Category Archives: In the News

Cancer Support through Song

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One of the many offerings MSK has for cancer patients, caregivers, and survivors is the Rising Voices Choir. Len Robertson, a music teacher who came to MSK for treatment, wrote in Verywell Health about his experiences with breast cancer as a Black man and the support he received by participating in the choir: 

“I’ve been a trained singer for years, but chemo took a toll on my entire body, including my voice. I couldn’t control my voice in the same way, and I was struggling to deal with that change. But everyone in the choir—including some doctors and nurses who were also diagnosed with breast cancer—loved my new voice and helped me stay positive during recovery and treatment.”

Read more about Mr. Robertson’s experience and road to recovery and advocacy.

Dr. Carol Brown on Health Disparities

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Dr. Carol Brown

Dr. Carol Brown. Photo: Richard DeWitt.

Recently, MSK’s Dr. Carol Brown, Nicholls-Biondi Chair for Health Equity, sat down with HemOncToday’s Oncology Overdrive podcast to discuss equity in the healthcare workplace, research, and care. Learn more about the state of these issues today and strategies for progress by listening to this wide-ranging 40-minute interview.

Heart Failure and Cancer, Tissue Specific Cancer Development and More

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  • In a new study, researchers analyzed data from a German health database from over 100,000 patients with heart failure and the same number of people without this condition for ten years to establish cancer incidence in both groups over time. The study found a correlation between heart failure and cancer incidence. 25.7 percent of patients with heart failure developed some form of cancer, compared with 16.2 percent of those who did not have heart failure. The study also provided statistics on cancer types, demonstrating such correlation on a more granular level. Although this type of retrospective research can establish correlation but not causation, it would be prudent for patients with heart failure to get regular cancer screening as a preventive measure. The study was published in ESC Heart Failure.
  • Another team of researchers from Germany conducted a preclinical study on genetic processes underlying pancreatic and biliary tract cancer development. They established that tissue-specific (in this case, bile duct and pancreas epithelium) genetic interplay with an oncogene plays the causative role in the development of different types of cancers. This will help understand different tissue-specific responses to cancer therapy, which is important in the practice of precision medicine. The study was published in Cancer Discovery.
  • Researchers from the Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) and the University of California, Riverside developed a method of identifying fatty acids uptake by a single cell. Fatty acids, along with glucose and amino acids, are known to be a source of energy for cell proliferation, including cancer cell proliferation. But unlike glucose metabolism, the biological mechanism of fatty acids uptake by a cell was not well understood. The researchers developed a chemical approach to “profiling” the fatty acid uptake into the cells in connection to protein signaling in cancer cells. Using a brain cancer model, they gained new insight into the role of fatty acids in cancer development and created a potential for the new therapy to block the tumor growth. The study was published in Journal of the American Chemical Society.
  • Scientists at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute (LTRI), part of Sinai Health, classified all cancers into just two categories, “based on the presence or absence of a protein called the Yes-associated protein, or YAP.” This new understanding can lay the foundation for developing different cancer treatment strategies based on whether the cancer is YAPon or YAPoff type. The study was published in Cancer Cell.