New on NCI’s Websites for March 2022

March 16, 2022, by NCI Staff

Video: Unleashing Comparative Oncology

Dr. Nicola Mason of the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine describes the progress her research team has made in advancing immunotherapy research in dogs with cancer through the Pre-medical Cancer Immunotherapy Network for Canine Trials (PRECINCT) program, and how this progress addresses a Cancer Moonshot℠ recommendation. 

Video: Brigitte Widemann Appointed Special Advisor for Childhood Cancer

NCI Director Norman Sharpless, M.D., has appointed Brigitte Widemann, M.D., as his special advisor for childhood cancer. Dr. Widemann is chief of the Pediatric Oncology Branch in NCI’s Center for Cancer Research (CCR) and a practicing pediatric oncologist. In this new video, Dr. Sharpless and Dr. Widemann discuss her new role as a special advisor, her leadership of the Childhood Cancer Data Initiative, and the importance of childhood cancer research to the NCI mission. 

Multi-Cancer Early Detection Tests

NCI’s Division of Cancer Prevention (DCP) is investigating the use of multi-cancer early detection (MCED) tests and their potential role in cancer screening and prevention. There are many uncertainties around MCED tests, including questions about the need for and feasibility of additional diagnostic workup, the types of cancer they can detect and at what stages, the populations that may benefit from MCED screening, and implementing MCED tests in real-world practice. This page serves as a gateway to information on DCP’s efforts to study these tests for cancer screening.

DCCPS Launches New Research Tools

NCI’s Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences (DCCPS) has launched two new tools to help researchers and public health practitioners study cancer trends and implement interventions. The Catchment Areas of NCI-Designated Cancer Centers visualization tool is an online app that illustrates the geographic scope of each cancer center for monitoring cancer trends, identifying socioeconomic- and health-related disparities, informing translational science, and guiding the implementation of evidence-based interventions in clinical and community settings. 

POC*Explorer, another online app, provides free public access to aggregate data from select studies in the Patterns of Care (POC) initiative. Researchers can use this tool to explore data on cancer treatment patterns, including patient sociodemographic characteristics, use of systemic therapy, clinical trial enrollment, and tumor mutation testing.  

Video: Cancer Prevention and Screening: Progress Made and Progress to Come

In this recording of a January 26 social media event, subject matter experts from NCI and CDC discuss the state of cancer prevention and screening and where they see the science going.

Center for Cancer Genomics Podcast Remembers Dr. Daniela Gerhard

NCI’s Center for Cancer Genomics has posted the most recent episode of its Personal Genomics Podcast. The episode features leading genomics scientists offering a tribute to Daniela Gerhard, Ph.D., a human genetics and molecular cancer biologist with NCI’s Genomic Data Commons who passed away in June 2021. 

All About the Drive: A Rare Kidney Cancer Meets Its Match at NIH

On New Year’s Eve 2020, Katie Coleman was diagnosed with a very rare form of advanced kidney cancer. This article describes how she enrolled in a clinical trial led by a collaborative team in CCR that enabled her to have surgery to remove her tumors.

Handling Nicotine Withdrawal and Triggers When You Decide to Quit Tobacco

This updated fact sheet explains the physical and emotional effects of nicotine withdrawal and describes ways to help deal with them when you try to quit tobacco. It also suggests ways to spot and respond to triggers for tobacco use.

DES Exposure and Cancer

This updated fact sheet about the drug DES (diethylstilbestrol), a synthetic form of estrogen, discusses how people are exposed to DES and the health issues it may cause, including cancer.

Surgery Choices for Women with DCIS or Breast Cancer

Surgery is a mainstay of treatment for ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) and early-stage breast cancer. However, people diagnosed with DCIS or breast cancer will likely have questions about the surgical treatments available to them. This updated page explains the different types of surgery used for breast cancer and DCIS, provides illustrations and videos, and suggests questions people can ask themselves and their health care team as they consider their surgery choices. 

Updated: NCI-COG Pediatric MATCH Clinical Trial Page

The NCI-COG Pediatric MATCH Clinical Trial page has been updated to reflect a recent change in recruitment status. NCI-COG Pediatric MATCH is an international cancer treatment clinical trial for children, teens, and young adults, aged 1 to 21, that is testing the use of precision medicine for childhood cancers.

New Cancer Information Summaries for Patients

NCI has added one new cancer treatment and two new integrative medicine information summaries to its collection of scientifically reviewed patient information.

• Cancer Therapy Interactions with Foods and Dietary Supplements
• Black Cohosh (a complementary therapy for menopausal symptoms caused by breast cancer treatment)
• Curcumin (Curcuma, Turmeric) and Cancer

New Drug Information Summaries

The following summaries have been added to NCI’s collection of drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration for different types of cancer.

• Tivozanib hydrochloride (Fotivda) was approved to treat adults with advanced renal cell carcinoma that has come back or did not respond to treatment.
• Idecabtagene vicleucel (Abecma), a CAR T-cell therapy, was approved to treat multiple myeloma that has come back or did not respond to treatment in adults who have received at least four previous treatments.
• Dostarlimab-gxly (Jemperli) was approved to treat adults with any solid tumor that has a genetic feature known as mismatch repair deficiency (dMMR) and has come back or is advanced.
• Loncastuximab tesirine-lpyl (Zynlonta) was approved to treat B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma that has come back or did not respond to treatment in adults who have received at least two types of systemic therapy.
• Amivantamab-vmjw (Rybrevant) was approved to treat adults with non-small cell lung cancer with certain EGFR gene mutations that has spread and gotten worse during or after platinum chemotherapy.
• Sotorasib (Lumakras) was approved to treat adults with non-small cell lung cancer that has spread and has a KRAS p.G12C mutation and have received at least one other systemic therapy.
• Infigratinib phosphate (Truseltiq) was approved to treat adults with bile duct cancer that has an FGFR2 gene fusion or other structural change in the FGFR2 gene and has spread and cannot be removed with surgery.
• Asparaginase erwinia chrysanthemi (recombinant)-rywn (Rylaze) was approved to treat adults and children aged 1 month and older with acute lymphoblastic leukemia or lymphoblastic lymphoma.