If COVID-19 has taught us anything, it’s that with funding and regulatory support, the scientific community can move quickly and produce miracles. So when President Joe Biden announced his commitment on Feb. 2, to cut cancer deaths by 50 percent over the next 25 years, it produced a wave of guarded optimism. “This is great … Read more
The immune cells known as natural killer (NK) cells are part of the body’s first line of defense against cancer. Many efforts are underway to harness NK cells as a form of cancer immunotherapy, but a critical question in the field remains: Why do some tumors tend to be sensitive to NK cells’ attacks while … Read more
Researchers at Dana-Farber and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard have created a novel Molecular Oncology Almanac that combines an algorithm, or computational method, for interpreting genomic alterations in a patient’s tumor, along with a knowledge base of molecular changes reported to be associated with tumor behavior. They say that the components of this … Read more
Cancers originating in the bone, called primary bone cancers, are rare and account for less than 1% of all cancers. There are numerous types of primary bone cancers, and in most cases, the cause isn’t known. Primary bone tumors can have changes in the DNA of the cancer cells, but those DNA changes are acquired … Read more
The shock of a new cancer diagnosis was still settling in for Isabel Nordby when she and her parents made a decision that could greatly impact the teenager’s future — if and when the time is right. Before starting her chemotherapy protocol for Ewing sarcoma in April 2020, Isabel, then 15, had one of her … Read more
Widespread testing of pediatric tumors has confirmed a long-held suspicion: far more of them have hereditary roots than was once thought. Physicians and researchers now estimate that at least 10% of cancers in children and adolescents, and probably many more, are linked to hereditary genetic mutations that increase cancer risk. The findings have changed the … Read more
Many cancers develop from cells that have a malfunctioning tumor suppressor gene, p53, which normally helps control unchecked cell growth and prevent cancer. Some scientists are pursuing a strategy of restoring p53 gene function in cancer cells to stop their unruly growth or kill them. The exact effects of reviving p53 activity in tumors are … Read more
Thanks to developments in precision medicine, some adult cancers are now treated with designer drugs that target the genetic mutations that caused them. But most children with cancer have not reaped the same benefits. Unlike adult cancers, childhood cancers carry few genetic mutations. And the mutations these tumors do have are typically harder to make … Read more
Nolan and Natasha might never have met if they hadn’t been diagnosed with bone cancer. Nolan, 13, is a natural athlete who lives in Maine. Natasha, 11, lives in Rhode Island and loves music and theater. As kids go, the two are pretty different — except for their osteosarcoma diagnoses and the surgery they received … Read more
The approval of the drug tazemetostat to treat epithelioid sarcomas is a victory for patients and a vindication of the idea that success may take different forms in different cancers. It’s also an affirmation of the value of research at Dana-Farber that began in the early 2000s with basic science discoveries and progressed into clinical … Read more
Medically reviewed by Katherine A. Janeway, MD Cancer affecting the bones may be primary (a cancer that develops within the bone) or metastatic (spreading to bones from elsewhere in the body). Many primary bone tumors are benign (noncancerous), but others are malignant. Treatment options for bone tumors include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, cryosurgery (freezing cancer … Read more
Medically reviewed by Jun Qi, PhD Cancer is extremely clever at finding ways to survive, so even the most successful new drugs tend to become less effective over time as the tumors develop resistance. Often, cancer cells become resistant because of changes in the cells’ genetic code, allowing them to counteract or sidestep the drugs’ … Read more
Medically reviewed by Natalie Collins, MD, PhD New treatments that spur the immune system against cancer have entered the clinic to combat some forms of pediatric blood cancers, such as acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). One form of immunotherapy, CAR T cells, has been approved for children and young adults with ALL. In treating solid tumors … Read more
CHEK2 is the abbreviated name of the gene called checkpoint kinase 2. The gene provides cells with instructions for making the protein CHK2, which becomes active when DNA within the cell is damaged or strands of DNA break. What does the CHK2 protein do? CHK2 and other proteins respond to DNA damage by halting cell division and … Read more
Medically reviewed by Sarah Nikiforow, MD, PhD; George Demetri, MD; and Caron Jacobson, MD Among the most powerful new cancer treatments being developed today are “living drugs,” which are made by genetically modifying a patient or normal donor’s immune cell. The genetic modification is designed to alter the cells so that, when returned to the … Read more
Medically reviewed by Jeffrey A. Meyerhardt, MD, MPH Colorectal cancer forms in the tissues of the colon or rectum, which make up the large intestine. The colon and rectum are part of the body’s digestive system, which is made up of the esophagus, stomach, and the small and large intestines. The first six feet of … Read more
Medically reviewed by Junne Kamihara, MD, PhD Inherited cancers account for at least 5 to 10 percent of all pediatric cancers. The same advances in technology that have enabled scientists to decode the human genome now allow doctors to determine when a child has been born with an error (mutation) in a specific gene that … Read more
Andrew Hong, MD, knows the toll of rare childhood cancers all too well. As a pediatric oncologist at Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, he’s cared for a number of children who develop unusual, aggressive cancer. One teenager with a deadly type of kidney cancer called renal medullary carcinoma (RMC) left a particularly deep … Read more
Carcinoma of the prostate is a type of prostate cancer that occurs when normal prostate cells begin to grow uncontrollably. Carcinomas begin in the epithelial tissue—the thin tissue, like skin, that covers the linings of internal organs. Other cancers typically form in the body’s connective or supportive tissues (sarcomas), blood-forming tissue like bone marrow (leukemia), … Read more
Chemotherapy agents can be divided into three major classes, based on the manner in which they act on cancer cells: Drugs that are active against dividing cells by targeting a specific phase of the cell cycle—the process by which cells duplicate their DNA and separate into two daughter cells. Drugs that are active against dividing … Read more