New on NCI’s Websites for November 2024

November 1, 2024, by Daryl McGrath

Fiscal Year 2026 NCI Annual Plan and Professional Judgment Budget Proposal

The NCI Fiscal Year 2026 Professional Judgment Budget Proposal highlights promising research areas and the optimal funding needed to achieve the most rapid progress against cancer, based on the professional judgment of NCI’s leadership. This proposal addresses the entire NCI research portfolio, highlights four immediate scientific opportunities that NCI leaders believe will lead to even greater progress against cancer, and includes stories about a patient, a researcher, and an innovation that benefited from NCI support.

Recent News Releases

Researchers at NCI and their extramural colleagues have been the subject of recent news releases, including:

• New cancer diagnoses did not rebound as expected following pandemic
• Study links neighborhood environment to prostate cancer risk in men with West African genetic ancestry
• Immunotherapy after surgery helps people with high-risk bladder cancer live cancer free longer

BRCA Gene Changes: Cancer Risk and Genetic Testing

Certain inherited changes in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes can greatly increase a person’s risk for several types of cancer. This updated page addresses what these genes normally do, how harmful changes in them can increase the risk of several types of cancer (including breast, ovarian, pancreatic, and prostate), genetic testing and counseling about these gene changes, and steps to reduce cancer risk in people who have these changes.

Dense Breasts: Answers to Commonly Asked Questions

This updated page answers questions that are often asked about dense breasts. Topics include what dense breasts are, how someone can find out if they have dense breasts, whether dense breasts are a risk factor for breast cancer, and what a person should know if they have dense breasts.

NCI’s Cancer Research Data Commons Launches New Resource

NCI’s Cancer Research Data Commons has launched the Clinical and Translational Data Commons to enhance access to clinical and translational data from NCI-funded initiatives. Its inaugural dataset, the Cancer Moonshot Biobank, includes clinical data shared by participants throughout their treatment at many different U.S. medical institutions.

Pediatric Malignancies and Childhood Leukemia: Inventories of DCEG Research

NCI’s Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics has created inventories of the research conducted by its investigators on pediatric malignancies and its childhood leukemia research studies. This research includes studies of factors associated with childhood cancer and leukemia to inform prevention and treatment of these malignancies. These new pages break down the research by cancer type, exposure, and approach. 

National Cancer Plan Engagement Calendar

The National Cancer Plan engagement calendar is available for all to use. The engagement calendar focuses on quarterly themes that designate one of the plan’s four empowering goals (optimize the workforce, maximize data utility, engage every person, eliminate inequities) and how these goals accelerate progress toward achieving the plan’s health-centric goals (prevent cancer, detect cancers early, develop effective treatments, deliver optimal care). NCI leaders encourage everyone in the cancer community to use the engagement calendar to start new discussions, engage with new collaborators, and move beyond traditional boundaries.

SBIR Innovation Lab Podcast

NCI’s Small Business Innovation Research Innovation Lab provides biotech startups with helpful resources, such as stories of lab-to-market successes, available funding mechanisms, and tips for applying for funding opportunities. Recent episodes include Investor Initiatives and Contract Solicitation Topics (Part 1 and Part 2). New episodes are published every other week on major podcast platforms.

Edema (Swelling) and Cancer Treatment

Edema is a problem in which fluid builds up in the body causing it to swell. It can be caused by cancer, chemotherapy, and other health problems. NCI has updated and collected information on a new page that explains the signs of edema and ways to manage it.

Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Treatment

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a type of blood cancer that comes on quickly and is fast growing. This updated page has information about ALL in adults, including causes and risk factors, symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment options.

Cancer in Children and Adolescents

This updated page provides statistics about cancer in children and teens in the United States. It also describes the common types and causes of these cancers and potential treatments.

Gastrointestinal Complications and Cancer Treatment

Cancer and cancer treatment can cause several kinds of complications in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. These new pages explain some of the problems that can arise in the GI tract as the result of cancer and its treatment.

• Constipation and Cancer Treatment
• Diarrhea and Cancer Treatment 
• Bowel Obstruction and Cancer Treatment 

New Drug Information Summaries

Several new pages have been added to NCI’s collection of summaries of drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat different types of cancer.

• Afamitresgene autoleucel (Tecelra) is approved to treat synovial sarcoma that has spread to other parts of the body or cannot be removed by surgery.
• Imetelstat sodium (Rytelo) is approved to treat certain types of myelodysplastic syndrome in adults with anemia who need blood transfusions and have not responded to other treatments.
• Tovorafenib (Ojemda) is approved to treat low-grade glioma in children aged 6 months and older. This approval is for slow-growing (low-grade) tumors that have an abnormal BRAF gene and have come back or did not get better with other treatment.
• Vorasidenib citrate (Voranigo) is approved to treat astrocytoma or oligodendroglioma brain tumors in adults and children aged 12 years and older after surgery to partially or completely remove grade 2 tumors that have an abnormal IDH1 or IDH2 gene.