Nursing home residents with breast cancer should consider their overall health before consenting to surgery, concludes a new study in JAMA Surgery. The study reviewed records of nearly 6,000 female nursing home patients who received inpatient breast cancer surgery from 2003–2013. More than half of these residents had cognitive or functional impairments prior to surgery. The death rate of the residents was much higher than average: 30.9 percent died within the year following surgery, a significant increase from the 25 percent nursing home mortality rate. Of those who survived, 58.3 percent experienced a functional decline in the year following surgery. In reporting the study, Liz Szabo of Kaiser Health News spoke to MSK’s Dr. Deborah Korenstein, who found the increased death rate particularly noteworthy as breast surgery is generally considered low risk.

Two recent articles about skin cancer feature MSK researchers.

The first, The Atlantic piece “AI-Driven Dermatology Could Leave Dark-Skinned Patients Behind,” discusses how researchers need to diversify the skin colors represented in image repositories being used to develop machine-learning algorithms that identify cancerous skin lesions. MSK dermatologist Dr. Allan C. Halpern states that the International Skin Imaging Collaboration, for which he is a spokesperson, is working to do just that.

The second, The New York Times article, “Immunotherapy Drugs Slow Skin Cancer That Has Spread to the Brain,” describes a recent study of 94 melanoma patients with tumors that spread to their brains. It found that two immunotherapy treatments given in combination, ipilimumab and nivolumab, reduced tumor size and prolonged life for many of the patients. The article quotes MSK’s Dr. Jedd Wolchok, who has already applied the findings to treating his own patients.

CRISPR is a promising gene editing tool being studied in laboratories worldwide as an inexpensive and precise mechanism for targetting specific genetic mutations. It could one day translate into treatments for genetic diseases in humans.

Last year, biologists from Oregon Health & Science University, led by Dr. Shoukhrat Mitalipov, published a study in Nature claiming they used CRISPR to fix a heart-disease-causing mutation in fertilized human embryos. Many scientists, including MSK’s Dr. Maria Jasin, questioned the plausibility of the findings.

Last week, the study hit the news again. Nature published a rebuttal to the criticism by Dr. Mitalipov and colleagues, along with two critiques, including one co-authored by Dr. Jasin.

Read coverage of the updated study and critiques:
MIT Technology Review
Nature News and Comment
Science News
The Scientist
Stat News
Wired

Learn more about CRISPR:
Genetics Home Reference
National Cancer Institute
Science News for Students