Dana-Farber Lab Finds Misguided Gene Regulator at Fault in Prostate Cancer
A recent discovery about prostate cancer suggests potential new targeted therapeutic strategies for this disease.
Genitourinary Cancer
Dana-Farber Oncologist Gears Up for First Pan-Mass Challenge
Dana-Farber’s Toni Choueiri, MD, will participate in his first Pan-Mass Challenge (PMC) bike-a-thon in August. “Considering his dedication to me and his other patients, I am not surprised that he is riding in the PMC and raising money to develop new treatments for people with my type of kidney cancer,” says a former patient of Choueiri’s.
What is Active Surveillance for Prostate Cancer?
Long-term studies of men with low-risk prostate cancer have demonstrated that active surveillance is safe and that a majority of patients can successfully forego surgery or radiation for over 10 years.
Given Months to Live, Kidney Cancer Patient Defies the Odds
Two years after being given six months to live, Mullan’s cancer is still at bay because of immunotherapy and targeted chemotherapy – and through it all, he achieved one of his dreams: graduating from Harvard Law School.
What are the Signs and Symptoms of Testicular Cancer?
Testicular cancer occurs when abnormal cells in one or both of the testes begins to grow uncontrollably.
What is Renal Cell Carcinoma and How Is It Treated?
Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is a type of kidney cancer that starts in the lining of the very small tubes in the kidneys, called tubules.
Immunopatient: One Patient’s Story of Cancer and Immunotherapy
It’s not uncommon for cancer patients to take to a pen after a diagnosis. Peter Rooney’s taken that to another level. Rooney, a former journalist and author of the book Die Free, captured his cancer journey in the new book Immunopatient: The New Frontier of Curing Cancer. The following excerpt is reprinted with permission from Immunopatient by … Read more
Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) and Prostate Cancer: What’s the Difference?
Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and prostate cancer both involve enlargement of the prostate, the walnut-sized gland that produces fluid that makes up a portion of semen. The prostate sits below the bladder and surrounds the urethra, the tube that carries urine out of the body. When the prostate increases in size, whether due to BPH, … Read more
Cancer Treatment: A Look at How It Has Evolved in 70 Years
In 1947, when Dana-Farber Cancer Institute founder Sidney Farber, MD, set out to find a drug treatment for childhood leukemia, cancer treatment took two forms – surgery to cut out cancerous masses, and radiation therapy to burn them out. Cancers that couldn’t be removed or irradiated – either because of their position in the body, because … Read more
Immunotherapy for Prostate Cancer: What’s the Latest?
Efforts are under way to develop and test new immunotherapy approaches for prostate cancer.
What Are The Symptoms of Prostate Cancer?
Prostate cancer is a disease in which cancer forms in the tissues of the prostate, a male gland just below the bladder and in front of the rectum. Prostate cancer is rare in men younger than 50 years of age, and the chance of developing prostate cancer increases as men get older. In the United … Read more
How Is Immunotherapy Used to Treat Bladder Cancer?
Treatments that improve the immune system’s ability to recognize and kill cancer cells are known as immunotherapy. For certain patients with advanced bladder cancer, immunotherapy is proving effective, and several immunotherapy drugs are approved for use in such patients. Currently approved treatments A checkpoint inhibitor is a drug — often made of antibodies — that … Read more
What Are the Symptoms of Bladder Cancer?
Bladder cancer accounts for only five percent of new cancer cases in America — a small piece of the pie — but considering it is the fourth most common cancer in men, it is important to be aware of the signs and symptoms of this disease. Symptoms of bladder cancer The most common sign of … Read more
Testicular Cancer Treatment for Young Men: What You Need to Know
Testicular cancer is cancer that originates in one or both testicles — the two egg-shaped glands (enclosed in the scrotum) that produce testosterone (a male hormone) and sperm. Part of what makes testicular cancer unique is that it occurs overwhelmingly more often in young men: The average age of diagnosis is 33 years old. The … Read more
Online Tool Offers Guidance for Men with Non-Metastatic Prostate Cancer
Men diagnosed with non-metastatic prostate cancer now have access to a new tool on the TrueNTH USA website to help them prepare for their first meeting with a cancer physician. The tool, called Personal Patient Profile-Prostate (P3P), was created by Dana-Farber researchers and is now available to all men with non-metastatic prostate cancer though TrueNTH … Read more
What’s New in Immunotherapy for Kidney Cancer?
Kidney cancer is one of several cancers that has responded well to immunotherapy drugs, which can free the immune system from restraints that cancer cells can impose on it. The drug nivolumab (Opdivo), for example, which was recently approved, can extend survival in patients with metastatic kidney cancer after other drugs have failed. But can … Read more
Kidney Cancer: Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Treatment
It is important to know the symptoms of kidney cancer and be aware of risk factors for the disease. Kidney cancer is more treatable the earlier it is spotted and diagnosed. However, early diagnosis remains difficult because the tumors can grow quite large without causing pain. In addition, because kidneys are located deep inside the … Read more
Immunotherapy Beats Chemotherapy for Advanced Bladder Cancer Patients
The immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab (Keytruda) is the first therapy of any kind to improve survival in patients whose metastatic bladder cancer worsened after treatment with platinum-based chemotherapy. Keytruda proved so much better than chemotherapy in this “second-line” use that an international clinical trial was halted when the advantage became apparent. “This is very good news; … Read more
What Is ‘Watchful Waiting’ and When Is it Right for Prostate Cancer?
According to the American Cancer Society, more than 180,000 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer this year, with African American men 60 percent more likely to develop the disease than other ethnic groups. Fortunately, the vast majority of prostate cancer diagnoses will be a slow-growing, highly treatable form of the disease. For many men diagnosed … Read more
Cancer Conversations Podcast—Episode #16: The Latest in Prostate Cancer Treatment and Research
Prostate cancer affects 230,000 men each year. Although diagnoses are increasing worldwide, most people die with prostate cancer and not of prostate cancer, according to Mark Pomerantz, MD, a medical oncologist in Dana-Farber’s Lank Center for Genitourinary Oncology. In this Cancer Conversations podcast episode, Pomerantz discusses genetics, risk factors, and the controversy surrounding the PSA … Read more