News and Events

Unlocking the key to HIV persistence

Even though antiretroviral therapies have allowed many people to live long lives, ridding the body of HIV completely has been an elusive goal ever since the discovery in the 1980s that HIV causes AIDS. New research from the Center for Cancer Research shows that proviral DNA sequences and their integration at specific sites could provide clues for researchers developing drugs to eradicate AIDS.

Clinical trial evaluates T-cell therapy for advanced mesothelin-expressing cancers

Some cancer cells express a higher-than-normal amount of mesothelin, which makes them more likely to multiply and spread to other parts of the body. Raffit Hassan, M.D., of the Thoracic and GI Malignancies Branch, is leading a trial that tests T-cell immunotherapy for patients with cancer of the lung and its lining, ovarian cancer and bile duct cancer that express high levels of mesothelin.

Mitochondrial shape in pancreatic cancer

Computational analysis leads to potential new drug combination for pancreatic cancer

A computer analysis has been able to predict that low levels of asparagine, an amino acid required for protein synthesis, combined with the shutdown of a stress response pathway can lead to reductions in the fitness of a tumor. These combined findings could potentially lead to new combination therapies to treat aggressive tumors, such as those found in pancreatic cancers.

Clinical trial will test radiotracer imaging for high-risk localized prostate cancer

Many men with prostate cancer are diagnosed at an early stage of the disease when the cancer is confined to the prostate. However, about 20 percent are diagnosed with high-risk disease, which tends to spread, or metastasize, to other parts of the body. William Dahut, M.D., Senior Investigator in the Genitourinary Malignancies Branch, is leading a study using positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) with radioactive material to try and identify places in the body where prostate cancer has spread.

Metastatic breast cancer survivor shares her clinical trial story

We’re celebrating breast cancer awareness month by sharing the story of Samantha Seinfeld, a metastatic breast cancer survivor who participated in a CCR first-in-human clinical trial over 10 years ago. Since then, she has remained cancer-free. Margaret Gatti-Mays, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.P., Assistant Research Physician in the Laboratory of Tumor Immunology and Biology, and James Gulley, M.D., Ph.D., Chief of the Genitourinary Malignancies Branch, are currently evaluating Samantha’s unusual immune response in hopes of improving the responses of other patients.

Diversity of liver cancer cells can impede tumors’ response to immunotherapy

New research from the NCI’s Center for Cancer Research shows that understanding the impacts of cellular diversity on liver tumors’ microenvironment suggests ways to make immunotherapy effective for more patients.

Advanced imaging technology reveals pulsed hormone release regulates gene transcription

Using advanced microscopic imaging technology, CCR investigators have correlated a pulsed pattern of hormone release with bursts of transcription, the process in which the genetic information encoded by DNA is written into RNA. They are the first researchers to observe this process at a gene-specific level.

Tumor composition of melanoma indicates potential responses to immunotherapy

The number of genetic mutations in a tumor is thought to influence how well melanoma may respond to immunotherapy, but new research in mice and supported by preliminary human data reveals that the diversity of mutations within a tumor may be a better indicator of response to therapy.

Neurofibromatosis type 1 patient attends Camp Fantastic for the first time

Thirteen-year-old Dom was diagnosed with neurofibromatosis type 1 at birth. Because of Dom’s diagnosis, he hasn’t always had the opportunity to do the things the average teenager does, but his first year at Camp Fantastic changed that. Camp Fantastic, an annual week-long camp for pediatric cancer patients and survivors, gave Dom the opportunity to try lots of new things and some familiar ones in a setting of support, safety and friendship.

FDA grants breakthrough therapy designation for new CAR T-cell therapy for B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia

In August 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted breakthrough therapy designation to an experimental immunotherapy being developed in the Center for Cancer Research (CCR) for the treatment of B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), a type of blood cancer. The designation will advance CCR’s development and testing of an immunotherapy for children and young adults whose B-cell ALL is resistant to CD19-targeted immunotherapies.

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