Archive for the ‘Cancer Journals’ Category

Lessons from the Past and Charting the Future of Marine Natural Products Drug Discovery and Chemical Biology

Comments Off
Posted 15 Mar 2012 — by James Street
Category Cancer Journals, Educational, Trabectedin, Understanding Cancer, Yondelis
Chemistry & Biology

Volume 19, Issue 1, 27 January 2012, Pages 85–98

Cover image
Review

  • William H. Gerwick1, Corresponding author contact information, E-mail the corresponding author,
  • Bradley S. Moore1, Corresponding author contact information, E-mail the corresponding author
  • 1 Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Science, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA
  • Available online 26 January 2012.

View full text

Purchase

Marine life forms are an important source of structurally diverse and biologically active secondary metabolites, several of which have inspired the development of new classes of therapeutic agents. These success stories have had to overcome difficulties inherent to natural products-derived drugs, such as adequate sourcing of the agent and issues related to structural complexity. Nevertheless, several marine-derived agents are now approved, most as “first-in-class” drugs, with five of seven appearing in the past few years. Additionally, there is a rich pipeline of clinical and preclinical marine compounds to suggest their continued application in human medicine. Understanding of how these agents are biosynthetically assembled has accelerated in recent years, especially through interdisciplinary approaches, and innovative manipulations and re-engineering of some of these gene clusters are yielding novel agents of enhanced pharmaceutical properties compared with the natural product.

Figures and tables from this article:

Full-size image (52K)
Figure 1. Examples of Marine Natural Products with Characterized Biosynthetic Pathways(A) Laboratory cultured and (B) environmental uncultured marine microbes whose biosynthetic pathways have been established by a variety of omic approaches (includes ecteinascidin-743 shown in Figure 4).

View Within Article
Full-size image (26K)
Figure 2. Pie Charts Illustrating the Collected Sources and Predicted Biosynthetic Sources of Marine Derived or Inspired Drugs and Clinical Trial Agents(A) Pie chart illustrating the original collected sources of marine natural product derived or inspired agents currently as approved drugs or in clinical trials (20 total).(B) Pie chart of the marine-derived drugs and clinical trial agents divided by their subsequently shown or predicted source organisms (20 total). Cyanobacteria are differentiated from other bacteria in this chart because of their distinctive and characteristic physiological and metabolic capabilities.

View Within Article
Full-size image (20K)
Figure 3. Pie Chart Illustrating the Collected Sources of Marine Natural Products Used as Research BiochemicalsProducts that are available commercially for their useful pharmacological properties in biomedical research (121 total).

View Within Article
Full-size image (75K)
Figure 4. Chemical Structures of the Approved Drugs Deriving from or Inspired by a Marine Natural Product and Other Marine Metabolites Discussed in the TextOne-letter amino acid codes are used for depicting the structure of ziconotide.

View Within Article
Full-size image (30K)
Figure 5. Assembly Line Biosynthesis of Salinosporamide and Library Development of Structure Analogs via Mutasynthesis and Other Genetic Engineering ApproachesDomain abbreviations for the SalA and SalB multifunctional proteins are as follows: ACP, acyl carrier protein; KS, ketosynthase; AT, acyltransferase; C, condensation; A, adenylation; PCP, peptidyl carrier protein.

View Within Article
Full-size image (80K)
Figure 6. Parallel Strategy Employed by Grindberg et al. (2011) to Rapidly Access the Biosynthetic Gene Cluster for Apratoxin A, a Promising Anticancer Lead Compound from the Marine Cyanobacterium Moorea bouilloniiOn the top arm, single cells are obtained by microdissection from nonaxenic cultures of cyanobacteria, and DNA is extracted and amplified by Multiple Displacement Amplification (MDA) for partial genome sequencing. The sequences of recognizable gene motifs associated with natural product pathways are then used to construct PCR probes to screen a fosmid library that is produced in the normal fashion (lower arm). Fosmids probing positively by this process can be further characterized for desired gene motifs, and then sequenced. The melding of these approaches can accelerate the process of biosynthetic gene cluster discovery and description, such as is illustrated here for apratoxin A, especially in cases of nonaxenic cultures or environmental samples.

View Within Article
Table 1. Six Marine Natural Products and Fourteen Marine Natural Products Inspired Compounds that Are FDA-Approved Agents or in Clinical Trial with Details of Their Collected Source, Predicted Biosynthetic Source, Molecular Target, and Disease Treated

View table in article
Additional perspectives on approved FDA drugs and clinical trial agents that were derived or inspired by marine natural products can be found in Mayer et al. (2010) and Newman and Cragg (2010).

View Within Article

Finnish cancer research now the best in the world

Comments Off
Posted 11 Mar 2012 — by James Street
Category Cancer Journals, General Cancer Research, Understanding Cancer

When measured in terms of the average number of citations per article, Finnish cancer research is now the best not only in Europe, but also in the world.

Europe’s fifth most-cited cancer researcher is Academy Professor Kari Alitalo from the University of Helsinki.

An analysis conducted by the journal Lab Times indicates that, when measured in terms of the number of citations per scientific article, Finnish cancer research is the best not only in Europe, but also in the world. Lab Times’ cancer research analysis covers publications from 1998–2009.

In terms of the total number of citations, countries that publish a high volume of articles took the lead. Europe’s top three were Germany, England and Italy, with Finland in eleventh place.

However, when measured in terms of the number of citations per article, Finland shot into the lead in Europe. And not only that – Finland was the only European country to beat the USA.

Articles published by Finnish cancer researchers were cited an average of 26.4 times during the period in question, compared to 22.4 times for US researchers. In this comparison, Switzerland rose to second place in Europe with an average of 21.7 citations per article. The Netherlands came in third (21.4) and Sweden in fourth (21.2).

When comparing countries, only those articles that were published in specialist cancer research journals were included. This means that articles published in top multidisciplinary journals, such as Nature and Science, were not included in the analysis. In spite of this, the analysts believe that their analysis provides a reasonably reliable picture of different countries’ productivity in the field of cancer research.

Academy Professor Kari Alitalo was the fifth most-quoted European cancer researcher with 26,358 citations to his name. This put him behind Professor Guido Kroemer from the Paris Descartes University, Professors Richard Peto and Adrian L. Harris from Oxford University, and Professor Josef Penninger from the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology (IMBA) in Vienna.

When analysing the number of personal citations, all of the researchers’ published articles on cancer research were taken into consideration, including those published in multidisciplinary journals.

The analysts say that, especially when analysing personal citations, it was difficult to define what constitutes cancer research, as cancer research is closely connected to many other biomedical disciplines.

The articles states that, ‘The whole list of the most-cited heads nicely represents the wide variety of biomedical disciplines that make up “cancer research”: side by side, there are molecular, cell and developmental biologists, epidemiologists, clinical oncologists, biochemists, a toxicologist, immunologists, pathologists, haematologists …’

When measured in terms of the number of citations per article, European cancer research clearly lags behind the USA. US cancer researchers were cited an average of 22.4 times per article, compared to 14.9 times for European researchers. Australia (21.5), Canada (20.8) and Japan (17.3) also beat Europe in this comparison. Finland was the only individual European country to beat the USA.

Watch a video about Kari Alitalo’s cancer research on the university’s YouTube channel »»

Lab Times: Cancer Research – Publication Analysis 1998 – 2009 »»

Tuhat Research Database: Kari Alitalo »»

Comment on Facebook »»

Text: Päivi Lehtinen
Photo: Veikko Somerpuro
Video: Nitro
8.3.2012
University of Helsinki, digital communications

About Becker’s Hospital Review and ASC Communications

Comments Off
Posted 12 Apr 2011 — by James Street
Category Big Pharma, Big Pharma, Cancer Journals, Finance and Politics of cancer research and treatment, Legal Issues

ASC Communications is the leading source of cutting edge business and legal information for hospital and health system leaders, owners and operators of ambulatory surgery centers and leaders of orthopedic and spine practices. ASC Communications takes advantage of multiple channels through which to reach these decision-makers of the hospital and outpatient surgical community, including: print magazines (Becker’s Hospital Review, Becker’s ASC Review and Becker’s Orthopedic & Spine Review); two industry-leading ASC conferences and a new hospital and health system conference; weekly e-newsletters; as well as www.BeckersHospitalReview.com, www.BeckersASC.com, www.BeckersOrthopedicandSpine.com and a variety of Webinars and teleconferences.


Publications

Becker’s Hospital Review. Becker’s Hospital Review is a bimonthly publication offering up-to-date business and legal news and analysis relating to hospitals and health systems. Our content is geared-toward high-level hospital leaders, and we work to provide valuable content, including hospital and health system news, best practices and legal guidance specifically for these decision makers. Each issue of Becker’s Hospital Review reaches more than 15,000 people, primarily acute care hospital CEOs and CFOs.

Becker’s ASC Review. Becker’s ASC Review is a bimonthly publication that offers general business, legal and clinical guidance on topics including joint-ventures, development and expansion, and regulatory and compliance issues; as well as analysis and insight for specialties including bariatrics, orthopedics/spine, gastroenterology, neurosurgery, pain management, ophthalmology, ENT and anesthesiology. The publication reaches a qualified audience of more than 25,000 key business decision holders, including surgeons, hospital administrators, medical directors, directors of surgery, ASC administrators and others involved in the rapidly growing field of outpatient surgery. Further, every ASC in the nation receives the ASC Review.

Becker’s Orthopedic & Spine Review. Becker’s Orthopedic & Spine Review is a bimonthly publication offering news and analysis on business and legal issues relating to orthopedic and spine practices. Each issue of the publication reaches an audience of more than 15,000 key ASC-industry orthopedic and spine practice decision makers including orthopedic and sports medicine physicians and surgeons and spine practice administrators.

 

Conferences

Hospital and health system conference. The first annual Hospitals and Health Systems: Improving Profitability and Business and Legal Issues Conference will occur in April 2009 in Chicago. The conference will feature industry leaders speaking on key business issues and will offer CME credit.


ASC conferences. ASC Communications also hosts two conference in Chicago, one in October that focuses on ASC development and profits, and one in June the focuses on orthopedics, spine, neurosurgery and pain management in ASCs. Each event offers CME credits and brings 500 to 600 attendees, attracting a great number of physicians who either own surgery centers or are considering developing or investing in surgery centers. In addition, numerous companies take advantage of exhibiting and sponsorship opportunities. With these conferences, ASC Communications provides the ideal opportunity for CEOs and the senior leadership of the largest and most successful ASC companies to come together with surgeons, administrators and owners of ASCs.


E-Weeklies

Becker’s Hospital Review E-Weekly. This weekly e-newsletter provides a round-up of the most relevant business and legal news affecting hospitals and the healthcare communities. Each issue provides links to numerous business, legal, safety and regulatory news and analysis from the past week as well as Becker’s Hospital Review’s most popular feature articles, including our “people to know” and “hospitals to know” lists. If there’s news that matters to hospitals and health systems, it’s sure to be found in Becker’s Hospital Review E-Weekly.


Becker’s ASC Review E-Weekly. This weekly e-newsletter provides a round-up of the most relevant industry business and legal news affecting the outpatient surgery and healthcare communities. Each issues provides links to both news and analysis as well as Becker’s ASC Review’s most popular feature articles, including our “people to know” and “hospitals to know” lists. When business, legal and regulatory news breaks, it’s sure to be reported in the Becker’s ASC Review E-weekly.


Becker’s Orthopedic & Spine Review E-Weekly. This weekly e-newsletter provides a round-up of the most relevant business and legal news affecting physicians and administrators of orthopedic and spine practices. Each issue provides links to numerous business, legal, safety and regulatory news and analysis from the past week as well as Becker’s Orthopedic & Spine Review’s most popular feature articles. If there’s news that matters to orthopedic and spine practices, it’s sure to be found in Becker’s Orthopedic & Spine Review E-Weekly.

 

Web sites

ASC Communication’s Web sites, www.BeckersASC.com, www.BeckersHospitalReview.com and www.BeckersOrthopedicandSpine.com, are a one-stop shop for information for ASCs, hospitals and health systems and orthopedic and spine practices. The sites feature archived issues of Becker’s ASC Review, Becker’s Hospital Review and Becker’s Orthopedic & Spine Review, archived e-zines, conference brochures, white papers authored by expert sources and breaking business and legal news relevant to the healthcare community. Each Web site also includes specialty channels, which provide more in-depth coverage into critical topics such as Stark Act and Anti-Kickback, valuation, anesthesia, specialties and more. They are a key resource for healthcare leaders who want to have all that ASC Communications offers at their fingertips. Each Web site also includes specialty channels, which provide more in-depth coverage into critical topics such as Stark Act and Anti-Kickback, valuation, anesthesia, specialties and more.

Webinars and audio conferences

Industry experts present on a wide variety of topics, providing insiders’ views of what it takes to succeed in ASC development and operations across a wide variety of specialties and regarding any number of regulatory and clinical issues. The flexible formats mean fresh content for attendees, who can join the educational sessions without leaving the comfort of their facilities.

To receive the latest hospital and health system business and legal news and analysis from Becker’s Hospital Review, sign-up for the free Becker’s Hospital Review E-weekly by clicking here.

 

Cancer Discovery Publishes Paradigm-Shifting Research

Comments Off
Posted 04 Apr 2011 — by James Street
Category Cancer Journals, General Cancer Research
Released: 3/25/2011 1:00 PM EDT
Embargo expired: 4/3/2011 12:05 AM EDT
Source: American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)

Newswise — ORLANDO, Fla. — Cancer Discovery, the newest journal in the robust publication program of the American Association for Cancer Research, will debut at the AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011, held here from April 2-6.

The debut sample issue will feature research that enhances the classification of prostate cancer and proposes a possible new therapy, introduces potential new targets for lung cancer, and redefines immunotherapy in breast cancer.

Co-editors in Chief Lewis Cantley, Ph.D., director of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and professor of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School, and Jose Baselga, M.D., Ph.D., associate director and chief of the division of hematology/oncology at the Massachusetts General Hospital, will host a press conference on these studies and discuss the implications of the new journal for the field. This press conference will be held on Sunday, April 3 at 1:00 p.m. ET in Room W313 of the Orange County Convention Center.

“Cancer Discovery is poised to make major contributions to the growing body of knowledge. These papers are examples of the practice-changing research we can expect from this esteemed journal,” said Cantley.

Reporters who cannot attend the press conference in person can participate by using the following information:

• U.S. & Canada: (888) 647-7462 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            (888) 647-7462      end_of_the_skype_highlighting
• International: (201) 604-0169 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            (201) 604-0169      end_of_the_skype_highlighting
• Access Code: 244088

The following research will be presented during the AACR press conference:

• Scientists Identify KRAS Rearrangements in Metastatic Prostate Cancer
• New Target Identified for Squamous Cell Lung Cancer

Press registration for the AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011 is free to qualified journalists and public information officers: http://www.aacr.org/PressRegistration

Follow the AACR on Twitter: @AACR #AACR
Follow the AACR on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/aacr.org

The mission of the American Association for Cancer Research is to prevent and cure cancer. Founded in 1907, the AACR is the world’s oldest and largest professional organization dedicated to advancing cancer research. The membership includes 32,000 basic, translational and clinical researchers; health care professionals; and cancer survivors and advocates in the United States and more than 90 other countries. The AACR marshals the full spectrum of expertise from the cancer community to accelerate progress in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer through high-quality scientific and educational programs. It funds innovative, meritorious research grants, research fellowships and career development awards. The AACR Annual Meeting attracts more than 18,000 participants who share the latest discoveries and developments in the field. Special conferences throughout the year present novel data across a wide variety of topics in cancer research, treatment and patient care. Including Cancer Discovery, the AACR publishes seven major peer-reviewed journals: Cancer Research; Clinical Cancer Research; Molecular Cancer Therapeutics; Molecular Cancer Research; Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention; and Cancer Prevention Research. AACR journals represented 20 percent of the market share of total citations in 2009. The AACR also publishes CR, a magazine for cancer survivors and their families, patient advocates, physicians and scientists.