Researchers create record-sized, integrated cellular cancer database
Investigators in CCR have consolidated and expanded some of the world’s largest cancer databases to create an integrated, comprehensive cellular databank. The publicly available tool, called CellMinerCDB, can be used to explore in unprecedented detail the relationship between drugs, mutations, copy number, methylation and gene and protein expression. Read more...
Former world-class hammer thrower battles diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL)
Sep 28, 2018
In August of 2013, eight months into his volunteer deployment in Afghanistan, Michael Mai noticed a small lump between his neck and shoulder. The former world-class hammer thrower initially brushed it off as nothing but was later diagnosed with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). Mai came to NIH and received treatment from Mark Roschewski, M.D., Clinical Director of the Lymphoid Malignancies Branch, that ultimately cleared him of the disease. Read more...
Kenneth Kraemer receives 2018 Environmental Mutagenesis and Genomics Society Award
Sep 25, 2018
Kenneth Kraemer, M.D., Senior Investigator in the Laboratory of Cancer Biology and Genetics, has received the 2018 Environmental Mutagenesis and Genomics Society (EMGS) Award. The annual award is given in recognition of outstanding research contributions in environmental mutagenisis. Dr. Kraemer is presenting the plenary lecture at the 2018 EMGS Annual Meeting on September 25, 2018, in San Antonio, Texas. Read more...
Barry O’Keefe featured in ShareAmerica article
Sep 19, 2018
Barry O’Keefe, Ph.D., Acting Chief of the Molecular Targets Program and Chief of the Natural Products Branch of the Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis, was featured in a ShareAmerica article. Dr. O’Keefe, along with an international team of scientists, worked together to figure out how to combine three HIV-blocking proteins into ordinary seeds of rice that could be turned into an ointment to prevent HIV infections. In the article, Dr. O’Keefe discusses natural products, particularly a powerful protein in marine red algae from New Zealand that he first showed in 2005 could work to kill HIV-related microbes. Read more...
Early-phase clinical trial to test new CAR T-cell therapy for multiple myeloma
Sep 18, 2018
Center for Cancer Research investigators led by James Kochenderfer, M.D., of the Experimental Transplantation and Immunology Branch, are conducting a clinical trial to test a new chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy in patients whose multiple myeloma has persisted or relapsed despite standard therapy. Their goal is to develop a CAR T-cell therapy that provides lasting remission of a disease that remains highly resistant to current treatments. Read more...
Nirali Shah featured on follow-up NPR “Shots” blog post
Sep 17, 2018
Nirali N. Shah, M.D., MHSc, Associate Research Physician in the Pediatric Oncology Branch, was recently featured in a follow-up story to a previous NPR “Shots” blog post. The post follows Aaron, a 20-year-old man from Lucedale, Mississippi, in an early-stage CAR-T clinical trial. This post revealed how Aaron responded to his latest round of treatment. Read more...
Moxetumomab pasudotox becomes first FDA-approved drug for resistant hairy cell leukemia
Sep 14, 2018
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved moxetumomab pasudotox for the treatment of some patients with hairy cell leukemia (HCL). A CCR researcher team led by Ira Pastan, M.D., Senior Investigator in the Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB), discovered the drug, which was later licensed to MedImmune/AstraZeneca for clinical development. Robert Kreitman, M.D., Senior Investigator in LMB, led the clinical trials that showed moxetumomab to be an effective option for patients with relapsed or refractory HCL. Read more...
Elaine Jaffe to give Paulette Shirey Pritchett Endowed Lecture in Pathlogy
Sep 10, 2018
Elaine S. Jaffe, M.D., Senior Investigator in the Laboratory of Pathology, will be giving the Paulette Shriey Pritchett Endowed Lecture in Pathology at the University of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB) on September 17. This endowed lecture series is named in honor of Dr. Paulette Shirey Pritchett, a highly respected member of the UAB Pathology Department who unexpectedly passed away on August 4, 1984. Read more...
Bacteria could promote lung cancer progression and be biomarkers for the disease
Sep 7, 2018
A laboratory study comparing the microbiome of human lung cancer tissue with non-cancerous lung tissue found higher amounts of specific types of bacteria in lung cancer tissue from smokers, especially tissue comprised of squamous non-small cells with mutations that turn off the TP53 tumor-suppressor gene. This finding could point the way to using bacteria in the microbiome of smokers as biomarkers for early detection of the disease. Read more...
Our leukemia and lymphoma research
Sep 4, 2018
September is leukemia and lymphoma awareness month. Lymphoma is a broad term for cancer that begins in cells of the lymph system. The two main types are Hodgkin lymphoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). Leukemia is a broad term for cancers of the blood cells. The type of leukemia depends on the type of blood cell that becomes cancer and whether it grows quickly or slowly. To learn more about our leukemia and lymphoma research, click here.
Registration is now open for The Establishment and Control of Viral Persistence conference
Aug 29, 2018
The HIV Dynamics and Replication Program, Center for Cancer Research, NCI, is organizing this half-day conference to showcase the latest findings in the broad field of viral persistence. A major barrier to the successful eradication of many viral infections, including HIV, herpes viruses, Ebola virus and others, persistence is governed by a complex web of viral and cellular factors acting at the level of individuals and populations. An in-depth discussion of how viruses persist while hosts resist should lead to new strategies aimed at eliminating viruses entrenched in humans. Read more...