An unsatisfying drug for anxiety reveals to scientists a promising novel anti-cancer drug target. Cancer cells have multiple ways to avoid apoptosis, programmed cell death the means by which organisms deal with defective cells. One defense is to produce quantities of phosphatic acid, a phospholipid constituent of cellular membranes.

Women with recurrent ovarian cancer can be helped by an experimental therapy using a drug already touted for its ability to fight other cancers, a finding that provides hope for improved treatment of this deadly disease.

Researchers have discovered a novel way in which breast cancer cells become resistant to tamoxifen, the world's largest-selling breast cancer prevention and treatment drug. They say the findings could provide a way to identify tamoxifen users who are no longer benefiting from the drug, allowing doctors to try another therapy option sooner.

A group of scientists from Hamburg may have taken a big step towards more effective cancer drug development. They report the development of a preclinical drug test platform that would enable researchers to analyze tumor tissue for individual patient drug responses on the molecular level.

Scientists are reporting promising results with a drug called nitrosylcobalamin (NO-Cbl) in battling cancer in dogs without any negative side effects. While it gives profound hope to dog owners, NO-Cbl also points to a powerful new cancer treatment for humans -- one that infiltrates cancer cells like a biological Trojan horse.

Medical researchers have identified a molecule as possibly effective for improving the treatment of chronic hepatitis and liver cancer.

A recently identified cancer-causing protein makes the anti-leukemia drug imatinib, less effective. By blocking the protein, researchers were able to slow the spread of leukemia cells in culture. The study, which will appear in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, suggests that the most effective treatment for leukemia may rely on a combination of targeted drugs, rather than a single miracle drug.

Could a substance from the jasmine flower hold the key to an effective new therapy to treat cancer? Researchers have developed an anti-cancer drug based on a decade of research into the commercial applications of the compound Jasmonate, a synthetic compound derived from the flower itself.

Cancer drugs must be effective. But they must also target cancer cells and spare healthy cells. And -- ideally -- they'll come with an easy antidote. Researchers report that they have developed a cancer drug delivery system that achieves all of the above.

In tumors formed by human breast cancer cells in mice, a diabetes drug was more effective than chemotherapy alone in prolonging remission. Mice appeared tumor-free for the two months after treatment before the end of the experiment. The drug, metformin, appears to selectively kill cancer stem cells in culture dishes and in mice.