pancreatic | Common News Update

Aug32018 by adminNo Comments

Diabetes remission after weight loss linked to improved pancreatic cells

Health

Aug. 2 (UPI) -- Researchers have figured out why some patients' type 2 diabetes goes into remission from aggressive weight loss -- improved functioning of pancreatic beta cells. Researchers at Newcastle University in England built on their Diabetes Remission Clinical Trial, in which 46 percent of individuals with the diabetes no longer were diabetic on year later if they underwent intensive weight loss. Their new findings, which were published Thursday in the journal Cell Metabolism, challenge the previous belief that beta-cell function is irreversibly lost in type 2 diabetes patients. "This observation carries potentially important implications for the initial clinical approach to management," senior author Dr. Roy Taylor of Newcastle University, who also oversaw the trial, said in a pre...

Study could make pancreatic cancer treatments more personalized

Health

June 29 (UPI) -- A new study published this week in Immunity could change the way oncologists tailor treatments to a patient's specific type of tumor. A team of scientists at Penn Medicine's Abramson Cancer Center looked at why tumors with more T cells, or cells that play a vital role in the immune response, are more sensitive to immunotherapy than those with fewer T cells. Those with more of these cells are known as "hot" tumors and those with less are known as "cold." The researchers looked at the role of "tumor heterogeneity," a cancer cell's ability to move, replicate, metastasize and respond to treatment. They found that whether a tumor is hot or cold is determined by information embedded in the cancer cells themselves. Recent findings from Penn Medicine and other institutions have ...

New drug may treat difficult lung, pancreatic cancer tumors

Health

May 29 (UPI) -- A new class of drugs, known as SHP2 inhibitors, may be effective against a wider range of cancers than previously thought, including treating pancreatic and lung cancer tumors, the Technical University of Munich said Tuesday. The drugs, which are typically not used on patients with hard-to-treat tumors, are currently being tested on patients with aggressive cancers, TUM said in a statement. Both pancreatic and lung cancers are collectively classified as KRAS tumors, due to their shared genetic error. The genetic error means that cell proteins, which are involved in cell division, no longer work properly and are always active -- leading to overactive cell division and tumor formation. Because KRAS proteins also play a crucial role for healthy cells, deactivating the protei...