AACR: Combination treatment is well-tolerated, shows antitumor effects in KRAS G12C-mutated metastatic colorectal cancer

Combining the KRAS G12C inhibitor adagrasib with the anti-EGFR antibody cetuximab demonstrated promising anti-tumor effects in patients with KRAS G12C-mutated metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC), according to pooled results from the Phase I/II KRYSTAL-1 trial reported by researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Why a Targeted Therapy Is Better Than Immunotherapy For Some Patients With Inoperable Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), with an epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation, tends not to respond well to immunotherapy treatments, including durvalumab. However, Yale Cancer Center (YCC) researchers recently reported in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology that the targeted therapy osimertinib, when administered after chemotherapy and radiation, is associated with significantly improved progression-free survival (living without the cancer worsening).

MD Anderson Research Highlights: AACR 2023 Special Edition

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. This special edition features presentations by MD Anderson researchers at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2023.

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 February 22, 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. Recent developments include a new understanding of how HPV drives cancer development, a combination therapy to overcome treatment resistance in mantle cell lymphoma, novel insights into memory T cell formation and potential therapeutic strategies for brain cancers, improved survival outcomes for metastatic colorectal cancer, targeting myeloperoxidase to improve immunotherapy responses in melanoma, and preclinical results of a combination therapy that could effectively treat a subset of acute myeloid leukemia.

MD Anderson Research Highlights for February 1, 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 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.

MD Anderson Research Highlights for August 24, 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 confirmation of improving response rates in Phase I trials over the last 20 years, a novel targeted therapy combination and biomarkers of response for chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy in B-cell lymphomas, a combination therapy for patients with melanoma brain metastases, and new treatment options for metastatic sarcomas, HPV-driven cancers and uterine cancer.

MD Anderson Research Highlights for June 29, 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 lower-intensity therapy for acute myeloid leukemia, a new target for treating chronic myelomonocytic leukemia, real-world synthetic controls for clinical trials in rare cancers, a potential biomarker to predict endocrine therapy response in breast cancer, integrated CRISPR screens to identify novel tumor suppressors, and a deeper knowledge of the immune tumor microenvironment in melanoma-derived brain metastases.

Chula Excellence Cancer Center collabs with medical specialists from various fields to enhance treatment capabilities.

Chula now has an Excellence Chulalongkorn Comprehensive Cancer Center bringing together medical specialists from various areas of expertise to attend to cancer patients using the latest academic and technological know-how to enhance the quality of life and the possibilities of being cured for patients of all types of cancer.

‘Research autopsy’ helps scientists study why certain cancer therapies stop working

A new research study at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James) turns cancer scientists into molecular detectives, searching for clues for why certain cancers are able to spread and evolve by studying tissues collected within hours of death.

Combination targeted therapy provides durable remission for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia

A combination of ibrutinib and venetoclax was found to provide lasting disease remission in patients with newly diagnosed chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), according to researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Findings from the single-institution Phase II study were published today in JAMA Oncology and provide the longest follow-up data on patients treated with this drug regimen.

Glioblastoma study discovers protective role of metabolic enzyme, revealing a novel therapeutic target

MD Anderson researchers have discovered a new role for the metabolic enzyme, MCAD, in glioblastoma. The enzyme prevents toxic fatty acid accumulation, in addition to its normal role in energy production, and targeting MCAD led to irreversible damage and cell death specifically in cancer cells.

MD Anderson and Mirati Therapeutics announce KRAS strategic research and development collaboration in solid tumors

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Mirati Therapeutics, Inc. today announced a strategic research and development collaboration to expand the evaluation of Mirati’s two investigational small molecule, potent and selective KRAS inhibitors – adagrasib (MRTX849), a G12C inhibitor in clinical development, and MRTX1133, a G12D inhibitor in preclinical development, as monotherapy and in combination with other agents – which target two of the most frequent KRAS mutations in cancer.

New combination therapy could help fight difficult-to-treat cancers with common mutations

UCLA scientists describe a new combination therapy that suppresses the MAPK pathway by holding cancer-driving proteins in a death grip. This combination of two small molecules has the potential to treat not only BRAF mutated melanoma but also additional aggressive subtypes of cancers, including melanoma, lung, pancreatic and colon cancers that harbor common mutations in cancer genes called RAS or NF1.

New targeted therapy blocks metabolism in brain cancer cells with genetic vulnerability

Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have developed a novel targeted therapy, called POMHEX, which blocks critical metabolic pathways in cancer cells with specific genetic defects. Preclinical studies found the small-molecule enolase inhibitor to be effective in killing brain cancer cells that were missing ENO1, one of two genes encoding the enolase enzyme.

ORNL researcher studies individualized isotopes’ impact by targeting cancer

A radioisotope researcher in the Radioisotope Science and Technology Division at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Davern is focusing on ways to use nanoparticles — particles 100 nanometers or smaller that can have special properties — to contain those radioisotopes and deliver them directly to cancer cells, where they can decay into different isotopes that irradiate those cells.

Brain’s Immune Cells Promising Cellular Target for Therapeutics

Inspired by the need for new and better therapies for neurodegenerative diseases, Rutgers University researchers are exploring the link between uncontrolled inflammation within the brain and the brain’s immune cells, known as microglia, which are emerging as a promising cellular target because of the prominent role they play in brain inflammation. In APL Bioengineering, the group highlights the design considerations and benefits of creating therapeutic nanoparticles for carrying pharmacological factors directly to the sites of the microglia.

Lung cancer trial of RET inhibitor selpercatinib achieves durable responses in majority of patients with RET gene fusions

For patients with non-small cell lung cancers marked by RET gene fusions, the targeted therapy selpercatinib was well tolerated and achieved durable objective responses, or tumor shrinkage, in the majority of patients in a Phase I/II trial.

Targeted therapy tepotinib for non-small cell lung cancer with MET exon 14 skipping mutation shows durable response

Patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and the MET exon 14 (METex14) skipping mutation had a 46.5% objective response rate to the targeted therapy drug tepotinib, as shown in a study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at the 2020 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting (Abstract 9556 – Poster 322) by researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Study Shows Profound Benefit with Targeted Therapy for Patients with Early Stage NSCLC

According to findings led by researchers at Yale Cancer Center, treatment with the targeted therapy osimertinib following surgery significantly improves disease-free survival (DFS) in patients with early-stage, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with EGFR gene mutations.

Superior Progression-Free Survival Associated with Continuous Targeted Therapy Combination for BRAF-mutated Melanoma

Results from a randomized phase 2 clinical trial examining the targeted therapy drugs dabrafenib and tremetinib in both continuous and intermittent treatment of patients with BRAF-mutated melanoma show continuous dosing yields superior progression free survival. A Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey investigator shares more on the work presented at the opening plenary session of the virtual AACR Annual Meeting.

Drug used for breast, kidney cancers may also extend survival for patients with advanced head and neck cancer

A targeted therapy drug used for breast and kidney cancers may also extend progression-free survival for patients with advanced head and neck cancer who are at high risk for recurrence after standard treatment. Patients enrolled in a randomized phase II trial who received the mTOR inhibitor everolimus were more likely to be cancer-free a year after therapy than those who took a placebo drug, and the benefit persisted for those with mutations in their TP53 gene.

Science Snapshot From Berkeley Lab – a biocompatible material that turns up the heat on antibacterial-resistant diseases

Scientists at Berkeley Lab’s Molecular Foundry have designed a biocompatible polymer that has the potential to advance photothermal therapy, a technique that deploys near-infrared light to combat antibacterial-resistant infections and cancer.