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”

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