She may be an accomplished competitive skier, but Maggie Gove, 15, is just as adept at getting up and over mountains as she is racing down them. Gove is a three-time cancer survivor who has managed to keep up on the slopes and with her studies despite long periods sidelined by surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation … Read more
In early March of 2018, at age 58, Roger Miller went to a local doctor’s office in Maine for outpatient surgery. He’d been putting off getting what he’d thought was a cyst removed from the back of his head. During the procedure, he overheard the surgeon say, “Oh, this doesn’t look good.” Miller, who at … Read more
Although early detection and treatment advances have significantly improved survival rates for patients with prostate cancer, the majority will face some form of sexual health side effect. Addressing these physical and emotional side effects is a priority for care teams at Dana-Farber. But longstanding cultural barriers can often keep men from discussing sensitive issues like … Read more
Black men, particularly men of West African descent, are nearly twice as likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer than Caucasian men, and three times more likely than Asian men. They are also twice as likely as Caucasian men to die from the disease. These disparities are among the largest in cancer. What is driving … Read more
Animals — from oysters and corals to flies and mammals — encode proteins to sense their environment and share a common strategy to rally a defense. Scientists have identified a new family of immune proteins conserved across animal evolution with common features. Recent research from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute has added a new family to the … 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
Like a mill crumbling into a river, solid tumors constantly shed bits of themselves — including their DNA — into the bloodstream. This free-floating genetic material, known as circulating tumor DNA, or ctDNA, contains a trove of information about the tumor. Advances in technology have made it possible to extract ctDNA from a blood sample, … 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
In 2022, the drug teclistamab became the first bispecific antibody to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of multiple myeloma. Experts say the drug represents one of the most important advances in recent years against myeloma, a blood cancer diagnosed in more than 35,000 people in the United … Read more
On June 7, 2023, New York City had the world’s worst air quality as smoke from Canadian wildfires drifted southward. Images of the city showed orange skies and a barely visible skyline. Air pollution is a leading cause of death worldwide and is also connected to cancer. According to the American Lung Association (ALA), long … Read more
In most ways, Bill Ross’s stem cell transplant for multiple myeloma at Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center (DFBCC) wasn’t out of the ordinary. He received chemotherapy to destroy the tumor cells in his body and then an infusion of his own hematopoietic stem cells, which flocked to his bone marrow and regenerated his blood supply. Over … Read more
During a long career in the food industry, Susan Greelish, 64, has prided herself on forming strong, familial-like bonds with her colleagues and customers. When it came to her treatment for breast cancer and kidney cancer, however, these feelings of kinship and trust were missing — until she found her newest family just a few … Read more
As a longtime volunteer for the Red Cross, Jeanne Dodge knows the value of gaining as much information as possible about a situation or injured individual before administering aid. Making assumptions without all the facts can result in more harm than good in an emergency. Accordingly, when Dodge comes to Dana-Farber for her multiple myeloma … Read more
Stem cell transplants are used to treat patients with a variety of blood-related cancers. The goal of a transplant is always the same: to cure the disease or significantly extend a patient’s life. Stem cell transplants can be used in the treatment of the following cancers: Why might a patient need a stem cell transplant? … Read more
For years, patients with advanced forms of gastric and esophageal cancer have had relatively few treatment options. Most patients with inoperable tumors would receive chemotherapy, usually a combination of fluorouracil, oxaliplatin and leucovorin (known as FOLFOX). While this regimen is often effective, patients eventually develop resistance to the treatment and their tumors progress. Now, the … Read more
The cell cycle is the series of steps by which living cells grow, duplicate their DNA, and divide into two identical daughter cells, each receiving one copy of the doubled material. The cycle is complete when each daughter cell is sealed in its own membrane, ready to start the cycle again. The cycle occurs in … Read more
As a cast member on the television series “America’s Test Kitchen,” and host of its companion podcast “The Walk-In,” Elle Simone Scott delights in sharing her expertise and recipes. The Boston-based celebrity chef and food stylist is also a role model, as founder and president of SheChef, Inc., a professional networking organization for fellow women … Read more
Although hemorrhoids and colon cancer share certain symptoms, such as rectal bleeding, they are very different conditions. People who experience symptoms of either should get evaluated by a physician: while hemorrhoids are far more common than colon cancer, an exam is necessary to determine which one, if either, a patient has and how it should … Read more
In a branch of the PI3K protein family — with members named PI3Kα, PI3Kβ, PI3Kδ, and PI3Kγ — PI3Kβ was long treated as the proverbial middle child: neglected by cancer scientists in favor of its more prominent siblings. In a new study, Dana-Farber researchers demonstrate that it doesn’t deserve its obscurity — that in fact … Read more