New on NCI’s Websites for June 2023

June 29, 2023, by Daryl McGrath

National Cancer Plan

NCI recently published the National Cancer Plan, a comprehensive plan that lays out eight goals and sets forth strategies to speed up scientific progress against the disease. The plan relies on collaboration among the federal government, academia, industry, and nonprofit organizations to achieve these goals, which encompass the entire cancer continuum—from cancer prevention to early detection, improved treatments, greater access to clinical trials, and better overall care delivery. The plan also aims to strengthen the cancer care infrastructure by maximizing data use and optimizing the cancer workforce, as well as to eliminate inequities in access to prevention, screening, treatment, and survivorship care.

NCI Cancer Prevention Clinic

NCI’s Cancer Prevention Clinic recently launched its new website. The clinic conducts research in cancer prevention, early detection, and screening for groups at high risk of cancer. Housed in NCI’s Center for Cancer Research, the clinic combines expertise from the Division of Cancer Prevention with that of intramural investigators from the Center for Cancer Research and the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics. 

Cancer Survivor Videos and Survivorship Q&As 

June is National Cancer Survivors Month. In recognition of the more than 18 million cancer survivors in the United States, NCI’s Office of Cancer Survivorship (OCS) is adding a new video each week of this month to its Cancer Survivor Stories page, which highlights survivors’ experiences. The office also created a Questions and Answers page focused on cancer survivorship, which features short videos of OCS Director Emily Tonorezos, M.D., answering submitted questions. 

ComboMATCH Clinical Trials

NCI helped launch the ComboMATCH precision medicine clinical trials for people with advanced cancers driven by certain genetic mutations. The ComboMATCH screening trial is the gateway to this coordinated set of clinical trials, which seek to study cancer treatment directed by genetic testing.

The trials’ web page shares information on the types of cancers being studied, how to join the ComboMATCH screening study, goals of the project, and what treatment studies are currently accepting patients.

Video: Leukemia Statistics | Did You Know?

Did you know that there are four main subtypes of leukemia? This new video in NCI’s Did You Know? video series covers incidence and survival rates for leukemia and how data vary by subtype and age. 

Advances in Cancer Research

NCI's Cancer.gov website includes a collection of pages that summarize recent research on specific cancer types. These pages highlight the latest treatment, screening, and prevention approaches as well as approaches that are likely to improve cancer care soon. The following pages have been extensively updated in the past few months. 

• Advances in Melanoma and Other Skin Cancers Research
• Advances in Prostate Cancer Research 
• Advances in Kidney Cancer Research 

CCR Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Accessibility

NCI’s Center for Cancer Research recently launched a new section of their website for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) news and topics. The new content includes the Aligned Blog, which highlights DEIA-related topics, from reflecting on heritage months to the importance of diversity in science.

Global Oncology Survey of NCI-Designated Cancer Centers

NCI’s Center for Global Health has published the 2021 report for the Global Oncology Survey of NCI-Designated Cancer Centers. The Center for Global Health periodically surveys all NCI-Designated Cancer Centers to document their activities in global oncology and to identify opportunities for collaboration in cancer research and control. 

New Drug Information Summaries

Several new pages have been added to NCI’s collection of summaries of drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat different types of cancer.

• Mirvetuximab soravtansine-gynx (Elahere) was approved to treat ovarian epithelial, fallopian tube, and primary peritoneal cancer that is folate receptor–alpha positive and has stopped responding to platinum-based chemotherapy.
• Elacestrant dihydrochloride (Orserdu) is approved to treat breast cancer that is estrogen receptor (ER) positive and HER2 negative, has a mutation in the ESR1 gene, and has spread.
• Pirtobrutinib (Jaypirca) has been approved to treat mantle cell lymphoma that has come back or has not gotten better after at least two types of systemic therapy that included a BTK inhibitor.
• Futibatinib (Lytgobi) is approved to treat intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (cancer that forms in the bile ducts inside the liver) that has spread or cannot be removed with surgery.
• Retifanlimab-dlwr (Zynyz) is approved to treat Merkel cell carcinoma that has spread or come back.

Updated Fact Sheets about Vitamin D and H. pylori Infection 

Vitamin D and Cancer reviews studies that look at links between a person’s vitamin D level or their use of vitamin D supplements and their risk of developing or dying from cancer. 

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) and Cancer looks at the link between chronic H. pylori infection and the risk of stomach cancer, gastric MALT lymphoma, and other cancers.