Oncology & Cancer

Researchers at National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH) have uncovered a concerning rise in high-risk colorectal neoplasms—growths that can lead to colorectal cancer—among younger adults in Taiwan. Their findings suggest it may be time to reconsider when to begin routine colorectal cancer screenings.

A team of researchers from the Rice Biotech Launch Pad at Rice University has developed an implantable “cytokine factory” that safely triggers potent immune responses against hard-to-treat cancers, including metastatic melanoma, pancreatic and colorectal tumors.

In a new study, researchers from Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah (the U) found that 7% of Medicare patients cross state borders for cancer care, and rates were nearly double for those who lived in rural areas. This has important implications for telehealth policies and physician licensure, says Tracy Onega, Ph.D., MA, MPAS, MS, senior author of the study, senior director of population sciences at Huntsman Cancer Institute, and professor of population sciences at the U. A key research priority at Huntsman Cancer Institute is working to enhance access to care for cancer patients who live far from a major medical center.

Results from a new Phase 3 trial published in the journal npj Precision Oncology found that a cancer stem cell test can accurately choose more effective treatments and lead to improved outcomes for patients with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer.

Johns Hopkins Medicine scientists say they have found a pattern of so-called epigenetic “marks” in a transition state between normal and pancreatic cancer cells in mice, and that the normal cells may keep at least a temporary “memory” of those cancer-linked marks.

The American College of Physicians (ACP) has issued Best Practice Advice for clinicians whose patients are considering or using cannabis or cannabinoids for management of chronic, noncancer pain. Cannabis or Cannabinoids for the Management of Chronic Noncancer Pain: Best Practice Advice From the American College of Physicians, was published today in Annals of Internal Medicine.

In a study co-led by the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM), researchers have identified a “master regulator” gene, ZNFX1, that may act as a biomarker to help guide treatment in future clinical trials involving patients with therapy-resistant ovarian cancer, according to a study recently published in Cancer Research.

Currently, recommendations for cancer screening are primarily based on the age of the patient. Therefore, practitioners may not encourage younger at-risk individuals to be screened for cancer. They may unnecessarily encourage older low-risk individuals to screen for cancer. Artificial intelligence (AI) can change this. Farrokh Alemi at George Mason University has edited a collection of five articles by colleagues and students on how data science can be used to predict risk of cancer and enable risk-based AI systems to recommend cancer screening. Their research shows that risk-based models have predict between 60–90% of based on the cancers:

Public awareness of the link between drinking alcohol and an elevated risk of cancer has grown since last fall, with more than half of Americans now saying that regularly consuming alcohol increases your chances of later developing cancer, according to a survey by the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) of the University of Pennsylvania.

More than half of all pediatric cancer deaths worldwide occur in regions of armed conflict, according to a new study led by investigators from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Duke University and other collaborators. The study demonstrated that pediatric cancer diagnoses and mortality are significantly impacted in areas of armed conflict and documented the significant contribution these troubled areas make to the global burden of childhood cancer.