Cancer

April 11, 2019

Pathways of radiosensitization

Austin Kirschner and colleagues demonstrate how a hormone therapy for prostate cancer improves radiation’s tumor-killing power.

By Leigh MacMillan
Research by Robert Coffey, MD, left, Dennis Jeppesen, PhD, and colleagues has revealed a new way cells shed DNA into the bloodstream.
April 11, 2019

Discovery aids search for cancer biomarkers

A report by researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center has shattered conventional wisdom about how cells, including cancer cells, shed DNA into the bloodstream: they don’t do it by packaging the genetic material in tiny vesicles called exosomes.

By Bill Snyder
From left, Benjamin Brown, Christine Lovly, MD, PhD, Yun-Kai Zhang, PhD, Jens Meiler, PhD, and colleagues are exploring new ways to understand resistance to targeted cancer therapy drugs.
April 11, 2019

Study reframes approach to targeted therapy resistance

When a tumor mutates and develops resistance to a targeted therapy, researchers often focus on the acquisition of new mutations within the drug target as they seek an alternative treatment, but a team of Vanderbilt scientists has shown this may not be sufficient.

By Tom Wilemon
April 4, 2019

Head and neck cancer screening event set for April 12

Early diagnosis of head and neck cancer greatly increases odds of survival, but its symptoms can be subtle or mimic viral infections, so Vanderbilt Health offers a free screening annually.

By Tom Wilemon
March 28, 2019

Hot chemotherapy surgery helps save patient’s leg

Tom Deweese can keep up with his grandchildren because of a highly specialized surgery using hot chemotherapy that saved his leg.

By Tom Wilemon
March 28, 2019

Tool guides decision-making for prostate cancer patients

Prostate cancer patients in Nashville and Los Angeles are benefiting from a computer-based decision aid that implements the latest study results to tailor treatment options to an individual’s quality-of-life priorities.

By Craig Boerner
March 28, 2019

Cancer prevention drug also disables H. pylori bacterium

A medicine currently being tested as a chemoprevention agent for multiple types of cancer has more than one trick in its bag when it comes to preventing stomach cancer, Vanderbilt researchers have discovered.
By Leigh MacMillan
March 28, 2019

Bladder cancer research fund honors mentor’s lasting influence

The Terry Burke Fund for Bladder Cancer Research at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center is supporting a range of discovery research aimed at improving outcomes for bladder cancer patients, and it is helping train the next generation of bladder cancer physician-scientists.
By Leigh MacMillan
March 14, 2019

Hockey Fights Cancer

Ray Cruz, a patient at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, performed the national anthem at the Nashville Predators Hockey Fights Cancer night.
By VUMC News and Communications
February 28, 2019

Lighting up colorectal cancer

A nanobeacon imaging agent that binds specifically to colorectal cancer cells may aid the early detection of cancer during colonoscopy.
By Leigh MacMillan
February 28, 2019

Achilles’ heel for kidney cancer

The discovery that kidney cells with mutations in a certain gene are sensitive to therapies called PI3K inhibitors opens new opportunities for applying precision medicine to cancer treatment.
By VUMC News and Communications
February 28, 2019

Protein loss promotes cell migration

The protein kinase STK17A plays a novel role in epithelial cells and its loss may contribute to colorectal cancer invasion and metastasis, Vanderbilt researchers report.
By Leigh MacMillan
February 28, 2019

Investigators map genomic landscape of very rare cancer

A team of Vanderbilt researchers mapped out the genomic landscape of a metastatic malignant proliferating tricholemmal tumor and identified a targeted treatment for this very rare cancer.
By Tom Wilemon