New findings show how damaged cells survive the cell cycle
As cells divide and replicate, important safety checkpoints are in place to ensure that most faulty cells with damaged DNA do not survive the cell cycle. In a new twist, CCR researchers discovered how some damaged cells use molecular inertia to drive past these safety checkpoints and continue through the cell cycle. Read more...

Breast Cancer Research
Oct 1, 2020
To recognize Breast Cancer Awareness Month this October, we are highlighting our researchers who are making discoveries in this field. Read more…

Combination therapy for solid tumors and small-cell cancers studied in new clinical trial
Sep 30, 2020
A clinical trial of a drug combination to treat solid tumors and small-cell cancers is being conducted at the NIH Clinical Center. PARP inhibitors can work better when combined with chemotherapy, such combinations can be too toxic, so this study uses a new kind of chemotherapy called PLX038 and combines it with a PARP inhibitor rucaparib to see if the combination of PLX038 and rucaparib can safely shrink solid tumors and small-cell cancers. Read more...

Clinical trial studies combination immunotherapy for colorectal cancer
Sep 29, 2020
Colorectal cancer (CRC) affects the colon and rectum, which are located at the lower end of the digestive tract. One of the most common cancers, it often spreads to the liver. Because treatments that aim to use the patient’s own immune system to attack mCRC have not been very successful so far, investigators are leading a study that combines two different types of immunotherapy to see if one can enhance the effect of the other. Read more...

Registration Open: Enhancers, Gene Regulation and Genome Organization
Sep 28, 2020
Registration is now open for the upcoming Enhancers, Gene Regulation and Genome Organization symposium. The goal of this meeting is to critically address the wealth of new data generated by bulk and single-cell molecular, imaging and computational approaches that are increasingly revealing how the genome folds to faithfully accommodate gene expression programs and cell fate decisions. The goal is to advance an understanding of how transcriptional enhancers function, how to separate cause and effect, and to identify critical questions that will guide future directions. Sessions Include: Enhancer Genetics, Enhancers in Development, Enhancer Biophysics, Enhancer in Disease and Enhancers and ncRNA. Read more...

Selumetinib offers hope as first FDA-approved treatment for neurofibromatosis 1 (NF1)
Sep 22, 2020
Autumn Schierling is one of 50 children who have been participating since 2015 in a clinical trial of neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) at the NIH Clinical Center. In March 2020, the results of the trial were published and in April the FDA approved selumetinib as the first treatment for NF1. Brigitte Widemann, M.D., Chief of the Pediatric Oncology Branch who started conducting clinical trials for NF1 in 2001 was quoted as saying, “The medication’s approval is ‘huge progress’ and we will work to make more progress.” Read more...

Clinical trial evaluates a combination therapy for metastatic clear cell renal carcinoma
Sep 21, 2020
Kidney cancer is the 6th most common cancer diagnosed in the United States with greater than 73,000 new cases seen each year. CCR investigators are interested in studying a combination immunotherapy for its most common subtype, clear cell renal carcinoma, using Avelumab and interleukin (IL)-15. Read more...

In Memoriam: Larry K. Keefer, Ph.D.
Sep 18, 2020
The Center for Cancer Research mourns the recent death of past colleague Larry K. Keefer. He made major contributions to the understanding of the chemistry of the carcinogenic nitrosamines. Read more...

Clinical trial evaluates immunotherapy for head and neck cancer caused by HPV
Sep 17, 2020
A clinical trial, led by Christian Hinrichs, studies neoadjuvant immunotherapy for HPV-related head and neck cancer. Neoadjuvant means it is given before main treatments such surgery. The goal of the study is to see if T cells given before the main treatment can reduce the risk of the disease coming back and to convert borderline or unresectable tumors to resectable. Read more...

Trial opens to evaluate a potential anti-metastasis compound
Sep 14, 2020
The Center for Cancer Research has opened a phase I trial to evaluate the safety and clinical activity of metarrestin, a compound that suppressed metastasis and extended survival in several preclinical cancer models. Read more...

Clinical trial will evaluate chemotherapy-sparing approach to treating Kaposi sarcoma
Sep 10, 2020
CCR physician-scientists have launched a clinical trial to evaluate whether the immune-stimulating molecule NHS-IL12, alone or in combination with an experimental immunotherapy called M7824, reduces tumors in patients with Kaposi sarcoma. Read more...