The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved daraxonrasib for adults with metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma who have received at least one prior systemic therapy or are not candidates for multiagent systemic therapy. “This is an exceptional moment for patients with pancreatic cancer,” says Brian Wolpin, MD, MPH, director of the Hale Family Center for Pancreatic … Read more
Fluffy dust bunnies, fuzzy mold, or wild racoons can find refuge in the ductwork of any home, slowly sprawling out and quickly becoming a problem. And like any home, the tiny channels in our body can get blocked, sometimes by the dirtiest kind—cancer. Cholangiocarcinoma is a rare cancer that forms in the bile duct. The … Read more
There are more microorganisms in the world than we can count, and just a portion—trillions worth — are inside us. The bacteria in your mouth, the fungi on your skin, or the viruses in your gut build complex communities that reproduce and adapt quickly. We may not be able to see these little critters, but … Read more
As a post-doctoral fellow, Elizabeth Stover, MD, PhD, wanted to understand how ovarian cancer cells become resistant to chemotherapy. Chemotherapy becomes less effective over time for most patients with metastatic ovarian cancer. She ran an unbiased screen – a way to look at every gene in the human genome and see which ones protect ovarian … Read more
Imagine reporting for duty and finding your director asleep, or worse, absent. Without a place to go and a task to perform, you have little choice but to sit idle. This scenario is exactly what cancer wants for T cells, the foot soldiers of the immune system. T cells get their marching orders to fight … Read more
While working towards his engineering degree at the Pontificia Universidad Católica in Chile, Matías Vergara Alvarez, MS, played a central role in caring for his parents through their cancer diagnoses — a time in his life that shaped his career. “I was interested in engineering, but I made a complete switch in my job because … Read more
Mammograms are specialized, low-dose X-rays of the breast that can show if and where tumors are located in breast tissue. Mammography is an effective tool for early detection of breast cancer and is considered the primary tool for breast cancer screening. “Breast cancer is a common disease that affects millions of women globally, and detecting … Read more
New medicines called RAS inhibitors are dramatically changing the way pancreatic cancer will be treated over the coming years. They are a beacon of hope for patients with the disease. One oral RAS inhibitor for pancreatic cancer has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for adult patients with metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma … Read more
Many cancer therapies work by docking into specific “binding pockets” on the surface of proteins that are driving the disease. Scientists are continually searching for new binding sites for future cancer drugs, but this process can be slow and cumbersome. Now, researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, in collaboration with scientists at MIT and École Polytechnique … Read more
Kornelia Polyak, MD, PhD, has been trying to understand how breast cancer forms ever since starting her lab at Dana-Farber in 1998. Specifically, she has wanted to know how ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), a pre-cancerous state that appears only in the milk ducts in the breast, changes into invasive breast cancer, which is breast … Read more
Rare genetic cancers may affect few people, but their complexity makes them powerful windows into how even the most common cancers develop and behave. Delving into understanding how DNA is damaged and repaired in rare genetic conditions is how physician-scientist Alan D’Andrea, MD, built a foundation of knowledge about Fanconi anemia (FA) – a rare genetic disease of the bone marrow that significantly increases the risk of certain cancers. In people with … Read more
In the rare event that an elevator cable breaks, modern buildings have additional fail-safe mechanisms. For example, counterweight and mechanical brakes prevent the car from plummeting to the ground. Similarly, cells have fail-safe mechanisms to prevent them from death under stress, according to new research from the lab of Dana-Farber investigator Loren Walensky, MD, PhD. A well-known process in cells keeps pro-death proteins at bay. Walensky … Read more
Under a microscope, normal adipose cells – which make up the body’s fatty tissue – look a bit like densely packed raindrops on a windshield. Each cell is filled with fat and is highly biologically active, regulating both metabolism and immunity. Liposarcoma, a cancer subtype that affects adipose tissue, perturbs these essential activities. In some … Read more
Whether it may be genetic or environmental, there are many factors that can lead to cancer. One of these factors could be infections, which can be caused by bacteria, fungi, and/or viruses. Viruses insert themselves inside our bodies and alter our otherwise functioning genes, making us sick. Viruses can only thrive when they infect a … Read more
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
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
Clinical trials assess the safety and efficacy of new cancer drugs or drug combinations. The data and learnings these studies collect help regulators determine if the treatments should be approved and made broadly available to patients. Clinical researchers conduct clinical trials at cancer institutes, medical centers, clinics, and hospitals worldwide, all under strict guidelines. Many … Read more
Advances in cancer treatments depend on clinical trials of new drugs and other therapies. Nearly all cancer drugs in use today were tested in clinical trials. But in the United States, only 3 percent of cancer patients participate in these studies. Part of the reason is that there are many myths and misunderstandings that can keep patients … Read more
Many animals, including house pets, produce their own vitamin C. Early human ancestors did too. But they lost the ability about 60 million years ago, trading the health benefits of vitamin C production for the ability to produce more energy. Yet vitamin C is still an essential nutrient for humans. Without it, humans develop scurvy, … Read more
The human genome is a sequence of Ts, Gs, Cs, and As that is about 3 billion letters long. And, says Bradley Bernstein, MD, PhD, chair of Dana-Farber’s Department of Cancer Biology, “there’s no dictionary or guide for reading it.” Bernstein is trying to make such a resource. The efforts so far, carried out by … Read more