all cancer treatments stories

Darkness with the light

404132862 — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:36:17 -0400

Adult survivors of childhood cancer have an increased risk of suicidal thoughts, even decades after their cancer treatments have ended, according to a study led by Harvard researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI).

Study finds promise in combined transplant/vaccine therapy for high-risk leukemia

404132862 — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:00:28 -0400

Two of the most powerful approaches to cancer treatment — a stem cell transplant and an immune system-stimulating vaccine — appear to reinforce each other in patients with an aggressive, hard-to-control form of leukemia, Harvard scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) have found.

Study supports DNA repair-blocker research in cancer therapy

705287540 — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 13:43:22 -0400

Regular use of aspirin after colorectal cancer diagnosis may reduce the risk of cancer death, report Harvard researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. In today's edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association, the study’s authors also find that the aspirin-associated survival advantage was seen primarily in patients with tumors expressing the COX

An unusual collection : A brain tumor tissue bank

404132862 — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 12:22:27 -0400

Five years ago, as she was walking into Caritas Holy Family Hospital and Medical Center in Methuen, Mass., Patricia Fay saw a priest she knew and cornered him. “I’m like ‘Oh, Father Peter! And I sort of grabbed him by his arm,” she recounts.“I said, ‘What are you doing here? Father Peter! I could use a prayer right now. He asked me what was going on and I told him, “They found a brain tumor and I’m about to get set up for radiation. It’s cancer.”

“Father Peter put his hand on the top of my head, closed his eyes, and started saying a prayer,” Fay continues. But all she could think was, “Oh no! He’s blessing the wrong side!”

Study pinpoints novel cancer gene and biomarker

50443248 — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 11:25:01 -0400

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists’ discovery of a cancer-causing gene – the first in its family to be linked to cancer – demonstrates how the panoramic view of genomics and the close-up perspective of molecular biology are needed to determine which genes are involved in cancer and which are mere bystanders. The findings are reported in the June 25 issue of the journal Nature.

AML patients benefit from stem cell transplants

50443248 — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 15:04:20 -0400

A stem cell transplant (SCT) from a compatible donor early in the course of disease is the best approach for the majority of young and middle-aged adult patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), according to a new analysis of two dozen clinical studies.

After a century, link between chromosomal instability and centrosome defects in cancer cells is unraveled

50443248 — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 13:37:52 -0400

In a new study, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists disprove a century-old theory about why cancer cells often have too many or too few chromosomes, and show that the actual reason may hold the key to a novel approach to cancer therapy.

DFCI cancer research highlights age-related treatment effectiveness, patient cost concerns

705287540 — Fri, 29 May 2009 13:39:31 -0400

Although a test for gene mutations known to significantly increase the risk of hereditary breast or ovarian cancer has been available for more than a decade, a new study finds that few women with family histories of these cancers are even discussing genetic testing with their physicians or other health-care providers.

Cancer chemotherapy: An unfolding story

50443248 — Wed, 06 May 2009 14:10:11 -0400

To launch his lecture on cancer chemotherapy, Luke Whitesell ’79, RI ’06 displayed an image of an origami crab: a double visual metaphor. The crab is the traditional symbol of cancer. And Whitesell, a senior research scientist at the Whitehead Institute, has focused on how the artful folding of proteins in cells may offer clues to more effective, less toxic treatments. His November 17 talk — part of the Radcliffe Institute’s Lectures in the Sciences series — richly conveyed what he called “the most interesting subject in the world: the drug treatment of cancer.”

A more direct delivery of cancer drugs to tumors

50443248 — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 16:58:28 -0400

An interdisciplinary team of researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST) has demonstrated a better way to deliver cancer drugs directly to tumors.

HMS professor devises single test for cancers

50443248 — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 17:37:33 -0400

Imagine visiting a doctor’s office five years from now and, as a routine part of your annual physical, getting an accurate test that can tell whether you have cancer long before you have either symptoms or tumors detectable by other methods.

Breast cancer danger rising in developing world

50443248 — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:10:25 -0400

Women in developing nations, once thought to have a small chance of contracting breast cancer, are increasingly getting the disease as lifestyles incorporate risk factors common in industrialized nations, panelists at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) said Tuesday (April 14).

While their risk is rising, the prognosis for women in developing countries is poor because those nations often lack a strong health care infrastructure. Compounding the problem is the fact that cultural issues often cause delays in seeking care, so physicians see more cases in later stages when treatment options are limited.