October 10, 2017
October 10, 2017 —
Despite a diagnosis of stage IV pancreatic cancer and ongoing chemotherapy, Mike Levine boarded a plane this past weekend destined for Kona, Hawaii, where he will compete in one of the most grueling of physical competitions: the Ironman World Championship. Cheering him on will be his wife Jan, friends and Paul Fanta, MD, a pancreatic cancer expert with Moores Cancer Center at UC San Diego Health who has been treating Levine since 2016.
October 1, 2017
October 1, 2017 —
In a first-of-its-kind study, University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers report that a blood sample, or liquid biopsy, can reveal which patients will respond to checkpoint inhibitor-based immunotherapies.
September 21, 2017
September 21, 2017 —
Chronic tissue inflammation resulting from obesity is an underlying cause of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. But the mechanism by which this occurs has remained cloaked, until now. In a paper, University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers identified exosomes — extremely small vesicles or sacs secreted from most cell types — as the missing link.
September 21, 2017
September 21, 2017 —
Checkpoint inhibitor-based immunotherapy has been shown to be very effective in recurrent and metastatic head and neck cancer but only in a minority of patients. University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers may have found a way to double down on immunotherapy’s effectiveness.
September 19, 2017
September 19, 2017 —
It is estimated that up to 75 percent of breast cancer survivors experience problems with cognitive difficulties following treatments, perhaps lasting years. Currently, few science-based options are available to help. University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers report in a pilot study of 87 female breast cancer survivors that an increase in physical activity more than doubled the women’s post-treatment mental processing speed.
September 19, 2017
September 19, 2017 —
It is estimated that up to 75 percent of breast cancer survivors experience problems with cognitive difficulties following treatments, perhaps lasting years. Currently, few science-based options are available to help. University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers report in a pilot study of 87 female breast cancer survivors that an increase in physical activity more than doubled the women’s post-treatment mental processing speed.
September 13, 2017
September 13, 2017 —
In a new study, published this month in Cancer Discovery, University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers report that approximately half of lung and pancreatic cancers that originate with a KRAS mutation become addicted to the gene as they progress.
August 15, 2017
August 15, 2017 —
Using fragments of circulating tumor DNA in blood, University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers were able to identify theoretically targetable genetic alterations in 66 percent of patients with cancer of unknown primary (CUP), a rare disease with seven to 12 cases per 100,000 people each year.
July 26, 2017
July 26, 2017 —
University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center researchers performed a population-level analysis of national surveys conducted from 2001 to 2015 and found that in the United States the smoking cessation rate increased for the first time in 15 years. The study suggests e-cigarettes helped users of the electronic devices to quit smoking traditional cigarettes.
July 5, 2017
July 5, 2017 —
After 12 weeks of taking an anti-asthma drug, a subset of patients with type 2 diabetes showed a clinically significant reduction in blood glucose during a randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial, report University of California San Diego School of Medicine and University of Michigan researchers.