Moffitt Plays Pivotal Role in FDA Approval of Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocyte Therapy for Advanced Melanoma

A first-of-its-kind cellular immunotherapy pioneered at Moffitt Cancer Center has received approval from the Food and Drug Administration and is now available for patients with advanced melanoma. Lifileucel is the first tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte therapy, or TIL, approved for solid tumors.

Moffitt Study Finds Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Significantly Improves Outcomes for Penile Squamous Cell Carcinoma Patients

In a new article published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Moffitt Cancer Center researchers share data on the efficacy and safety of neoadjuvant chemotherapy for locally advanced penile squamous cell carcinoma, addressing a critical gap in evidence regarding treatment options for this rare and aggressive cancer.

Moffitt Investigates Association between Inflammation and Treatment Related Symptoms in Gynecologic Cancers

Moffitt Cancer Center researchers having been investigating what may trigger treatment related symptoms in patients with gynecologic cancers. In a new study published in the journal Cancers, they evaluated the relationship between inflammatory biomarkers and self-reported treatment related symptoms among this patient population.

Moffitt Cancer Center Taps W. Gregory Sawyer, Ph.D., as Inaugural Chair of the Department of Bioengineering

Moffitt Cancer Center has launched the Department of Bioengineering. The new academic research department will be housed within the Division of Basic Science and led by W. Gregory Sawyer, Ph.D. Bioengineering integrates the disciplines of engineering and cancer biology.

Moffitt Researchers Discover Pathway Critical for Lymphoma Development

In a new article in Blood Cancer Discovery, which was published simultaneously with a presentation at the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting 2023, a team of Moffitt Cancer Center researchers demonstrated a possible alternative approach. They showed that MYC activates a downstream pathway that chemically modifies a protein called eIF5A, and that inhibition of this modification process prevents lymphoma development and progression in mouse models.

Gut Microbiome Influences How Lymphoma Patients Respond to CAR T Therapy

In a new study published in Nature Medicine, Moffitt Cancer Center physician-scientists, in collaboration with four cancer centers in the United States and Germany, reveal how microorganisms in the gut influence non-Hodgkin lymphoma patient outcomes to a type of cellular immunotherapy called chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, or CAR T.

Magrolimab Plus Azacitidine Results in Promising Activity in Higher-Risk MDS Patients

In a new article published today in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Moffitt Cancer Center physician-scientists, in collaboration with institutions from across the United States and the United Kingdom, share promising phase 1b trial results of a new combination therapy — magrolimab + azacitidine — for patients with higher-risk MDS.

Neoadjuvant Pembrolizumab Administered Before Surgery Improves Outcomes of Melanoma Patients

A team of researchers from institutions across the United States, including Moffitt Cancer Center, launched a phase 2 clinical trial evaluating a new treatment option for this patient population. Their results, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, show that treating resectable stage 3 and 4 melanoma patients with the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab both before and after surgery greatly improves outcomes when compared to pembrolizumab given only after surgery.

Moffitt Cancer Center Joins Weill Cornell Medicine and University of North Carolina to Improve HIV-Related Cancer Care Abroad

Moffitt Cancer Center, Weill Cornell Medicine and the University of North Carolina School of Medicine have received a $3.5 million, five-year grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to improve screening and preventative treatment of cervical cancer for women living with HIV in low-resource countries.

Using A Seaweed Sugar to Trigger Immune Responses That Suppress Melanomas

Moffitt Cancer Center researchers, led by cancer biologist Eric Lau, Ph.D., have identified a relatively natural way to increase the numbers and antitumor activities of TILs. In a new article published in Nature Cancer, Lau’s team demonstrates how L-fucose, a nontoxic dietary plant sugar that is enriched in red and brown seaweeds, can increase TILs, promote antitumor immunity and improve the efficacy of immunotherapy.

Moffitt Researchers Develop Tool to Measure Patient Health and Well-Being after Radionuclide Therapy

Moffitt Cancer Center researchers have developed a tool to determine how a new class of prostate cancer therapies called radionuclide therapy (RNT) impacts patient-reported outcomes with the goal of using this information to guide treatment and improve quality of care. Their findings have been published in The Journal of Nuclear Medicine.

Moffitt Receives $3.7 Million Grant to Increase Minority Accrual to Cancer Treatment Trials

Moffitt Cancer Center’s efforts to increase minority accrual to cancer treatment trials got a boost from the National Cancer Institute’s Connecting Underrepresented Populations to Clinical Trials U01 Grants Program. The five-year, $3.7 million grant will help the cancer center develop new digital tools and community outreach strategies to reach Black and Hispanic cancer patients and physicians in the Tampa Bay community.

Genomic Testing Can Identify African American Prostate Cancer Patients Who Have High-Risk Disease

Moffitt Cancer Center has conducted the first prospective study to investigate genomic biomarkers associated with aggressive disease in African American men with prostate cancer. The study results were published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Dual Checkpoint Inhibitor Blockade Shows Promise as First-Line and Salvage Therapy for Merkel Cell Carcinoma Patients

Moffitt Cancer Center is one of two institutions in the U.S. investigating a new dual checkpoint inhibitor therapy with or without stereotactic body radiation therapy for patients with Merkel cell carinoma. Results from the phase 2 clinical trial were published in The Lancet, in conjunction with a presentation at the European Society for Medical Oncology Congress.

Moffitt Physicians Lead International Study to Identify Melanoma Patients with High-Risk Disease

In a new study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Moffitt Cancer Center physicians, along with a team of international researchers from eight other cancer centers, report on their identification of high-risk patients with stage 3A disease and microscopic lymph node metastases who would benefit from adjuvant therapy.

Moffitt Researchers Use Mathematical Modeling to Explain Immunotherapy Responses

In a new article published in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer, Moffitt Cancer Center researchers demonstrate how mathematical modeling can be used to analyze the impact of different cancer treatments on tumor and immune cell dynamics and help predict outcomes to therapy and personalize cancer treatment.

Moffitt Researchers Create Software Program that Allows Simultaneous Viewing of Tissue Images Through Dimensionality Reduction

Imaging of tissue specimens is an important aspect of translational research that bridges the gap between basic laboratory science and clinical science to improve the understanding of cancer and aid in the development of new therapies. To analyze images to their fullest potential, scientists ideally need an application that enables multiple images to be viewed simultaneously. In an article published in the journal Patterns, Moffitt Cancer Center researchers describe a new open-source software program they developed that allows users to view many multiplexed images simultaneously.

Moffitt Researchers Identify Splice Variant Biomarkers in Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma

Scientists are trying to improve their understanding of the development of clear cell renal cell carcinoma to develop new targeted therapeutics. In a new study published in European Urology, Moffitt Cancer Center researchers identify biomarkers for this disease type and develop a tool to indicate which patients are at high risk of poor outcomes based on their biomarker expression.

Moffitt Study Shows Adaptive Therapy Improves Outcomes, Reduces Care Costs for Prostate Cancer Patients

Researchers in Center of Excellence for Evolutionary Therapy at Moffitt Cancer Center are thinking outside the box and studying an alternative approach called adaptive therapy that is based on evolutionary principles and mathematical modeling. In a new article in eLife, the researchers report updated results from a pilot clinical trial evaluating an adaptive therapy approach using the drug abiraterone to treat patients with metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer.

Moffitt Researchers Contribute to Discovery of Mechanism Leading to Drug Resistance in Prostate Cancer

In a new article published in Science Translational Medicine, Moffitt Cancer Center researchers reveal a mechanism by which prostate cancer cells become resistant through molecular modification of the androgen receptor protein and identify a potential treatment approach that could overcome this resistance.

Moffitt Researchers Identify Pathway that Regulates Lipid Synthesis and Contributes to Tumor Survival

In a new study published in the journal Cell Reports, Moffitt Cancer Center researchers show that cancer cells in an acidic environment undergo lipid synthesis and accumulation. The team identified the key signaling molecules responsible for these changes and discovered that these alterations are associated with poor outcomes and disease progression among breast cancer patients.

Moffitt Researchers Develop Model to Predict Patients with Poor Lung Cancer Outcomes

Moffitt Cancer Center researchers are working to improve the ability to identify patients who are at a higher risk of poor survival through radiomics, an area of science that uses imaging, such as CT scans and MRIs, to uncover tumoral patterns and characteristics that may not be easy to spot by the naked eye. Results of their newest study was published today in Cancer Biomarkers.

Moffitt Participating in National Pilot Project to Increase Diversity in Clinical Trials

Moffitt Cancer Center is participating in a national pilot project being conducted by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC). The pilot project is testing a research site self-assessment tool and an implicit bias training program focused on increasing racial and ethnic diversity among cancer treatment trial participants.

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.

Moffitt Cancer Center Joins Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to Help Stop Blood Cancer

Moffitt Cancer Center has joined Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to provide free screenings to eligible adults who are at a higher risk for having or developing multiple myeloma or other related conditions. This initiative is through the PROMISE Study, a national cancer screening/cohort program to help researchers understand who is at risk based on a number of factors. The goal is to detect multiple myeloma before it becomes symptomatic and to monitor those who are at increased risk in order to study and hopefully prevent the development of the disease.

Moffitt Researchers Develop Model to Predict Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patient Outcomes to Immunotherapy

In a new article published in JNCI Cancer Spectrum, Moffitt Cancer Center researchers describe a prediction model they have created that includes information calculated from computed tomography images that can identify non-small cell lung cancer patients who are not likely to respond to immunotherapy.

Adoptive Cell Therapy Plus Checkpoint Inhibitors Show Promise in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Researchers in Moffitt Cancer Center’s Lung Cancer Center of Excellence believe a combination of checkpoint inhibitors with adoptive cell therapy could be the answer for non-small cell lung cancer patients. Results of their investigator-initiated phase 1 clinical trial evaluating the checkpoint inhibitor nivolumab in combination with tumor infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapy was published today in Nature Medicine.

Moffitt Researchers Show Beta-Cutaneous HPV May Be Predictor of Squamous Cell Carcinoma

In a new article published online ahead of print in the journal Cancer Research, Moffitt Cancer Center researchers demonstrate a link between the presence of cutaneous human papillomavirus and the incidence of squamous cell carcinomas and identify key characteristics of infection that may contribute to development of the disease.

An Educational Intervention Can Help Vapers Use Their E-Cigarettes to Quit Smoking, Moffitt Study Finds

In a new article published in The Lancet Public Health, they report results from a first-of-its kind nationwide study evaluating a targeted intervention aimed at transforming dual users’ e-cigarettes from a product that might maintain smoking into a tool that can be used to aid smoking cessation.

Moffitt Researchers Develop Non-invasive Approach to Measure Biomarker Levels, Predict Outcomes in Lung Cancer Patients

In a new article published in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer, Moffitt Cancer Center researchers show that PET/CT images can be used to measure levels of the PD-L1 biomarker of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients in a non-invasive manner and, in turn, predict a patient’s response to therapy.

Analyzing the Tumor Microenvironment at the Single Cell Level Sheds Light on Metastatic Melanoma Outcomes, Moffitt Study Shows

In a new article published in Clinical Cancer Research, Moffitt Cancer Center researchers reveal how different therapies impact the surrounding immune environment of metastatic melanoma tumors according to location and identify a rare population of immune cells that is associated with improved overall survival.

Moffitt Cancer Center Experts to Present New Clinical Research Data

Moffitt Cancer Center, a national leader in cancer care and research and the only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center based in Florida, is presenting new data from dozens of clinical research studies at this year’s American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, the world’s largest clinical cancer research meeting. Moffitt investigators will lead 25 abstract presentations, five education sessions, two cancer-based panels and two clinical science symposia. The virtual meeting is June 4-8.

A World without Cervical Cancer: Preventive Medicine publishes special issue to further global efforts to eliminate deadly disease

Cervical cancer is a serious global health threat which kills more than 300,000 women every year. Recognizing this urgent public health issue, the editorial team of Preventive Medicine is publishing a special issue titled “From Science to Action to Impact: Eliminating Cervical Cancer,” which outlines the required courses of action to eliminate cervical cancer. Dr. Anna Giuliano and Dr. Linda Niccolai, two giants in the field of cervical cancer prevention research, served as guest editors for the issue.