- In a preclinical study, scientists from Yale University used therapy carrying antibodies redesigned from lupus to target tumors. The novel approach allows the antibodies to get “unnoticed into the tumor environment”, which makes this therapy very targeted. This results in a “reduction in toxic side effects experienced by patients when less precise therapies kill off healthy tissue.” The study was published in ACS Central Science.
- Researchers from Rockefeller University discovered that sensory nerves within breast tumors strongly influence cancer progression and metastasizing. This discovery opens new possibilities for stopping breast cancer growth. The study also determined that the TACR1 antagonist aprepitant, an FDA-approved drug for nausea prevention, may prevent cancer growth and metastasis by targeting neuron chemistry/breast cancer interplay. The study was published in Nature.
- Researchers from Harvard University and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute designed a protein that allowed the prolongation of the potency of CAR-T Cell therapy, a crucially important type of cancer treatment. The study was published in Nature Biotechnology.
- The latest cohort study by a group of researchers from multiple medical centers established that people at risk of pancreatic cancer have better survival rates if they undergo annual imaging as part of preventive surveillance. The study’s findings may lead to early detection of pancreatic cancer in high-risk individuals and improved survival rates. The study was published in JAMA Oncology.
- In the latest research on the subject, researchers from the University of Colorado established that pieces of DNA “left behind by viruses that infected primate ancestors tens of millions of years ago” and present inside the human genome, if reawakened, may help cancer “survive and thrive.” The findings suggest that “silencing certain endogenous retroviruses” can help cancer treatments become more efficient. The study was published in Science Advances.
- A new study from the American Cancer Society that “used 2019 information from nationally representative data on cancer incidence and mortality, as well as risk factor prevalence” found that “four in 10 cancer diagnoses and almost half of all cancer deaths of adults over the age of 30 in the United States could be attributed to modifiable risk factors.” The article published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians reports in some detail epidemiology correlating the risk factors with different cancer types.