Advances

(Advances gives a glimpse of the many significant research projects at the university. Tell us about your discoveries by e-mailing: wisweek@news.wisc.edu.)

Advances gives a glimpse of the many significant research projects at the university. Tell us about your discoveries by e-mailing: wisweek@news.wisc.edu.

New drug may improve brain cancer treatment
University scientists say they’ve seen some success with a new approach to treating the more than 170,000 cancer patients in the United States whose cancer spreads from another part of their body to their brain each year.

A new drug may increase tumor response rates and reduce progression of the disease, according to a study published in this week’s Journal of Clinical Oncology.

The clinical trial of the agent, motexafin gadolinium, administered in combination with standard whole brain radiation therapy, showed the treatment increased local tumor control. A trial seeks to determine both proper dosage and effectiveness of the drug.

“We are particularly pleased to see the high tumor response rate, which is nearly double what we have observed in the literature with radiation alone,” says Minesh Mehta, associate professor and interim chair, Department of Human Oncology, Comprehensive Cancer Center, one of the study’s lead investigators.

Motexafin gadolinium is the first of a new class of drugs called texaphyrins. It selectively accumulates in cancer cells and disrupts cellular metabolism by a unique mechanism of action. By interfering with the flow of energy in cancer cells, motexafin gadolinium makes the tumor more responsive to the effects of radiation and chemotherapy without increasing damage to normal tissue.

Researchers ID key gene in embryonic development
Using the tools of advanced molecular science to understand how various genes interact to guide embryo development, a newly released study by researchers at the UW Medical School and the University of California-Irvine pinpoints what one particular gene does to shape the dorsal (back) area of developing embryos.

The findings take us forward — toward better understanding of what can go awry — and backward — to appreciating the conservation of genes throughout millions of years of evolution.

The research teams found that the Tsg gene acts together with another gene to suppress the action of a family of growth factors, bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs). The suppression of BMP activity in turn changes the identity of cells that would have developed into tissues associated with the belly of the embryo into cells that will become tissues associated with the embryo’s back.

“We have helped identify the players in a very critical developmental stage,” says Daniel Greenspan, professor of pathology and laboratory medicine.

Good balance, fewer sprains
For decades, researchers have suspected that an athlete’s ability to balance plays a role in his or her susceptibility to ankle injury. Building on those theories, athletic trainers at Sports Medicine recently completed a study that used high-school basketball players to demonstrate that balance is a predictor of sprains.

“Until now, we didn’t have a lot of good information on what causes sprains, because we didn’t know if there were any causal factors that we could work on,” says Tim McGuine, a UW athletic trainer and the lead researcher on the study.

The study involved a group of 220 injury-free athletes whose balance was assesed as poor, moderate or excellent. Their progress and injury status were then tracked over a single season of high school basketball. Athletes who scored poorly on the balance test were seven times as likely to suffer an ankle sprain. Other physical factors, including height, weight and gender, play no role in injury.