Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center celebrated a ribbon cutting recently  at the Cookeville Regional Medical Center Cancer Center, where Vanderbilt-Ingram medical oncologists, radiation oncologists and advanced practice nurses are now the exclusive providers for cancer care.

There, she will develop and implement program aims, participate in strategic decision-making in the Cancer Center, direct pilot project funding, facilitate interactions among Cancer Center members, and assist in the recruiting activities for the 42-member program with over $11.7 million in annual peer-reviewed funding.

The findings were so promising that the clinical trial is being redesigned to investigate whether radiation treatment can also be avoided.

The authors hope the report will provide insight on the importance of education, screening and awareness to all health care providers.

The Vanderbilt study used RNA-sequencing data generated in multiple normal tissues, along with matched genotype data from the Genotype-Tissue Expression Project as well as large-scale genomic data for cancers of the breast, ovary, prostate, colorectum, lung and pancreas.

The study reported in the journal Nature provides a mechanistic explanation for the “obesity paradox” — that obesity can contribute to cancer progression but also improve response to immunotherapy.

The study connected the Hippo signaling pathway to phosphoinositides, a particular type of lipid, or fat molecule, which regulates cell functions that are critical in cancer, obesity and diabetes.