Glasgow, United Kingdom: Non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) for chromosomal foetal disorders is used increasingly to test for conditions such as Down’s syndrome. NIPT examines DNA from the foetus in the mother’s blood, and therefore does not carry the risk of miscarriage involved in invasive testing methods. Now, for the first time, researchers have found another […]
Category: Genetics
Non-invasive prenatal testing: effective, safe, preferred by parents, and applicable in a range of disorders
Glasgow, United Kingdom: Non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) for Down’s syndrome is feasible, acceptable to parents, and could be introduced into the National Health Service (NHS), UK researchers say. The results of a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) study carried out by the first NHS laboratory to provide NIPT testing were reported to the annual […]
World first: researchers quantify the proportion of different genetic mutations contained within individual bowel cancers
Bowel cancer is often driven by mutations in one of several different genes, and a patient can have a cancer with a different genetic make-up to another patient’s cancer. Identifying the molecular alterations involved in each patient’s cancer enables doctors to choose drugs that best target specific alterations. However, it is also becoming clear that […]
Early results of new drug, ASP8273, show response in Japanese patients with treatment-resistant non-small cell lung cancer
Barcelona, Spain: In a second presentation looking at new ways of treating non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that has both the EGFR and T790M mutations, researchers told the 26th EORTC-NCI-AACR [1] Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics in Barcelona, Spain, that an oral drug called ASP8273 has caused tumour shrinkage in patients in a […]
Three drugs may be better than one for certain patients with advanced colorectal cancer
Barcelona, Spain: Patients with a form of advanced colorectal cancer that is driven by a mutated version of the BRAF gene have limited treatment options available. However, results from a multi-centre clinical trial suggest that the cancer may respond to a combination of three targeted drugs. Professor Josep Tabernero, head of the medical oncology department […]
Researchers identify biological indicator of response to new ovarian cancer drug
Barcelona, Spain: Researchers have found a way of identifying which ovarian cancer patients are likely to respond well to a new anti-cancer drug called rucaparib. Results of clinical trials have shown that women with tumours that are sensitive to platinum-based chemotherapy and who carry inherited mutations in the BRCA1/2 genes respond well to rucaparib. But […]
Trial results show treatment-resistant advanced non-small cell lung cancer responds to new drug, rociletinib
Barcelona, Spain: A new drug that targets not only common cancer-causing genetic mutations in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), but also a form of the mutation that causes resistance to treatment, has shown promising results in patients in a phase I/II clinical trial. The research will be presented on Friday at the 26th […]
Damaging legacy: mothers who smoke affect the fertility of their sons
Mothers who smoke while they are pregnant or breast feeding may be damaging the future fertility of their sons, according to new findings from research in mice published online in Human Reproduction [1], one of the world’s leading reproductive medicine journals. The study is the first comprehensive animal model to show the mechanism by which […]
Discovery of new genes involved in food preferences will revolutionise diets and improve health
Milan, Italy: New understanding of the genes involved in taste perception and food preferences could lead to personalised nutrition plans effective not just in weight loss but in avoiding diseases such as cancer, depression, and hypertension, Italian researchers told the annual conference of the European Society of Human Genetics (ESHG). Knowing why individuals prefer certain […]
Genetic researchers take a major step towards better diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis
Milan, Italy: A new target that may be critical for the treatment of osteoporosis, a disease which affects about 25% of post-menopausal women, has been discovered by a group of researchers in The Netherlands and in Germany. Professor Brunhilde Wirth, Head of the Institute of Human Genetics, University of Cologne, Germany, told the annual conference […]