Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research

NEW TECHNIQUE REVEALS UNSEEN INFORMATION IN DNA CODE

New York, NY, Chicago, IL and Atlanta, GA, May 17, 2012Imagine reading an entire book, but then realizing that your glasses did not allow you to distinguish “g” from “q.” What details did you miss?

Geneticists faced a similar problem with the recent discovery of a “sixth nucleotide” in the DNA alphabet. Two modifications of cytosine, one of the four bases that make up DNA, look almost the same but mean different things. But scientists lacked a way of reading DNA, letter by letter, and detecting precisely where these modifications are found in particular tissues or cell types.

 

THE LUDWIG INSTITUTE FOR CANCER RESEARCH ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF ITEOS THERAPEUTICS SA

New Company to Focus on Developing Novel Immunotherapy Compounds for Cancer Treatment

NEW YORK, NY, May 3, 2012 – The Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR) announced today the launch of a private biotechnology enterprise, iTeos Therapeutics SA, to develop a novel pre-clinical pipeline of immunomodulators to stimulate the immune system’s ability to attack cancer. Founded by LICR with the de Duve Institute at the Université catholique de Louvain (UCL), iTeos is led by a team experienced in tumor immunology, immunotherapy, drug discovery, business development and entrepreneurship. iTeos is the ninth new company formed based on innovative cancer research discoveries licensed from LICR.

 

HOW USEFUL IS WHOLE GENOME SEQUENCING TO PREDICT DISEASE?

Few diseases have strong enough genetic components to make sequencing a solid way to assess individual risk

By Katherine Harmon | Monday, April 2, 2012

A $1,000 genome sequence is close to being available. What will your sequence tell you about your actual risk for certain diseases?

Many companies advertise a laundry list of disease risks associated with your genes. But your genome is unlikely to reveal whether or not you will actually get one of these conditions, according to a study published online April 2 in Science Translational Medicine.

 

NEW LUDWIG PARTNERSHIP IN BRAZIL

On April 13 and 14, 2012, the Hospital Sírio-Libanês (HSL) will host Intersections – 1st International Cooperative Cancer Symposium in São Paulo to celebrate a new strategic partnership among with the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR), Memorial Sloan- Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) and HSL. The two-day event will bring together leading oncologists from Brazil and around the world.

 

POWERFUL SEQUENCING TECHNOLOGY DECODES DNA FOLDING PATTERN

Findings provide tools for better understanding of the human genome

New York, NY, April 11, 2012 - Chromosomes are strands of DNA that contain the blueprint of all living organisms. Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes that instruct how genes are regulated during development of the human body. While scientists have developed an understanding of the one-dimensional structure of DNA, until today, little was known about how different parts of DNA are folded next to each other inside the nucleus.

 

ADD, SUBTRACT, DIVIDE EQUALS LIFE

Blog posting from UCSD based on a Ludwig study published in Nature

San Diego, April 8, 2012 - Centromeres are regions of DNA and proteins on each chromosome that both link together sister chromatids and ensure accurate chromosome segregation and distribution during cell division or mitosis. When centromeres don’t work right, the result can be catastrophic. Indeed, aberrant division and chromosomal instability are hallmarks of cancer cells, especially the most aggressive types.

 

Q&A WITH LICR SCIENTIFIC DIRECTOR DR. ANDREW SIMPSON IN INTERNATIONAL INNOVATION

March 2012 - Q & A WITH LICR SCIENTIFIC DIRECTOR, DR. ANDREW SIMPSON IN INTERNATIONAL INNOVATION

Underpinned by technological advances, cancer research has undergone some exiting developments in recent years. While Dr. Simpson is enthusiastic about such progress, he is keen to point out that much more needs to be done.

 

WHOLE GENOME SEQUENCING NOT INFORMATIVE FOR ALL, JOHNS HOPKINS LUDWIG CENTER STUDY SHOWS

CHICAGO - With sharp declines in the cost of whole genome sequencing, the day of accurately deciphering disease risk based on an individual’s genome may seem at hand. But a study involving data of thousands of identical twins by Johns Hopkins investigators finds that genomic fortune-telling fails to provide informative guidance to most people about their risk for most common diseases, and warns against complacency born of negative genome test results.

 

LUDWIG ABSTRACTS AT 2012 AACR MEETING

New York, NY, March 31, 2012 - The Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research announced today that scientists from its Institute will present seven abstracts at the America Association of Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2012 taking place Saturday, March 31 to Wednesday, April 4, 2012, at McCormick Place in Chicago, Ill.

 

SINGLE ANTIBODY SHRINKS VARIETY OF HUMAN TUMORS IN MICE, STUDY BY LUDWIG SCIENTIST SHOWS

STANFORD, CA, March 26, 2012 - Human tumors transplanted into laboratory mice disappeared or shrank when scientists treated the animals with a single antibody, according to a new study from the Stanford University School of Medicine. The antibody works by masking a protein flag on cancer cells that protects them from macrophages and other cells in the immune system. The scientists achieved the findings with human breast, ovarian, colon, bladder, brain, liver and prostate cancer samples.

 

LUDWIG CENTER DIRECTOR, BERT VOGELSTEIN, HONORED BY AACR

The American Association for Cancer Research will award LICR Center Director, Bert Vogelstein, M.D., with the Eighth Annual AACR-Irving Weinstein Foundation Distinguished Lectureship at the AACR Annual Meeting 2012, held in Chicago from March 31 - April 4.

WOMAN'S RECOVERY FROM ADVANCED MELANOMA COULD HELP GUIDE RESEARCH

March 7, 2012 - WOMAN'S RECOVERY FROM ADVANCED MELANOMA COULD HELP GUIDE RESEARCH

Combining the immune-based drug ipilimumab with targeted radiation therapy improved one advanced melanoma patient's ability to fight the deadly skin cancer, a new study says.

 

NEJM STUDY SHOWS COMBINATION TREATMENT IMPROVES MELANOMA PATIENT OUTCOME

NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE STUDY SHOWS PAIRING IMMUNOTHERAPY WITH RADIOTHERAPY IMPROVES A PATIENT’S ABILITY TO FIGHT MELANOMA

Study Describes a Rare Case of the Abscopal Effect in a Melanoma Patient

New York, NY, March 8, 2012 - Research published today in the New England Journal of Medicine by scientists at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR) and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) showed that combining targeted radiation therapy with immunotherapy (ipilimumab), fostered a strong immune response and a favorable clinical outcome in a patient with melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer. The size of both the tumor that was treated with radiation and distant tumors in the patient were reduced. This study is a rare example of a documented case of an immune response, known as the abscopal effect, in cancer treatment.

 

LUDWIG INSTITUTE FOR CANCER RESEARCH'S DISCOVERY LEADS TO AUSTRALIAN PATIENT TRIALS

Melbourne, Australia, February 21, 2012- The Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR) today announced that the first-in-patient trial with the monoclonal antibody ABT-806i is underway at Austin Health in Melbourne. ABT-806i was created from the monoclonal antibody mAb806, which was generated and characterised by LICR, and later successfully licensed to Abbott through Life Science Pharmaceuticals (LSP).

 

EXPRESS YOURSELF: HOW ZYGOTES SORT OUT IMPRINTED GENES

San Diego, CA, Feb. 16, 2012 - Writing in the February 17, 2012 issue of the journal Cell, researchers at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and the Toronto Western Research Institute peel away some of the enduring mystery of how zygotes or fertilized eggs determine which copies of parental genes will be used or ignored.

 

ANTIBODIES SUCCESSFULLY TARGET INTRACELLULAR ANTIGENS

Pre-clinical Study Shows Delay in Tumor Growth and Prolonged Survival Time

New York, NY, Feb. 13, 2012 - An international team of scientists in Japan, Switzerland, and the United States has confirmed that combining chemotherapy and immunotherapy in cancer treatment enhances the immune system’s ability to find and eliminate cancer cells, even when the cancer-associated proteins targeted by the immune system are hidden behind the cancer cell membrane. In a study published in Cancer Research by Noguchi et al., the scientists show that antibodies, which have been successful in treating certain types of cancers, can effectively reach elusive intracellular targets, delaying tumor growth and prolonging survival when combined with chemotherapy.

 

PERSPECTIVE FROM XIN LU, OXFORD BRANCH DIRECTOR, IN EMBO PUBLICATION

Click on the link below to read the story in EMBOencounters:

embo_encounters_issue20.pdf