Researchers Discover Why One Type of Chemotherapy Works Best in Bladder Cancer

Tisch Cancer Institute researchers discovered that a certain type of chemotherapy improves the immune system’s ability to fight off bladder cancer, particularly when combined with immunotherapy, according to a study published in Cell Reports Medicine in January.

Advanced Bladder Cancer Patients Could Keep Their Bladder Under New Treatment Regime, Clinical Trial Shows

Mount Sinai investigators have developed a new approach for treating invasive bladder cancer without the need for surgical removal of the bladder, according to a study published in Nature Medicine in September.

Immunotherapy After Surgery Provides Significant, Durable Benefit for High-Risk Bladder Patients

Immunotherapy after surgery increased bladder cancer patients’ chance of staying cancer-free compared to patients who received a placebo, according to clinical trial results shared in a late-breaking oral presentation at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2023 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium in February.

Mount Sinai Researchers Find New, Safer Treatment for Serious Side Effect of Bone Marrow Transplant

Researchers at The Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai have identified a treatment that is effective and safer than the standard of care for a serious, and sometimes fatal, side effect of bone marrow transplant in cancer patients. Results from a phase 2 clinical trial were presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) in December.

Experimental Cancer Therapy Shows Success in More Than 70 Percent of Patients in Global Clinical Trials

A new therapy that makes the immune system kill bone marrow cancer cells was successful in as many as 73 percent of patients in two clinical trials, according to researchers from The Tisch Cancer Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

Mount Sinai Study Uncovers Inflammatory Markers that May Predict a Response in Certain Patients to COVID-19 Immunotherapies

Researchers at The Tisch Cancer Institute uncovered inflammatory markers that may predict which COVID-19 patients are more likely to respond to therapies like the anti-cancer drug pacritinib, according to phase 2 trial results published in JAMA Network Open in December.

Breast Cancer Research Foundation Renews Support for Mount Sinai Research on Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

The Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF) has renewed its funding to Elisa Port, MD, and Hanna Irie, MD, PhD, to study new therapeutic approaches that target aggressive triple-negative breast cancer. The latest installment of $225,000 brings the total to almost $2 million over the past nine years. It will fund research into the immune microenvironment of triple-negative breast cancer in order to identify new strategies to enhance cancer-fighting immune responses for this aggressive breast cancer, which traditionally has few options for treatment.

Scientists Identify Unique Breast Cancer Cells That Control Their Ability to Proliferate and Colonize the Lungs

Scientists from The Tisch Cancer Institute have uncovered a mechanism by which certain breast cancer cells regulate their own metastases, fuel dissemination from the original tumor site, and determine routes to invade distant organs such as the lungs, according to a study published in Cell Reports in September.

Mount Sinai Researchers Develop a Rapid Test to Measure Immunity to COVID-19

Mount Sinai researchers have developed a rapid blood assay that measures the magnitude and duration of someone’s immunity to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. This test will allow large-scale monitoring of the population’s immunity and the effectiveness of current vaccines to help design revaccination strategies for vulnerable immunosuppressed individuals, according to a study published in Nature Biotechnology in June.

Biomarker in Liquid Biopsy for Lung Cancer Appears More Accurate in Predicting Immunotherapy Response Than Tumor Biopsy

Mount Sinai researchers have validated for the first time that a simple blood test called a liquid biopsy could be a better predictor of whether cancer immunotherapy will be successful for a patient with lung cancer than an invasive tumor biopsy procedure. Their study was published in the Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research in June.

Mount Sinai Researchers Develop Novel Therapy That Could Be Effective in Many Cancers

Mount Sinai researchers have developed a therapeutic agent that shows high effectiveness in vitro at disrupting a biological pathway that helps cancer survive, according to a paper published in Cancer Discovery, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, in July.

Response to COVID-19 Vaccines Varies Widely in Blood Cancer Patients

Patients with a type of blood cancer called multiple myeloma had a widely variable response to COVID-19 vaccines—in some cases, no detectable response—pointing to the need for antibody testing and precautions for these patients after vaccination, according to a study published in Cancer Cell in June.

Internationally Renowned Breast Cancer and HIV-Associated Malignancy Expert to Join Mount Sinai

Mount Sinai Health System has recruited an internationally recognized expert in the management of breast cancer and HIV-associated malignancies, Joseph A. Sparano, MD, FACP, as Chief of Hematology and Medical Oncology and Deputy Director of The Tisch Cancer Institute (TCI). Dr. Sparano will also hold the Ezra M. Greenspan, MD Professorship in Clinical Cancer Therapeutics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and will oversee the expansion of clinical and research capacities of the Division and TCI.

Liver Cancer Tumors Appear to Be Resistant to Immunotherapy in Patients With Underlying Non-alcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH)

Immunotherapy is not only significantly less effective in liver cancer patients who previously had a liver disease called non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), but actually appears to fuel tumor growth, according to a Mount Sinai study published in Nature in March. NASH affects as many as 40 million people worldwide and is associated with obesity and diabetes.

Mount Sinai-Led Team Builds First Model of the Progression of Acute Myeloid Leukemia using CRISPR

A research team led by the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (Icahn Mount Sinai) has built the first cellular model to depict the evolution of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), from its early to late stages. By using gene editing technologies to alter genes that make cells malignant, the team was able to identify potential therapeutic targets for early disease stages. The study was reported in the journal Cell Stem Cell in February.

Mount Sinai Researcher Receives NCI Grant to Study New Strategies to Prevent Cancer Metastasis

The Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai has been awarded a $1.9 million grant by the National Cancer Institute for an innovative study that will explore the mechanisms that enable tumor cells to spread from their original site but remain dormant for some time before becoming metastatic and threatening the lives of patients.

Mount Sinai Researchers Discover How to Boost Efficacy of Vaccine Designed to Prevent Melanoma Recurrence

A vaccine created to prevent the recurrence of the deadly skin cancer melanoma is about twice as effective when patients also receive two components that boost the number and effectiveness of immune system cells called dendritic cells, according to phase 2 clinical trial results published in Nature Cancer in November.

Deirdre J. Cohen, MD, MS, Appointed as Director of Gastrointestinal Oncology Program of Mount Sinai Health System

Deirdre J. Cohen, MD, MS, an expert in pancreatic and other gastrointestinal cancers as well as an accomplished clinical trial leader has joined Mount Sinai Health System as Director of the Gastrointestinal (GI) Oncology Program and Medical Director of the Cancer Clinical Trials Office at The Tisch Cancer Institute.

The Tisch Cancer Institute Earns Second Consecutive Designation from National Cancer Institute

The Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai (TCI) has been awarded $13 million as part of the renewal of its National Cancer Institute Cancer Center Designation, a prestigious distinction that is based on scientific excellence, robust clinical research, and beneficial community impact. The National Cancer Institute rated TCI’s application as “outstanding.”

Structure of a Complex Enzyme That Protects Cells From DNA Damage Is Uncovered by Mount Sinai Researchers

A research team from Mount Sinai has unraveled for the first time the three-dimensional structure and mechanism of a complex enzyme that protects cells from constant DNA damage, opening the door to discovery of new therapeutics for the treatment of chemotherapy-resistant cancers.

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.

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.

Heterogeneity of Liver Cancer Cells Helps Explain Tumor Progression in Patients, Mount Sinai Research Found

Many liver cancer tumors contain a highly diverse set of cells, a phenomenon known as intra-tumor heterogeneity that can significantly affect the rate at which the cancer grows, Mount Sinai researchers report. The immune system’s contribution to this heterogeneity can have major clinical implications.

Researchers Create a Potential Therapy for Deadly Breast Cancer That Has Few Treatment Options

Mount Sinai researchers have designed an innovative experimental therapy that may be able to stop the growth of triple-negative breast cancer, the deadliest type of breast cancer, which has few effective treatment options, according to a study published in Nature Chemical Biology in December.