding of cancer biology and treatment.

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