Beth Dougherty

Dana-Farber Researchers Create Experimental AI-based Oncologist’s Assistant 

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There are over 100 precision medicines approved for the treatment of cancer. These therapies work to shut down the cancer-driving effects of specific mutations.  Matching a patient to a medicine — the practice of precision oncology — is complex and advancing rapidly. However, there is no easy, standardized way for oncologists to stay informed of advances.  “The clinicians we engaged with said that catching up with FDA approvals is far … Read more

Early Detection at Dana-Farber Helps Patient Avoid Unnecessary Treatment 

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In February 2024, while being treated for pneumonia, doctors noticed that Rebecca Santorelli’s spleen was enlarged.  “No one was concerned at first,” recalls Santorelli, 61, who lives outside of Albany, New York.   Doctors estimate spleen size with fingerbreadths — or approximate widths of a finger — below the rib cage, with normal being about zero. … Read more

Dana-Farber Research Opens the Door to Finding More Effective Treatments for Ewing Sarcoma 

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In 2014, Dana-Farber pediatric oncologist Brian Crompton, MD, discovered that a gene called STAG2 is mutated in about 15 percent of patients with Ewing sarcoma, a form of bone cancer that largely occurs in children and adolescents. Now, that molecular insight could hold the keys to advancing treatment for the disease.   New research led by senior authors Crompton and pediatric oncologist Katherine Janeway, MD, Dana-Farber Pediatric Oncology Section Chief and Chair of the Children’s … Read more

Three Ways Research Could Improve Pancreatic Cancer Treatment 

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Pancreatic cancer has long been difficult to detect and treat. Dana-Farber experts in the  Hale Family Center for Pancreatic Cancer Research, however, are working to change that with research efforts in three key areas that are poised to advance early detection, early intervention, and treatment of the disease.   They presented these topics for discussion with … Read more

Dana-Farber Research Uncovers Potential Targeted Therapy for Endometrial Cancer 

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Jessica St. Laurent, MD, was sure something had gone wrong. The results of an experiment she’d run showed that the cancer cells she was studying had abnormally high levels of a specific collection of proteins of interest to her team.  “I remember seeing the gradient and thinking, This can’t be right,” says St. Laurent, who … Read more

What is the Difference Between Gene Therapy and Immunotherapy?

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Gene therapy and immunotherapy are both types of treatment for cancer and other diseases. They represent different approaches to disease therapy, though there is some overlap.  What is gene therapy?  Gene therapy is a way of treating or preventing disease by altering the genetic instructions within an individual’s cells. Most diseases aren’t caused by a … Read more

CAR T-Cell Therapy Delivers a Revelatory Experience for Myeloma Patient 

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Linda Lane was still fatigued months after having COVID-19 in January of 2021.   “I told my doctor that I had not been this tired since I had a newborn in the house,” says Lane, now 57 and living on Cape Cod. “That got her attention.”  Her bloodwork came back with abnormal results. By May, the … Read more

5 Things to Know About Radioligand Therapy

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Radioligand therapy is an innovative medicine that specifically targets cancer cells. Instead of using chemicals to kill the cancer, it uses radioactivity, a sub-atomic physical phenomenon that can damage cells. Several radioligand therapies, which also may be called radiopharmaceutical therapy or theranostics, are approved for the treatment of a range of cancers, including prostate cancer … Read more

Dana-Farber Treats First Patient with Approved Gene Therapy for Beta Thalassemia 

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A few years ago, Oscar Diep, a 33-year-old software engineer living in Weymouth, Mass., started needing blood transfusions more often to manage a blood disorder called beta thalassemia. He also noticed that it was becoming harder for the nurses to find a vein for his infusions.  On top of this, Diep and his then girlfriend, … Read more

Aggressive Prostate Cancer: What’s the Latest in Treatment Advances? 

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New approaches to treatment are improving outcomes for patients with aggressive prostate cancer, which is prostate cancer that has spread or is at higher risk of spreading. In addition, new tests are helping guide treatment choices as more treatment options become available.  Therapies used to treat aggressive prostate cancer include chemotherapy, hormone therapy, and newer … Read more

Dana-Farber Researchers Find Less Treatment May be More in Mantle Cell Lymphoma 

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For a long time, the standard treatment for younger patients with newly diagnosed mantle cell lymphoma involved intensive chemotherapy, called induction therapy, followed by autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT, where the patient’s own stem cells are used), followed by maintenance therapy to help keep the cancer from coming back.   Based on recent clinical research involving … Read more

The Power of Long-Range Hope and Courage 

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While participating in a clinical trial, Kathleen McEvoy-Schufreider, a 60-year-old communications executive living in Haverhill, Mass., traveled to Dana-Farber for scans every twelve weeks to monitor her cancer. In between appointments, it was hard to put the scans out of her mind.  “I was living in twelve-week bursts,” says McEvoy-Schufreider, who was diagnosed with early-stage … Read more

What is Immunopeptidomics? 

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A burgeoning type of “omics” called immunopeptidomics is providing researchers with a powerful approach to discovering new ways to train a person’s immune system to fight cancer.  In cancer research, the approach is being used to take an inventory of every flag on the surface of a cancer cell and determine what it is, if … Read more