ONCOLOGY:
Hormone Therapy May Harm Some but Aids Many with Localized Prostate Cancer
Testosterone-suppressing drugs administered in conjunction with radiation provide
a powerful tool for treating not just men with metastatic prostate cancer but
those with more localized though still serious forms of the disease. A new study
by Anthony D’Amico, Philip Kantoff, and colleagues in the Jan. 23 issue
of The Journal of the American Medical Association suggests
that in these nonmetastatic cases, adding hormone therapy to radiation can have
a double-edged effect: it enhances the survival of otherwise relatively healthy
patients, but it can hasten fatal heart attacks in those with a history of cardiovascular
disease.
PATHOLOGY:
Gene Plays Jekyll and Hyde in Brain Cancer
Researchers in the lab of Azad Bonni have found that a particular gene
is central to the brain cancer glioblastoma and can act as either an
oncogene or tumor suppressor, depending on the tumor’s genetic
makeup. Researchers have long assumed that the gene in question, STAT3, only
acts as an oncogene, and so have been developing therapeutics that inhibit
it. But if STAT3 actually fights tumors in a subset of these cancers,
such therapies would do more harm than good. These findings are published
in the Feb. 15 issue of Genes and Development.
TRANSPLANTATION
MEDICINE: Mismatched Kidney Transplant Succeeds Without Immunosuppression
Since the first successful kidney transplant by a Harvard medical team
more than 50 years ago, researchers and doctors have been seeking ways
to replace malfunctioning organs without antirejection drugs and their
harmful side effects. Now, 20 years of animal studies have led to an
experimental protocol that has allowed four out of five people in a study
to stop taking immunosuppressive drugs for several years without rejecting
their new kidneys. The results from David Sachs and his colleagues mark
a hopeful milestone in a long quest to induce tolerance to transplanted
tissue.
Copyright 2008 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College