Health
Rady Faculty of Health Sciences | Taking aim at lung cancer’s spread
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October 24, 2022 —
As soon as cancer cells begin to metastasize, spreading from their original site to other parts of the body, the life expectancy of the patient drastically drops.
Javad Alizadeh, a PhD candidate in the department of human anatomy and cell sciences in the Max Rady College of Medicine, is attempting to slow this process to contain cancer in one part of the body.
Alizadeh studies non-small cell lung carcinoma. It’s not the most aggressive form of lung cancer, but it is the most common, making up about 85 per cent of all cases.
“We know how to treat this type of cancer when it’s in the lungs,” the scientist says. “As it spreads, it becomes much more difficult to treat. After metastasis, the survival rate for this kind of cancer is 5 to 10 per cent. It’s the main cause of death among lung cancer patients.
“If we can slow down or reduce the spread of cancer cells from the primary tumor to other organs, we can improve a patient’s prognosis.”
To describe the challenge of this work, Alizadeh says to imagine adding sugar to a salt shaker. It becomes more difficult to find the grains of sugar as they mix with the salt. Similarly, as cancer cells spread from the lungs to other parts of the body, they get harder to target and treat.
Alizadeh holds a prestigious Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and is a trainee with the Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba. He was awarded a Dean of Graduate Studies Student Achievement Prize for 2021-2022.
Using both cultured cells and a mouse model of non-small cell lung cancer, Alizadeh is studying how autophagy (the “recycling” of old and damaged parts inside cells) is involved in the escape of lung cancer to other organs.
“We think that manipulating this recycling process inside cells can slow down and potentially prevent the metastasis of lung cancer cells,” he says.
After finishing his bachelor’s degree in medical laboratory sciences and his master’s in medical biotechnology at Tehran University of Medical Sciences in his home country, Iran, Alizadeh sought to conduct cancer research.
While working at the top cancer research institute in Iran, he struck up a conversation at a conference with UM associate professor Dr. Saeid Ghavami. The result was that in 2015, Ghavami offered Alizadeh a research assistant fellowship position at UM and became his supervisor.
Alizadeh was interested in science from a young age, but also has a personal connection to his research area.
“In high school, I really liked chemistry and mainly biology. Learning about how our cells work and how our body functions was so interesting,” he says. “Then in university, I got more interested in cancer research. I think one of the main things that steered me to that track was my dad passing away from cancer.”
That experience also gave him an understanding of what patients and their families are going through when they come to CancerCare Manitoba for treatment.
“Every morning I walk to school here. I see either cancer patients or their family members bringing them for chemotherapy. I wish I could speak to them and explain a bit more about what we do and how they will benefit from the research,” he says.
His research is the first step toward a different way to treat non-small cell lung cancer, one he recognizes will likely take time.
“I hope that the findings from my research will be the start of other research projects because there is a long road ahead. That’s why we need collaboration with all other researchers in the field to build on this,” he says.
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Alberta Health Services (AHS) has confirmed a case of measles in Edmonton, and is advising the public that the individual was out in public while infectious.
Measles is an extremely contagious disease that is spread easily through the air, and can only be prevented through immunization.
AHS says individuals who were in the following locations during the specified dates and times, may have been exposed to measles.
- April 16
- Edmonton International Airport, international arrivals and baggage claim area — between 3:20 p.m. and 6 p.m.
- April 20
- Stollery Children’s Hospital Emergency Department — between 5 a.m. to 3 p.m.
- April 22
- 66th Medical Clinic (13635 66 St NW Edmonton) — between 12:15 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
- Pharmacy 66 (13637 66 St NW Edmonton) — between 12:15 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
- April 23
- Stollery Children’s Hospital Emergency Department — between 4:40 a.m. to 9:33 a.m.
AHS says anyone who attended those locations during those times is at risk of developing measles if they’ve not had two documented doses of measles-containing vaccine.
Those who have not had two doses, who are pregnant, under one year of age, or have a weakened immune system are at greatest risk of getting measles and should contact Health Link at 1-877-720-0707.
Symptoms
Symptoms of measles include a fever of 38.3° C or higher, cough, runny nose, and/or red eyes, a red blotchy rash that appears three to seven days after fever starts, beginning behind the ears and on the face and spreading down the body and then to the arms and legs.
If you have any of these symptoms stay home and call Health Link.
In Alberta, measles vaccine is offered, free of charge, through Alberta’s publicly funded immunization program. Children in Alberta typically receive their first dose of measles vaccine at 12 months of age, and their second dose at 18 months of age.
Health
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Infected cows were already prohibited from being transported out of state, but that was based on the physical characteristics of the milk, which looks curdled when a cow is infected, or a cow has decreased lactation or low appetite, both symptoms of infection.
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