KaCrole Higgins was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020. “In May 2020, I found a lump in my breast. I cried. By June, it was diagnosed as breast cancer, triple positive, stage 1A. While getting this cancer diagnosis was devastating, it also became an opportunity. Suddenly, the cancer gave me clarity. It gave me clarity about what was important, what was good in my life, what was toxic in my life, and what I needed to do.” Click below to read more of KaCrole’s story
If Landon Ryan had been diagnosed with bilateral retinoblastoma 10, 20 or 30 years ago, she might not be here today with nearly perfect vision.Thanks to recent improvements in the treatment for this rare form of cancer that almost exclusively affects children under the age of 5, the diagnosis had the power to change Landon’s life when she was 11 months old, but not to take it — or her eyesight. Click below to learn more about Landon and her story.
Vanderbilt's Neil Osheroff, PhD, is part of an international research collaboration resulting in what is on track to be the first new antibiotic treatment for uncomplicated urinary tract infections in more than 20 years.
New research shows the nutritive needs of B cells are more flexible than previously thought, which could enable researchers to steer antibody production in the lymph nodes and spleen to better combat autoimmunity. Patients with high-risk diseases of the immune system, particularly systemic lupus erythematosus, could stand to benefit from the research findings. The study led by Mark Boothby, MD, and published in the Journal of Immunology, provides details regarding how murine B cells use different sugars as they mature into antibody-producing cells
An international collaboration led by biochemist David Cortez reached revelatory conclusions in exploration of how cells tolerate DNA damage and genome instability. Est. reading time: 2 mins.
This ComboMATCH patient screening trial is the gateway to a coordinated set of clinical trials to study cancer treatment directed by genetic testing. Patients with solid tumors that have spread to nearby tissue or lymph nodes (locally advanced) or have spread to other places in the body (advanced) and have progressed on at least one line of standard systemic therapy or have no standard treatment that has been shown to prolong overall survival may be candidates for these trials. Genetic tests look at the unique genetic material (genes) of patients' tumor cells. Patients with some genetic changes or abnormalities (mutations) may benefit from treatment that targets that particular genetic mutation. ComboMATCH is designed to match patients to a treatment that may work to control their tumor and may help doctors plan better treatment for patients with locally advanced or advanced solid tumors.
The purpose of the study is to assess the safety and efficacy of inavolisib as a single-agent and in combination with atezolizumab in participants with phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate 3-kinase catalytic subunit alpha isoform (PIK3CA)-mutated cancers, including previously treated head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC).
This phase II ADC MATCH screening and multi-sub-study treatment trial is evaluating whether biomarker-directed treatment with one of three antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) (sacituzumab govitecan, enfortumab vedotin, and trastuzumab deruxtecan) works in treating patients with solid tumor cancers that have high expression of the Trop-2, nectin-4, or HER2 proteins and that may have spread from where they first started (primary site) to nearby tissue, lymph nodes, or distant parts of the body (advanced) or to other places in the body (metastatic). Precision medicine is a form of medicine that uses information about a person's genes, proteins, and environment to prevent, diagnose, or treat disease in a way that is tailored to the patient. ADCs such as sacituzumab govitecan, enfortumab vedotin, and trastuzumab deruxtecan are monoclonal antibodies attached to biologically active drugs and are a form of targeted therapy. Sacituzumab govitecan is a monoclonal antibody, called sacituzumab, linked to a drug called govitecan. Sacituzumab attaches to a protein called Trop-2 on the surface of tumor cells and delivers govitecan to kill them. Enfortumab vedotin is a monoclonal antibody, enfortumab, linked to an anticancer drug called vedotin. It works by helping the immune system to slow or stop the growth of tumor cells. Enfortumab attaches to a protein called nectin-4 on tumor cells in a targeted way and delivers vedotin to kill them. Trastuzumab deruxtecan is composed of a monoclonal antibody, called trastuzumab, linked to a chemotherapy drug, called deruxtecan. Trastuzumab attaches to HER2 positive tumor cells in a targeted way and delivers deruxtecan to kill them. Personalized treatment with sacituzumab govitecan, enfortumab vedotin, or trastuzumab deruxtecan may be an effective treatment option for patients with advanced or metastatic solid tumors that screen positive for high expression of Trop-2, nectin-4, or HER2, respectively.
The goal of this clinical trial is to evaluate the safety of TOS-358 in adults with select solid tumors who meet study enrollment criteria. The main questions it aims to answer are:
1. what is the maximum tolerated dose and recommended dose for phase 2?
2. how safe and tolerable is TOS-358 at different dose levels when taken orally once or twice per day?
Breast,
Cervical,
Gastrointestinal,
Gynecologic,
Head/Neck,
Lung,
Phase I,
Urologic
The purpose of this study is to determine if panitumumab-IRDye800 is effective in identifying cancer, compared to surrounding normal tissue, and the further characterize the safety profile of this drug.
This phase II trial studies the effect of pembrolizumab alone compared to the usual approach (chemotherapy \[cisplatin and carboplatin\] plus radiation therapy) after surgery in treating patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma that has come back (recurrent) or patients with a second head and neck cancer that is not from metastasis (primary). Radiation therapy uses high energy radiation or protons to kill tumor cells and shrink tumors. Cisplatin is in a class of medications known as platinum-containing compounds. It works by killing, stopping or slowing the growth of cancer cells. Carboplatin is also in a class of medications known as platinum-containing compounds. It works in a way similar to the anticancer drug cisplatin, but may be better tolerated than cisplatin. Carboplatin works by killing, stopping or slowing the growth of cancer cells. Immunotherapy with monoclonal antibodies, such as pembrolizumab, may help the body's immune system attack the cancer and may interfere with the ability of tumor cells to grow and spread. Giving pembrolizumab alone after surgery may work better than the usual approach in shrinking recurrent or primary head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.
This phase I trial tests the safety and effectiveness of indium In 111 panitumumab (111In-panitumumab) for identifying the first lymph nodes to which cancer has spread from the primary tumor (sentinel lymph nodes) in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) undergoing surgery. The most important factor for survival for many cancer types is the presence of cancer that has spread to the lymph nodes (metastasis). Lymph node metastases in patients with head and neck cancer reduce the 5-year survival by half. Sometimes, the disease is too small to be found on clinical and imaging exams before surgery. 111In-panitumumab is in a class of medications called radioimmunoconjugates. It is composed of a radioactive substance (indium In 111) linked to a monoclonal antibody (panitumumab). Panitumumab binds to EGFR receptors, a receptor that is over-expressed on the surface of many tumor cells and plays a role in tumor cell growth. Once 111In-panitumumab binds to tumor cells, it is able to be seen using an imaging technique called single photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography (SPECT/CT). SPECT/CT can be used to make detailed pictures of the inside of the body and to visualize areas where the radioactive drug has been taken up by the cells. Using 111In-panitumumab with SPECT/CT imaging may improve identification of sentinel lymph nodes in patients with head and neck squamous cell cancer undergoing surgery.