News Archive
The Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR) is an international non-profit research institute dedicated to improving the understanding and control of cancer. Below are highlights of the Institute’s news.
May 03, 2012
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.
April 16, 2012
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.
April 13, 2012
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 Sao 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.
April 11, 2012
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.
April 03, 2012
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.
Click on the link below
April 02, 2012
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.
March 31, 2012
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.
March 27, 2012
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.
March 23, 2012
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.
March 09, 2012
WOMAN’S RECOVERY FROM ADVANCED MELANOMA COULD HELP GUIDE RESEARCH
March 7, 2012 - 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.
The treatment triggered a strong immune response, which resulted in shrinkage of both the tumor treated with radiation as well as tumors located at distant locations in the body, according to the study, published in the March 8 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
March 07, 2012
NEJM STUDY SHOWS COMBINATION TREATMENT IMPROVES MELANOMA PATIENT OUTCOME
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.
March 06, 2012
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).
February 16, 2012
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.
February 13, 2012
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.
January 30, 2012
NEW TARGET FOR CANCER THERAPY IDENTIFIED, PRECLINICAL STUDY SHOWS
TDO Enzyme Enables Tumors to Avoid Detection and Rejection by the Immune System
New York, NY, January 30, 2012 - Scientists from the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR) in Brussels identified a new target for cancer therapy, an enzyme which prevents the immune system from recognizing and destroying certain types of tumors. Called tryptophan 2,3-dioxygenase or TDO, the enzyme works by depriving immune cells of tryptophan, an amino acid essential to their activity. TDO is produced by a significant number of human tumors. Scientists also show that blocking TDO activity with a novel TDO inhibitor promotes tumor rejection in mice. The study findings were published online today in the January 30 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
January 18, 2012
STANFORD COMPUTER ALGORITHM USED TO IDENTIFY BLADDER CANCER MARKER
January 17, 2012, STANFORD, Calif. - Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have used an innovative mathematical technique to find markers that effectively predict how deadly a cancer will be. The discovery, which in this case concerned bladder cancer, could lead to faster, less expensive and more accurate analysis of cancer risk and better treatment of the disease.
January 12, 2012
ANTI-CANCER VACCINE USING T. CRUZI PARASITE PREVENTS CANCER IN PRE-CLINICAL STUDIES
January 10, 2012
LICR PARTNER CIRCADIAN COMMENCES PHASE 1 TRIAL IN CANCER PATIENTS
MELBOURNE, Australia, Jan. 8, 2012 - Circadian Technologies Limited (ASX:CIR, OTCQX:CKDXY) announced today that it has commenced the first Phase 1 clinical trial of its fully human monoclonal antibody against VEGF-C, VGX-100, at a leading US-based cancer treatment centre
December 25, 2011
NEW GENE MUTATIONS IDENTIFIED THAT ARE INVOLVED IN MELANOMA
Researchers of the University of Geneva (UNIGE), the Ludwig Center for Cancer Research of the University of Lausanne (LICR@UNIL), the Cantonal University Hospital(CHUV), and the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (SIB) have identified novel mutationsin the genes MEK1 and MEK2 that are involved in the development of melanoma. These findings, which open new perspectives to personalized treatments, were recently published in the journal Nature Genetics.
December 22, 2011
DNA MISMATCH REPAIR HAPPENS ONLY DURING A BRIEF WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY
In eukaryotes - the group of organisms that include humans - a key to survival is the ability of certain proteins to quickly and accurately repair genetic errors that occur when DNA is replicated to make new cells
December 15, 2011
Ludwig Scientist Shows Molecular Markers Can Predict Spread of Cancer, Guide Treatment
Molecular markers found in cancer cells that have spread from a primary tumor to a limited number of distant sites can help physicians predict which patients with metastatic cancer will benefit from aggressive, targeted radiation therapy.
In a study to be published online Dec. 13, 2011, in the journal PloS One, researchers from the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois at Chicago show that if cells from metastatic tumors have high levels of a particular type of microRNA—a tool cells use to silence certain genes—not even aggressive treatment of those tumors would help. But if the cells have lower levels of that biological marker, then focused local treatment could be effective, even curative.
December 13, 2011
How brain tumors invade
Scientists have pinpointed a protein that allows brains tumors to invade healthy brain tissue, according to work published this week in the Journal of Experimental Medicine (http://www.jem.org).
December 08, 2011
Cancer Treatment Combination for Melanoma To Begin First-in-Human Testing
Newton, MA; New York, NY; and Brussels, Belgium - December 8, 2011 - Galectin Therapeutics, the Cancer Centre at the Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc and the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR) announced today that they will initiate a Phase 1/2 safety and efficacy trial testing a novel treatment combination in patients with advanced metastatic melanoma. The Belgian Federal Agency of Medicine and Health Products (FAMHP) granted approval to evaluate Galectin Therapeutics’ carbohydrate-based galectin receptor inhibitor, GM-CT-01, together with an LICR peptide vaccine. The trial will enroll up to 46 patients from four clinical centers in Belgium and Luxembourg.
December 05, 2011
Ludwig Scientist Discovers Key Mechanism in DNA Repair
DNA mismatch repair (MMR) is the body’s system for recognizing and fixing mispaired bases (adenine with thymine, guanine with cytosine) that occur during genetic replication and recombination. It’s a vital process because it eliminates mutations that can result in defects and the development of different cancers.
November 30, 2011
Ricardo Brentani, former Sao Paolo Branch Director, Passed Away
Ricardo Renzo Brentani, the former Director of the Sao Paulo Branch of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research Ltd (LICR), passed away suddenly on November 29, 2011. Ricardo was born in Trieste, Italy, in July 1937 and moved to Brazil as an infant. He studied medicine and completed his Ph.D. at the University of Sao Paulo Medical School where since 1981 he was the first full professor of oncology at a Brazilian university. In 1983 Ricardo became the founding Director of the Sao Paulo Branch, a post he held until 2005.
November 29, 2011
A Tribute to Dr. Lloyd Old
Dr. Lloyd J. Old passed away yesterday at the age of 78, a casualty of the disease to which he committed his life. A close advisor to Daniel K. Ludwig, Dr. Old was the scientific mid-wife to the 1971 birth of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR). A member of its Scientific Committee throughout its formative years, Dr. Old was appointed Scientific Director and CEO of the Institute in 1988 and functioned in those capacities until he stepped down in 2005 to serve as Chairman of the Board of Directors, a position he held until 2009. He was a rare leader who cared as much about the people he worked with as the work itself. Underpinning it all was the abiding concern which he harbored for those who might benefit from his research – the victims of cancer.
November 14, 2011
Professor Ralf Petterson
Ralf Petterson, the former director of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research Ltd (LICR), Stockholm Branch, passed away on November 3, 2011, after a long battle with cancer. Born in May 1945, Ralf grew up in Helsinki. He studied medicine and completed his M.D. and Ph.D. at Helsinki University. He established independent research in the area of virology at Helsinki University and spent two years as a post-doc in David Baltimore’s lab from 1976 to 1977.
October 21, 2011
Director of LICR Oxford Branch Elected to EMBO
LICR is pleased to announce that Professor Xin Lu PhD FRCPath, Director of the Oxford Branch, has been elected as a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO).