The Latest Advances Against Hematologic Cancers

Treatment of blood-related, or hematologic, cancers is seizing on insights into the basic genetic wiring of cancer cells and the body’s system for finding and attacking those cells. Research presentations at the annual American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting in December gave evidence of how broad, and rapid, the progress is. Targeted therapies, new combinations … Read more

What To Know About Precision Cancer Medicine [Infographic]

Precision cancer medicine is an evolving approach to cancer care that personalizes treatment based on each patient’s unique genetic mutations. Since 2011, Dana-Farber has used its Profile research project, in partnership with Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Boston Children’s Hospital, to gather adult and pediatric patients’ tumor tissues and detect genetic alterations that may hold … Read more

Colon Cancer on the Rise in Young Adults

Christina Crespi experienced extreme fatigue, weakness, and bowel changes for two years before doctors determined the cause of her symptoms: colon cancer. At 27, after many doctors’ visits, she was diagnosed with stage II colon cancer. She found the diagnosis “mind-blowing.” For Kara Stoughton, it was constipation that brought her to the doctor. She was … Read more

Exercise Shows Benefits for Metastatic Colorectal Cancer Patients

Patients with metastatic colorectal cancer may be able to lower the risk of the disease worsening, and improve their chances of survival, if they engage in moderate daily exercise, according to new research by Dana-Farber investigators. The results of the research, presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s Gastrointestinal Cancer Symposium, contradict the widespread … Read more

When Cancer Occurs in Someone Who Has Already Been Treated, How Do Doctors Determine Whether it’s a New Tumor or the Spread of the Earlier Tumor?

By Christopher Fletcher, MD, FRCPath Chief of Onco-Pathology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Vice Chair for Anatomic Pathology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital In order to determine whether a growth represents relapse of a previously diagnosed cancer or is a newly developed, separate tumor, doctors obtain a tissue sample from the patient and have it examined by a … Read more

A New Approach to Understanding Breast Cancer Treatment Resistance

By Srivani Ravoori, PhD, American Association for Cancer Research This post first appeared on the Cancer Today website. In a study presented Dec. 7 at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, researchers conducted genomic analysis of estrogen receptor (ER)-positive metastatic breast cancer samples that had become resistant to therapies. They found multiple alterations that were not … Read more

The Cell that Caused Melanoma: Cancer’s Surprise Origins, Caught in Action

This post originally appeared on Vector, Boston Children’s Hospital’s science and clinical innovation blog. It’s long been a mystery why some of our cells can have mutations associated with cancer, yet are not truly cancerous. Now researchers have, for the first time, watched a cancer spread from a single cell in a live animal, and … Read more