Technology - Cancer Currents Blog
News and commentaries on technology used to conduct cancer research, deliver cancer treatment, improve patient care, and screen for cancer, as well as other topics.
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Scientists have developed a test for use during brain cancer surgery that rapidly measures the levels of certain genetic mutations in patients’ tumor samples. The test uses droplet digital polymerase chain reaction technology and produces results within 15 minutes.
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A device that measures the “stickiness” of cancer cells in tumor samples may help predict the likelihood of a patient’s cancer metastasizing. Researchers believe the device could eventually help doctors make more informed treatment choices.
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In small trials, personalized treatment vaccines appeared to prevent cancer from returning in patients who had successful surgery to remove their tumors. The treatments, which were created based on intensive analyses of patients’ tumors, appeared to be safe.
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Researchers have developed a form of cancer treatment that uses fat cells engineered to aggressively consume nutrients like glucose. When implanted in mice, the engineered cells appeared to outcompete tumors for nutrients, shrinking tumors.
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An AI-based tool called SCORPIO more accurately predicted whether cancer patients’ tumors would respond to checkpoint inhibitors than currently available tests, a new study found. It also predicted how long patients would live after treatment.
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In a pair of studies, researchers engineered a probiotic strain of E. coli called Nissle 1917 so it can help the immune system attack tumors. Although the E. coli were altered in different ways, resulting in two different immune-based treatment strategies, both were effective in mice.
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Researchers have identified hundreds of promising targets for existing drugs or potential new cancer drugs. The findings relied heavily on proteogenomic data from more than 1,000 tumors representing 10 types of cancer released last year by NCI's CPTAC program.
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Scientists have developed a strategy for treating cancer that takes advantage of tumors’ ability to rapidly evolve and turns it against them. It involves intentionally making some tumor cells resistant to a specific treatment from the get-go.
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Drs. Ruth Pfeiffer and Peter Kraft of NCI’s Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics discuss how breast cancer risk assessment tools are created and how people can use them to understand and manage their risk.
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Recent results from several small clinical trials have suggested it may be possible to develop an effective immunotherapy for glioblastoma. Among them are findings from a four-patient trial testing a unique type of mRNA cancer vaccine.