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New DiscoveriesFebruary 15, 2022

Solving the cellular identity crisis underlying Barrett’s esophagus

Barrett’s esophagus is a condition caused by chronic acid reflux, in which stomach acid repeatedly flows up into the esophagus, eventually affecting the cells at the juncture of the esophagus and the stomach. While not harmful in itself, Barrett’s esophagus can develop into esophageal cancer in a minority of cases. Patients are advised to get regular imaging of their esophagus to check for abnormal-looking (precancerous) cells, which can be treated if discovered on time. But until recently, scientists misunderstood exactly what kind of cells they were looking at.

New DiscoveriesFebruary 10, 2022

Healing the immune system after radiation and chemotherapy

For decades, a weakened immune system has been considered an unavoidable side effect of receiving radiation or chemotherapy. These treatments, while highly effective at killing cancer cells, also deplete the body’s store of blood stem cells and damage the area in the bone marrow where new ones are produced. Blood stem cells, also known as hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), are critical for a functioning immune system because they give rise to all other blood cells, including white blood cells.

New DiscoveriesFebruary 7, 2022

Toward a more nuanced understanding of the anti-cancer immune response

An effective immune system response requires coordination among many types of immune cells, including CD4+ (helper) T cells, CD8+ (cytotoxic) T cells, and B cells. Helper T cells recognize antigens—identifying molecules on the surface of a pathogen—and release warning signals. These signals activate cytotoxic T cells, which kill the infected or cancerous cells, and B cells, which produce antibodies to attack the pathogen directly.

New DiscoveriesFebruary 4, 2022

The miseducation of immune T cells: how ovarian cancer resists immunotherapy

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI), which help immune T cells identify and kill tumor cells, are most effective in patients who have tumor antigen-specific T cells in circulation. Studies have shown that patients with ovarian cancer do have such tumor-reactive T cells in their blood, indicating a “naturally occurring, antitumor immune response.” So why do only 10-15% of ovarian cancer patients respond favorably to ICI therapy? This was the question former Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Ronald J. Buckanovich, MD, PhD, and his team at the University of Pittsburgh set out to answer in a recent study.

New DiscoveriesJanuary 28, 2022

Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation Awards over $3.6M to Top Young Scientists

The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation has announced its newest cohort of Damon Runyon Fellows, 13 outstanding postdoctoral scientists conducting basic and translational cancer research in the laboratories of leading senior investigators. This prestigious, four-year Fellowship encourages the nation's most promising young scientists to pursue careers in cancer research by providing them with independent funding ($231,000 total) to work on innovative projects.

New DiscoveriesJanuary 24, 2022

New link discovered between gut microbiome and anti-tumor immunity

A growing body of evidence links the gut microbiome—the vast collection of bacteria and other microorganisms that live in the digestive tract—to the body’s immune response to cancer. But the role of specific bacteria, and the nature of their interaction with immune cells, remain a critical subject of research. A better understanding of the crosstalk between the gut microbiota and the immune system would allow us, among other strategies, to use probiotics as part of cancer treatment.

New DiscoveriesJanuary 18, 2022

Why immunotherapy works better for some patients than others

‘‘All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.’’ This principle, borrowed from Leo Tolstoy, is how Damon Runyon alumni Pavan Bachireddy, MD, and Catherine J. Wu, MD, summarized the conditions of immunotherapy response and resistance in a recent study.

New DiscoveriesJanuary 10, 2022

New software program enables single-cell tumor analysis

Current imaging technology allows scientists to view tissue samples at such high resolution that they can gather information about individual cells. Looking at a high-resolution image of a tumor, for example, an oncologist can locate and measure the amount of a specific mutant protein in a cancer cell. The information gleaned from image-based single-cell analysis can aid both in diagnostics and tracking disease progression.

New DiscoveriesDecember 3, 2021

Investigating the impact of diet on tumor growth

Matthew G. Vander Heiden, MD, PhD, former Damon Runyon Innovator and current mentor, says he gets a lot of questions from his cancer patients about how their diet might impact disease progression. Often, these patients have heard the hypothesis that an aggressively calorie-restricted diet or the low-carbohydrate, high-fat ketogenic diet may slow tumor growth. The logic for these diets is that cancer cells require high levels of glucose to fuel their rapid proliferation, so depriving them of sugar might throw a wrench in the works. However, as Damon Runyon Fellow Evan C. Lien, PhD, a postdoc in Dr. Vander Heiden’s lab at MIT, put it: “A lot of the advice out there isn’t necessarily based on very good science.”

New DiscoveriesDecember 1, 2021

Demystifying the process of DNA repair

Like a leaky gas pipe in an apartment building, failure to repair DNA damage can have disastrous consequences, including the introduction of cancer-causing mutations. This is why our cells have complex mechanisms for recognizing and repairing broken DNA strands before too much damage has been done. In a big-picture sense, we know how DNA repair works: proteins responsible for sensing damage activate a cascade of other proteins, depending on the nature and location of the problem. But a granular understanding of this process, including which genes are involved, continues to elude scientists.