Johns Hopkins-led study finds advanced cancers destined to recur after treatment with single drugs

Targeted cancer cell therapies using man-made proteins dramatically shrink many tumors in the first few months of treatment, but new research from Johns Hopkins scientists finds why the cells all too often become resistant, the treatment stops working, and the disease returns. In a study of 28 advanced colon cancer patients treated with the monoclonal antibody panitumumab, the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center team reports that drug-resistance tumor cell mutations appear in the blood of patients five to seven months later, and that low levels of these mutations exist in nearly all tumors before the therapy begins, making the cancers predestined to recur.

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Among the research institutions NCI funds across the United States, it currently designates 66 as Cancer Centers. Largely based in research universities, these facilities are home to many of the NCI-supported scientists who conduct a wide range of intense, laboratory research into cancer’s origins and development. The Cancer Centers Program also focuses on trans-disciplinary research, including population science and clinical research. The centers’ research results are often at the forefront of studies in the cancer field.