In recent decades, rates of some cancers, such as colorectal cancer, have been rising in young adults under the age of 50. One possible explanation for this rise is a parallel rise in obesity rates and changes in diet, activity levels and lifestyle. However, says Kimmie Ng, MD, MPH, director of Dana-Farber’s Young-Onset Colorectal Cancer … Read more
Ann-Margaret Ferrante likes a good fight. The daughter and granddaughter of Gloucester, Mass. fishermen has long devoted herself to helping those in and around her hardy hometown, first as a lawyer, and since 2009 as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. For the last three years, however, Ferrante has had to balance her … Read more
A recent analysis of pancreatic cancer statistics in the United States has found that the incidence of pancreatic cancer is increasing faster in younger adults than among older adults. Though this finding is cause for further investigation, the incidence overall remains low. “This is still a rare cancer in young people,” says Asaf Maoz, MD, … Read more
Clinicians and researchers have recognized a disturbing trend in recent years: colorectal cancer (CRC) in young people is skyrocketing. In individuals under the age of 50, the incidence of CRC has increased about 2% each year since the 1990s, and, according to the American Cancer Society, is now the leading cause of death in males … Read more
Andrew Ciardelli’s annual brothers’ hunting trip in Idaho took a turn for the worse when the stomach issues he had lived with for years suddenly became unbearable. Years before the trip, a urologist told Ciardelli that the cause of his pain and the blood in his stool was hemorrhoids. “They told me as long as … Read more
In trial after clinical trial, metastatic colorectal cancer has been largely undeterred by immune checkpoint inhibitors. Although these drugs have shown effectiveness in Hodgkin lymphoma, lung cancer, bladder cancer, kidney cancer, and nearly a dozen other malignancies, their track record against colorectal cancer has been lackluster, particularly for patients with the most common subtype of … Read more
Simone Ledward-Boseman has many roles: She’s a writer, artist, and singer. And for some time, she was a caregiver to her late husband, Chadwick Boseman, the actor known for playing Black Panther and groundbreaking figures like James Brown and Jackie Robinson. These days, Ledward-Boseman has added more titles to her list: activist and advocate. “I’m … Read more
GERD, which stands for gastroesophageal reflux disease, occurs when stomach acid repeatedly flows back up the esophagus, the tube connecting the mouth to the stomach. This irritates the lining of the esophagus, causing heartburn and, in some cases, an influx of stomach acid into the throat and mouth. Occasional GERD — also known as acid … Read more
For a while, Stephanie Dobson attributed her gastrointestinal issues to her pregnancy. It was her second, a girl born in May 2023, a baby sister to her son. But when the symptoms persisted for the 34-year-old mother, she raised the issue with her primary care provider. She was encouraged to see a gastroenterologist. On an … Read more
Dana-Farber researchers have found that a transcription factor called SOX17 gives colon cancer a safe space to develop.
Stories of young adults being diagnosed with colorectal cancer are becoming more common as the rates continue to rise among adults between 20 and 49.
Physicians have long known that there is a link between diabetes and pancreatic cancer.
Colon and rectal cancer combined are the fourth most commonly diagnosed cancers. Eighty percent of patients are diagnosed at a stage of disease when treatment is given with curative-intent. However, treatment can have both short- and long-term side effects that may impact quality of life. To address these concerns, investigators at Dana-Farber have led clinical … Read more
As a cancer imaging fellow at Dana-Farber, Michael Rosenthal, MD, PhD, spent about two years working on a radiologist’s version of paint-by-number. Together with his colleagues, he annotated 687 computed tomography (CT) scans, manually differentiating skeletal muscle from fat tissue by labelling them with different colors. The work was part of a 2018 project to … Read more
Wind up a mechanical mouse, set it down, and watch it go. New research by Dana-Farber scientists shows that boosting a single protein in the liver can have the same animating effect in real mice. The protein, called MIC19, produces changes deep inside liver cells that help the body burn nutrients, protecting against obesity and … Read more
Anal cancer is a highly preventable type of cancer given its connection to human papillomavirus (HPV), a group of 150 related viruses that infect the surface of the skin, which can include the genitals, anus, mouth and throat. The majority of anal squamous cancers (the most common form of anal cancer which affects the cells … Read more
Anal cancer, which forms in tissues of the anus, the opening at the bottom of the rectum, is diagnosed in about 9,800 people each year in the United States, most often in older adults. It is more common in white women and Black men than other groups, and while it is a serious disease, it … Read more
People who inherit mutations in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene are at heightened risk for a variety of cancers, including breast, ovarian, prostate, and pancreatic. It’s estimated that one in 300-400 people in the general population carry a mutation in either of these genes. Among people of Ashkenazi (Eastern European) Jewish descent, the prevalence is … Read more
Two weeks after turning 50, Wendy Tamis Robbins learned she had stage II colon cancer. Having lived with anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, and panic disorders nearly all her life, she used the same strategies that helped her navigate these struggles to meet her cancer diagnosis head-on. Robbins handled the ups and downs of her summer … Read more
Pancreatic cancer often eludes early detection because symptoms typically don’t surface until the disease is well established. This makes it important to respond appropriately to warning signs, even though some may be vague or caused by another health condition. What are the symptoms of pancreatic cancer? Most symptoms of pancreatic cancer are caused when tumors … Read more