New insight into origin of stomach cancer

Saint-Louis: Scientists had thought that destroying acid-secreting cells in the stomach would lead to a precancerous condition in other stomach cells. In the stomachs of mice, cells on the right (in yellow) are undergoing a process that can lead to cancer. But on the left, where researchers selectively had destroyed acid-secreting cells, the precancerous changes did not happen. Conventional wisdom holds that the loss of cells that secrete acid in the stomach leads to a condition that eventually can develop into stomach cancer. But new research at Washington University School of Medicine and Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University in St. Louis indicates otherwise. Researchers found that damage to acid-secreting cells alone doesn’t jump-start the transformation of healthy cells into precancerous cells — at least in a mouse model.

New technology for early detection of stomach cancer

Technion: Innovative gastric cancer-detection technology developed by the Technion can be used for the early detection of stomach cancer and for identifying persons at risk for developing the disease. The new detection method, based on breath analysis, has significant advantages over the existing detection technology: Gut reports that the new method is quick, simple, inexpensive and non-invasive.

New hope for beating deadly hereditary stomach and breast cancers

Otago: Deadly familial stomach and lobular breast cancers could be successfully treated at their earliest stages, or even prevented, by existing drugs that have been newly identified by University of Otago cancer genetics researchers. The researchers, led by Professor Parry Guilford, show for the first time that the key genetic mutation underlying the devastating conditions also opens them to attack through drug therapies targeting other cellular mechanisms.

Study provides individual risk estimates for deadly hereditary stomach cancer

Otago University. New-Zealand: A University of Otago researcher who helped discover a key genetic mutation that causes familial stomach cancer is part of an international team that has now provided the first accurate risk estimates for those who carry it.