Medically reviewed by Laurie H. Glimcher, MD, and Rizwan Romee, MD Immune cells called natural killer (NK) cells are a key arm of the body’s defenses against infections and cancers, but what provokes them into action is less well understood than some other immune components such as T cells. “Critical gaps in our knowledge regarding … Read more
When Susan Villanueva was just 11 months old, she was diagnosed with cancer. It took her a long time to come to grips with her experience — but more than 50 years later, she is serving as inspiration for patients, survivors, and beyond. In 1969, Villanueva was originally taken to the hospital to address symptoms … Read more
Regardless of age, a cancer diagnosis can be stressful, and everyone will process it differently. An older patient will have particular needs, and you and your support system have a unique blend of factors to consider. “As the population becomes healthier, we’re living longer, fuller lives,” says Rachel Freedman, MD, MPH, a medical oncologist at … Read more
Reduced-intensity stem cell transplants, which don’t require the traditional week-long hospital stay, are offered to qualified patients at many cancer treatment centers across the country, including Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center. These outpatient transplants (also known as ambulatory transplants) are identical in virtually every respect to those performed on an inpatient basis, with the exception … Read more
By Luisa Stigol, MD, FAAP I was a 74-year-old pediatrician in practice with a multi-specialty group associated with Boston Children’s Hospital. Forty years after becoming a doctor, I still loved learning new things and sharing them with my patients. Then I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer — and suddenly, a big wall separated me from … Read more
For most of his life, Jim Calhoun never paid attention to college football; his football fandom started and ended with the New York Giants. This year, however, he’ll be closely following the team at Tulane University — in particular, the offensive lineman who saved his life. In 2017, Calhoun, now 45, was diagnosed with acute … Read more
It can be overwhelming to learn that you have a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation. About 5 to 10% percent of women with breast cancer have an inherited mutation in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene, which puts them at greater risk for developing breast and ovarian cancers. For most women diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer, having … Read more
A person who is immunocompromised (otherwise referred to as immunosuppressed) has a weakened immune system and a reduced ability to fight other diseases and infections, such as the common cold influenza, or COVID-19. This can be caused by various diseases and conditions, including cancer as well as various treatments for cancer, such as chemotherapy or … Read more
Classified as a form of bone marrow failure, Shwachman-Diamond syndrome (SDS) is a rare, inherited condition that is usually diagnosed in children but is increasingly diagnosed in adults. The frequency of SDS is unclear, but is estimated to affect about one in 75,000 people. SDS is characterized by inadequate production of pancreatic enzymes, which are … Read more
Gene therapy and immunotherapy are both types of treatment for cancer and other diseases, and they have some points at which they intersect. But ultimately they represent different approaches to disease therapy. Most diseases aren’t caused by a single mutant gene — an alteration in the DNA sequence — but some mainly rare, inherited disorders, … Read more
What are PD-1 and PD-L1? PD-L1 is a protein on the surface of some cancer cells that interacts with the PD-1 protein on T cells of the immune system to thwart an immune attack on the cancer. It’s one of the tools that cancer cells use to escape an attack by the immune system and … Read more
In just over a year, the treatment of acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) in adult patients has undergone something of a revolution. Since mid-2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved nine new targeted therapies for the disease, in contrast to none during the previous 12 years. The approvals amount to a “game-changer for how … Read more
According the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a third of the U.S. adults report that they usually get less than the recommended amount of sleep. Sleep deprivation is linked to many chronic diseases and conditions, including obesity, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and depression. For many cancer patients and survivors, insomnia, a sleep disorder … Read more
Many of the drugs that have become mainstays of cancer treatment are based on antibodies — artificial proteins that latch onto a molecular target called an antigen. When an antibody binds to an antigen on a cancer cell, it attacks the cell or triggers its destruction by immune system process. A relatively new twist on … Read more
In the annals of patients who have benefited from Dana-Farber and Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s (BWH) genomic sequencing program Profile, few involve a turnabout as dramatic as one recently reported in Gynecologic Oncology. Authored by nearly a dozen Dana-Farber and BWH faculty, the paper recounts the medical history of a 49-year-old Nebraska woman first diagnosed … Read more
Learning that you have breast cancer can be overwhelming. In the shock of a diagnosis, it may be hard to organize your thoughts or plan out your questions. But those questions are important, and there are likely to be many of them. The answers will have an impact on your treatment and the preparations you … Read more
Cancer is often fueled by hormones, including the male sex hormone testosterone, which spur tumor growth in most forms of prostate cancer. Doctors can defuse this destructive relationship, typically with drugs (or sometimes surgery), but frequently, the tumors adapt or evolve, devising ways to incite cancer growth even in the absence of hormone-driven signals. These … Read more
As a parent or caregiver, it’s only natural for you to want the best for your child. But when it comes to a cancer diagnosis, specifically one that requires surgery as part of treatment, how do you know what the “best” is? Here are five things to consider when you’re selecting a pediatric surgeon. Expertise … Read more
As a chef in training who dreams of opening his own restaurant, Josh Gartland, 15, knows the importance of a good recipe. When it comes to the genetic disorder known as von Hippel-Lindau syndrome, which caused him to develop multiple tumors in his body, Josh also knows the value of a good treatment plan – … Read more
Clinical trials are research studies that examine whether new therapies, diagnostic techniques, or disease-prevention strategies are safe and effective in people. They’re considered the gold standard for determining if newly developed treatments produce better results and fewer side effects than standard therapies. All proposals for clinical trials go through a rigorous review at the institution … Read more