News and Events

Brigitte Widemann named a Top Ten Clinical Research Achievement Awardee

Brigitte C. Widemann, M.D., Chief of the Pediatric Oncology Branch, has been named a Top Ten Clinical Research Achievement Awardee by the Clinical Research Forum, and she was awarded a Distinguished Clinical Research Achievement Award for her study “Selumetinib in Children with Inoperable Plexiform Neurofibromas.”

Engineered myeloid cells have promise as a potential treatment for metastatic cancer

A team led by Rosandra N. Kaplan, M.D., Investigator in the Pediatric Oncology Branch, genetically engineered immune cells, called myeloid cells, to deliver an anti-cancer signal to organs where cancer may spread. The results of the treatment, reported in Cell, shrank tumors and prevented metastasis in mice.

Anish Thomas featured in The Cancer Letter for SCLC study

In a conversation with The Cancer Letter, Anish Thomas, M.B.B.S., M.D., NIH Lasker Clinical Research Scholar and Investigator in the Developmental Therapeutics Branch, discussed his study, published in Science Translational Medicine, that found some patients with small cell lung cancer may have actionable germline mutations, which may be used to inform personalized screening and targeted therapies. The study challenges the notion that small cell lung cancer is exclusively tied to smoking.

FDA grants orphan drug designation to PRGN-2012 for recurrent respiratory papillomatosis

The Food and Drug Administration has granted orphan drug designation to PRGN-2012 immunotherapy for use in patients with recurrent respiratory papillomatosis.

Curtis C. Harris elected as a fellow of the AACR Academy

Curtis C. Harris, M.D., Chief of the Laboratory of Human Carcinogenesis, has been elected to the 2021 class of fellows of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Academy. Fellows of the AACR Academy serve as a global brain trust of top contributors to cancer science and medicine who help advance the mission of the AACR to prevent and cure all cancers through research, education, communication, collaboration, science policy and advocacy, and funding for cancer research.

High magnification micrograph of a clear cell renal cell carcinoma

Combination therapy in patients with advanced kidney cancer found to be highly effective

A phase III international clinical trial that tested the combination therapy of nivolumab and cabozantinib in patients with advanced, untreated renal-cell carcinoma yielded promising results.

Hotspots for DNA damage and repair in neurons identified

Researchers have pinpointed hotspots along the genome of neurons where endogenous, or internally driven, DNA breaks and repair accumulate. If the breaks are not repaired rapidly, they can lead to neuron dysfunction, degeneration and death.

Clinical trial investigates vaccine to treat recurrent respiratory papillomatosis after surgery

Scott M. Norberg, D.O., Assistant Research Physician in the Genitourinary Malignancies Branch, is leading a study of PRGN-2012, an experimental therapeutic vaccine for adults with recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP). RRP is a rare disorder caused by human papillomavirus.

New trial evaluates immunotherapy combinations in adults with advanced small bowel and colorectal cancers

Julius Strauss, M.D., Assistant Research Physician in the Laboratory of Tumor Immunology and Biology, is leading a clinical trial evaluating a combination of immunotherapy drugs to see if they can shrink advanced tumors of the small bowel, colon and rectum.

New Milestones publication now available

Every year, the Center for Cancer Research makes remarkable contributions to the understanding, detection, treatment and prevention of cancer. This issue of our annual publication, Milestones, features some of our top scientific advances in the past year at CCR. These discoveries include two new FDA-approved therapies, insights into how to design RNA-targeted therapeutics and new ways to predict treatment outcomes in immunotherapy. Other major advances include the development of new computational tools – for identifying viruses in cancer genomes and to elucidate the consequences of DNA damage – and novel diagnostic tools – one to detect liver cancer, another to precisely detect prostate cancer.

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