Microbiology professor Steven Blanke (center), graduate student Prashant Jain (left) and postdoctoral researcher Tamilselvam Batcha found that a factor produced by the bacterium H. pylori directly activates an enzyme in host cells that has been associated with several types of cancer, including gastric cancer. Photo by L. Brian Stauffer

Steven Blanke finds link between stomach-cancer bug and cancer-promoting factor

Microbiology professor Steven Blanke has found that a factor produced by the bacterium H. pylori directly activates an enzyme in host cells that has been associated with several types of cancer, including gastric cancer.
In a black and white photo, Benita S. Katzenellenbogen smiles for camera while sitting in lab.

Benita Katzenellenbogen Receives 2009 Komen Brinker Award

Swanlund Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology and Molecular and Integrative Physiology Benita Katzenellenbogen has received the 2009 Susan G. Komen for the Cure Brinker Award for Scientific Distinction for her work investigating breast cancer treatments.
David Shapiro

Team discovers new inhibitors of estrogen-dependent breast cancer cells

Biochemistry professor David Shapiro led his team to discover compounds that inhibit estrogen-dependent breast cancer cells.
On white board is diagram of the synthetic molecule that signals cell death in cancer cells, identified by Illinois researchers: seated from left, Bill Helferich, professor of nutritional sciences; Paul Hergenrother, professor of chemistry, and Karson Putt, graduate research assistant in chemistry; and standing from left, Joe Sandhorst, graduate research assistant in chemistry, and Martin Hoagland, postdoctoral student in veterinary biosciences.

Synthetic molecular causes cancer cells to self-destruct

"'We have identified a small, synthetic compound that directly activates procaspase-3 and induces apoptosis,' said Paul J. Hergenrother, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry and corresponding author of a paper published by the journal Nature Chemical Biology. 'By bypassing the broken pathway,...
David Shapiro, professor of biochemistry, right, and doctoral student Xinguo Jiang

Estrogen interferes with immune surveillance in breast cancer

In a study published online in Oncogene, Dave Shapiro and collaborators from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, report "that estrogen induces the expression of an inhibitor that blocks immune cells' ability to kill tumor cells."