HDAC6 Can Control Tumor Growth and Halt Metastasis in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

Genetic modifier HDAC6 was found to control tumor growth and halt metastasis in triple-negative breast cancer in vivo, according to a new study published in the journal Cancer Research by investigators at the GW Cancer Center.

Cancer Research Institute and The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research Launch Collaboration to Evaluate Liquid Biopsy for More Accurate and Rapid Assessment of Lung Cancer Patient Response to Immunotherapy

The Cancer Research Institute (CRI) and The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research have launched a clinical trial that aims to demonstrate the utility of a novel, ultra-sensitive biomarker-directed blood test, or liquid biopsy, in assessing cancer patient responses to immunotherapy.

Memorial Sloan Kettering Awards and Appointments

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) announces its most recent awards and appointments for the institution’s physicians, scientists, nurses, and staff.

A helping hand for cancer immunotherapy

Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute have demonstrated the therapeutic potential of PRMT5 inhibitors to sensitize unresponsive melanoma to immune checkpoint therapy. PRMT5 inhibitors are currently in clinical trials in oncology, and this research provides a strong rationale for evaluating the drugs in tumors that are not responsive to immune checkpoint therapy. The study was published in Science Translational Medicine.

NCCN: What People with Cancer and their Caregivers Need to Know about CAR T-Cell Therapy

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) has published a new NCCN Guidelines for Patients: Immunotherapy Side Effects focused on chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy. This is book two in a series that includes another book on irAEs focused on immune checkpoint inhibitors.

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.

Immune Cells Infiltrating Tumors May Play Bigger Cancer Role Than Previously Thought

UC San Diego researchers uncovered in mice how IRE1α, a molecule involved in cells’ response to stress, determines whether macrophages promote inflammation in the tumor microenvironment. Inflammation is known to promote tumor growth, making IRE1α an attractive target for drug development.

Breaking Research News from Annual Meeting of American Society of Clinical Oncology

Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center thoracic cancer and cancer genomics experts reported promising new findings and studies in mesothelioma, lung cancer and melanoma at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the world’s leading professional organization for physicians and oncology professionals caring for cancer patients.

Scientists Identify Targets for COVID-19 Vaccine Using Cancer Immunotherapy Tools

Cancer researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) have harnessed tools used for the development of cancer immunotherapies and adapted them to identify regions of the SARS-CoV-2 virus to target with a vaccine, employing the same approach used to elicit an immune response against cancer cells to stimulate an immune response against the virus. Using this strategy, the researchers believe a resulting vaccine would provide protection across the human population and drive a long-term immune response.

Memorial Sloan Kettering – Hackensack Meridian Health Partnership Announces Funding for Inaugural Immunology Research Collaboration Projects

The Memorial Sloan Kettering – Hackensack Meridian Health Partnership has formed an Immunology Research Collaboration, through which researchers can apply for funding to support innovative investigations to explore the power of the immune system and ways it may be harnessed to fight cancer. Three researchers’ projects were selected in 2020 for funding support.

Study Shows Promise for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients Who Require New Treatment Options

A new type of immunotherapy treatment for metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is being tested by Missak Haigentz, Jr., MD, medical director of hematology and oncology for Atlantic Health System. Early results appear promising in this phase 1/2 clinical trial of ADXS-503 being developed by Advaxis, Inc., a new type of cancer therapy which targets “hotspot” mutations that commonly occur in specific cancer types, both by itself and in combination with immunotherapy Keytruda® (pembrolizumab), which is commonly used to treat this type of lung cancer. Dr. Haigentz and colleagues published early results of this study in conjunction with ASCO 2020, the world’s premier scientific meeting for clinical research in oncology.

Study reveals factors influencing outcomes in advanced kidney cancer treated with immunotherapy

By analyzing tumors from patients treated with immunotherapy for advanced kidney cancer in three clinical trials, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists have identified several features of the tumors that influence their response to immune checkpoint inhibitor drugs.

Adoptive T-cell therapy ADP-A2M4 targeting MAGE-A4 shows early activity in patients with advanced solid tumors

The adoptive T-cell therapy ADP-A2M4, which is engineered to express a T-cell receptor (TCR) directed against the MAGE-A4 cancer antigen, achieved responses in patients with multiple solid tumor types, including synovial sarcoma, head and neck cancer and lung cancer, according to results from a Phase I clinical trial led by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

MSK: Cancer Isn’t Sheltering in Place

As the height of the COVID-19 outbreak in New York City and the Tri-State area begins to subside, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center oncologists are urging patients to schedule cancer screenings and treatments now – as the long-term toll of missed diagnoses and delayed treatments could be devastating for patients and their loved ones across the region and the country.

Treatment shows promise in treating deadly brain cancer

In this study, researchers investigated if specific targeting of CD133+ glioblastoma with cutting-edge immunotherapy drugs could eradicate the most aggressive subpopulation of cells in the tumour. They also looked at the safety of CD133-targeting therapies on normal, non-cancerous human stem cells including hematopoietic stem cells which create blood cells and progenitor cells which can form one or more kinds of cells.

New Cancer Immunotherapy Targeting Myeloid Cells Slows Tumor Growth

Checkpoint inhibitors, a type of immunotherapy, that target myeloid immune cells and slow tumor growth were discovered by a team from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and other institutions. Reporting in Nature Cancer, the researchers showed for the first time in human cells and a mouse model that inhibiting the c-Rel molecule in myeloid cells — as opposed to lymphoid cells that today’s immunotherapies target — blocked the production of immune suppressor cells and significantly shrank tumors.

Combination of Chemo and Immunotherapy Is Shown to Work Against Metastatic Bladder Cancer

A clinical trial led by Mount Sinai researchers has showed for the first time that combining chemotherapy and immunotherapy can slow down metastatic bladder cancer. The trial also showed that immunotherapy alone may be an option for a subset of patients with metastatic bladder cancer if their tumor expresses a high level of a protein called PD-L1 according to the study, published in The Lancet in May.

Moffitt Cancer Center Study Suggests More Could Benefit from CAR T-Cell Therapy

Moffitt Cancer Center organized a consortium of 16 cancer treatment facilities across the U.S. that offer Yescarta as a standard-of-care therapy for patients with relapsed/refractory large B cell lymphoma. They wanted to determine if the safety and effectiveness seen in the ZUMA-1 clinical trial were similar for patients treated with the now commercially available CAR T therapy. Their findings were published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Research News Tip Sheet: Story Ideas From Johns Hopkins

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Johns Hopkins Medicine Media Relations is focused on disseminating current, accurate and useful information to the public via the media. As part of that effort, we are distributing our “COVID-19 Tip Sheet: Story Ideas from Johns Hopkins” every Tuesday throughout the duration of the outbreak.

Immunotherapy Before Surgery Could Advance Care of an Aggressive Form of Skin Cancer

In what is believed to be a first-of-its-kind study to evaluate the safety of a type of immunotherapy before surgery in patients with an aggressive form of skin cancer, researchers report that the treatment eliminated pathologic evidence of cancer in nearly half of the study participants undergoing surgery. In patients whose tumors respond, this treatment approach offers the potential to reduce the extent of surgery and may also slow or eliminate tumor relapses that often occur after surgery.

Study Shows Immunotherapy Prior to Surgery May Help Destroy High-Risk Breast Cancer

A new study led by Yale Cancer Center (YCC) researchers shows women with high-risk HER2-negative breast cancer treated before surgery with immunotherapy, plus a PARP inhibitor with chemotherapy, have a higher rate of complete eradication of cancer from the breast and lymph nodes compared to chemotherapy alone.

Immunotherapy Treatment Immediately After Chemotherapy Significantly Slows Metastatic Bladder Cancer Progression

Using immunotherapy immediately after chemotherapy treatment in patients with metastatic bladder cancer significantly slowed the progression of the cancer, according to results of a clinical trial led by Mount Sinai researchers published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology in April.

COVID-19 Immunotherapy Collab at UGA with Biotech Firm CEL-SCI to Fight Coronavirus

CEL-SCI’s immunotherapy candidate aims to treat patients at highest risk of dying from COVID-19. LEAPS immunotherapy has been used in collaboration with the National Institutes for Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) against another respiratory virus, H1N1, involved in the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic. Those successful studies demonstrated that LEAPS peptides, given after virus infection has occurred, reduced morbidity and mortality in mice infected with H1N1.