Cancer - Blog & News Feed Merged

Penn Medicine Researcher Receives Champion of Hope Award

Thu, 01 Oct 2015 10:30:00 +0000

David Fajgenbaum, MD, MBA, MSc, a research assistant professor of Medicine, division of Hematology/Oncology, in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has received the RARE Champion of Hope award for science.

Penn-developed, DNA-based Vaccine Clears Nearly Half of Precancerous Cervical Lesions in Clinical Trial

Wed, 30 Sep 2015 13:30:00 +0000

Using a novel synthetic platform for creating vaccines originally developed in the laboratory of David Weiner, PhD, a professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, a team led by his colleagues at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, has successfully eradicated precancerous cervical lesions in nearly half of the women who received the investigational vaccine in a clinical trial.

Cancer Doesn't Sleep: The Myc Oncogene Disrupts Circadian Rhythm and Metabolism in Cancer Cells, Finds New Penn Study

Thu, 17 Sep 2015 16:00:00 +0000

Myc is a cancer-causing gene responsible for disrupting the normal 24-hour internal rhythm and metabolic pathways in cancer cells, found a team led by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

Blood Cancers Develop When Immune Cell DNA Editing Enzyme Hits Off-target Spots in the Genome, Penn Animal Study Finds

Thu, 10 Sep 2015 16:00:00 +0000

Now, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania have shown that when the enzyme key to cutting and pasting segments of DNA hits so-called "off-target" spots on a chromosome, the development of immune cells can lead to cancer in animal models.

Team Decodes Structure of Protein Complex Active in DNA Repair

Thu, 03 Sep 2015 16:00:00 +0000

A team led by Roger Greenberg, MD, PhD, an associate professor of Cancer Biology at Penn, and Frank Sicheri, PhD, in Toronto, report online in Molecular Cell ahead of print, the atomic structures of several BRCC36-containing complexes.

Mutation in Well-studied p53 Tumor Suppressor Protein Uses Epigenetic Pathways to Drive Aggressive Cancer Growth

Wed, 02 Sep 2015 17:00:00 +0000

Aggressive cancer growth and alterations in gene activity without changes in DNA sequence (epigenetics) are associated with mutant p53 proteins, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

Plugging up the Pipeline

Karen Kreeger — Wed, 02 Sep 2015 16:56:59 +0000

Cultivating a career in biomedical research is basically a series of experiential steps: Most times, but not always, it starts with a knack and interest in STEM subjects -- science, technology, engineering and math -- in high school, a relevant major in college, eventually earning a PhD, and securing a postdoctoral position. Along the way, getting experience in the lab is a must to eventually run one of your own. At many academic medical centers, there are programs that focus on helping students each step of the way. At Penn, high school students have the six-week internship at the Institute for Regenerative Medicine or Med School Boot Camp, among others.

For underrepresented minorities, many of whom may lack resources in their high schools, from mentors to enrichment programs, the nurturing of a biomedical career, even knowledge of it as a career, is even tougher. The national numbers bear this out. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) report that about 14 percent of PhD students are from under-represented minorities. The National Science Foundation puts science and engineering postdocs at about seven to eight percent. And, faculty numbers are still lower, with firm figures hard to come by. A 2011 National Research Council report stated that two percent of tenured and tenure-track faculty at medical schools in the basic sciences are underrepresented minorities.

For the past two decades, the Penn Biomedical Graduate Studies program has been doing their part to reverse this trend. For undergrads, the Summer Undergraduate Internship Program (SUIP) is a 10-week internship to give underrepresented minorities experience in biomedical research. In fact, in 2014, 18 percent of incoming underrepresented minority graduate students in the Perelman School of Medicine were previous SUIP participants and in 2015, the numbers increased to 33 percent.

But what about the leap from undergrad to graduate school?

This is where assistant dean for Research Training Programs Arnaldo Diaz, PhD, said there is an especially difficult gap to fill. The 11-year-old PennPREP (Post-Baccalaureate Research Education Program) fills that need. It is a one- to two-year research experience for students who have completed their undergraduate degree and are interested in pursuing a PhD in biomedical sciences. This post-baccalaureate program provides research experience and preparation for applying to and succeeding in graduate school.

Diaz defines research experience as the students “having their own independent project under the guidance of a faculty mentor. They’re not just an extra pair of hands in the lab.” The program also provides workshops on communication skills, grant writing, and networking, and is supported by a grant from the NIH. “PREP provides a supportive environment for the students that enables them to develop their skills and hone their confidence,” he said.

Sixty-one students have completed the PREP program and nine are currently enrolled. Diaz says that approximately 80 percent have continued on to PhD programs, with the remainder going on to medical school, industry, or other academic positions. Ten of these students were successfully recruited to Penn’s PhD programs.

In fact, Daniel Villarreal, PhD, a PREP alumni, gave the keynote at this year’s SUIP end-of-summer symposium. Villarreal, also a Penn doctoral alumnus from the lab of David Weiner, PhD, told the students that as a former gang member in San Diego, he wanted to be a graffiti artist, but because of encouragement from his dad, his high school principal, and other mentors, he morphed into the “school nerd” in late middle school, spending summers at the UCSD medical school. He still loves art and his old neighborhood and shared his hard-won wisdom with the next generation: “Be yourself. Stand up for what you believe. Be creative, which includes science.”

“Danny used his time in PREP to really gain the experience and develop the skills he needed to succeed in graduate school,” Diaz said. “He has dozens and dozens of immunology articles in high-impact journals and recently landed a research scientist position with Johnson & Johnson.”

Javier E. Sierra-Pagán, a second-year student with PREP working in the laboratory of Jon Epstein, MD, called his experience a “phenomenal opportunity.” Sierra-Pagán is studying the mechanisms that drive cardiovascular development. “I get to work with Dr. Epstein, a very well recognized scientist in the field who is really interested in teaching young researchers like me on how to start our careers and critically think about scientific questions,” he said. What’s more, Sierra-Pagán adds that Diaz “encouraged me to apply for an NIH grant, which I got, in order for me to have a stronger CV and foundation to start my career.”

By the same token, Lumena Louis, now a third-year doctoral student, also in the Weiner lab working on DNA vaccines, said PREP readied her for graduate school by gaining a better understanding of the many things necessary to succeed, including endurance and perseverance, strong critical thinking and reading skills, and the ability to network and explain your work.

Vicki Mercado, a current PREP scholar working in the lab of Warren Pear, MD, PhD, on epigenetics and leukemia, stated that, “while I have comprehensive experiences, these were limited to a few summer months, or occurred while I was balancing classes and part-time jobs unrelated to lab work. PREP gives me the opportunity to fully immerse myself in my scientific interests and provides training, exposure, and guidance which all grant a better understanding of what an MD/PhD program will be like.” For Mercado, the program gives her the reassurance that pursuing a career as a physician-scientist is the absolute right path for her.

The routes that these PREP students take may not so much be a linear pipeline, but more a meandering track of ever–broadening experiences. “PREP also gave me access to graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, who served as mentors,” Louis added. And like any good mentors-in-training, Louis is paying it backward and forward: “I now do my best to assist the mission of the PREP program to empower future scientists from traditionally underrepresented populations.”

Images of PennPREP scholars
Top: Javier E. Sierra-Pagán,left, with MD/PhD student Eduardo Torre. Credit: John Donges

Middle: Lumena Louis

Bottom:Vicki Mercado

Spread of Cancer from Pancreas Arises from the Interactions of Multiple Types of Wayward Cells

Wed, 12 Aug 2015 14:44:00 +0000

Tumor cells associated with pancreatic cancer often behave like communities by working with each other to increase tumor spread and growth to different organs. Groups of these cancer cells are better than single cancer cells in driving tumor spread, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania published in Cancer Discovery online in advance of the print issue.

Penn Study Details Powerful Molecular Promoter of Colon Cancers

Wed, 05 Aug 2015 18:00:00 +0000

Cancer researchers already know of some oncogenes and other factors that promote the development of colon cancers, but they don't yet have the full picture of how these cancers originate and spread. Now researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have illuminated another powerful factor in this process.

Using Summertime for a Head Start in the Lab

Karen Kreeger — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 14:18:43 +0000

Back in 2013, the Penn Medicine News Blog covered then rising high school junior Kareema Dixon, who started her science career, in part, by participating in the BioEYES program developed by Jamie Shuda, EdD, director of Life Science Outreach at the Institute for Regenerative Medicine (IRM). Dixon continued with her research on the effects of oil on zebrafish development, which she wrote up for a research paper for her International Baccalaureate Diploma, a two-year advanced educational program some high schools offer. After graduating this spring from Bodine High in Philadelphia, she will attend Drexel University in September to major in Biomedical Engineering. This summer, however, she was back at Penn -- one of six high school students working in Perelman School of Medicine labs as part of an IRM six-week internship:

Amber Headrick, 17, MaST Community Charter School. Amber worked with mechanosensory neurons in mice with Wenqin Luo, MD, PhD in the department of Neuroscience.
Andrew Yaravoi, 16, Julia R. Masterman High School. Andrew worked with induced pluripotent stem cells with Paul Gadue, PhD, from The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Kareema Dixon, 18, Bodine High School. Kareema worked with induced pluripotent stem cells with Jeannette Bennicelli, PhD, at the Penn Center for Advanced Retinal and Ocular Therapeutics.
Queenie Lam, 18, Girard Academic Music Program. Queenie studied early vertebrate development with Peter Klein, MD, PhD, in the department of Cell and Developmental Biology.
Kemi Oladuja, 17, Timbercreek Regional High School. Kemi is studied epigenetic memory in ants with Roberto Bonasio, PhD, in the department of Cell and Developmental Biology.
Timothy Yu, 18, Concordia International School in Shanghai. Tim genotyped zebrafish with Mary Mullins, PhD in the department of Cell and Developmental Biology.

Shuda noted that the internship program, newly reinstated by IRM director Ken Zaret, PhD, was a huge success and that two mentees have already inquired about staying on during the school year and next summer. “We asked them all to write reflection papers at the end of the program, in which they all said they will remember this experience for the rest of their career,” she said. “They were accepted into their labs and expected to attend regular lab meetings, held accountable for their work, and many conducted experiments that most researchers are not exposed to until they are graduate students.”

Indeed, Dixon loved the diverse training and mentoring she was exposed to: “One day we transfected cells and did hemocytometer counting; another day we conducted a Western Blot, another day we did cDNA reverse transcriptase, and another day we synthesized proteins.” She also cherished the camaraderie that some labs have: “Although everyone in the lab is independent, they are also a big family and I love that!”

Lam loved the independence she gained after becoming familiar with her lab: “The second to last week of the internship, my mentor had to leave for a conference. I was put in the care of the PI of the lab. I enjoyed getting the ‘grad student research experience’ because it put me in the shoes of a potential career and education path I might take in the future. I learned through my own mistakes and learned how to fix them on my own.”

Lam also thrived on the hands-on approach of an intense lab mentorship: “It is completely different learning in a classroom about double helix DNA than it is to interact directly with DNA. It will definitely help me in my future biology classes in college.”

From the investigators perspective, Mullins says that it was an excellent opportunity for graduate student Ben Tajer in her lab to supervise Timothy Yu. “Clearly they both gained a lot by the experience, Timothy in working with zebrafish and learning molecular biology techniques and Ben in gaining experience in mentoring. Timothy also helped move Ben's project forward.”

In other IRM summer program news, the Penn Academy for Reproductive Sciences, a six-day research clinic for high school girls, was featured in the National Research Council's Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education committee report on informal science learning as a premier example of bridging classroom content with real world applications.

Earlier this summer and last summer many other high school and undergrad student programs were featured on this blog. Given the positive experience the 2015 IRM interns and others said they took away from their summer experience at Penn, these will be the mentors of the future to watch out for, and they got their start right here in Penn Medicine labs.

Photo, from left to right: Tim Yu, Andrew Yaravoi, Queenie Lam, Kemi Oladuja, Kareema Dixon, and Amber Headrick.

Penn Medicine Scientist Receives 2015 Henry M. Stratton Medal Recognizing Contributions to Basic Hematology Research

Wed, 05 Aug 2015 14:15:00 +0000

The American Society of Hematology (ASH) has awarded Nancy Speck, PhD, a professor of Cell and Developmental Biology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, the 2015 Henry M. Stratton Medal for Basic Science for her "seminal contributions in the area of hematology research."

Penn Scientists Find That Flow Means "Go" for Proper Lymph System Development

Mon, 27 Jul 2015 20:15:00 +0000

The lymphatic system provides a slow flow of fluid from our organs and tissues into the bloodstream. It returns fluid and proteins that leak from blood vessels, provides passage for immune and inflammatory cells from the tissues to the blood, and hosts key niches for immune cells. How this system develops hasn't been well understood, but now researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have found from experiments in mice that the early flow of lymph fluid is a critical factor in the development of mature lymphatic vessels.

Decisions in Breast Reconstruction

Katie Delach — Fri, 17 Jul 2015 17:06:47 +0000

Autologous tissue reconstruction (left) and breast reconstruction using a tissue expander (right) are two of the most common reconstruction procedures following breast cancer treatment.

Like many cancer patients, those facing a breast cancer diagnosis have a lot of decisions to make, and recovery is a long process. But unlike some diseases, the road to recovery for breast cancer patients doesn’t end with treatment. For many patients who undergo mastectomy, breast reconstruction can be a step just as important as the treatment itself. Studies have shown that breast reconstruction helps enormously with a woman’s self-esteem and ability to put her cancer diagnosis behind her, and move forward with more confidence and comfort in her own body. But, breast reconstruction isn’t one size – or method – fits all, and recent research suggests the decisions patients make may have longer-term health effects.

Comparing complication rates, a recent study conducted by a team from Penn Plastic Surgery showed that patients who had reconstruction using their own tissue – known as autologous tissue reconstruction, or tissue flap surgery – were two times more likely to experience a complication in the first 90 days after surgery than patients whose reconstruction was done using implants. However, in the long term, patients who chose autologous reconstruction required fewer revisions surgeries than those with implants.

In autologous tissue reconstruction, a tissueflap of the patient’s own skin, fat, and in some cases muscle is moved from another area of the body (most commonly the abdomen, back, or thigh) to the chest.

“Breast reconstruction is enormously important following mastectomy,” said Joseph M. Serletti, MD, chief of the division of the Plastic Surgery. “There is substantial evidence that beyond physical appearance, reconstruction helps restore sense of self, thereby improving a patient’s psychosocial well-being. But it can be an overwhelming process for patients. Our hope is that our research helps to bring clarity to this important decision many women face.”

For Penn Plastic Surgery patient Eileen Edmunds, who underwent mastectomy more than six years ago and had her first reconstruction procedure earlier this year, the process represents a significant milestone in her fight against breast cancer.

“For me, it was enormously important to undergo reconstruction after mastectomy, just so I could really put this chapter of my life behind me and move forward,” said Edmunds. “It was surprising to me how overwhelming even the smallest things were, like the first time I saw the bathing suit section in the store and realized I could get any one I wanted. As great as post-mastectomy bras and bathing suits are, and as grateful as I am to have had those options available, nothing feels as good as sitting by the pool and knowing it’s just my own healthy body again.”

In general, most clinicians will agree there’s no “best” reconstruction method, as each procedure comes with its own set of pros and cons. For example, while tissue flaps are better able to mimic a natural breast, the procedure is also more invasive and extensive, which Serletti suggests is likely the cause for the increased risk of complication.

Many factors may influence the type of reconstruction surgery a woman will have – including the type of breast cancer, her body type, and general health status and lifestyle – but studies show that the three most common methods (autologous, implant and tissue-expander, in which a balloon-like device is inserted into the breast to stretch the patient’s own tissue and prepare it for implant at a later date) are all generally safe.

Importantly, another recent study from Penn Plastic Surgery showed that despite disparities along racial and ethnic lines that exist in some areas of breast cancer treatment and reconstruction, African-American women do not have an increased risk of complications following tissue flap surgery compared to Caucasian women, meaning race should not be a factor for women choosing this method.

Overall, Serletti says revisions are a normal part of the process and most patients should anticipate at least one revision surgery in the first three years. Reasons for revision include addressing complications (such as postoperative hemorrhage, or surgical site infection), further reconstructing and symmetrizing the breast(s), and treating and managing recurring or new disease.

“Providing options to patients and setting expectations for the process, which can be lengthy, is an important part of this journey,” said Serletti. “Patients should be informed of the high likelihood of revisions no matter which approach they undergo. Using the information gleaned from research and working with their care teams, women can make informed, evidence-based decisions about the approach that is most consistent with their medical circumstances and aesthetic goals.”

Hydraulic Fracturing Linked to Increases in Hospitalization Rates in the Marcellus Shale Region, According to Penn Study

Wed, 15 Jul 2015 18:00:00 +0000

Hospitalizations for heart conditions, neurological illness, and other conditions were higher among people who live near unconventional gas and oil drilling (hydraulic fracturing), according to new research from the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University published this week in PLOS ONE.

A Mutation, a New Drug, and a New Life

Steve Graff — Fri, 10 Jul 2015 12:33:41 +0000

Lois Hahn couldn’t have been happier on Tuesday. The 71-year-old wife and grandmother was back at Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center, with her son and husband by her side, for a follow-up visit with her medical oncologist, Alexander Perl, MD, an assistant professor of Hematology/Oncology in the ACC. She’s feeling and looking great. ”I’ve been in remission for months,” she said. “I’m almost back to my old self.”

Just six months ago, though, the acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patient found herself in a very different situation. “I was told I only had a few weeks to live,” she said. While most AML patients do well on chemotherapy and go into remission, some fail to respond and often die within months of being diagnosed. But Hahn’s story is playing out differently.

Not long after hearing the devastating news, Hahn’s son Ed found out about a clinical trial investigating a promising targeted drug, this one for patients with the mutation known as FLT3, led by Perl. Because the majority of patients with this mutation either don’t respond to initial chemotherapy or relapse after achieving remission, the search—including the one at Penn—for better, targeted drugs continues on.

Hahn, whose leukemia mutation was sequenced at Penn’s Center for Personalized Diagnostics, qualified for the trial after her chemo failed (a prerequisite since the trial was for patients who failed therapies or who relapsed) and was enrolled shortly thereafter. Like nearly 50 percent of the people in the trial with the mutation, Hahn had a complete response. The results were dramatic—she responded really well and really quickly and has been cancer free for five months. “It did wonders for me,” said the Egg Harbor Township, N.J., resident.

The oral drug, called ASP2215 from Astellas, is an inhibitor of FLT3, the mutated gene sometimes referred to as the “relapse gene” that signals bone marrow stem cells to divide and keep replenishing. The drug clears leukemia cells from the blood and keeps leukemia cells in the marrow from dividing, while replenishing the blood with healthy cells.

“FLT3 mutations hijack the normal way that the bone marrow regulates the number of blood cells to produce—it essentially it creates a response without a stimulus,” Perl said. “I liken it to a light bulb that stays on even when you try to turn off its switch on the wall. Or if the gas pedal in your car has been glued to the floor: the car moves forward whether the driver wants it to or not. What FLT3 inhibitors do is starve the engine of its fuel.”

For the trial, almost 200 patients were enrolled (127 with the FLT3 mutation) from across the country and Western Europe. Over 57 percent of those with the mutation had an overall response, while 47 percent of them had a complete remission, including Hahn, the research team found. Very few, if any, patients responded if they didn’t have FLT3 mutations.

Identifying mutations in the age of precision medicine isn’t the biggest challenge anymore; it’s knowing how to act on them and demonstrating successful outcomes.

“This is an exciting new therapeutic development for patients with relapsed or aggressive cancers that fail to respond durably to chemo,” said Perl, who presented the study’s results two weeks ago in Vienna, Austria at the 20^th Congress of the European Hematology Association meeting. “There is a unmet need here, and this well-tolerated drug demonstrated very high response rates and often more durable responses. What we have are promising data that push us steps closer to a new therapeutic option for this underserved population.”

Clinical trials with other FLT3 inhibitors have been ongoing for more than 10 years, but until recently the class of drugs has either shown less obvious clinical activity or concerns about early development of resistance among responding patients. Perl was involved in the research that characterized the mechanism of FLT3 inhibitor resistance, which was published in the journal Nature in 2012. This latest round of results—the ASP2215 first in-human study—were from a phase I/II, laying the groundwork for a phase III trial set to open later in 2015.

“Dr. Perl asked me what my goals were before starting this, and I told him I wanted to play with my grandkids,” Hahn said. “And that's what this drug did.”

When Less is Just Right

Olivia Fermano — Tue, 23 Jun 2015 20:17:30 +0000

Philadelphia is chock full of historical firsts, including in the field of medicine. Just last month, two of Penn Medicine’s big “firsts” celebrated their birthdays: the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania – the nation’s first medical school – turned 250 and Pennsylvania Hospital, the nation’s first hospital, turned 264. For over two and a half centuries, both institutions have been home to individuals on the cutting edge of clinical care. (Visit the online home of our recently published book detailing that rich history for some examples!)

One area of ongoing innovation is overseen by Patricia A. Ford, MD, the founder and director of the Center for Bloodless Medicine & Surgery (CBMS) at Pennsylvania Hospital, director of the Peripheral Stem Cell Transplant Program, and clinical professor of Medicine.

Almost 20 years ago, Ford performed the world’s first bloodless autologous stem cell transplantation in a non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma patient. A stem cell transplant was the only chance of a cure for this patient, yet a typical autologous stem cell transplant was out of the question, since this patient was one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. He, as do all Witnesses, firmly believes that blood “stands for life…has special significance…and should not be misused” or removed from the body and stored as it would via a transfusion.

These beliefs call Witnesses to seek bloodless medicine and surgery, which refers to a variety of techniques that allow a patient to be treated without blood or blood product transfusions.

Ford, who established the CBMS in 1996, making it one of the oldest and largest bloodless centers in the U.S., has been at the forefront of treatment for patients without using whole blood or blood products such as red cells, white cells, platelets and plasma.

But let’s get back to that first patient in 1995. An autologous stem cell transplant – a type of transplant in which the person's own stem cells are used – was the recommended course of treatment. In such a transplant, the cells are collected in advance and returned to the body to replace stem cells damaged by high dose chemotherapy used to treat certain types of cancers.

However, at that time, it wasn’t thought possible to successfully treat a patient with an autologous stem cell transplant without a blood transfusion or other blood product support. It was thought to be unsafe – and unsurvivable - since blood products are customarily used to prevent and treat infections that may arise due to depleted white and red blood cell supplies during the period before the transplanted cells “engraft” and begin producing new blood cells in the patient’s body. Yet this patient did survive and lives today, disease free.

After the success of the first patient, Ford and colleagues wondered, can another individual survive a stem cell transplant without blood products? Sadly, two weeks post-transplant, the second patient didn’t make it.

“After the second patient’s case study, we had to stop and ask the really tough questions,” Ford said. “Is it ethical to continue this work? What mortality rate and chance of cure is acceptable? While I and the team were emotionally devastated from the loss of this patient, family members met with me to tell me how much they appreciated what I had attempted to do as no one else had given them any hope. And they asked me to continue to treat others in the same situation.”

Determined to honor her patient and the family’s wishes, Ford continued to treat others, refining and perfecting the procedure and teaching the protocol to other clinicians around the world. Ford has performed 138 bloodless autologous stem cell transplants at PAH.

This spring in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Ford and her colleagues reported that autologous stem cell transplantation can be safely performed without blood product support in patients with hematologic malignancies, or blood cancers.

The study included 125 Jehovah’s Witnesses with lymphoma, multiple myeloma, or amyloidosis who were treated with high-dose chemotherapy and autologous stem cell transplantation between 1996 and March 2014.

The team reported they were able to manage all bleeding complications without the need for blood transfusions. There were few complications and no patient deaths during the study. Adopting such practices are proving both clinically and cost effective since they reduce transfusion-associated risks and complications including: human error; platelet refractoriness (the failure to achieve desired platelet levels, post-transplant); acute transfusion reactions such as fever, chills, and hives; transfusion-transmitted infections; and transfusion-related lung injury.

“We’ve shown that patients can survive with blood levels never before thought possible all without receiving transfusions,” said Ford. “By applying very specific medical strategies – such as priming patients with intravenous iron and erythropoietin to increase their hemoglobin levels prior to transplantation – we can effectively and safely care for these Witness patients. This type of ‘pre-procedure management’ also applies to treating bloodless surgery patients as well.”

The CBMS receives an average of 1,000 referrals annually for various medical and surgical conditions and treats over 700 bloodless patients a year at PAH. While blood management and conservation strategies were originally developed for Jehovah’s Witnesses who reject transfusions because of their beliefs, they are now becoming standard practice throughout Pennsylvania Hospital.

Buzz Around Immunotherapy Continues at ASCO

Steve Graff — Fri, 05 Jun 2015 16:55:29 +0000

I read a very witty and apt tweet at this week’s American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting—the medical conference attended by over 30,000 oncologists and others in the field from all over the world: “Immunotherapy is like the hashtag—it’s here to stay.”

The pithy 100 or so characters—replete with fitting hashtags of course—not only epitomized the enthusiasm of the future of the field, but also the successes happening right now for patients. Promising clinical data lit up last month’s American Association for Cancer Research meeting, and it continued to shine at ASCO as well. Checkpoint inhibitors, gene therapy, and monoclonal antibodies: When conventional treatments don’t work, these immunotherapies, in many cases, step in to finish the job, harnessing the power of the immune system to kill cancer cells. And the list of cancers keeps growing.

Researchers from Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center (ACC) are big players in the field—for melanoma, blood and pancreatic cancers, to name a few—and were well represented at this year’s meeting. I actually spotted the tweet up on the screen during a T cell therapy symposium on Monday when two ACC physicians—Stephen Schuster, MD, the Robert and Margarita Louis-Dreyfus Associate Professor in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia and Lymphoma Clinical Care and Research, and Alfred Garfall, MD, an instructor of Hematology/Oncology—presented new data on the chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) therapy in lymphoma and myeloma patients. Gregory Beatty, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of Hematology/Oncology, also presented an abstract from a pancreatic cancer trial using the CAR therapy.

The first day kicked off with four abstracts on clinical trials involving the PD-1 targeted drugs nivolumab and pembrolizumab. The results were important because they demonstrated the drugs’ potential beyond melanoma. Approved for advanced melanoma patients in just the last year, these drugs are being put to the test in liver, colon, head and neck and non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer. Nivolumab extended survival rates for lung cancer patients compared with chemotherapy, and shrank tumors in 30 percent of liver cancer patients, researchers found.

“PD-1 immunotherapies continue to break new ground in diseases where nothing else seems to work well,” said Lynn Schuchter, MD, chief of Hematology/Oncology in the ACC. “The fact that this drug might stop advanced liver cancer in its tracks for months, even a year, is great news for patients.”

Researchers also presented results from a smaller genomic marker study that may help determine which colorectal cancer patients benefit from PD-1. Tumors with a specific type of mutation—known as mismatch repair (MMR) deficiency—were more likely to respond to pembrolizumab. This is the first study to use tumor genetics to guide immunotherapy, the researchers from Johns Hopkins reported.

Having that mutation is “like putting a red flag on cancer cells and saying to the immune system, 'Here I am,' and allows the immune system to recognize these cancer cells as foreign," Schuchter told MedPage Today.

The second day featured results from a multiple myeloma abstract co-authored by Brendan Weiss, MD, an assistant professor in the division of Hematology/Oncology. The team found that the monoclonal antibody daratumumab, after median follow up period of 9.4 months, elicited responses in third of myeloma patients who were previously treated with up to four different therapies. Three of the patients also had complete remissions. News outlets called it “unprecedented responses” and “impressive,” as this is the first monoclonal antibody in myeloma that has shown single-agent activity.

A tweet is one thing, but a packed room that had its doors shut—and caused staff to open up an over flow room—is another. The attendance for Monday’s “Developmental Therapeutics—Immunotherapy” oral abstract session spoke to just how enthusiastic clinicians, pharmaceutical representatives and others were to hear the latest results in some of the toughest cancers out there to beat.

The talks were mostly high-level and went deep into the data and science, much that was admittedly over my head—and likely would be for the general public and journalists covering the conference. The basic concept of immunotherapy—helping the immune system fight off cancer—is easy to wrap your head around, but when you look more closely at the treatment, you’ll see it’s very nuanced, complex, and personal.

So if immunotherapy is here to stay, most people are going need some help to better understand it, because it’s only going to get more sophisticated. We can’t all go back to school to take a few biology classes, but hitting the chalkboard is one idea.

My colleague wrote a blog post a few years back about a doctoral student named Florie Charles, founder of Youreka Science, who uses a white board and colored markers to explain findings from papers in an accessible, fresh, and engaging way. The video very simply explains the science behind the work, making it easier to digest.

A conversation during the meeting between Schuchter and Natasha Loder, a reporter for the Economist, about potential metaphors to illustrate the action of PD-1 therapies in videos sparked another Eureka moment: “These are incredibly complex concepts – cancer drugs are no longer a one-size-fits all prescription, and we are entering a new era where we need to be creative about how we communicate with patients, the public, and the press, and increasingly, these visual representations of drug mechanisms are so useful, ” said Schuchter, who notes that she draws simple sketches to illustrate the treatment of stage IV melanoma for patients and their families several times a week.

Something tells me we’ll be seeing #immunotherapy on Twitter for many ASCOs to come, and I’ll bet there will be new innovations in visual communication methods keeping pace with all the news.

Penn Researchers Home in on What's Wearing Out T Cells

Wed, 03 Jun 2015 14:30:00 +0000

Sometimes even cells get tired. When the T cells of your immune system are forced to deal over time with cancer or a chronic infection such as HIV or hepatitis C, they can develop "T cell exhaustion," becoming less effective and losing their ability to attack and destroy the invaders of the body. While the PD-1 protein pathway has long been implicated as a primary player in T cell exhaustion, a major question has been whether PD-1 actually directly causes exhaustion.

250 Years of Progress, Here's to 250 More

Robert Press — Tue, 26 May 2015 16:50:17 +0000

A whole lot can happen in 250 years.

That’s partially because — and I guess this isn’t much of a surprise — 250 years is a long time. Long enough for a standard snail to circle the globe about 2.64 times (seriously, I did the math). Long enough for Niagara Falls to have receded more than 1,100 feet due to erosion. If you hopped in your car and decided to drive to Mars, going a steady 70 MPH would get you there with about 22 years to spare (which means if you take I-276 you juuust might make it).

Culture changes, too. Take, for example, music. In around 250 years, the world went from Mozart and Beethoven all the way through Brahms and Verdi, Louis Armstrong and Dave Brubeck, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, to … well, Justin Bieber and Katy Perry.

Maybe not everything has gotten better.

Medicine certainly has, though, and the Perelman School of Medicine — the nation’s first medical school, currently celebrating its 250th year — has been there to watch and participate in its evolution. Last year’s Did You Know project featured some great examples of Penn Medicine’s discoveries and innovations over the past 250 years, including:

The first transfusion of human donor blood, in 1795;
The world’s first X-ray image, produced in 1890;
The discovery of the Philadelphia Chromosome, the first gene linked to cancer, in the 1960s; and
The opening of the nation’s first Coronary Care Unit, in 1963.

It’s an impressive list, no doubt, but one has to wonder what the next 250 years could bring when the past 250 have been so incredibly productive. I was listening to a podcast (Hardcore History, for those who are curious) not too long ago that discussed the nature of human progress, and how if you looked at a chart of said progress over the past 200,000 years, it would be almost entirely flat. You’d see little bumps here and there, but by and large you’d be staring at a flat line — until you got to the 18^th and 19^th centuries, and then the line would go nearly vertical. It’s ever on the rise, too, and that makes it difficult to really wrap your mind around where we could be by, say, 2265.

A few weeks ago, I took photos of a patient here named Mike Law. If that name sounds familiar, you might have spotted him on the news. He’s awaiting a heart transplant, but in the meantime doctors at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania replaced his heart with an artificial one. It runs on a small, battery-powered pack that looks an awful lot like a piece of carry-on luggage.

In conversation since that day, I’ve compared it to the sort of progress we’ve seen over the years in computers and technology. The phones we carry in our pockets are almost infinitely more powerful than the full desktop computers of only two decades ago. A 4GB flash drive was the size of a pack of gum and cost around $50 a decade ago — now, you can own a 32GB flash drive the size of your thumbnail for maybe $30. And here’s Mike Law, the man with a completely artificial heart, making his way out of the hospital with just a tiny power pack wheeling along easily at his side.

Only five years ago, patients with total artificial hearts were tethered to a giant machine that kept them confined to a hospital floor. Three or four decades ago, Mike Law and his carry-on battery pack might have seemed like science fiction. Just imagine what the doctors of the 1760s would have thought.

10th Anniversary Symposium of the Penn Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology

Wed, 20 May 2015 18:15:00 +0000

A group of researchers from Penn and other institutions in the region will come together this Friday to celebrate 10 years of environmental health research in the Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology (CEET).

Inflammation Stops the Clock: How the Immune System Controls the Human Biological Clock in Times of Infection

Mon, 18 May 2015 19:00:00 +0000

An important link between the human body clock and the immune system has relevance for better understanding inflammatory and infectious diseases, discovered collaborators at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Trinity College, Dublin.

Beyond Skin Deep: How Scars Affect Psychosocial Well-Being

Katie Delach — Mon, 18 May 2015 17:22:32 +0000

Americans spend more than $12 billion per year on cosmetic procedures to enhance their appearance, whether it’s tanning, implanting, nipping or tucking. That’s because physical appearance influences nearly every aspect of our lives. And it’s not all our own insecurities or judgments, either. Studies show that strangers who observe photographs of people with facial abnormalities are more likely to judge them as dishonest, unsuitable for employment, unintelligent and unattractive.

A recent literature review from dermatologic surgeons at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, including Joseph F. Sobanko, MD, director of Dermatologic Surgery Education, and an assistant professor of Dermatology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, and David Sarwer, PhD, Professor of psychology in Psychiatry and Surgery, highlights just how influential facial asymmetries, such as scars resulting from skin cancer surgeries, can be on our psychosocial well-being. And, just like no one is exempt from the dangers of skin cancer, no one is exempt from feeling the impact of a scar either; the psychosocial impact of scarring from the treatment of facial skin cancers has been shown to affect the young, old, male and female alike.

So for patients with scars, how they feel about themselves and how they handle social situations may be heavily dependent on the final aesthetic outcome of surgery.

At Penn Medicine, skin cancer and reconstructive surgeons use advanced surgical techniques to help individuals restore form and function, as well as feel good about their appearance. The Mohs technique, which is a micrographic form of skin cancer removal in highly functional and cosmetically sensitive areas such as the face and hands, maps out the cancer and removes the smallest amount of normal skin surrounding the tumor. This results in smaller defects that need to be repaired and subsequently smaller scars from the surgery. Additionally, the meticulous reconstruction of skin by Penn doctors, tailored to each patient’s particular profile, can result in virtually unnoticeable scars.

The study from Sobanko and colleagues reveals that better cosmetic results from surgery translates into patients with higher levels of satisfaction.

“Thirteen percent of cancer survivors quit work for cancer-related reasons, and of those, patients with head and neck cancer have the highest risk for going on medical disability because of the psychosocial burden of dysfunction and disfigurement,” Sobanko said. “What we’re learning now is that these scars are much more than skin deep, and given these possible repercussions, it’s vital that surgeons be able to provide patients with advanced treatment options to limit and avoid visible scarring.”

With an ever increasing number of skin cancer surgeries being performed in the United States, Sobanko says the study provides suggestions not only for techniques that could drastically improve quality of life for these patients, but also for the identification and management of patients at risk for psychosocial impairment from scarring.

“Skin cancer can be a scary diagnosis for patients, whether it’s melanoma, basal cell, or squamous cell carcinoma," Sobanko said. "These tumors occur in highly visible areas and may create psychosocial distress."

Recently, Dr. Sobanko received a career development award from the Dermatology Foundation to further research related to patient appearance and quality of life. His team’s research is moving in a direction that measures patient health-related quality of life, highlights the emotional burden of changes that accompany oncologic, reconstructive, and aesthetic treatments, and also illustrates that we can restore patients’ appearances to allow them to go back to living the way they want to – with sunscreen, of course.

“We also want to create predictive models to identify who will be most impacted by their skin cancer in order to precisely target those patients who will benefit from enhanced perioperative counseling and education,” he said.

Penn Team Finds Protein "Cement" that Stabilizes the Crossroad of Chromosomes

Thu, 07 May 2015 18:00:00 +0000

A new study by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania published in Science this week describes how the centromere is stabilized during replication.

Penn Medicine Study Reveals Why Almost Half of At-Risk Patients Opt Out of Comprehensive Multiplex Cancer Screening

Thu, 07 May 2015 13:00:00 +0000

Some at-risk patients opted out of comprehensive cancer gene screening when presented with the opportunity to be tested for the presence of genes linked to various cancers, according to a recent study led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Basser Center for BRCA in Penn's Abramson Cancer Center.

The New Avengers: Lab-Coated Heroes Honored for Behind-the-Scenes Contributions

Karen Kreeger — Tue, 05 May 2015 16:02:41 +0000

Inspired by the Avengers movie out this past weekend, we are still singing the praises of some everyday heroes who may not wield a magic shield or the hammer of Thor, but who are the backbone of every hospital and medical clinic in the country. Late last month Penn Medicine observed the fortieth Medical Laboratory Professionals Week, a time to recognize the hard work and dedication of the 600-plus lab professionals in more than 30 laboratories across the health system. Fittingly, the slogan chosen by the American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science this year for its campaign was “Not All Heroes Wear Capes, Some Wear Lab Coats.”

More than 10 billion lab tests are performed every year by more than 300,000 medical laboratory professionals across the U.S. From small practices in rural towns to large metropolitan hospitals and academic medical centers, lab professionals deliver accurate test results every day and serve as part of health care teams to guide and assess patients’ ongoing treatment and care.

At Penn Medicine, close to 1,200 faculty and staff in the department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine work around the clock to perform critical patient care functions, such as running blood banks and conducting tests that provide essential data to make diagnoses of all kinds and keep patients safe throughout their hospital stays. As Director of Laboratory Medicine, Irving Nachamkin, noted in a department blog post about Lab Week, an important example of the critical role of laboratory professionals in meeting medical challenges is the recent Ebola outbreak.

“We needed to rapidly develop the infrastructure for taking care of individuals returning to the States who were suspected of having or who had actually contracted the disease. Countless hours were spent by our pathology faculty, department administration, laboratory technologists, and support staff to develop the testing policies, procedures, processes, simulations, and the special treatment laboratory for the evaluation of patients with suspected Ebola infections admitted to the hospital’s special treatment areas,” he wrote.

In this nationwide effort, Penn Medicine staff showed their pride of profession by giving back to the community they serve -- at a record level. This year, 15 labs donated gift baskets, and the raffle raised more than $6,600, a nearly 20 percent increase in the amount raised last year. All proceeds from the raffle were donated to Philadelphia charities MANNA (Metropolitan Area Neighborhood Nutrition Alliance) and PEC (the People's Emergency Center).

Lab Week isn’t all serious business. Thirteen labs participated in the annual “Decorate Your Door Challenge,” in keeping with the superhero theme. A panel of judges from senior department and health system leadership evaluated the decorated doors and chose the winners. This year, the Microbiology lab won first prize, with their “Microtech” comic strip door and the Histocompatibility Lab won second prize, with a “Captain Trans-Plant-It” theme. Honorable mention went to the Blood Bank for best presentation, for “Blood Bank Superheroes.” The first-place winner was given a new trophy, the “Golden Erle" created by the department from a large Erlenmeyer flask.

NIH Awards 8 Million Dollar Renewal to Penn Medicine's Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology

Thu, 30 Apr 2015 15:00:00 +0000

The National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has renewed its funding to the Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology (CEET), at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine, for the next five years.

Penn-Sponsored Million Dollar Bike Ride to Raise Awareness about Rare Diseases

Tue, 28 Apr 2015 16:00:00 +0000

The second annual Million Dollar Bike Ride will be held on Saturday, May 9, 2015, to support research and raise awareness about rare diseases.

Roberts Proton Therapy Center Celebrates 5 Years (Photos)

Steve Graff — Thu, 23 Apr 2015 17:26:41 +0000

Congratulations to the Roberts Proton Therapy Center on its five year anniversary! On Wednesday night, the department of Radiation Oncology held an event in the Smilow Center for Translational Research to celebrate this significant milestone with faculty, staff, Penn Medicine leadership, patients and their families, and the Roberts family, including University of Pennsylvania alumni Ralph J. Roberts and his wife Suzanne, who said a few words.

The event also honored the Penn Proton Alumni Group, which helps connect current and former patents for peer-to-peer support.

In 2006, Ralph and his son Brian L. Roberts donated $15 million to help create the Center. Four years later, the Center opened, and was one of only five in the country. Since that time, 14 are now operational and 10 more are under construction. It’s one of the fastest-growing therapies for treating cancer, and Penn continues to be on top, said James Metz, MD, interim chair of the department of Radiation Oncology, who also spoke at the event.

J. Larry Jameson, MD, PhD, Executive Vice President of the University for the Health System and Dean of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and Ralph Muller, CEO of the University of Pennsylvania Health System, were also in attendance.

While prostate cancer treatment was its primary use initially, Penn has significantly expanded the list of conditions treated with proton therapy, including cancers of the GI tract, head and neck, lung, and lymphoma. So far, the Center has treated nearly 3,000 patients. Penn also created a proton training program, the only one of its kind in the world. “We’ve trained people from around the world,” Metz said, including Sweden, Poland, Korea and, soon, India.

Here is a slideshow of photos from the event on Wednesday, and check out the video below for a five-year retrospective of the Center.

Penn Study Shows Risk of Breast and Ovarian Cancer May Differ By Type of BRCA1, BRCA2 Mutation

Tue, 07 Apr 2015 15:00:00 +0000

In a study involving more than 31,000 women with cancer-causing mutations in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes, researchers at the Basser Center for BRCA, the Abramson Cancer Center, and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, identified mutations that are associated with significantly different risks of breast and ovarian cancers.

Ken Burns Cancer Documentary to Feature Story of First Pediatric Patient to Receive Penn's Modified T Cell Therapy for Leukemia

Mon, 30 Mar 2015 13:45:00 +0000

The story of the first pediatric patient to receive an experimental cellular therapy developed by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania will be featured in this week's PBS documentary, "Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies."

Penn Medicine Immunotherapy Pioneer Carl June, MD, Awarded 2015 Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize

Wed, 11 Mar 2015 15:00:00 +0000

University of Pennsylvania cancer and HIV expert Carl June, MD, has been named one of two recipients of the 2015 Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize for his outstanding work in cancer immunotherapy.

Radiation Plus Immunotherapy Combo Revs up Immune System to Better Attack Metastatic Melanoma, Penn Study Suggests

Mon, 09 Mar 2015 17:00:00 +0000

Treating metastatic melanoma with a triple threat—including radiation therapy and two immunotherapies that target the CTLA4 and PD-1 pathways—could elicit an optimal response in more patients, one that will boost the immune system's attack on the disease, suggests a new study from a multidisciplinary team of researchers from Penn's Abramson Cancer Center published today in Nature.

Penn Medicine Physician Finds No Preventive Benefits for Widely Used Kidney Cancer Drugs

Mon, 23 Feb 2015 21:00:00 +0000

Two widely used targeted therapy drugs— approved by the FDA for use in metastatic kidney cancer —are no more effective than a placebo in preventing return of the disease to increase life spans of patients suffering from advanced kidney cancer after surgery, according to new results to be presented by a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania's Abramson Cancer Center (ACC) during the 2015 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.

Palbociclib Shows Promise in Patients with Hormone-Resistant Breast Cancer, Penn Study Finds

Fri, 20 Feb 2015 16:15:00 +0000

Palbociclib, an investigational oral medication that works by blocking molecules responsible for cancer cell growth, is well tolerated and extends progression-free survival (PFS) in newly diagnosed, advanced breast cancer patients, including those whose disease has stopped responding to traditional endocrine treatments, Penn Medicine researchers found.

Eczema Medication Unlikely to Increase Risk of Cancer in Children, Penn Team Finds

Thu, 19 Feb 2015 13:15:00 +0000

The topical eczema medicine pimecrolimus appears unlikely to be associated with an increased risk of cancer in children, based on a group of children who were followed for 10 years, according to study published online this week in JAMA Dermatology.

Penn Medicine Study Describes Development of Personalized Cellular Therapy for Brain Cancer

Wed, 18 Feb 2015 18:00:00 +0000

Immune cells engineered to seek out and attack a type of deadly brain cancer were found to be both safe and effective at controlling tumor growth in mice that were treated with these modified cells, according to a study published in Science Translational Medicine by a team from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research. The results paved the way for a newly opened clinical trial for glioblastoma patients at Penn.

Cancer Patients Rarely Demand Unnecessary Tests and Treatments, According to Penn Medicine Study

Thu, 12 Feb 2015 17:30:00 +0000

Physicians often blame patient demands for contributing to high medical costs, however, a new study involving more than 5,000 patient-clinician visits indicates that cancer patients rarely push for unnecessary tests and treatments from their health care providers.

Life at Higher Elevation Linked to Lower Incidence of Lung Cancer, Penn Study Suggests

Wed, 14 Jan 2015 13:15:00 +0000

Lung cancer rates in both smokers and non-smokers are lower in higher-elevation counties in the western part of the United States, suggesting that oxygen may promote the incidence of lung cancer, according to a new study co-authored by a student at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

Penn Study: Radiation Plus Hormone Therapy Prolongs Survival for Older Men with Prostate Cancer

Tue, 06 Jan 2015 14:30:00 +0000

Adding radiation treatment to hormone therapy saves more lives among older men with locally advanced prostate therapy than hormone therapy alone, according to a new study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology this week from Penn Medicine researchers.

Cutting Out the Cellular Middleman: New Technology Directly Reprograms Skin Fibroblasts For a New Role

Tue, 16 Dec 2014 09:00:00 +0000

As the main component of connective tissue in the body, fibroblasts are the most common type of cell. Taking advantage of that ready availability, scientists from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, the Wistar Institute, Boston University School of Medicine, and New Jersey Institute of Technology have discovered a way to repurpose fibroblasts into functional melanocytes, the body's pigment-producing cells.

Penn Study: Majority of Women with Early-Stage Breast Cancer in U.S. Receive Unnecessarily Long Courses of Radiation

Wed, 10 Dec 2014 15:00:00 +0000

Two-thirds of women treated for early-stage breast cancer in the U.S. receive longer radiation therapy than necessary, according to a new study published in JAMA this week from Penn Medicine researchers Ezekiel J. Emanuel, MD, PhD, and Justin E. Bekelman, MD.

Penn Medicine Researchers Announce Latest Results of Investigational Cellular Therapy CTL019

Mon, 08 Dec 2014 13:00:00 +0000

The latest results of clinical trials of more than 125 patients testing an investigational personalized cellular therapy known as CTL019 were presented by a University of Pennsylvania research team at the 56th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition.

Brain Activity after Smokers Quit Predicts Chances of Relapsing, Penn Medicine Study Suggests

Wed, 03 Dec 2014 15:00:00 +0000

Reporting in a new study published this week in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, James Loughead, PhD, associate professor of Psychiatry, and Caryn Lerman, PhD, a professor of Psychiatry and director of Penn's Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Nicotine Addiction, found that smokers who relapsed within seven days from their target quit date had specific disruptions in the brain's working memory system during abstinence that separated them from the group who successfully quit.

Penn Medicine Researchers Named Winners of 2014 Discovery Fast Track Challenge

Tue, 02 Dec 2014 15:00:00 +0000

Three Philadelphia researchers -- Donna George, PhD, and Julia Leu, PhD, both from the Department of Genetics, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and Maureen Murphy, PhD from The Wistar Institute, have been awarded a Discovery Fast Track Challenge grant from GlaxoSmithKline.

Classification of Gene Mutations in a Children's Cancer May Point to Improved Treatments

Mon, 10 Nov 2014 16:00:00 +0000

Oncology researchers studying gene mutations in the childhood cancer neuroblastoma are refining their diagnostic tools to predict which patients are more likely to respond to drugs called ALK inhibitors that target such mutations.

Penn Medicine Study: Olaparib Shows Success in Tumor Response Rate for Patients with BRCA-Related Cancers

Thu, 06 Nov 2014 19:30:00 +0000

Olaparib, an experimental twice-daily oral cancer drug, produces an overall tumor response rate of 26 percent in several advanced cancers associated with BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations, according to new research co-led by the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania.

Penn Medicine Studies Show New Evidence that Exercise Therapy, Acupuncture Benefit Breast Cancer Survivors

Tue, 04 Nov 2014 04:00:00 +0000

Two new studies from the Abramson Cancer Center and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania offer hope for breast cancer survivors struggling with cancer-related pain and swelling, and point to ways to enhance muscular strength and body image.

Shared Decision Making During Radiation Therapy Improves Patient Satisfaction, May Help Alleviate Anxiety, Depression

Tue, 15 Apr 2014 17:00:00 +0000

Playing an active role in their radiation treatment decisions leaves cancer patients feeling more satisfied with their care, and may even relieve psychological distress around the experience, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania report in the journal Cancer.

Protein Key to Cell Motility Might Stop Cancer Metastasis

Wed, 12 Mar 2014 14:45:00 +0000

"Cell movement is the basic recipe of life, and all cells have the capacity to move," says Roberto Dominguez, PhD, professor of Physiology at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. Motility — albeit on a cellular spatial scale — is necessary for wound healing, clotting, fetal development, nerve connections, and the immune response, among other functions. On the other hand, cell movement can be deleterious when cancer cells break away from tumors and migrate to set up shop in other tissues during cancer metastasis.

Two Behavioral Interventions Help Cancer Patients Struggling with Sleep Issues, Penn Medicine Study Finds

Fri, 10 Jan 2014 16:30:00 +0000

Cancer patients who are struggling with sleep troubles, due in part to pain or side effects of treatment, can count on two behavioral interventions for relief – cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) and mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), Penn Medicine researchers report in a new study published online in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. While CBT-I is the gold standard of care, MBSR is an additional treatment approach that can also help improve sleep for cancer patients, the study found.

Penn Medicine Study Examines Use of Yoga to Lessen Side Effects of Prostate Cancer Treatment

Fri, 29 Nov 2013 14:00:00 +0000

A new, first-of-its-kind study by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania seeks to learn whether men with prostate cancer who are undergoing radiation therapy can benefit from yoga. The study, led by Neha Vapiwala, MD, assistant professor of Radiation Oncology in Penn's Abramson Cancer Center, is examining the effect of yoga on cancer- and radiation-related fatigue, stress levels, and patients' quality of life during radiation therapy.

Penn Medicine Study Demonstrates Benefit of Acupuncture for Easing Joint Pain Among Breast Cancer Patients Taking Aromatase Inhibitors

Fri, 15 Nov 2013 19:00:00 +0000

Acupuncture can decrease the joint pain side effects often reported by breast cancer patients taking aromatase inhibitors (AIs), according to results of a new randomized trial conducted by a research team from the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania. Their findings were published online this month in the European Journal of Cancer.

Treating Cancer that Has Spread to the Brain Locally with Neurosurgical Resection and Chemotherapeutic Wafers Can Improve Cognitive Function

Wed, 25 Sep 2013 17:00:00 +0000

A new approach to treating cancer that has spread to the brain is able to preserve and, in some cases, improve cognitive function in patients, while achieving local control of tumor progression. A study led by researchers with the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found that 98 percent of patients who deferred whole brain radiation therapy and had chemotherapeutic wafers placed around the areas where metastatic tumors in the brain had been surgically removed showed preserved cognitive function in one or more of three domains; 65 percent showed preservation in all areas tested: memory, executive function, and fine motor skills.

"Not Your Madame's Isotope" – Safer Radium Therapy Provides Hope for Metastatic Prostate Cancer Patients

Wed, 17 Jul 2013 21:30:00 +0000

A study of a new radiotherapeutic drug published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine brings fresh hope for a particular group of cancer patients that otherwise suffer and ultimately die from the disease -- those with prostate cancer that has spread to their bones and has failed to be controlled by hormone deprivation drugs.

Testing for BRAF Genetic Mutation Beneficial Only in Aggressive Thyroid Cancers, Penn Editorial Suggests

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 18:00:00 +0000

Late stage thyroid cancer patients with aggressive disease may benefit from a genetic test, but experts caution that use of this test in early stage patients is inappropriate because it is unlikely to lead to better outcomes. Testing for BRAF V600E-positive tumors should be reserved for patients older than 45 who have more advanced disease, according to an accompanying editorial in JAMA co-authored by two Perelman School of Medicine researchers at the University of Pennsylvania.

Penn Medicine Study of Breast Cancer Message Boards Finds Frequent Discussion of Drug Side Effects, Discontinuation of Therapy

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 17:00:00 +0000

In the first study to examine discussion of drug side effects on Internet message boards, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found that breast cancer survivors taking the commonly prescribed adjuvant therapy known as aromatase inhibitors (AIs) often detailed in these forums troublesome symptoms resulting from the drugs, and they were apt to report discontinuing the treatment or switching to a different drug in the same class.

Cancer Suppressor Gene Links Metabolism with Cellular Aging

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 15:00:00 +0000

A team of researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, has identified a class of p53 target genes and regulatory molecules that represent more promising therapeutic candidates.

Leukemia Patients Remain in Remission More Than Two Years After Receiving Genetically Engineered T Cell Therapy

Sun, 09 Dec 2012 22:00:00 +0000

Nine of twelve leukemia patients who received infusions of their own T cells after the cells had been genetically engineered to attack the patients' tumors responded to the therapy, which was pioneered by scientists in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

Pathway Identified in Human Lymphoma Points Way to New Blood Cancer Treatments

Wed, 21 Nov 2012 13:15:00 +0000

Research shows for the first time that the UPR is active in patients with human lymphomas and mice genetically bred to develop lymphomas.

Tension on Gut Muscles Induces Cell Invasion in Zebrafish Intestine, Mimicking Cancer Metastasis, Penn Study Finds

Wed, 05 Sep 2012 23:30:00 +0000

Towards a better understanding of how tissue stiffness drives cancer, in a new paper published in PLoS Bio this week, Michael Pack, MD, associate professor of Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues, show that epithelial cells lining the intestine of zebrafish that carry an activating mutation of the smooth muscle myosin gene form protrusions called invadopodia that allow the cells to invade surrounding connective tissue.

Diabetes Drugs Prescribed to More than 15 Million Americans Raises Risk of Bladder Cancer, Penn Medicine Study Shows

Mon, 13 Aug 2012 14:00:00 +0000

A popular class of diabetes drugs increases patients' risk of bladder cancer, according to a new study published online this month in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found that patients taking thiazolidinedione (TZDs) drugs – which account for up to 20 percent of the drugs prescribed to diabetics in the United States -- are two to three times more likely to develop bladder cancer than those who took a sulfonylurea drug, another common class of medications for diabetes.

Graphic Warning Labels Improve Smokers' Recall of Warning and Health Risks Related to Smoking, Penn Medicine Study Shows

Fri, 15 Jun 2012 15:00:00 +0000

In a first of its kind study in the U.S., researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (www.med.upenn.edu) have shown that the addition of graphic warning labels on cigarette packaging can improve smokers' recall of the warning and health risks associated with smoking.

Perelman School of Medicine Cancer Biologist Selected as a 2012 Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences

Thu, 14 Jun 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Kathryn E. Wellen, PhD, assistant professor of Cancer Biology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, is among the 22 researchers named Pew Scholars in the Biomedical Sciences by The Pew Charitable Trusts this week.

Pancreatic Cancer Can Run but Not Hide from the Immune System, according to Penn Study

Tue, 12 Jun 2012 15:00:00 +0000

A study published this week in Cancer Cell from the Perelman School of Medicine and the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania describes how pancreatic cancer cells produce a protein that attracts immune cells and tricks them into helping cancer cells grow.

Testicular Cancer Survivors Often Report Behaviors That Increase Risk of Cardiovascular Problems, Penn Study Shows

Thu, 31 May 2012 19:00:00 +0000

Despite being at risk of cardiovascular problems associated with testicular cancer treatment, survivors of the disease -- the most common type of cancer striking young men -- frequently report behaviors such as smoking and risky alcohol use that could further raise their chances of developing those late effects of treatment, according to a study from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania that will be presented at the annual meeting of American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting on Saturday, June 2.

Penn Study Finds Delayed Side Effects of Head and Neck Cancer Treatments Go Unreported

Thu, 31 May 2012 19:00:00 +0000

National data show that currently more than 10 percent of preschoolers in the United States are obese, and an additional 10 percent are overweight. In a recently published article, a researcher from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, in collaboration with peers and colleagues from across the nation, says that effective strategies to target pregnancy, infancy, and toddlers are urgently needed to stop the progression of childhood obesity.

Photodynamic Therapy Added to Lung-Sparing Surgery Improves Survival for Mesothelioma Patients

Tue, 29 May 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Among patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma, treatment with lung-sparing surgery in combination with photodynamic therapy (PDT) yielded unusually long survival rates, with median survival rates up to two or more years longer than is reported with traditional treatments, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

FDA-approved Drug Makes Established Cancer Vaccine Work Better, Penn Study Finds

Wed, 16 May 2012 18:00:00 +0000

A team from the Perelman School of Medicine and the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute at the University of Pennsylvania found that the FDA-approved drug daclizumab improved the survival of breast cancer patients taking a cancer vaccine by 30 percent, compared to those patients not taking daclizumab.

Block Its Recycling System, and Cancer Kicks the Can, According to New Penn Study

Tue, 08 May 2012 16:00:00 +0000

All cells have the ability to recycle unwanted or damaged proteins and reuse the building blocks as food. But cancer cells have ramped up the system, called autophagy, and rely on it to escape damage in the face of chemotherapy and other treatments.

Penn Medicine Cancer Team's "Serial Killer" T Cell Leukemia Treatment Named Among Nation's Top Clinical Research Achievements

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Carl June, MD, director of Translational Research for the Abramson Cancer Center and a professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in the Perelman School of Medicine at University of Pennsylvania, has been named among the top three winners of the inaugural Clinical Research Forum Top 10 Clinical Research Achievement Awards for his work treating chronic lymphocytic leukemia using genetically engineered versions of patients' own T cells, which multiply in the body as "serial killer" cells aimed at cancerous tumors.

Penn-Developed Online Cancer Resource Launches Redesign, New Features to Guide Patients, Caregivers

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 14:00:00 +0000

OncoLink®, a free cancer information website developed by experts at the University of Pennsylvania's Abramson Cancer Center has launched a redesigned website based on the search habits and feedback from patients, caregivers and health care providers who use the site.

New Universal Platform for Cancer Immunotherapy Developed by Penn-led Team

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 20:00:00 +0000

Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania report this month in Cancer Research a universal approach to personalized cancer therapy based on T cells.

Health: Man's Best Friend Helping With Brain Cancer Vaccine Research

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 21:22:33 +0000

CBS 3 features a new cancer vaccine helping both dogs and humans with brain tumors. The vaccine is made of cancer cells that stimulate the immune system to fight the tumor, and perhaps even stop it from recurring. Penn Neurosurgery and the Abramson Cancer Center are now enrolling newly diagnosed patients with glioblastoma for vaccine trials. Communications placement

Penn Radiology Researchers Researchers Receive $2.5 Million NIH Grant for Breast Cancer Virtual Clinical Trials

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 16:00:00 +0000

Two researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have been awarded a four-year, $2.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health's National Cancer Institute to conduct breast cancer virtual clinical trials research.

New Combo of Chemo and Well-Known Malaria Drug Delivers Double Punch to Tumors

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 18:00:00 +0000

Blocking autophagy -- the process of "self-eating" within cells -- is turning out to be a viable way to enhance the effectiveness of a wide variety of cancer treatments.

Four-Week Vaccination Regimen Knocks Out Early Breast Cancer Tumors, Penn Researchers Report

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 04:00:00 +0000

Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine and the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania report that a short course of vaccination with an anti-HER2 dendritic cell vaccine made partly from the patient's own cells triggers a complete tumor eradication in nearly 20 percent of women with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), an early breast cancer. More than 85 percent of patients treated appear to have a sustained immune response after vaccination, which may reduce their risk of developing a more invasive cancer in the future. The results of the study were published online this month of Cancer and in the January issue of the Journal of Immunotherapy.

Gender Differences in Liver Cancer Risk Explained by Small Changes in Genome, Penn Study Finds

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 04:00:00 +0000

Men are four times more likely to develop liver cancer compared to women, a difference attributed to the sex hormones androgen and estrogen. Although this gender difference has been known for a long time, the molecular mechanisms by which estrogens prevent -- and androgens promote -- liver cancer remain unclear.

Cell Tracking Allows Penn Researchers to See Metastasis of Pancreatic Cancer in Action

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 04:00:00 +0000

TBen Stanger, MD, PhD, assistant professor of Medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, and Andrew Rhim, MD, a Gastroenterology Fellow in the Stanger lab, discovered that pancreatic cancer cells in an animal model begin to spread before clinically obvious tumor tissue is detected. What's more, they showed that inflammation enhances cancer progression in part by facilitating a cellular transformation that leads to entry of cancer cells into the circulation. They report their findings this week in Cell.

Cancer Cells Feed on Sugar-Free Diet

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 04:00:00 +0000

Cancer cells have been long known to have a "sweet tooth," using vast amounts of glucose for energy and for building blocks for cell replication.

Penn Researchers Shorten Time for Manufacturing of Personalized Ovarian Cancer Vaccine

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 04:00:00 +0000

Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania are in the midst of testing a personalized, dendritic cell vaccine in patients with recurrent ovarian, primary peritoneal or fallopian tube cancer – a group of patients who typically have few treatment options. Now, they have shown they can shorten the time to manufacture this type of anti-cancer vaccine, which reduces costs of manufacturing the treatment while still yielding powerful dendritic cells that may be beneficial for these and a variety of other tumor types. The data is published in the December issue of PLoS ONE.

Novel Immuno-Gene Therapy Shows Promise for the Treatment of Rare, Deadly Form of Cancer

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 04:00:00 +0000

Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania report promising new results from a small clinical trial using an immune-system-based gene therapy for treating advanced stages of a deadly cancer, malignant mesothelioma. The treatment, immuno-gene therapy, transfers just enough genetic material from an existing virus to trigger a patient's innate defenses to destroy cancer cells. The study results, published in the December 15th issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, may lead to earlier interventions for patients using targeted therapies.

HIV Drug Reduces Graft-versus-Host Disease in Stem Cell Transplant Patients, Penn Study Shows

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 04:00:00 +0000

Inhibition of Lymphocyte Trafficking Using a CCR5 Antagonist – Final Results of a Phase I/II Study.

Penn Study Points to Novel Way to Improve Outcomes from Umbilical Cord Blood Transplants

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 04:00:00 +0000

A Phase 1 Dose Escalation Study of Infusion of ExVivo CD3/CD28 Costimulated Umbilical Cord Blood-Derived T Cells in Adults Undergoing Transplantation for Advanced Hematologic Malignancies.

Penn Researchers Repair Immune System in Leukemia Patients Following Chemotherapy

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 04:00:00 +0000

Adoptive Immunotherapy with Autologous CD3/CD28-Costimulated T-Cells After Fludarabine-Based Chemotherapy in Patients with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia.

Penn Researchers Find Contralateral Prophylactic Mastectomy (CPM) Offers Limited Gains to Life Expectancy for Breast Cancer Patients

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 04:00:00 +0000

A Decision Analysis of Contralateral Prophylactic Mastectomy in Women Undergoing Treatment for Sporadic Unilateral Breast Cancer.

Write to Fight Cancer with David Tabatsky

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 04:00:00 +0000

Write to Fight Cancer Author David Tabatsky is coming to Joan Karnell Cancer Center at Pennsylvania Hospital for the "Write to Fight Cancer" program, a free interactive expressive writing workshop. The event is open to all people affected by cancer (patients, survivors, caregivers, friends, etc.) and it will feature expert advice, writing exercises and discussion. David will help participants transform their thoughts and feelings into words and stories.

Penn Medicine Physicians Receive Five-Year, $7.5 Million Grant for Breast Cancer Screening Research from the National Cancer Institute

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 04:00:00 +0000

University of Pennsylvania researchers have received a five-year, $7.5 million grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to create the Penn Center for Innovation in Personalized Breast Cancer Screening (PCIPS), dedicated to studying emerging methods of breast cancer detection. The NCI funding will allow the team, led by Perelman School of Medicine faculty Katrina Armstrong, MD, MSCE, chief of the division of Internal Medicine and associate director of Outcomes and Delivery in the Abramson Cancer Center, and Mitchell Schnall, MD, PhD, Matthew J. Wilson Professor of Radiology, to use clinical, genomic and imaging information to guide the use of novel, personalized breast cancer screening strategies that will reduce false positive rates to improve outcomes."

In a Childhood Cancer, Basic Biology Offers Clues to Better Treatments

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 04:00:00 +0000

By studying tumor biology at the molecular level, researchers are gaining a deeper understanding of drug resistance - and how to avoid it by designing pediatric cancer treatments tailored to specific mutations in a child"s DNA. In a fruitful collaboration, pediatric oncologists and biochemists are targeting neuroblastoma, an often-deadly childhood cancer of the peripheral nervous system.

Penn Gastroenterologists Collaborate on $8 Million Barrett's Esophagus Translational Research Network

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 04:00:00 +0000

A research group at the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania, led by John Lynch, MD, PhD, assistant professor of Medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology, has received a National Cancer Institute (NCI) grant to establish a Barrett's esophagus translational research network (BETRNet) with Columbia University (led by Dr. Timothy Wang) and the Mayo Clinic (led by Dr. Kenneth Wang). The award is for nearly $8 million across all sites.

Invitation to Cover High Fashion and Hope

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 04:00:00 +0000

It will be lights, camera, fashion, and passion for a cure during the Abramson Cancer Center's Focus On Women's Cancers Conference on Friday, October 28th. Penn Medicine cancer physicians, patients, and survivors will take to the runway modeling clothes by fashion designer and philanthropist Tory Burch to cap off the daylong conference, which includes educational sessions for women undergoing treatment for or at risk of breast, ovarian and other gynecologic cancers.

Lab-Made Skin Cells Will Aid Transplantation, Cancer, Drug Discovery Research, Say Penn Scientists

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 04:00:00 +0000

The pigmented cells called melanocytes aren't just for making freckles and tans. Melanocytes absorb ultraviolet light, protecting the skin from the harmful effects of the sun. They also are the cells that go haywire in melanoma, as well as in more common conditions as vitiligo and albinism.

Penn Assistant Professor Named Educator of the Year by Association of Residents in Radiation Oncology

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 04:00:00 +0000

Smith Apisarnthanarax, MD, Assistant Professor and Associate Residency Program Director, Department of Radiation Oncology, was named Educator of the Year by the Association of Residents in Radiation Oncology (ARRO), in partnership with the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).

Penn-Developed Online Informed Consent Tool Could Boost Number of Patients in Cancer Clinical Trials

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 02:00:00 +0000

A new multimedia informed consent tool accessed via the Internet may make it easier for cancer patients to understand and feel comfortable enrolling in clinical trials, according a study conducted by researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania that will be presented at the American Society for Radiation Oncology's (ASTRO) 53rd Annual Meeting. The research group points to the tool as a potential way to buoy the low percentage of adult cancer patients who participate in clinical trials, which hovers between 2 and 4 percent nationwide.

Penn Medicine Researcher Receives $1.5 Million Grant to Study Role of Estrogen Deprivation In Joint Pain During Cancer Treatment

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 02:00:00 +0000

Jun Mao, MD, MSCE assistant professor of Family Medicine and Community Health in the Perelman School of Medicine, and director of Integrative Medicine, recently received a 1.5 million dollar National Cancer Institute (NCI) grant to study the way in which genetic variations in estrogen synthesis affect women with breast cancer who are taking aromatase inhibitors, which are typically used to prevent recurrence. The drugs help post-menopausal women to further suppress their body's production of estrogen.

Penn Pharmacologist Receives Grant from Prostate Cancer Foundation to Find New Ways to Fight Drug Resistant Tumors

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 02:00:00 +0000

Trevor Penning, PhD, professor of Pharmacology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues have received a 2011 Prostate Cancer Foundation Challenge Award.

Relationship Between Exercise and Breast Cancer Recurrence to be Studied by New Penn Medicine Center

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 20:00:00 +0000

A $10 million grant from the National Cancer Institute will fund a new center at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania focusing on the relationship between exercise, weight loss, and improving the length and quality of life for the nation's 12 million cancer survivors.

Penn-designed Triple Therapy Regime Puts Patients with Leukemic Form of Cutaneous Lymphoma in Remission

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 20:00:00 +0000

A three-pronged immunotherapy approach nearly doubles five-year survival among patients with rare leukemic form of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, reports a new study by dermatologists from the Abramson Cancer Center and Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

Genetically Modified "Serial Killer" T Cells Obliterate Tumors in Patients with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, Penn Researchers Report

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 18:00:00 +0000

In a cancer treatment breakthrough 20 years in the making, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania's Abramson Cancer Center and Perelman School of Medicine have shown sustained remissions of up to a year among a small group of advanced chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients treated with genetically engineered versions of their own T cells.

Penn Study on Silencing of Tumor Suppressor Gene Suggests New Target for Lymphoma

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 15:00:00 +0000

Mariusz A. Wasik, MD, professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, and Qian Zhang, MD, PhD, research assistant professor, both from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and their colleagues, found that a cancer-causing fusion protein works by silencing the tumor suppressor gene IL-2R common gamma-chain.

Penn Study Finds More Effective Approach Against "Achilles' Heel" of Ovarian Cancer

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 15:00:00 +0000

In a recent issue of Cancer Research, Daniel J. Powell, Jr., PhD, a research assistant professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, showed for the first time that engineered human T cells can eradicate deadly human ovarian cancer in immune-deficient mice.