Pediatric Oncology Pharmacist Stays On the Job With Colorectal Cancer

As a pediatric pharmacist located in Dana-Farber’s Jimmy Fund Clinic, Patrick never tires of seeing smiling, young cancer patients enjoying the clinic’s playroom. The resilience they display throughout infusions, blood draws, and other procedures not only inspires him, but it also serves as a source of resolve he carries into his ongoing cancer care. Patrick, … Read more

Refractory Cancer: What It Is and How It Is Treated

What does “refractory” mean medically? The word “refractory” in general use means stubborn or intractable, and in medicine it is specifically applied to disease that does not respond to treatment. Refractory cancer refers to cancer that may be resistant to initial therapy or becomes resistant during treatment. “We would consider disease refractory if doesn’t respond … Read more

Advances in Myeloma, Breast Cancer, and Clinical Trials Equity: A Dana-Farber Research Update

Results of several phase 3 trials and dozens of other studies led by Dana-Farber researchers were presented online and in person June 3-7 at the 2022 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the world’s largest clinical cancer research meeting. Some of the research reports presented by Dana-Farber investigators include: Improved progression-free … Read more

Hemoglobin and Cancer: What’s the Connection?

Hemoglobin is an essential protein in your red blood cells that carries oxygen to your body’s organs and tissues and transports carbon dioxide from your organs and tissues back to your lungs.  Is hemoglobin affected by cancer?  Anemia is essentially a blood condition marked by a low level of hemoglobin and red blood cells, and in some cases can be … Read more

Researchers Use CRISPR To Build A Human Melanoma Model From Scratch

This post was adapted from a Broad Institute post by Allessandra DiCorato. Over the last two decades, researchers have discovered thousands of genetic mutations in cancer. But understanding how they affect the growth and spread of tumors in the body remains challenging because each patient’s tumor can have many different mutations.  Now, scientists have used … Read more

Anti-Microbial Drug Targets Key Driver of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

Dana-Farber scientists have found that a generic anti-microbial drug can block a key molecular driver of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cells, and when tested in a small clinical trial of advanced CLL patients who had relapsed, the drug slowed disease progression in half of them. The drug, pyrimethamine, achieved stable disease in eight of the … Read more

After Wilms Tumor Treatment, First Grade is First Rate for Pediatric Cancer Survivor

The last two school years will be remembered for the tremendous challenges they presented students due to COVID-19, but rising second-grader Caroline McMahan and her family were ready for the pandemic’s limitations after what they had already endured. By the time the pandemic began, Caroline, 7, was already adept at washing up, masking up, and … Read more

Can We Prevent Leukemia in Patients With Shwachman-Diamond Syndrome?

Anna Nazarenko doesn’t see herself as sick. The strong-willed, spunky 6-year-old loves to dance and ski, and spent much of April Fool’s day pranking her parents. Aside from the enzymes she takes to help digest her food, you wouldn’t know that she has Shwachman-Diamond syndrome (SDS). The rare, inherited type of bone marrow failure has also … Read more

New Drug Regimens Show Promise in Early and Late Myeloma

Treatment advances for multiple myeloma continue to bring improved outcomes for patients in different stages of their disease. Recent clinical trial reports show progress in treating two myeloma populations — newly diagnosed, transplant eligible patients, and individuals whose disease has progressed following several lines of therapy. In one trial, the phase 2 GRIFFIN study showed … Read more

Bone Marrow Transplant Recipient Marks 40 Years as Aplastic Anemia ‘Pioneer’

More than 40 years after a then-experimental bone marrow transplant for aplastic anemia, Jessica Brilliant Keener is thriving — and giving back every day to the institutions that gave her a second chance at life. Aplastic anemia occurs when bone marrow needed to supply all the body’s blood cells produces too few of those required … Read more

A Big Step Toward Curbing Graft-vs.-Host Disease After Bone Marrow Transplant

This post originally appeared on Discoveries, the blog of Boston Children’s Hospital. A drug used for rheumatoid arthritis has moved a step closer to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for a desperately needed new use. The drug, abatacept, has gained FDA breakthrough therapy designation for preventing acute, severe graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) in patients receiving bone … Read more

Stem Cell Transplant Helps International Pediatric ALL Patient to Remission — and New Home

Ali Mercy was an eight-year-old with relapsed acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) in need of a stem cell transplant. First, however, his father Abrahim had to find a country willing to provide Ali with the life-saving procedure. Transplants were not performed in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where Abrahim and Ali lived together in the city … Read more

Drug Shows Promise as First Definitive Treatment for Rare Anemia

Medically reviewed by Rachael Grace, MD In the mid-1960s, David G. Nathan, MD, president emeritus of Dana-Farber and, at that time, a hematologist at Boston Children’s Hospital, published some of the first reports on a rare, inherited type of anemia caused by the breakdown of red blood cells because of a lack of a key … Read more

“It Was Just Surreal”: Dana-Farber’s William G. Kaelin Jr., MD, Wins a Nobel Prize in Medicine

There was always a good chance William G. Kaelin Jr., MD, and two other scientists working on the same problem would share a Nobel Prize, as they did on Oct. 7, for deciphering the mechanism that enables cells to sense and adapt to changes in oxygen abundance. The three had already been honored with two major awards … Read more

For Stem Cell Recipient, Meeting Donor Proves Fruitful Experience

As a fruit and vegetable farmer, Douglas Young measures his life’s work by the seasons. Since receiving a stem cell transplant for his rare blood cancer, he has been able to enjoy more harvests than he once thought possible — inspiring him to seek out the stranger responsible for saving his life. In spring 2019, … Read more

50-Year-Old Mystery Solved—With Clues to Making More Red Blood Cells

This post was originally published on Vector, Boston Children’s Hospital’s science and clinical innovation blog. Back in the 1950s, doctors began using steroids to treat Diamond-Blackfan anemia, or DBA, a severe condition in which patients cannot make enough red blood cells. There was no real rationale for using steroids, but there was no other good option, … Read more