Treatment Research

Cholesterol-lowering drugs known as PCSK9 inhibitors may improve the effectiveness of cancer immune checkpoint inhibitors, according to studies in mice. The drugs appear to improve the immunotherapy drugs’ ability to find tumors and slow their growth.

Researchers have developed a nanoparticle that trains immune cells to attack cancer. According to the NCI-funded study, the nanoparticle slowed the growth of melanoma in mice and was more effective when combined with an immune checkpoint inhibitor.

A comprehensive analysis of patients with cancer who had exceptional responses to therapy has revealed molecular changes in the patients’ tumors that may explain some of the exceptional responses.

Researchers are developing a new class of cancer drugs called radiopharmaceuticals, which deliver radiation therapy directly and specifically to cancer cells. This Cancer Currents story explores the research on these emerging therapies.

FDA has recently approved two blood tests, known as liquid biopsies, that gather genetic information to help inform treatment decisions for people with cancer. This Cancer Currents story explores how the tests are used and who can get the tests.

Cancer cells with a genetic feature called microsatellite instability-high (MSI-high) depend on the enzyme WRN to survive. A new NCI study explains why and reinforces the idea of targeting WRN as a treatment approach for MSI-high cancer.

Efforts to contain the opioid epidemic may be preventing people with cancer from receiving appropriate prescriptions for opioids to manage their cancer pain, according to a new study of oncologists’ opioid prescribing patterns.

The gene-editing tool CRISPR is changing the way scientists study cancer, and may change how cancer is treated. This in-depth blog post describes how this revolutionary technology is being used to better understand cancer and create new treatments.

FDA’s approval of pembrolizumab (Keytruda) to treat people whose cancer is tumor mutational burden-high highlights the importance of genomic testing to guide treatment, including for children with cancer, according to NCI Director Dr. Ned Sharpless.

Patients with acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) that does not respond to steroid therapy are more likely to respond to the drug ruxolitinib (Jakafi) than other available treatments, results from a large clinical trial show.

NCI is developing the capability to produce cellular therapies, like CAR T cells, to be tested in cancer clinical trials at multiple hospital sites. Few laboratories and centers have the capability to make CAR T cells, which has limited the ability to test them more broadly.

An experimental drug may help prevent the chemotherapy drug doxorubicin from harming the heart and does so without interfering with doxorubicin’s ability to kill cancer cells, according to a study in mice.

In people with blood cancers, the health of their gut microbiome appears to affect the risk of dying after receiving an allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant, according to an NCI-funded study conducted at four hospitals across the globe.

A novel approach to analyzing tumors may bring precision cancer medicine to more patients. A study showed the approach, which analyzes gene expression using tumor RNA, could accurately predict whether patients had responded to treatment with targeted therapy or immunotherapy.

Bone loss associated with chemotherapy appears to be induced by cells that stop dividing but do not die, a recent study in mice suggests. The researchers tested drugs that could block signals from these senescent cells and reverse bone loss in mice.

Some experts believe that proton therapy is safer than traditional radiation, but research has been limited. A new observational study compared the safety and effectiveness of proton therapy and traditional radiation in adults with advanced cancer.

In people with cancer, the abscopal effect occurs when radiation—or another type of localized therapy—shrinks a targeted tumor but also causes untreated tumors in the body to shrink. Researchers are trying to better understand this phenomenon and take advantage of it to improve cancer therapy.

An experimental drug, AMG 510, that targets mutated forms of the KRAS protein completely shrank tumors in cancer mouse models and data from a small clinical trial show that it appears to be active against different cancer types with a KRAS mutation.

Researchers have engineered an oncolytic virus to kill cancer cells and boost the immune response against tumors. In a new study, the virus provided T cells around tumors with a hormone they need for their own cell-killing functions.

FDA has approved entrectinib (Rozlytrek) for the treatment of children and adults with tumors bearing an NTRK gene fusion. The approval also covers adults with non-small cell lung cancer harboring a ROS1 gene fusion.

A new NCI-supported study showed that altering cancer cell metabolism by feeding mice a diet very low in the nutrient methionine improved the ability of chemotherapy and radiation therapy to shrink tumors.

An NCI-funded clinical trial is testing the immunotherapy drug nivolumab (Opdivo) in people who have advanced cancer and an autoimmune disease, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, or multiple sclerosis, who are often excluded from such trials.

Researchers have identified a protein called CD24 that may be a new target for cancer immunotherapy. The protein is a ‘don’t eat me’ signal that prevents immune cells called macrophages from engulfing and eating cells.

CAR T-cell therapy is a rapidly emerging form of cancer treatment, primarily for blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma. An article about research to improve CAR T-cell therapy and expand its use.

Injecting cells undergoing necroptosis, a form of cell death, into tumors in mice kickstarted an immune response against the tumors, researchers have found. When combined with immunotherapy, the treatment was effective at eliminating tumors in mice.

Researchers have identified proteins that may play a central role in transforming T cells from powerful destroyers to depleted bystanders that can no longer harm cancer cells. The findings could lead to strategies for boosting cancer immunotherapies.

Did you know that NCI supports clinical trials of new treatments for pet dogs with cancer? Learn more about NCI’s comparative oncology studies and how they may also help people with cancer.

Researchers have discovered a potential way to turn on one of the most commonly silenced tumor-suppressor proteins in cancer, called PTEN. They also found a natural compound, I3C, that in lab studies could flip the on switch.

New findings from a clinical trial suggest that a single dose of radiation therapy may control painful bone metastases as effectively as multiple lower doses of radiation therapy.

The expanding use of cancer immunotherapy has revealed a variety of side effects associated with this treatment approach. Researchers are now trying to better understand how and why these side effects occur and develop strategies for better managing them.

The investigational immunotherapy drug bintrafusp alfa (also called M7824), a bifunctional fusion protein, shrank the tumors of some patients with advanced HPV-related cancers, according to results from a phase 1 clinical trial.

In this pilot study, patients with KSHV-associated multicentric Castleman disease will receive intravenous tocilizumab every other week for up to 12 weeks. Patients who do not benefit from tocilizumab therapy alone may go on to receive high-dose AZT and valganciclovir in addition to tocilizumab.

A new study provides insight into how cancer immunotherapy works and suggests ways to enhance the treatment’s effectiveness. The NCI-led study, published in Science, examined the effect of high potassium levels on T cells.

Pain is a common and much-feared symptom among people with cancer and long-term survivors. As more people survive cancer for longer periods, there is a renewed interest in developing new, nonaddictive approaches for managing their chronic pain.

In a new study, NIH investigators found that patients treated with chemotherapy for most solid tumors had an increased risk of tMDS/AML, a rare but often fatal blood cancer. The study, which used population-based data, was published in JAMA Oncology.

Results from a clinical trial suggest that, in patients with brain metastases, an advanced radiotherapy technique limits harm to patients’ cognitive function without affecting the treatment’s effect on tumors.

NCI’s Dr. Lyndsay Harris provides an update on the NCI-MATCH trial, including the opening of new trial treatment arms and the addition of new laboratories to perform testing on tumor samples of prospective trial participants.

Certain cancer treatments can damage the heart and the cardiovascular system, a problem known as cardiotoxicity. Cardiologists and oncologists met recently to discuss strategies and future research directions for addressing these side effects.

Dr. Supriya Mohile discusses the unique issues experienced by older adults with cancer and efforts to incorporate geriatric assessment into patient care, including the publication of recent ASCO clinical guidelines on geriatric cancer care.

A study in mice may have identified a way to help overcome resistance to targeted cancer drugs known as PI3K inhibitors. The approach appears to work by reducing insulin levels in patients receiving these drugs.

A study in mice sheds light onto how some chemotherapies cause diarrhea. The findings could be the basis for developing new treatments for patients with cancer who develop gastrointestinal side effects from chemotherapy.

Dr. Judith Paice, of the Cancer Pain Program at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, discusses the impacts of the opioid epidemic on cancer patients and how providers can address concerns about opioid misuse when managing cancer pain.

A new study has linked age with how well patients with melanoma responded to treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors. Experiments in mice suggested that the response pattern may be due to an age-related shift in the kinds of immune cells in tumors.

The NCI Experimental Therapeutics (NExT) program works with researchers and top scientific experts to advance promising or novel cancer therapies from the earliest stages of research to human clinical trials.

As the patents on some widely used drugs to treat cancer expire in the coming years, biosimilar drugs are being developed for the treatment of patients with cancer. Are biosimilars effective and will they expand treatment options for patients?

A novel approach to immunotherapy developed by NCI researchers has led to the complete regression of breast cancer in a patient who was unresponsive to all other treatments. The findings were published in Nature Medicine.

The NCI-MATCH precision medicine clinical trial has reached a milestone with the release of results from several study treatment arms. Findings from three arms were released at the 2018 ASCO annual meeting, adding to findings from one arm released in 2017.

Two independent groups of researchers have fused a TGF-beta receptor to a monoclonal antibody that targets a checkpoint protein. The result is a single hybrid molecule called a Y-trap that blocks two pathways used by tumors to evade the immune system.

Initial results from a series of three small clinical trials of a targeted cancer therapy called larotrectinib suggest that it may be effective in patients—children and adults—with a wide variety of cancer types.

Two compounds that target components of the circadian clock killed several types of cancer cells in the lab and slowed the growth of brain tumors in mice without harming healthy cells, a new study showed.

A small but growing number of patients with cancer are being treated with oncolytic viruses, which infect and kill tumor cells. But research now suggests that these treatments also work against cancer by spurring an immune response.

Using mouse models of cancer, researchers found that altering the gut microbiome could affect whether tumors responded to checkpoint inhibition.

A new study has found the commonly used chemotherapy drug cisplatin is retained in the inner ear of mice and humans for long periods. The finding may explain why many patients treated with the drug develop hearing loss and could point toward potential ways to prevent it.

Joint pain caused by aromatase inhibitors in postmenopausal women with breast cancer can cause some women to stop taking the drugs. Reducing their symptoms may translate into better adherence to therapy.

Researchers have shown that fat cells can absorb two commonly used chemotherapy drugs and break them down chemically into a less toxic form, potentially reducing the drugs’ effectiveness.

People with HIV are often excluded from clinical trials to protect their safety. Preliminary results from an NCI-sponsored study of an immunotherapy drug show that people with HIV can safely participate in clinical trials.

Research studies show tests that analyze tumor DNA in blood, called liquid biopsies, may help detect cancer early, guide precision cancer treatment, and track treatment response.

When given at the same time, two immune checkpoint inhibitors were ineffective against breast cancer growth in mice, a new study found. The combination was more effective and safer if the two inhibitors were given in a specific sequence.

In a large study, patients with nonmetastatic breast, lung, or colorectal cancer who chose alternative therapies had substantially worse survival than patients who received conventional cancer treatments.

A new study conducted primarily in mice suggests that chemotherapy given before surgery for breast cancer can cause changes in cells in and around the tumor that are tied to an increased risk of the cancer spreading to other areas of the body.

A drug used to treat several blood cancers, ibrutinib, has been approved by FDA to treat chronic graft-versus-host disease, making it the first approved therapy for this potentially fatal side effect of cancer-related stem cell transplants.

A new NCI study identifies genes in cancer cells that are necessary for them to be killed by T cells, and therefore could be partially responsible for why immunotherapy doesn’t work in some patients.

The FDA has cleared a cooling cap—a device designed to reduce hair loss during chemotherapy called the DigniCap Scalp Cooling System—for use by patients with any type of solid tumor.

Researchers who study exceptional responders—patients who have dramatic and long-lasting responses to treatments for cancer that were not effective for most similar patients—met recently to discuss the state of the science in this emerging field.

Researchers are investigating factors that might predict who’s more at risk for experiencing “chemobrain” after cancer treatment and what can be done to lessen its impact.