MD Anderson Research Highlights for March 29, 2023

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Research Highlights showcases the latest breakthroughs in cancer care, research and prevention.

MD Anderson Research Highlights for March 8, 2023

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Research Highlights showcases the latest breakthroughs in cancer care, research and prevention. These advances are made possible through seamless collaboration between MD Anderson’s world-leading clinicians and scientists, bringing discoveries from the lab to the clinic and back.

MD Anderson Research Highlights for December 19, 2022

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Research Highlights provides a glimpse into recent basic, translational and clinical cancer research from MD Anderson experts. Current advances include a cell cycle checkpoint inhibitor with potential therapeutic effects in an ovarian cancer subtype, a telementoring program for French-speaking oncology providers in Africa, insights into the relationship between obesity and immunotherapy side effects, updates to the world’s largest cancer drug discovery knowledgebase, improvements to treatment response by blocking the EGFR pathway, and a novel noninvasive diagnostic test for immunotherapy-related kidney injury.

MD Anderson Research Highlights: SITC 2022 Special Edition

This special edition features upcoming presentations by MD Anderson researchers at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) 37th Annual Meeting, including immunotherapy advances in human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive head and neck cancers, microbiome signatures linked with specialized immune-cell clusters, and promising early activity from novel immunotherapy drugs in advanced melanoma and colorectal cancer.

Hormone therapy could lower risk of immunotherapy-associated myocarditis in women

A new preclinical study from researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) has discovered the underlying cause of gender differences in immunotherapy-associated myocarditis after immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) treatment. Their findings point to possible treatment strategies for this side effect, which disproportionately affects female patients.

MD Anderson Research Highlights for October 19, 2022

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Research Highlights provides a glimpse into recent basic, translational and clinical cancer research from MD Anderson experts. Current advances include a combination approach to overcome PARP inhibitor resistance in breast and ovarian cancers, a deeper understanding of STAT3 mutations as drivers of disease progression, insights into the “obesity paradox” in men with advanced melanoma, a prognostic model for rapidly progressing vestibular schwannoma, and a role for cellular trafficking proteins in creating a metastasis-promoting lung cancer microenvironment.

Physician Scientist to Lead Breast Oncology Program

Yuan Yuan, MD, PhD, a breast medical oncologist and physician scientist who specializes in triple-negative breast cancer and breast cancer immunotherapy, has joined Cedars-Sinai Cancer as director of Breast Oncology. Yuan will treat patients at Cedars-Sinai and at Huntington Cancer Center, an affiliate of Cedars-Sinai Cancer.

ASCO22: Lung Cancer Therapy Could Help Patients Live Longer

Results of a Phase II clinical trial led by Cedars-Sinai Cancer investigators indicate that an immunotherapy drug combination could extend the lives of those diagnosed with advanced non-small cell lung cancer, one of the most common forms of lung cancer. The research was presented today during the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting in Chicago, with simultaneous publication in the peer-reviewed Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Patients Treated with Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors Have Better Quality of Life, Moffitt Analysis Shows

In a new article published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Moffitt Cancer Center researchers report that patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors have a higher self-reported quality of life than patients treated with other types of therapy.

Roswell Park, Wilmot Cancer Institute Collaborate on First Large Study of Immunotherapy in Black Cancer Patients

A new collaboration between two Western New York cancer research leaders will help oncologists learn whether Black and white cancer patients respond differently to a game-changing immunotherapy treatment, and seeks to improve the safety and effectiveness of these newer drugs in diverse populations.

Roswell Park Researchers Identify New Biomarker of Response to Checkpoint Inhibitors

A team of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers has identified a new biomarker that could predict response to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) shortly after patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) initiate therapy. This discovery, published today in the journal Nature Communications, is not only an important step forward in lung cancer treatment, but also has implications for other malignancies, according to lead author Fumito Ito, MD, PhD, FACS.

Study examines role of biomarkers to evaluate kidney injury in cancer patients undergoing immunotherapy

A study by Mayo Clinic researchers published in Kidney International Reports finds that immune checkpoint inhibitors, may have negative consequences in some patients, including acute kidney inflammation, known as interstitial nephritis. Immune checkpoint inhibitors are used to treat cancer by stimulating the immune system to attack cancerous cells.

New Research in JNCCN Sheds Light on Multi-Organ Adverse Events from Immunotherapy

New international research in the September 2020 issue of JNCCN—Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network finds immunotherapy-related adverse events (irAEs) can impact more than one organ in a single patient. Multi-organ irAEs are more likely to happen sequentially rather than simultaneously.

How to Recognize Side-Effects from Immunotherapy? New NCCN Guidelines for Patients can Help

New NCCN Guidelines for Patients: Immunotherapy Side Effects – Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors from National Comprehensive Cancer Network and NCCN Foundation shares information for patients and caregivers on how to recognize and manage adverse events from immune checkpoint inhibitors.

Cancer treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors may lead to thyroid dysfunction

Thyroid dysfunction following cancer treatment with new treatments called immune checkpoint inhibitors is more common than previously thought, according to research that was accepted for presentation at ENDO 2020, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting, and will be published in a special supplemental section of the Journal of the Endocrine Society.