Monday, April 26, 2010

Sessions on CSC Therapeutics at AACR10

There were two poster sessions on Cancer Stem Cell Therapeutics at the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR). The sessions, Cancer Stem Cell Therapeutics 1 and Cancer Stem Cell Therapeutics 2, took place on the morning and afternoon of April 20, 2010 [FriendFeed entry].

Two posters presented in the 2nd session have been highlighted in a news release. See: Alchemia’s HyACT Technology Enhances the Killing of Cancer Stem Cell Populations in Breast and Colorectal Cancer, Business Wire, April 20, 2010 [FriendFeed entry]. One of these is Poster #4293: Evaluation of activated CD44 as a biological target in the eradication of breast cancer stem cells, by Vera J Evtimov and Tracey J Brown [Presentation Abstract]. The other is Poster #4278: HA-Irinotecan targeting of activated CD44 is an effective therapy for the eradication of putative colon cancer stem cells [Presentation Abstract].

Friday, April 16, 2010

MicroRNA therapy could be a powerful tool to correct the CSC dysregulation?

Medical Hypothesis: No small matter: microRNAs - key regulators of cancer stem cells by Qing Ji, David Karnak, Ping Hao, Rongquan Wang and Liang Xu, Int J Clin Exp Med 2010(Mar 12); 3(1): 84-7 [FriendFeed entry][Connotea bookmark][Full text via PMC]. PubMed Abstract:
Emerging evidence demonstrates that both tumor suppressor and oncogenic miRNAs play an essential role in stem cell self-renewal and differentiation by negatively regulating the expression of certain key genes in stem cells. It seems logical that they may also be critical players in cancer stem cells. Though small in size, miRNAs play a key role in the epigenetic regulation of cancer stem cells. Specifically, the imbalance of oncogenic vs. tumor suppressor miRNAs may lead to dysregulation of cancer stem cells, thus causing excessive self-renewal and survival of cancer stem cells, and resistance to chemo/radiotherapy. We postulate that restoring the balance of miRNAs will correct this dysregulation via the direct and simultaneous modulation of downstream stem cell pathways involved in cancer stem cell self-renewal and/or differentiation. The resultant restoration of key regulatory pathways could improve therapeutic response. Restoring tumor suppressor miRNAs and/or inhibiting oncogenic miRNAs may provide a novel molecular therapy for human cancers, potentially via modulating cancer stem cells.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

CSC news roundup 2010-04-11

Friday, April 2, 2010

CFI practices called “world’s best’’

The Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) is one of the Canadian funding agencies that is a Member of the Cancer Stem Cell Consortium (CSCC). According to a news release from the CFI, dated March 24, 2010, CFI’s Funding Agreement with the Government of Canada required an overall performance evaluation and value-for-money audit (OPEA). Excerpt from the news release: "KPMG conducted an overall performance evaluation and value-for-money audit of the CFI and an international panel of seven experts in global research and research funding reviewed the findings and produced an independent report".

The news release is entitled: Canada Foundation for Innovation practices called “world’s best’’. The full OPEA, performed by KPMG in 2009, as well as the International Review Panel Report, are available via: OPEA Reports and Summary.