Author Archives: Johanna

LGBTQIA+? You are Eligible to Join the Stem Cell Donor Registry

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Healio.com recently interviewed MSK Senior Research Scientist Dr. Warren Fingrut about improving awareness of stem cell donor eligibility for gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (gbMSM).

Dr. Fingrut’s study, presented at a recent joint meeting of the American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy (ASTCT) and Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR), asked for feedback from 12 focus groups of 37 total gbMSM to determine how to reduce barriers to donation and improve awareness of eligibility. Most participants were unaware of their eligibility, and many were concerned that physician acceptance of gbMSM donors was not universal.

For more information, visit the Stem Cell Club’s Saving Lives with Pride campaign site. And visit Be the Match to register to donate.

Men Are at Risk for BRCA-associated Cancers

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Dr. Robert Sidlow

Dr. Robert Sidlow. Photo by Richard DeWitt.

Jewish people of Ashkenazi (Eastern European) descent have an increased risk of genetic mutations that raise the likelihood of having melanoma, breast, ovarian, pancreatic, and prostate cancers. Yet women are more likely to be screened than men. In a recent Heritage Florida Jewish News article, MSK’s Dr. Robert Sidlow offers guidance to men who may be impacted by these BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations.

The men Dr. Sidlow sees as director of MSK’s Male BRCA Genetic Risk Program generally make an appointment after a female relative tests positive for a BRCA mutation. He recommends that men who test positive start regular mammograms at age 50 and have clinical breast exams. They should also begin prostate cancer screening at 40, 10 years earlier than the general population.

Learn more about male breast cancer and BRCA genetic mutations.

MSK is a Reason to Love NYC

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Dr. Luis Diaz Jr., far left, and Dr. Andrea Cercek, second from right, with patients from the trial. Photo by Richard DeWitt.

Dr. Luis Diaz Jr., far left, and Dr. Andrea Cercek, second from right, with patients from the trial. Photo by Richard DeWitt.

Reason #37 to love New York in 2022? Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

So says New York Magazine as it celebrates the groundbreaking clinical trial led by Dr. Andrea Cercek and Dr. Luis Diaz Jr. In the small trial, all 14 participants who received six months of immunotherapy for rectal cancer had complete remission without additional treatment. The patients had a specific mismatch repair-deficient tumor mutation, which is thought to occur for 5% to 10% of rectal cancers.

Read more about the trial from MSK’s coverage and the New England Journal of Medicine article.