More than 80,000 people are diagnosed in the US with bladder cancer each year. 2019 AACR Grant Recipient Joshua Meeks, MD, PhD, sought to define immune checkpoint inhibitor resistance mechanisms in bladder cancer.
A growing share of US adult smokers – Hispanic/Latino adults – have been found to be less likely to receive advice to quit and use proven cessation treatments than non-Hispanic white adults. 2021 AACR-Genentech Cancer Disparities Fellow Francisco Cartujano, MD, seeks to address tobacco-related disparities in Latinos by promoting smoking cessation and physical activity using a mobile intervention.
Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive cancer with high rates of p53 inactivation and lower survival rates than other breast cancer types due to increased metastasis and relapse (1). Owing to the frequent inactivation of p53, compounds that inhibit p53 from binding to its negative regulator, MDM2, are ineffective in TNBC. In a recent study published in Cancer Discovery, Dr. Eischen and her colleagues used an MDM2-targeted PROteolysis TArgeting Chimera (PROTAC) to reveal the requirement for MDM2 in p53 inactivated TNBC and identify a new therapeutic target for the disease.
Metastatic prostate cancer (PCa) remains a leading cause of death in men worldwide (1). Although effective treatments exist, therapy resistance in PCa is common. Dr. Rodriguez-Bravo and her research team recently uncovered high chromosomal instability (CIN) and increased mitotic...
Head and neck cancer (HNC), describing cancers of the oral cavity, throat, nose, and sinuses, is the sixth most common cancer worldwide accounting for 300,000 cancer deaths each year. Epidemiological data has shown disparities between HNC screening, detection, treatment,...
Treatment options for brain cancers, including aggressive glioblastoma, are limited despite the availability of several chemotherapeutic drugs due to the inability of these drugs to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB). AACR-Novocure grantee Dr. Carsten Hagemann and his team showed that the use of low-intensity alternating electric fields known as Tumor Treating Fields (TTFields), an FDA-approved treatment modality, can facilitate drugs crossing the BBB. Using multiple models, they elucidated the mechanisms driving this action.
Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is the most common soft-tissue sarcoma in children and young adults. Dr. Amit Sabnis, recipient of the 2017 AACR-Aflac, Inc. Career Development Award for Pediatric Cancer Research, and his research team demonstrated the therapeutic potential of bi-steric mTORC1 inhibitors in FOXO1 fusion positive RMS.
One of the 2021 AACR-Novocure Tumor Treating Fields Research Grant recipients, Maurizio D’Incalci, MD, seeks to elucidate the molecular mechanisms behind the combinatorial efficacy of TTFields /chemotherapy.
Chemotherapy-induced cognitive impairment (CICI), also known as chemobrain, can affect up to 75% of patients during treatment. Recipient of the 2019 The Bosarge Family Foundation-Waun Ki Hong Scholar Award for Regenerative Cancer Medicine Alfredo Oliveros, PhD, and his colleagues showed that inhibiting adenosine A2A receptor signaling can prevent cisplatin-induced cognitive impairment.
In the midst of the excitement surrounding CAR T therapies, much needs to be done to optimize CAR T cell efficacy. 2017 AACR Next Gen Grant Recipient Sidi Chen, PhD leveraged in vivo genome engineering methods and identified a new target to do just that.