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

Last month, President Barack Obama honored 85 early career scientists, including Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovator Muneesh Tewari, MD, PhD, with the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE).  The PECASE is the nation’s highest accolade for young scientists.

“I am confident that these individuals, who have shown such tremendous promise so early in their careers, will go on to make breakthroughs and discoveries that will continue to move our nation forward in the years ahead,” President Obama said.

> Read the whole post: Presidential Early Career Award Honors Damon Runyon Scientist

Former Damon Runyon Fellow Alonzo H. Ross, PhD, has combined chemotherapy with a targeted therapy to successfully block brain cancer recurrence in mice. 

Previously researchers have been able to reduce the size of brain tumors, also known as glioblastomas.  “The problem,” Ross noted, “is that it comes back with vengeance, and is even more resistant and difficult to treat.”  He and his colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Medical School may have found a solution.

> Read the whole post: Researchers Block Brain Tumor Recurrence with Combination Therapy

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted a priority review to ipilimumab, a promising experimental treatment for advanced melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer.  In our last eNewsletter, we reported on the recent success of former Damon Runyon-Lilly Clinical Investigator Jedd D. Wolchok, MD, PhD, and colleagues at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in leveraging ipilimumab to improve survival rates in some metastatic melanoma patients.

The FDA gives priority review when a drug offers “major advances in treatment, or provide a treatment where no adequate therapy exists.”

> Read the whole post: FDA Speeds Review of Promising Melanoma Treatment

For the first time, researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center — including former Damon Runyon-Lilly Clinical Investigator Jedd D. Wolchok, MD, PhD — have improved the survival rates of metastatic melanoma patients.

The breakthrough was made in a Phase III clinical trial involving 676 patients with late-stage, inoperable metastatic melanoma.  Rather than attacking the disease directly, researchers used the drug ipilimumab to prompt the immune system to find and kill cancer cells. 

> Read the whole post: Treatment Improves Survival in Metastatic Melanoma Patients

Elaine V. Fuchs, PhD, a former Damon Runyon Fellow and current Board Member, was recently named president of the International Society for Stem Cell Research.  She sat down last week with The New York Times for a fascinating Q & A about her research and career.  Below are a few excerpts:

Q. Over the years, what has been the discovery you are most proud of?

A. We pioneered an unconventional approach to solving the genetic basis of human disease. In the past when geneticists were researching an inherited disease — cystic fibrosis, breast cancer —they would systematically study large families where it occurred and then search the DNA to find the defective gene. Eventually, they’d identify the culprit, let’s say BRCA1. But this didn’t tell them how encoded mutant proteins contributed to a person getting breast cancer.

In the early 1990s, in my lab, we took a reverse direction by studying what the proteins did and then figuring out what diseases they caused when defective. Our first breakthrough came while we were studying a rare inherited blistering skin disorder. Because it is rare, there were no large families to study. You couldn’t use the conventional methods to identify it.

What we did was to begin by studying keratins, the major proteins of the skin. When we engineered mice to express mutant keratins, we discovered that their skin blistered. Moreover, we were able to show how the mutation caused the blistering. So the next step was to compare the skin pathology of the mice to all the known blistering skin diseases in humans. We teamed with dermatologists to study skin samples from patients. This led us to the genetic basis of this inherited blistering disorder in humans. Since, our method has become a paradigm for guiding scientists to the genetic basis of other human diseases.

> Read the whole post: Board Member Elaine Fuchs Featured in New York Times Q & A

Calling it “a really important player in human health,” Howard Y. Chang, MD, PhD, a former Damon Runyon Scholar, and colleagues have discovered that the presence of HOTAIR, a non-coding RNA, may be useful in predicting metastasis and survival in some breast cancer patients. 

The study, conducted at the Stanford University School of Medicine in collaboration with researchers at The Johns Hopkins University and the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, showed that breast cancer tumors had 100 times the HOTAIR levels of normal breast tissue, while metastatic tumors had up to 2,000 times the normal levels. 

> Read the whole post: New Marker for Severe Breast Cancer Identified

Every week, we round up articles from reputable sources, linking you to the latest news and commentary related to recent discoveries, new trends in cancer research, government policy and more.

This week’s roundup includes the following and more:

Editorial: Faltering cancer trials - New York Times
“The nation’s most important system for judging the clinical effectiveness of cancer treatments is approaching “a state of crisis.””

A cancer field ‘conundrum’: comparative effectiveness research - Wall Street Journal  Health Blog
“A Duke oncologist is warning that the emphasis on comparative effectiveness studies may present obstacles for the field of cancer research, Scientific American’s Observations blog reports.”

Doctor groups set new policy to curb industry sway - Associated Press via New York Times
Dozens of leading medical groups announced a new ethics code Wednesday “aimed at limiting the influence that drug and device makers have over patient care. It’s the most sweeping move ever taken by the Council of Medical Specialty Societies to curb conflict of interest.”

5-minute colon cancer test could save thousands - Associated Press via New York Times
“A five-minute colon cancer test could reduce the number of deaths from the disease by about 40 percent, a new study says.”

> Read the full roundup

Every week, we round up articles from reputable sources, linking you to the latest news and commentary related to recent discoveries, new trends in cancer research, government policy and more.

This week’s roundup includes the following and more:

Federal cancer research is ‘at a breaking point,’ IOM study finds - Kaiser Health News
“The government’s cancer research network is ‘approaching a state of crisis’ as waste and inefficiency cause 40 percent of late-stage trials it funds to be abandoned before completion, according to a report released yesterday.”

Licenses drive gene debate - Wall Street Journal
“Genetic research holds the promise of pinpointing a person’s risks for diseases. But Duke University researchers, in a study published Wednesday, said the practice of granting exclusive licenses on individual genes could slow down or even derail that promise.”

Study: Two good choices to prevent breast cancer - Associated Press via New York Times
“Older women at higher risk for breast cancer now have two good drug options for preventing the disease, but they will have to weigh the trade-offs, a major study shows.”

Hope for targeted lung-cancer treatment - Wall Street Journal
“An unusual clinical trial involving four different drugs offered promise that guiding treatment based on the molecular traits of a tumor can improve survival from lung cancer. ”

> Read the full roundup

by: Lorraine W. Egan, Executive Director
Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation

Almost 40 years after President Nixon declared a “war on cancer” many
are questioning how far we’ve come.  Gina Kolata of the New York Times
has written a series of articles on the subject.  I believe that while
many of these articles raise important points, the question, “are we
winning the war on cancer?” is actually the wrong one.

Is this really a “war”?

The phrase “War on Cancer” was coined back in the 1970’s at a time when little was known about cancer. It gave the impression that there was a single enemy that could be defeated if we simply devoted more money to the fight.

Since then, our understanding of cancer has advanced by quantum leaps.  That knowledge makes it crystal clear that “defeating” cancer is one of the most complex scientific challenges we have ever faced. 

Unlike other diseases like polio, which are caused by outside invaders that we can identify, cancer is the breakdown of our own basic cellular processes.  Moreover, cancer is many diseases.  We do not know how many because we continue to learn that even cancers with the same name vary significantly from person to person at the molecular level.  For example, one person’s colorectal cancer is not genetically the same as another person’s colorectal cancer.

> Read the whole post: The ‘War on Cancer’ - Where We Stand Now