New study: a curcumin-carfilzomib combination is deadly to U266 myeloma cells
Well, well, well…
A few minutes ago a recently-published Italian study caught my eye. A group of researchers from the University of Messina (Sicily) has discovered that the combined effects of curcumin and carfilzomib (CFZ) are absolutely deadly to multiple myeloma U266 cells.
Here’s the link to the abstract: goo.gl/EBTwcc
As we can read, the researchers conclude the following: “These findings evidence that curcumin can ameliorate CFZ efficacy, and lead us to hypothesize that this effect might be useful to optimize CFZ therapy in MM patients.”
Indeed!
At any rate, I thought this study mig...
Source: Margaret's Corner - December 11, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll carfilzomib curcumin Source Type: blogs
New study: a curcumin-carfilzomib combination is deadly for U266 myeloma cells
Well, well, well…
A few minutes ago a recently-published Italian study caught my eye. A group of researchers from the University of Messina (Sicily) has discovered that the combined effects of curcumin and carfilzomib (CFZ) are absolutely deadly to multiple myeloma U266 cells.
Here’s the link to the abstract: goo.gl/EBTwcc
As we can read, the researchers conclude the following: “These findings evidence that curcumin can ameliorate CFZ efficacy, and lead us to hypothesize that this effect might be useful to optimize CFZ therapy in MM patients.”
Indeed!
At any rate, I thought this study mig...
Source: Margaret's Corner - December 11, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll carfilzomib curcumin Source Type: blogs
High levels of the enzyme ADAR1 are associated with reduced survival in multiple myeloma
We have a new target in multiple myeloma. An enzyme called ADAR1. In a nutshell, patients with high levels of this enzyme in their myeloma cells don’t live as long as those with low levels of ADAR1: goo.gl/MpsQSm
But the most interesting finding, in my opinion, is as follows…
In the words of the senior author of this University of San Diego study, Prof. Catriona Jamieson, “Several major advances in recent years have been good news for multiple myeloma patients, but those new drugs only target terminally differentiated cancer cells and thus can only reduce the bulk of the tumor. […] They don’t get...
Source: Margaret's Corner - December 8, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll Source Type: blogs
Dendritic cells, miR-29b, and multiple myeloma
Life is very complicated these days. This morning, after consulting with the vet, I discovered that our giardia-ridden kittens will have to undergo a second cycle of treatment, which will begin next week. This means that they will have to spend another month holed up in their luxurious quarantine, poor dears! I am spending almost all of my free time with them…playing with them, feeding them, holding them, cleaning up, sterilizing, and being SUPER CAREFUL whenever I handle anything at all in the quarantine room.
Mind you, it may sound like it, but I’m not complaining. Not at all!!! I mean, just look at that fa...
Source: Margaret's Corner - November 30, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll curcumin dendritic cells miR-29b myeloma Source Type: blogs
Giardiasis
Well, phooey! Last week we finally found out that our two new kittens have giardiasis, which is an intestinal infection caused by a parasite–giardia (see photo below…it looks like a harmless balloon with a scary face, but it’s actually a microscope image of this nasty little intestinal parasite)–which can be transmitted to humans, too, especially, eek, those with an immunodeficiency.
Eh. I have to be super careful. And I have been…
How we found out about the giardiasis is a long messy (and smelly!!!) story that I’ll spare you. Luckily, the kittens have responded well to the anti-giard...
Source: Margaret's Corner - November 22, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll Source Type: blogs
Pandora and Pixie-Panacea
For the past seven days I’ve been dividing my free time between our two new kittens and our resident adult cats.
The two “groups” haven’t officially met yet, because the kittens have loose stools (not caused by parasites, luckily…so it’s probably just because of the dietary change…still, quite gross…and smelly, yuckaroni!!). We have to get rid of the kittens’ intestinal problems before letting them,er, loose in the house. I mean, it’s one thing to have TWO cats with intestinal issues, quite another to have SEVEN cats with issues. Ouch! So they are in quarantine in the guest bedroom.
O...
Source: Margaret's Corner - November 9, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll diarrhea kittens Source Type: blogs
“ Gut bacteria ‘ boost ’ cancer therapy ”
That’s the title of a very interesting BBC News article I read this morning, thanks to my friend Paul: goo.gl/pkXS1J It’s about two recent studies that examined patients with cancer (1. lung or kidney; 2. melanoma), discovering that those who had a lot of “friendly” gut bacteria responded better to immunotherapy.
Excerpt: Dr Jennifer Wargo, from Texas, told the BBC: “If you disrupt a patient’s microbiome you may impair their ability to respond to cancer treatment.”
Okay, so the patients in the two studies didn’t have myeloma. But I would bet anything that those three types o...
Source: Margaret's Corner - November 4, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll BBC News Clostridium difficile gut bacteria microbiome probiotics SCT Source Type: blogs
Pixie, Pandora, Peppola, Pepper … ???
Stefano and I went to visit our new kittens about ten days ago. Oh my. They are so unbelievably ADORRRRRRABLE…such wonderful, happy, friendly kittens…
They are still with their mother, and in fact here is an important bit of information: kittens should NOT be taken away from their mother before they are at least two months old, otherwise they might have behavior and even health problems later on in life. And so we have been waiting for them to be weaned and reach the proper age.
It also turns out that our rather random decision to adopt TWO kittens instead of one was absolutely spot on. Kittens that are adopted...
Source: Margaret's Corner - October 31, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll kittens Source Type: blogs
“ Sleep scientist warns against walking through life ‘ in an underslept state'”
Last summer Stefano bought Fitbits for us, and, to our surprise, we discovered that we weren’t sleeping as much or as deeply as we thought. I always used to maintain that as soon as my head hit the pillow, I’d fall into a deep coma. I thought I was getting plenty of sleep.
Well, the Fitbit told me otherwise. And who knows how long this had been going on (still is, probably)…Eeeek!
Why am I mentioning this today? Because, thanks to a Facebook friend (and blog reader, too), I just finished reading a very interesting NPR report on the importance of sleep…of “naturalistic” sleep. Here’...
Source: Margaret's Corner - October 21, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll Matthew Walker NPR sleep and the immune system Source Type: blogs
The connection between EBV infection and MM and MGUS
Today’s short post deals with proof of the association of the Epstein-Barr virus with MM and MGUS, which I found in a 2016 University of Sassari (Italy) study.
The full study isn’t available for free online, but, thanks to a lovely friend, I was able to get my hands on it. If you click on the page (at the following link), thereby enlarging it, you will be able to read almost the entire first page of the study where most of the results are posted, actually: goo.gl/b8Tx3F
The study points out that until now, apart from a couple of case reports on plasmacytomas possibly caused by EBV in immunodeficient MM patients, ther...
Source: Margaret's Corner - October 19, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll Epstein-Barr connection to MM and MGUS Source Type: blogs
Update on the viral connection to myeloma
Discussion part, perhaps this could be feasible in the early stages of the “chronic underlying infection”…But they also add that it might even be effective in later stages of MM. Boy, that would really be something, wouldn’t it?
Here are some excerpts from the Discussion (my highlights): “Overall, our findings imply that chronic stimulation by infectious Ag may promote MGUS and MM in certain patient subsets. Importantly, some of the identified infectious pathogens (HSV, HCV, H. pylori) can be effectively treated. This observation has obvious clinical consequences, since the detection of MGUS or SM patients with a...
Source: Margaret's Corner - October 18, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll myeloma viral connection to myeloma virus Source Type: blogs
Kittens kittens kittens!
The biggest personal news of this period is that Stefano and I have decided to adopt two female kittens. Yep, we’re a couple of crazy cat people, no question…
Right now they’re five weeks old, so they’re still with their mother, a sweet, lovely multi-colored European cat that belongs to a family here in Tuscany. They will stay with her until they are fully weaned and ready…I’d say, about mid November.
Why TWO kittens, not just ONE, you might ask, since we already have FIVE other cats? Well, there is more than one simple answer to that question…
It might seem, at first glance, that ...
Source: Margaret's Corner - October 15, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll Source Type: blogs
Ancient viruses buried in our DNA may be raising our risks for cancer
Thanks to a friend, I also read this New York Times Science article on ancient viruses and their possible link to cancer: goo.gl/akhVZp
Did you know that our “DNA contains roughly 100,000 pieces of viral DNA”? No, I didn’t, either, yikes. That’s one of the things I learned from this article…
Anyway, I hope you enjoy yet another very interesting reading…a rather scary one, too, when you think about all the ancient retroviruses living inside of us, and what they might be doing, but, as I always maintain, it’s better to KNOW than not to know. (Source: Margaret's Corner)
Source: Margaret's Corner - October 11, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll cancer retroviruses Source Type: blogs
Breast cancer linked to bacterial imbalances
Thanks to a blog reader and Facebook friend, I read this Science Daily article just now: goo.gl/yBBR8N Wow!
I have become quite interested in gut bacteria in recent years, and in fact I take probiotics as often as I can (translate: whenever I remember to take ’em!). I wrote a post about probiotics and myeloma in 2013 (to find it, just do a search for “probiotics” of my blog). Interesting…
Anyway, hmmmmm, I wonder if breast cancer is an isolated case in the world of cancer…Probably not.
Whatever may be the case, I’m sure you’ll find this article VERY interesting…!!! (Source: Margaret's Corner)
Source: Margaret's Corner - October 9, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll breast cancer and probiotics Source Type: blogs
Apologies and thanks!
First of all, I’d like to apologize for my incredibly long absence. I wanted to let you all know that I’m fine…I mean, no health problems whatsoever (ooops, knock on wood! ).
I just haven’t felt like writing or posting anything on the blog since Piccolo died…
Without him and without Puzzola (my faithful lunchtime companion), the house seems so empty now. For example, the two of them were always the first to show up in the kitchen at mealtimes. Then all the others would arrive, too.
But that all changed after Piccolo’s death. At mealtimes, none of the cats would make a beeline for the k...
Source: Margaret's Corner - October 6, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll Source Type: blogs
