Category Archives: In the News

Early Study of New CAR-T Cell Shows Promising Results

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A study by MSK researchers in Nature Chemical Biology describes the development of a new class of cell that may boost treatment options for certain cancers and other diseases, one of a number of new advances in the field of chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR-T) therapy.

CAR-T cells are engineered from a patient’s own cells and used to activate an immune response against cancer. As described by Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News and The Science Advisory Board, the new synthetic enzyme-armed killer (SEAKER) cells described in the study overcome many of the limitations of current CAR-T cell therapies. In an animal model, the researchers successfully engineered the cells to produce AMS, a natural anti-cancer compound, at the cancer site.

The researchers plan to further develop SEAKER cells for use in human clinical trials in two to three years.

From Outer Space to Patient Homes: The Cutting Edge of Exercise Research

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Jessica Scott, PhD

Jessica Scott, PhD. Photo by Ethan Kavet.

Today recently spoke to MSK’s Dr. Jessica Scott about her research on whether vigorous exercise can alleviate chemotherapy side effects. Prior to working at MSK, Dr. Scott studied the impact of exercise on NASA astronauts. She has found similarities in the way space flight and chemotherapy impact the heart, brain, and musculoskeletal system.

Dr. Scott’s study participants used to visit MSK to take part in her research. To allow her work to continue during the pandemic, she and her team sent participants treadmills, blood pressure cuffs, heart monitors, and iPads to enable remote, monitored workouts—similar to how astronauts in space are monitored back on earth. Study results should be out next year.

Reproducibility in Pre-clinical Cancer Research

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The Reproducibility Project: Cancer Biology, led by Tim Errington, just reported the results of an eight-year project where they tried to replicate experiments from 193 preclinical studies published in 53 cancer journals. Preclinical studies refer to studies conducted in animals before being carried out in humans. Those studies were published between 2010 and 2012.
The team could only reproduce 50 experiments out of 193 because of a lack of data, reporting issues, or access to materials.  
To then assess the replication of the 50 experiments, they used five criteria and “found that just 18% succeeded on all five, while 20% failed on all five. Overall, 46% of effects succeeded on most criteria.”
The results are reported in two articles published in eLife, Challenges for assessing replicability in preclinical cancer biology, and Investigating the replicability of preclinical cancer biology.

Nature just published a comment titled, “Five keys to writing a reproducible lab protocol” for better transparency and to avoid similar issues in the future.