London, Sept 17: A drug, called STA-4783, has been developed to kill cancer cells. Unlike current treatments, the drug has very few side-effects, and those who have started taking the drug have already doubled their life expectancy, with researchers believing that survival rates could be even higher.

“This is the most exciting cancer treatment I’ve seen in 10 years,” Daily Express quoted cancer specialist Dr Tony Williams of Synta Pharmaceuticals, who is developing the drug, as saying.

London, September 17: A team of US and German researchers has found that measuring levels of a specific protein in the blood may help assess accurately how much fat coats the body’s organs.

Researchers from Harvard University and the University of Leipzig analysed 196 people, and found that genes that produce the protein RBP4 were up to 60 times more active in obese people with high levels of visceral fat than in lean people.

Washington, September 17: A new study has shown that chemoradiation therapy for cancers of head and neck leaves patients with fewer side effects if the process involves the use of generic drug Paclitaxel in conjunction with radiotherapy, rather than the use of other anticancer drugs.

Advanced cancer in the head and neck is traditionally treated with surgery followed by radiotherapy.

London, Sept 17: A new research has revealed that a human peptide called LL37, when coupled with body’s own DNA, works as a natural antibiotic against invading microbes.

The research team, led by scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, reported their finding in an early online publication of Nature.

London, September 17: Scientists in the US have devised a powerful, novel technique to pinpoint genetic causes of human diseases faster than ever.

The discovery is a result of the efforts put in by an international team of researchers at the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research (SFBR), a large private research institute locate in San Antonio Texas.