A recent article by Ed Yong in The Atlantic describes how the basics of cancer research may have inadvertently altered results for decades.

Scientists use a growth medium to study human or animal cancer cells in the lab. This medium is most commonly Eagle’s minimal essential medium (EMEM), developed in 1959. EMEM offers cells only the basic nutrients needed for growth. But more recently, researchers have developed new mediums that include many more of the chemicals and nutrients found in blood. And researchers are finding that the medium selected for a study can impact the results.

In the article, MSK’s Dr. Natasha Pavlova says that while the new mediums would help scientists looking at how cancer cells consume nutrients, they are not exact substitutes for blood cells, tissues, and organs. The cancer cells used by researchers, often of a similar age to EMEM, may also impact results. It’s not yet known if they would respond to new mediums more or less like cancer cells behave in a body.

In late December, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had a pulmonary lobectomy at MSK to remove two nodules on the lower lobe of her left lung. But what does this mean?

Newsweek answered this question in a recent article, referring to an MSK patient information page for information. Patients with non-small cell lung cancer that has not spread are typically treated with a pulmonary lobectomy, during which surgeons remove the lobe of the lung containing the cancer (the right lung has three lobes and the left has two). This surgery is the most common operation for patients with this type of cancer and offers the best chance of a cure for otherwise healthy people with cancer that has not spread.

Learn more about lung cancer from MSK’s patient information pages.

A new study by MSK’s Dr. Neil Iyengar and colleagues published in JAMA Oncology finds that women with normal BMIs but high levels of overall body fat are at an increased risk for invasive breast cancer. The cohort study followed 3,460 postmenopausal women for a median 16.4 years. Researchers measured body fat using Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry five times throughout the course of the study. They concluded that for each five kilogram increase in trunk fat, women had a 56% increase in risk of developing estrogen-receptor (ER) positive breast cancers, even when BMI remained in the healthy range.

Learn more about this study:
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MedicalResearch.com
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