Decades of research have had an incredible impact on breast cancer. Today, many forms of the disease can be treated successfully when detected early. Once a tumor spreads, however, the likelihood of survival begins to plummet.  That troubling reality is starting to change thanks to former Damon Runyon Fellow David E. Lebwohl, MD, and a recent Phase III clinical trial in which survival time was doubled for its participants.

> Read the whole post: “New Therapy Dramatically Improves Breast Cancer Survival”

A team of researchers in Philadelphia, including former Damon Runyon Scholar Mark A. Lemmon, PhD, announced that the recently-approved lung cancer drug crizotinib (Xalkori) could potentially be used to treat neuroblastoma patients. The most common cancer among infants, neuroblastoma is a disease of the developing nerve cells. Treatment options are currently limited to surgery and chemotherapy.

> Read the whole post: “Lung Cancer Drug Shows Promise Against Neuroblastoma”

One of the most significant obstacles in cancer treatment is drug resistance.  Many drugs have immediate positive effects on patients only to lose potency over time.  Because cancer cells have a unique ability to adapt, the ways in which they thwart sophisticated medicine can be different for each cancer type.  Scientists like former Damon Runyon Scholar Ramesh A. Shivdasani, MD, PhD, are working to identify how cancer cells develop this resistance and designing new methods to overcome these adaptations.

Last month, Ramesh and a team of researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute discovered how some cancer cells evade Erbitux, a commonly-used treatment for colorectal and head and neck cancers.

> Read the whole post: “Thwarting Cancer Cells’ Resistance to Treatment”

Former Damon Runyon Scholar Peter S. Nelson, MD, and colleagues at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have completed the first comprehensive analysis of the advanced prostate cancer genome, identifying key genetic mutations that drive the disease and cause resistance to treatment.

While progress against prostate cancer has been significant, several forms of the disease remain highly lethal and stubbornly resistant to standard treatments.  The results reported by Peter mark the first time scientists have been able to identify the unique genetic mutations that distinguish advanced prostate tumors from each other and their less-lethal cousins.

> Read the whole post: “Advanced Prostate Cancer Genome Mapped”

Researchers at UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, including former Damon Runyon Fellow Hong Wu, MD, PhD, discovered that an experimental drug slows growth of ovarian cancer cells and increases survival in animal models. 

In a two-year study, Wu and her colleagues found that the drug NVP-BEZ235 hinders growth by blocking two critical cancer cell signaling pathways.  Remarkably, it also counteracts the resistance developed by many ovarian cancer cells to platinum chemotherapy. 

> Read the whole post: “Experimental Drug Slows Ovarian Cancer Growth”

Cancer research is undergoing a major paradigm shift in which scientists and doctors are increasingly able to use genetic information to personalize treatments for cancer patients.  At the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in June, national leaders, including seventeen Damon Runyon Clinical Investigators, presented the results of promising studies involving new, targeted therapies that are transforming cancer treatment. 

Speaking to the Wall Street Journal on this shift in the world of cancer research, Dr. John Mendelsohn, Damon Runyon alumnus and President of Houston’s MD Anderson Cancer Center, said “A pattern is developing at an accelerated pace where we are able to match genetic information about a tumor to a new agent and get results.”  In short, scientists are better able to match treatments to individual patients.

> Read the whole post: “A Tipping Point in Cancer Research”

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, have uncovered a new method for attacking pancreatic cancer tumors.

In the growing field of immunotherapy, scientists are discovering how to steer the immune system to attack disease directly.  During a clinical trial last month, however, former Damon Runyon-Lilly Clinical Investigator Robert H. Vonderheide, MD, PhD, and his colleagues discovered a second approach.

By activating the CD40 molecule in advanced pancreatic cancer patients, the team inadvertently changed the behavior of macrophages, a type of white blood cell that often protects the tumor.  The macrophages turned on the tumor, eating away at its “scaffolding,” or supportive tissue. 

> Read the whole post: “Trojan Horse Shows Promise Against Pancreatic Cancer

In May, former Damon Runyon Fellow and current Board Member Elaine V. Fuchs, PhD, will receive the nation’s largest award in medicine and science, the $500,000 Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research.

Elaine, along with two co-recipients, has been a world leader in the study of stem cells, laying the groundwork for a field of research that is transforming the way diseases like cancer, diabetes, and Parkinson’s are approached.

> Read the whole post: Largest Award in Medicine & Science Goes to Former Fellow

Patients with metastatic melanoma have renewed hope in their fight against the most lethal form of skin cancer thanks to the FDA’s approval of a new treatment, Yervoy.

It marks the first major advancement in decades against a disease that affects more than 68,000 Americans each year.  In a recent clinical trial led by former Damon Runyon-Lilly Clinical Investigator Jedd. D. Wolchok, MD, PhD, nearly 50% of patients who received Yerboy survived for at least one year, compared to 25% of those who received other treatments.

Long before Yervoy got its brand name, Jedd was playing a key role in its development.

> Read the whole post: FDA Approves First Effective Melanoma Treatment in Decades

A team of scientists from the U.S., Canada and Europe, including former Damon Runyon Fellow Adriana Heguy, PhD, have discovered the genetic basis for uveal melanoma, the most common form of eye cancer.

There are no known risk factors for uveal melanoma, and symptoms are rarely expressed in its early development. Last month’s discovery is an important step forward, as researchers know for the first time which genetic mutations are unique to uveal melanoma.  Further research will deepen this understanding and may lead to new therapeutic targets and treatments in the future.

> Read the whole post: Clues to Basis of a Common Eye Cancer Identified