The Research Evangelist

I’ve been writing a lot about the Precision Medicine Initiative because I am excited about this approach to cancer treatment, and the advancements being made.   The National Foundation for Cancer Research (NFCR) has supported cancer research for all cancers since 1973, and is taking a leadership role in educating the public about how cancer treatment has less to do with the location of the tumor, and more to do with the genetic abnormalities.   Yet today, it’s still the case in most medical care systems that cancers are classified mainly by the type of tissue or part of the body in which they presented—breast, lung, brain, colon, etc. But thanks to advances in scientific knowledge and DNA sequencing technology, things are changing, and researchers are discovering that cancers that arise in totally different parts of the body can sometimes have a lot in common. This is leading to rethinking how we approach clinical trials. For example, The NCI-Molecular Analysis for The...

Cancer hit close to home for me again this week.   A friend of mine in Washington, DC was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer – age 44 non-smoker.   My heart is broken for him and his beautiful family.   At the same time, it reinforces my commitment to raising money for cancer research, including research that would help my friend. It also reminds me of how fortunate I am to live in Massachusetts, and to participate in the scientific community of innovation in Boston and Cambridge.   The National Foundation for Cancer Research (NFCR) has supported cancer research in laboratories in Boston for many years, at Massachusetts General Hospital, Dana Farber, Beth Israel and MIT.   Greater Boston truly is one of the most important centers for innovation in the world, and I spend a lot of time here, exploring potential collaborations with leaders in the biotech, venture capital, and academic medical research communities. Boston and Cambridge are home to so many innov...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved Iressa (gefitinib) for the first-line treatment of patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumors harbor specific types of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene mutations.      This new approval extends only to patients whose tumors express specific mutations, originally identified by National Foundation for Cancer Research (NFCR)-supported scientist Daniel Haber, M.D., Ph.D. at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), which make them especially responsive to the drug. With this approval, metastatic non-small cell lung cancer patients whose tumors have EGFR mutations now have three personalized treatment options.   It was Dr. Haber’s landmark research in 2004 that first identified the specific EGFR mutations that predict which patients will have a positive response to Iressa. In making its ruling, the FDA cites a recent clinical trial , which directly credits Dr. Haber’s...

I continue to be encouraged by advances in the use of circulating tumor cell (CTC) analysis in cancer treatment, but so much work needs to be done.   In a recent study led by Martine Mazel from University Medical Centre in Montpellier, France , researchers have demonstrated the ability to gauge PD-L1 expression from liquid biopsies of metastatic breast cancer patients.   Immune checkpoint regulators are becoming increasing important and have given rise to the development of immunotherapies for cancer treatment. PD-L1 is an immune checkpoint regulator targeted by a number of approved and developmental oncology therapies.    Using the CELLSEARCH® System developed by Janssen Diagnostics, researchers tested blood samples from 16 women with hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer and found 11 patients had a subpopulation of CTCs with weak or strong PD-L1 expression. These results indicate that CTC analysis for PD-L1 expression is feasible ...