Medically reviewed by David P. Steensma, MD Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are a group of diseases of the blood and marrow that result in the body being unable to produce enough healthy, mature blood cells. MDS develops when the blood stem cells found in the bone marrow become injured (i.e., they acquire a mutation in the … Continued
Medically reviewed by Andy Tan, MPH, PhD JUUL is a brand of electronic cigarette, or e-cigarette, that enables users to inhale vapor infused with nicotine, flavorings, and other compounds. Introduced in 2015, JUULs work much as other e-cigarettes do, but because they’re small and sleek — resembling a USB flash drive — and come in … Continued
Medically reviewed by Huma Rana, MD A mutation is a change in the sequence of DNA units, which are like the letters of the alphabet, that make up the genetic instructions that determine a cell’s structure and function. A mutation in a gene could be compared to a simple misspelling of a word by a … Continued
Family is the most important part of Michelle Nagel’s life. When she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in May 2007, her mind instantly went to her children; all she wanted was to see them grow up and have children of their own. When she learned of her condition, Nagel and her family … Continued
Precursor conditions are early phases of blood diseases that may develop into cancers such as lymphoma, leukemia, Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia, and multiple myeloma. Most people do not experience symptoms, and since doctors rarely screen for precursor conditions, they are often diagnosed after routine blood tests. “Many diagnoses are purely incidental,” says Irene Ghobrial, MD, co-principal investigator … Continued
Medically reviewed by Andrew Lane, MD, PhD Dana-Farber scientists had a perfectly reasonable theory of why acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm (BPDCN) sometimes become resistant to the targeted drug tagraxofusp. Cancer, however, can flout even the best theories. An account of the discovery of the true source of resistance to … Continued
Dana-Farber scientists recently uncovered a potential vulnerability in a form of ovarian cancer notoriously resistant to chemotherapy. Now they’ve opened a clinical trial involving a drug that targets that susceptibility in patients with the disease. The impetus for their research is a type of ovarian cancer with excess copies of the cyclinE1 gene (abbreviated CCNE1). … Continued
Since it was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the fall of 2017, a form of the powerful and promising therapy known as CAR T-cell therapy has been used to treat certain young patients with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who have relapsed or didn’t respond to standard regimens. Today, researchers … Continued
When he was 67 years old, Barry Polsky said “I do” for the first time in his life when he married his wife, Randi. One year later, the retired high school teacher and lifelong baseball fan was offered one of his dream jobs as a tour guide at Fenway Park. And earlier this year, at … Continued
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are chemicals whose ability to repel oil and water has led them to be used in a wide variety of consumer products, such as non-stick cookware, water-repellent clothing, stain-resistant fabrics and carpets, some cosmetics, and food containers that resist grease and oil. They’re highly stable chemicals, so they can persist … Continued
As of 2019, colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer diagnosed in men and women in the United States, according to the American Cancer Society — but survival after diagnosis has been gradually increasing in the past decade due to advances in treatment. However, since 1994, cases of young onset colorectal cancer have increased … Continued
When solid tumors are diagnosed, they are often assigned a grade and a stage. Both factors are key considerations when physicians devise a treatment plan. Tumors are assigned a grade based on the appearance of their cells under a microscope: Low-grade tumor cells resemble normal cells more closely than high-grade tumor cells do. The grade … Continued
Medically reviewed by Benjamin Ebert, MD, PhD In the rogue’s gallery of cancer mutations, the Most Wanted are found in TP53, the most frequently mutated gene in cancer and in some ways the most ominous. In patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) or a myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), for example, the presence of a TP53 mutation … Continued
African-Americans have a 60 percent higher incidence of prostate cancer compared to other ethnic groups, and a 150 percent higher risk of dying from it — in part because blacks tend to have a more aggressive form. They are also more likely to develop prostate cancer at an earlier age and to have a more … Continued
Medically reviewed by Stacy Kennedy MPH, RD/LDN, CSO Have you ever left a meal in the oven for too long or set the toaster too high? Maybe you’ve fried something in a pan and really fried it. Burning food is a common occurrence — but can these seemingly minor incidents put you at an increased … Continued
Heather Auger’s oncologist, Patrick Wen, MD, likes to say that his patient has a “famous brain.” For more than a decade after Auger was treated at Dana-Farber for recurrent glioblastoma, the tumor that once threatened her life has not returned. It’s still a rare outcome for patients with this type of brain tumor, but one … Continued
Three-year-old Lia Scagnoli skipped across the “Bridge of Hope” connecting Boston Children’s Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute each time she had a chemotherapy infusion or other treatment for pediatric kidney cancer at Dana-Farber’s Jimmy Fund Clinic. Caregivers offering equal parts love, hope, and fun diversions gave her and her family a feeling of confidence that … Continued
Bone marrow transplantation, which was first developed in the 1970s, was conceived as a way of dealing with the effects of high-dose chemotherapy for leukemia, lymphoma, and other blood-related diseases. The large doses killed diseased blood cells throughout the body but also destroyed the bone marrow, birthplace of new blood cells. By transplanting bone marrow … Continued
Medically reviewed by Kimmie Ng, MD, MPH An ostomy, or stoma, is a surgical opening in the skin that functions as an alternate way to remove waste products from the body. An ostomy may be necessary for a variety of reasons, including bowel disease, birth defects, and cancer. There are three different types of ostomy: … Continued
Jerry Jalbert is always up for new adventures. He did not expect that non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) would be one of them, but with the help of CAR T-cell therapy that keeps his cancer at bay, the 73-year-old professional photographer-turned-baker-turned-forest checkpoint operator is continuing to enjoy life’s many journeys alongside his wife, Ethel. “We are not … Continued
