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
When patients with bladder cancer complete treatment that is intended to cure the cancer, they may be left wondering if there is anything else they should do to keep the cancer from coming back. For patients with muscle invasive bladder cancer – where the disease is at a higher risk of coming back than early-stage … Read more
Early in his career, Vinayak Venkataraman, MD, noticed that one group of patients was putting on a brave face in his sarcoma clinic. In conversations with nurses and social workers, he learned that his young adult patients were struggling with physical, emotional, and social challenges even if they sometimes didn’t tell him directly. “Patients can … Read more
Acute leukemias are life-threatening blood conditions that need urgent treatment. Approved targeted therapies such as BCL2, IDH, and menin inhibitors have expanded treatment options for certain patients, but determining if a given patient might benefit from one of these treatments can take time. Doctors need to order multiple complex diagnostic workups that can take days … Read more
Cancer treatment has evolved dramatically in the first quarter of this century, but there is still much more to do to improve the lives of people with cancer. At Dana-Farber, research continues in the clinic and in the lab in efforts to continue to bring advancements in treatment and prevention for patients. That research has resulted in exciting … Read more
There are over 100 precision medicines approved for the treatment of cancer. These therapies work to shut down the cancer-driving effects of specific mutations. Matching a patient to a medicine — the practice of precision oncology — is complex and advancing rapidly. However, there is no easy, standardized way for oncologists to stay informed of advances. “The clinicians we engaged with said that catching up with FDA approvals is far … Read more
As we close out the first quarter of the twenty-first century, it isn’t hard to notice how much the world has changed since the year 2000. Smartphones. Social media. Artificial intelligence. But how much has cancer care changed? A lot. Possibly more than you think. Treatment for many cancers now include many options beyond chemotherapy, … Read more
In 2014, Dana-Farber pediatric oncologist Brian Crompton, MD, discovered that a gene called STAG2 is mutated in about 15 percent of patients with Ewing sarcoma, a form of bone cancer that largely occurs in children and adolescents. Now, that molecular insight could hold the keys to advancing treatment for the disease. New research led by senior authors Crompton and pediatric oncologist Katherine Janeway, MD, Dana-Farber Pediatric Oncology Section Chief and Chair of the Children’s … Read more
What makes us humans lies in our genes. But even with all their power, they are remarkably vulnerable to errors. But these potentially harmful errors are an opportunity for humankind to study and treat, as it has been for Dana-Farber’s physician-scientist Srinivas Viswanathan, MD, PhD. “We have the ability to make an impact,” Viswanathan said. “There are so many unanswered questions in cancer biology still, especially in our understanding of rarer subtypes of kidney cancer.” One of these subtypes — called translocation renal cell carcinoma (tRCC) — occurs when a gene quietly moves, fuses with another gene, and … Read more
Every year, physician researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute reveal new treatments, protocols, and outcomes that advance cancer research. At one of this year’s biggest cancer research conferences, the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress in Berlin, Germany, Dana-Farber researchers presented 22 studies in breast, lung, and bladder cancer. Here are three of the most exciting advancements — several nearing U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval — shared by our experts nearly 4,000 miles across the world. An oral therapy for advanced breast cancer Erica Mayer, MD, MPH, director … Read more
Cancer can make its way through the body by shapeshifting through even the narrowest places, like a skilled driver navigating traffic. It has a sly way of adapting to its environment by finding detours around every blockade clinicians place in its path. A study from the lab of Nilay Sethi, MD, PhD, in Dana-Farber’s Center … Read more
Pancreatic cancer has long been difficult to detect and treat, but that might be changing. Dana-Farber experts in the Hale Family Center for Pancreatic Cancer Research are focused on three key areas that are poised to shift the way people think about, treat, and detect pancreatic cancer. Research shows the effectiveness of RAS therapeutics for pancreatic cancer The introduction of medicines that target a … Read more
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
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
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
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