February 2019 - Cancer Currents Blog
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NCI’s Rare Cancer Clinics: Engaging Patients and Fostering CollaborationNCI has created special clinics that bring together clinicians, patients, and advocates to promote more rapid progress against rare cancers. The effort includes both rare pediatric cancers and central nervous system tumors in adults.
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Treatment for Children with Leukemia Also Effective for Adolescents, Young AdultsA clinical trial found that an intensive treatment regimen developed specifically for children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia is also effective for older adolescents and young adults with the disease.
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Partnering with Small Business to Advance Innovation in Cancer Research and CareNCI Director Dr. Norman Sharpless describes how NCI’s Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer Programs act as “engines of innovation” and shares recommendations from a federal working group for strengthening the programs.
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Dormant Tumor Cells Can Be Sensitized to ChemotherapyA new study in mice shows that disrupting the relationship between breast cancer cells that spread to bone and normal cells surrounding them makes the cancer cells sensitive to treatment.
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A CAR T-Cell Therapy for Multiple Childhood Cancers?An experimental CAR T-cell therapy may have potential as a treatment for several types of childhood cancer, results from a new study in mice suggest. The CAR T cells eradicated tumors in mouse models of several different childhood cancers, including two forms of sarcoma and medulloblastoma.
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HTAN: Mapping Tumors across Space and Time Using Cutting-Edge TechnologiesThe Human Tumor Atlas Network, an NCI-led collaborative research project, is creating detailed maps of cancers that will be used to learn how cancer develops, spreads, and responds to treatment.
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After Lung Cancer Screening, Follow-Up Procedures May Be Riskier than ThoughtIn everyday medical care, there may be more complications from invasive diagnostic procedures performed after lung cancer screening than has been reported in large studies.
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Curbing Production of Immune Checkpoint Protein Slows Liver Cancer in MiceResearchers have found an unconventional way to unleash the immune system against liver cancer in mice. The researchers used an investigational drug to curb the production of a checkpoint inhibitor protein that shields tumors from the immune system.
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Pembrolizumab Now Second Immunotherapy Approved to Treat Merkel Cell CarcinomaFDA has approved pembrolizumab (Keytruda) to treat people with Merkel cell carcinoma, a rare and deadly form of skin cancer. The approval covers use of the drug to treat locally advanced or metastatic forms of the disease.