Image of Closing Blood Supply to Tumors in Hypnosis

New research shows that tumor blood vessel might be the area to attack. As hypnotherapists, this could be a useful image to have our clients use. Below is the article from ScienceDaily.com:

Cancer Stem Cells Spur Glioma Angiogenesis, Could Hold Key To Brain Tumor Therapy

Stem cell-like glioma cancer cells that share many characteristics with normal stem cells propel the lethal growth of brain cancers by promoting tumor blood vessel formation, and may hold the key to treating these deadly cancers, a research team reported in the August 15th issue of Cancer Research.

Led by Jeremy Rich, M.D., associate professor at the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke University, the researchers found that a small subset of glioma cells expressed higher levels of a growth factor associated with cancer cell growth. They believe this subset could be a target for new therapies against these intractable brain tumors.

Gliomas are the most common type of brain tumor, making up about half of all diagnosed primary (or non-metastatic) brain tumors. About 17,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with a primary brain tumor each year. Patients with the most aggressive glioma, called glioblastoma, have an average life expectancy of less than one year despite advances in cancer treatment. To better treat cancer patients, laboratories like those of Rich are trying to better understand the causes of tumor growth so that gliomas can be targeted with new drugs.

"Malignant brain tumors are highly lethal, despite aggressive surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy," said Dr. Rich. "We believe targeting the cancer stem cells of brain tumors may offer a novel therapy that will help to decrease the blood supply feeding a growing tumor, and therefore decrease or stop that tumor's growth."

Researchers from other laboratories recently determined that a small fraction of all the cells in a glioma have special characteristics similar to brain stem cells. These stem cell-like glioma cells form tumors when implanted in animals. As the ability to form new blood vessels (called angiogenesis) to supply blood carrying nutrients is critical in cancer growth, Dr. Rich's team studied if the formation of tumors by stem cell-like glioma cells could be due to increased angiogenesis. Angiogenesis is often stimulated by a key growth factor called VEGF. Rich and colleagues found that stem cell-like glioma cells enhanced the angiogenesis of gliomas through increased levels of VEGF.

Using an antibody to mark the cancer stem cells in gliomas obtained from patient specimens, the Rich laboratory determined that between three-to-five percent of tumor cells were of the stem cell-like variety. They found that these stem cell-like glioma cancer cells expressed much higher levels of VEGF and formed more tumors with more blood vessels than glioma cells that did not have stem cell characteristics. Adding an antibody (bevacizumab, also known by the trade name Avastin) that blocks VEGF activity blocked new blood vessel formation and prevented tumor growth. The researchers suggest that the stem cell-like glioma cells, because of their support of angiogenesis, could hold an important target to suppressing the growth of brain cancer.

"VEGF antibodies may be effective as cancer therapies when combined with chemotherapy by improving delivery directly and specifically to stem cell-like tumor cells," said Dr. Rich. "Targeting VEGF in this way would not kill cancer cells directly, but instead would block the actions of adjacent cells that support the growth of their blood supply."

Dr. Rich's lab studies the complex relationships between cell signaling pathways and the development of cancer, especially in the nervous system. The lab is investigating a number of molecular targets that contribute to cancer growth and malignancy.

"Too often, brain tumor patients have been told there is no hope. Our overall objective is to give brain tumor patients that hope, while we do not expect to achieve instant victories in the near future," said Dr. Rich.

Dr. Rich's colleagues in the study included Shideng Bao, Qiulian Wu, Sith Sathornsumetee, Yueling Hao, Zhizhong Li, Anita Hjelmeland, Qing Shi, Roger McLendon and Darell Bigner, all of Duke University.

Use Hypnosis for Children's Pain

We have always known that simple hypnosis works so well with children! This is an article from ScienceDaily.com about television being used as a method of distraction. However, you can't take a television into a doctors office. Try hypnosis...it WORKS!

Television Is Effective 'Painkiller' For Kids, Study Finds

TV really does act like a painkiller when it comes to kids, reveals a small study published ahead of print in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.

The research team assessed 69 children between the ages of 7 and 12, who were randomly divided into three groups to have a blood sample taken.

One group was given no distraction while the sample was being taken. In the second group mothers attempted to actively distract their children by talking to them, soothing, and/or caressing them.

And in the third group, the children were allowed to watch TV cartoons while the procedure was being carried out.

None of the children was given any form of anaesthesia, and after the samples had been taken, all the children and their mothers then rated their pain scores.

The children recording the highest pain scores were in the group for whom no distraction had been provided. These scores were around three times as high as those recorded by children allowed to watch the TV cartoons.

Middling scores were recorded by those children whose mothers had attempted to actively distract them while the sample was taken.

Although on average, the mothers rated pain scores higher than their children had done, and particularly for their own attempts at distracting their offspring, they nevertheless recorded the lowest pain scores for children who had been allowed to watch TV cartoons.

Pain is stressful for children, even when relatively minor procedures are involved, say the authors, who conclude that the passive distraction of TV is a more effective analgesic than active distraction. Watching TV also seems to increase children's pain tolerance, they add.

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[Analgesic effect of watching TV during venipuncture Online First Arch Dis Child 2006; doi: 1136/adc.2006.097246]

Using "Real Life" Imagery for the Immune System

Here is an idea to use in your clients who have immune system problems. The article is from ScienceDaily.com.

Research Reveals Inner Workings Of Immune System 'Thermostat'

When bacteria, viruses or parasites attack, immune system cells unleash the soldiers. These “hot” protein compounds kill invaders – but also trigger inflammation, which, if unchecked, can destroy tissue, induce shock and kill the host. So immune system cells let loose another protein compound to cool down the immune response.

Precisely how this immune system “thermostat” operates is unclear. The leading hypothesis is that these compounds – which act as furnace and air conditioner – battle it out over control of the system’s inflammatory response.

But new research, led by George Yap of Brown University, shows that these cytokines don’t operate independently and in opposition. They operate in harmony and are controlled by the same master. In work published in the Journal of Immunology, Yap and his team show that the “cool” anti-inflammatory protein compound known as Interleukin 10 is activated by Interferon-γ, a class of proteins secreted by a class of white blood cells known as T helper 1 cells. The team then traced secretion of Interferon-γ indirectly to tyrosine kinase 2, or tyk2, the same protein that signals “hot” inflammatory cytokines Interleukin 12 and Interferon-α and Interferon-β.

“Under the prevailing paradigm, scientists believe that the pro- and anti-inflammatory arms of the immune system just antagonize each other,” Yap said. “Here we show that they actually induce each other. ‘Hot’ cytokines don’t inhibit ‘cool’ ones – they trigger their production. Wounding, in effect, triggers a healing process.”

In previous research, Yap discovered that mutant mice with a naturally defective tyk2 gene were immune to arthritis, a condition caused by inflammation. But these mutants were much more susceptible to opportunistic infections. Why? Without tyk2, Yap found, mice didn’t make enough of the pro-inflammatory warriors that destroy harmful bugs and cause inflammation. This finding established the notion that tyk2 signaling controlled Interleukin 12, the furnace side of the system. But what controlled Interleukin 10, the air conditioner?

To find out, Yap and his team conducted a series of experiments in mutant mice infected with the parasite Toxoplasma gondii. They found that Interleukin 10 production by T helper 1 cells is triggered by Interferon-γ - but not directly. Another cell, an antigen presenting cell or APC, sends a stimulatory signal back to the T helper 1 cell, ordering it to make Interleukin 10.

“What we see is that the ‘hot’ and ‘cool’ arms of the immune system aren’t independently regulated,” Yap said. “They talk to each other and respond in a dynamic and coordinated fashion.”

Yap said the findings should send a message to drug companies designing and testing tyk2-inhibiting medicines for arthritis and other autoimmune diseases. Block tyk2 function, Yap said, and patients will be more prone to infection – and their arthritis may not be relieved. “There could be a downside to these drugs,” he said.

Brown graduate student Michael Shaw and Brown Medical School student Mark Scott contributed to the research. Gordon Freeman of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Barbara Fox and David Bzik of Dartmouth Medical School and Yasmine Belkaid of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease served as collaborators.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases funded the research.