Researchers of Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Columbia Initiative in Systems Biology have discovered two genes that appear to work together as master switches to turn on hundreds of other genes that drive the most aggressive forms of brain cancer: they hope their findings will help develop new approaches to treat these incurable tumors. These are the findings of a study published in the advanced online issue of the journal Nature.

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Radient Pharmaceuticals Corporation (RPC) has announced that it has signed a 3-year marketing, sales and distribution agreement with GenWay Biotech Inc. Under the terms of the agreement, GenWay Biotech Inc. has non-exclusive rights to distribute RPC’s Onko-Sure(TM) in vitro diagnostic cancer (IVD) test in the European Union, Middle East (excluding Israel), United Kingdom and Russia; and is responsible for product sales and marketing in these markets.

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Radiation oncologists at Cancer Treatment Centers of America® are adopting single-dose intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT) for use in patients with early-stage breast cancer. IORT is performed in the surgical suite immediately after tumor removal. Once the surrounding healthy organs and tissues are shielded, IORT uses a mobile linear accelerator to deliver a full dose of radiation directly to the tumor site.

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Sirtex Medical Inc. has announced the development and implementation of the Centers of Excellence (COE) Program. The COE designation recognizes premier hospitals and medical centers in the United States that have made significant contributions to interventional oncology research and clinical practice, including the use of SIR-Spheres microspheres. Manufactured by Sirtex, SIR-Spheres microspheres are the only FDA-approved radioactive microsphere therapy for the treatment of colorectal liver metastases.

A University of Minnesota survey shows less than half (48 percent) of parents who share this view support the use of the vaccine. Overall, however, 87 percent of Minnesotans surveyed support the vaccine use. The survey findings were published in the Journal of Adolescent Health. The vaccine to immunize young women against the human papillomavirus, a sexually-transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer, has not received the warm welcome public health advocates had hoped for.