A new study has found that a particular gene is being switched off in the cancerous cells of up to 15% of pancreatic cancers.

New drugs are already being tested to turn the gene back on, thereby working to stop the spread of cancer.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive and lethal types of cancer, and this discovery paves the way towards a new class of drugs which target this gene, thus treating some types of pancreatic cancer much more effectively.

The study was published in the journal ‘Nature’ following research which revealed that when the gene Usp9x was ‘switched off’ in mice, cells started to grow out of control. It has been called a ‘brake gene’ because it seems to have a key role in natural cell death.

Researchers from the UK have “re-written the rulebook” * on breast cancer research with what is being called a ‘landmark’ study.

They have reclassified the disease into ten categories, where formerly it was understood there were four, based on the genetic fingerprints of breast cancer tumours from 2,000 women in the UK and Canada.

The implications of this study are significant: Women with breast cancer can now be identified as having a more specific disease – one of ten under the breast cancer “umbrella” – and their prognosis, and subsequent treatment options will be better defined as a result.

A new research centre set to fast-track leukaemia discoveries and other types of blood cancer research from the lab to the hospital bedside was opened today by the Victorian Minister for Health, David Davis.

Established through a $1 million grant from the ACRF, The Australian Cancer Research Foundation (ACRF) Centre for Translational Research will provide new hope to thousands of people with blood cancers.

The facility is located at The Royal Melbourne Hospital, which sees more than 120 new leukaemia cases and performs some 80 bone marrow transplants each year.

The Translational Research Centre will therefore provide a seamless link between the Hospital and collaborating research facilities, including the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, the University of Melbourne and The Royal Melbourne’s Diagnostic Haematology Laboratory and clinical services.

Executive Director of Research at The Royal Melbourne Hospital, Prof Ingrid Winship said such a centre was vital to improve outcomes for patients.

One of the first new melanoma treatments to be released in over a decade could double the average survival time for melanoma patients.

The drug, Vemurafenib, was approved by regulators in the United States and Australia last year after studies showed that in a significant number of patients with advanced melanoma, the cancers either stopped growing or shrank after receiving the treatment.

The latest research now shows that in many cases, treatment with Vemurafenib has doubled cancer patients’ survival period from 6-10 months to approximately 16 months.