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New findings from a study by researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, show that U.S. incidence rates for aggressive subtypes of uterine cancer rose rapidly among women ages 30 to 79 from 2000 to 2015. The findings also reveal racial disparities, including higher incidence of these aggressive subtypes and poorer survival—irrespective of subtype and cancer stage—among non-Hispanic black women than among women in other racial/ethnic groups. The study, published May 22, 2019 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, used population data from NCI’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database to evaluate trends…

“For me, this is one of the great honors of my research career,” says Dr. Ronald DePinho, who in 2009 won the prestigious Szent-Györgyi Prize for Progress in Cancer Research—and who has a touching personal tie to the namesake of the accolade. “I had the privilege of meeting Dr. Szent-Györgyi in my younger years, and was quite honored to later receive an award that bears his name.” It is natural to assume that to win the Szent-Györgyi Prize, one of oncology’s top laurels, a researcher must unravel a Gordian knot of genetic codes or discover some heretofore unknown cellular process.…

NFCR Writer David Perry   –  September 13, 2018 “The trouble with ultrasound is that it doesn’t detect many ovarian cancers early,” says Robert Bast, M.D., Vice President for Translational Research at MD Andersen Cancer Center in Houston. Moreover, “Ultrasound doesn’t see really small cancers in the ovary.” It is a case in point of the limits of technology. TVUS, or transvaginal ultrasound, is a standard testing method that uses sound waves to look at the uterus, fallopian tubes and ovaries by putting an ultrasound wand into the vagina. It is enormously useful in a cancer diagnosis, but it cannot distinguish…

September 5, 2018 A new cancer drug, larotrectinib, has in a very early clinical trial been shown to have a 93% (14/15) effectiveness rate for pediatric cancers; that is to say, for not just one cancer, but many. Hailed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a “breakthrough therapy,” larotrectinib targets a specific fusion of two genes in the cancer cell, no matter what cancer type. Researchers specifically focused on fusions involving TRK, short for tropomyosin receptor kinase, a gene playing a key role in brain and nervous system development and that has a limited role in nervous system…

“For the vast majority of cancer—breast, prostate, lung, colon and others—if it is detected early when it is a little lump in that organ and it has not spread, you will live. And generally, if you find it late, after it has spread throughout your body, you will die,” says oncologist Raymond Bergan, M.D., division chief of hematology and medical oncology and professor of medicine at Oregon Health & Science University Hospital (OHSU). “Movement is key: the difference is black and white, night and day. If cancer cells spread throughout your body, they will take your life. We can treat…

NCI Press Release August 20, 2018 In a new study, researchers developed a gene expression predictor that can indicate whether melanoma in a specific patient is likely to respond to treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors, a novel type of immunotherapy. The predictor was developed by Noam Auslander, Ph.D., with other researchers in the Center for Cancer Research (CCR) at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, and colleagues at Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.; the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; and the University of Maryland, College Park. The study was published August 20, 2018 in Nature Medicine. “There is…

NFCR Press Release NFCR Writer David Perry August 17, 2018 NFCR Breakthroughs The good news is that cocoa is good for you. The seeds of Theobroma cacao are packed with flavonoids, organic compounds found to help prevent skin damage caused by ultraviolet radiation, improve blood vessel function and reduce cardiovascular risk. The downside is that this does not mean one can scarf down the nearest candy bar as part of a healthy routine! It was largely the work of Helmut Sies, M.D., the esteemed pioneer of oxidative stress whom the National Foundation for Cancer Research (NFCR) supported from 1983 to…

NCI Press Release August 15, 2018 Women who had cancer cells detected in their blood 5 years after a breast cancer diagnosis were 13 times more likely to have their cancer return than women who did not, results from an ongoing study have shown. Most women who are diagnosed with hormone receptor–positive breast cancer that has not spread will not have a recurrence. Among those who do have a recurrence, more than half have a late recurrence, meaning their disease will return 5 or more years after diagnosis. Doctors do not currently have a reliable method to predict who is…