Researchers working independently at the University of Hawaii Cancer Center and the National Cancer Institute have discovered, and validated, a new variant of mesothelioma that may lead to more successful treatments. The studies have been published in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology, the official journal of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer.

Researchers find that zeaxanthin, best known for protecting vision, can also strengthen the cancer-fighting activity of immune cells.

Researchers observed positive interactions, in which one disease favours the onset of another, such as between asthma and Parkinson's disease; and negative interactions, in which some groups of patients with one disease may be protected from developing others, such as between cancer and Huntington's disease.

Clinicians typically classify meningiomas — the most common type of brain tumor — into three grades, ranging from slow-growing to aggressive. But a new multi-institutional study suggests that appearances may be deceiving. If a tumor shows activity in a gene called telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT), it tends to recur more quickly, even if it looks low-grade under the microscope.