Douglas Johnson Archives
Study identifies targeted therapy’s cardiac risks
Sep. 25, 2019—After a recent study showed that chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients who received ibrutinib as a frontline treatment had a 7% death rate, a new study offers a clearer picture on the reasons for the deaths.
Encephalitis identified as rare toxicity of immunotherapy treatment
Jul. 22, 2019—Researchers are chronicling rare but serious toxicities that may occur with immune checkpoint inhibitors, the most widely prescribed class of immunotherapies.
Medical Societies honor multiple Vanderbilt faculty
Apr. 18, 2019—Several Vanderbilt faculty members were recently honored during the joint annual meeting of the Association of American Physicians (AAP) and American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI).
Immunotherapies linked to specific heart complications
Nov. 15, 2018—In the first large-scale analysis of cardiovascular complications linked to immune checkpoint inhibitors, Vanderbilt researchers have shown that heart and vessel complications include myocarditis, pericarditis, vasculitis and arrhythmias, and that they occur early in the course of treatment.
Study tracks incidence, timing of immunotherapy-related deaths
Sep. 13, 2018—Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center researchers have answered questions about the incidence and timing of rare but sometimes fatal reactions to the most widely prescribed class of immunotherapies.
Entertainers’ support strengthens VICC melanoma research efforts
Apr. 12, 2018—Henry Paul and Dave Robbins, members of country music group BlackHawk, as well as southern rock band The Outlaws, recently donated $40,000 to Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC) in support of melanoma research. Since 2006, the band members have generated more than $100,000 for VICC.
Cancer immunotherapy drugs linked with more serious heart effects
Mar. 12, 2018—Vanderbilt University Medical Center investigators have identified a growing number of serious and sometimes fatal cases of heart problems among cancer patients treated with some forms of immunotherapy.
Study details rare heart risk of certain cancer therapies
Nov. 3, 2016—Combination therapy using two approved immunotherapy drugs for cancer treatment may cause rare and sometimes fatal cardiac side effects linked to an unexpected immune response. In a study led by Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) investigators and published in the Nov. 3 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers describe two cases of...
Precision medicine already changing cancer treatment strategies
May. 26, 2016—The ability to test patients’ cancers for individual differences, mainly at the genetic level, and to make treatment decisions based on those differences is the hallmark of precision medicine, and Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) is among the leaders of this new approach to diagnosis and treatment.
Melanoma response to immune therapy
Mar. 3, 2016—Melanoma-specific expression of a certain protein identifies tumors that are more responsive to an immune therapy.
Investigators find clues to melanoma treatment resistance
Oct. 29, 2015—Nearly half of all patients with malignant melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer, have a mutation in the BRAF gene found in their tumors. Mutations in the BRAF gene turn on a cancer growth switch known as the MAP kinase pathway.
Gene mutations may predict melanoma response to immunotherapies
Mar. 12, 2015—Melanoma patients whose tumors test positive for mutations in the NRAS gene were more likely to benefit from new immunotherapy drugs, according to a new study led by Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC) investigators.
