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
Viruses aren’t thought of as living beings. Rather, they are collections of genetic instructions that hijack the replication machinery of living cells to perpetuate themselves. A specific type of virus called a retrovirus does this by integrating a DNA copy of its RNA genome into the host cell’s DNA. This capability has proven to be … Read more
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
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
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
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
What is TIL (tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte) therapy? Tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte, or TIL, therapy uses a patient’s own immune system T cells to fight cancer. The therapy involves removing T cells from a piece of the patient’s tumor – where the T cells have congregated after being alerted to the cancer – growing them outside the body, then … Read more
Like many teenagers, Isabella (Bella) Snow Fraser, 15, enjoys immersing herself in action role-play games online. Her favorite, Genshin Impact, allows participants to join an interstellar traveler as they seek their lost twin across a mysterious world of danger and unforeseen challenges. This futuristic fantasy in many ways mirrors Bella’s own life. After being diagnosed … Read more
As powerful as modern cancer medicines are, they don’t work for everyone. What if there were a quick test doctors could perform on an individual person’s cancer to help determine which approved treatment would work best for them? This testing tool is in development now and could, with further research, become a valuable part of … Read more
There are two ways to fix things: the quick way and the careful one. In cancer, cells with BRCA1 mutations tend to choose the quick fix, leaving them vulnerable to medicines like PARP inhibitors. PARP inhibitors cause DNA to break. When broken strands and sketchy repairs build up, the cancer cell will die. One of … Read more
Immunotherapy drugs can be more effective against cancer when combined with other therapies, such as radiation therapy, targeted drugs, immunotherapy agents, and with chemotherapy. What is chemotherapy? Chemotherapy drugs have been used for decades to treat cancer, either alone or in combination therapies. These drugs kill rapidly dividing cells, including tumor cells, using a variety of mechanisms. … Read more
Dana-Farber researchers have discovered ancient bacterial defenses and anti-defenses that may persist in some form in humans today and could provide insights into new approaches to cancer research and treatment. The tripwire is a go-to booby trap in movies. An aggressor trips over an unseen wire, setting off a trap that foils their plans. It’s … Read more
Cancer research often focuses on gene mutations in the parts of the human genome that produce cellular machinery called proteins. But the rest of the genome — sometimes called the “dark genome” — can also play a role. Dana-Farber researcher William Freed-Pastor, MD, PhD, a physician-scientist in the Dana-Farber Center for Gastrointestinal Oncology and Hale … Read more
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
Medical advances tend to unfold slowly over many years, fueled by successive clinical studies that build upon each other and together provide the evidence needed to change patient care. A key illustration of this point comes from a recent phase 3 clinical trial, published last October in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), which … Read more
A blood test can now detect the presence of 50 different cancers — most of which do not have any other means of screening. The test, the GRAIL Galleri multi-cancer early detection (MCED) test, reports results that include a yes or no readout regarding the presence of a potential cancer, plus the most likely location … Read more
Dana-Farber’s genitourinary cancer team is devoted to research that will advance patient care and improve patient’s lives. Recently, that research — all of it years in the making — has paid off with major achievements. This includes: “We are constantly striving to improve the treatment and diagnosis of genitourinary cancers,” says Toni Choueiri, MD, director … Read more
The group of oils known as seed oils has recently come under scrutiny in various online communities. Pointing to the processing they undergo and their fatty acid make-up, some people oppose the use of these oils—which include peanut oil, sesame seed oil, canola oil, soybean oil, and others—claiming that they are unhealthy. The truth, however, … Read more
Menin, a protein located in the nucleus of various human cell types, often functions as a tumor suppressor by inhibiting excessive cell growth and division. If a mutation in the menin gene causes the protein to be defective or absent, uncontrolled cell growth begins — cell growth that could lay the foundations for cancer. Dana-Farber research has also found that menin in its normal form has … Read more
In 2021, a novel drug called belzutifan was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat clear cell renal cell carcinoma, a form of kidney cancer. Since then, Dana-Farber clinical investigator Panos Konstantinopoulos, MD, PhD, has wanted to launch a clinical trial of the drug for clear cell ovarian cancer. That vision … Read more