Category Archives: In the News

Preventing Relapse, CRISPR Powers up CAR T, KRAS Mutations, and a Survivor Cycling for Others

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Dr. Sergio Giralt presented at the 2017 BMT Tandem Meetings about new treatments for preventing relapse in blood cancers. One of those treatments is lomab-B, a radiolabeled antibody drug targeted against CD45. The way lomab-B works is by helping to prepare patients for hematopoietic stem cell transplants, by conditioning the body and increasing the antitumor effect of the transplant.

An article in Nature (February 22) by Dr. Sadelain and his team, found that using CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing creates more powerful CAR T cells. Sadelain and team showed that CRISPR can deliver the CAR gene to a specific location within the T cell genome, thus the CAR T cells are more powerful and can work longer.

Recent research conducted at UCSF, found that imbalances in mutated KRAS could be one of the reasons why certain individuals are more vulnerable or resistant to specific drugs. Computational Biologist, Dr. Barry Taylor, led the genetic analysis of the various advanced cancers in the study. He developed algorithms and software to analyze the relative amounts of normal and mutant KRAS in tumor cells from biopsy samples.

Laura Dohrmann of Crockett, California participated at the San Francisco Cycle for Survival event last month. Dohrmann was diagnosed with an extremely rare soft-tissue cancer, leimysarcoma (LMS) in 2012. After seeing more than 20 doctors and specialists, she flew to MSK to receive treatment. After having most of her thigh removed, and several rounds of chemo and radiation, today she is learning to walk again and has no evidence of disease. She proudly raised a few thousand dollars this year for Cycle for Survival, and plans to return next year as a team captain. While she was unable to ride this year as her legs weren’t strong enough, she’s eagerly waiting for 2018. “This is life-changing for my journey,” said Dohrmann. “I’ll be riding for those who can’t. I’ll be riding for them because I can.”

A Live Look at Cells, Scalp Cooling and More…

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  • A recent post on the NIH Director’s blog showcased the video “Discovery Inside Living Cells in Multicellular Organisms” from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) lab of Roberto Weigert in the Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, and at the National Institute of Dental & Craniofacial Research. This video is the fulfillment, says Weigert, of every cell biologist’s dream–to watch living cells at work inside living tissue as they go about the business of keeping us alive.
  • Researchers at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute have found that a combination of drugs known as SMAC Mimetics and immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) amplifies kill rates of cancer tumour cells in laboratory testing. The findings are reported in Nature Communications.
  • Two recent studies published in JAMA illustrate how scalp cooling devices may help reduce hair loss for women receiving chemotherapy for breast cancer.

Are Bad Hospital Designs Making Patients Sicker?

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Dr. Dhruv Khullar of the Massachusetts General Hospital writes in the New York Times this week about the surprisingly bad design flaws that plague hospitals and in turn, their patients. Dr. Khullar cites various studies that detail how around 30% of intensive care patients acquire infections originating in hospitals and how housing patients in private rooms can reduce the risk of both airborne and surface contact infections. You’d might think that private rooms will greatly increase construction costs, but it’s possible that the price of “single-occupancy rooms is more than offset by the money saved because of fewer infections.”


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