International Research Chemistry Awards

  Men whose prostate cancer returns after surgery or radiation therapy may now benefit from a new drug combination shown in clinical trials to cut the risk of death by more than 40%. The combination therapy, which adds a drug called enzalutamide to commonly prescribed hormone therapy, reduced deaths in patients with recurrent prostate cancer after surgery or radiation for whom other treatments are no longer an option. The trial results were published in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) with simultaneous presentation during the European Society for Medical Oncology Congress (ESMO) Oct. 19 in Berlin. "After initial treatment, some patients see their prostate cancer come back in an aggressive way and are at risk for their disease to spread quickly," said Stephen Freedland, MD, director of the Center for Integrated Research in Cancer and Lifestyle at Cedars-Sinai Cancer and co-principal investigator of the study. "Hormone therapy, which is what we've been offer...

  The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted health care, including cancer screening and diagnosis, especially for medically underserved populations, leading to substantial underdiagnosis of early-stage cancers in 2020. In a new study led by the American Cancer Society (ACS), scientists found that Medicaid expansion was associated with smaller declines in early-stage cancer detection among adults during the pandemic. The study is to be published today in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI). For the study, researchers compared changes in proportions of early-stage (stage I/II) cancer diagnosis in Medicaid expansion states versus non-expansion states. Scientists analyzed data among 1,844,515 individuals aged 18-64 years newly diagnosed with cancer in 2018-2022 from the National Cancer Database using a difference-in-differences (DD) approach. Adjusted DD estimates were calculated and stratified by key sociodemographic factors and cancer type. The results showed that the uninsured...

  Ewing sarcoma is one of the most common bone cancers seen in children, and if it spreads, it can be deadly. One study found that under a quarter of children with multi- metastatic Ewing sarcoma survived five years after their diagnosis. Now scientists have found that a drug called pazopanib had striking success in treating a small group of young patients. 85% of their patients survived two years after diagnosis, and two-thirds saw no disease progression. The team calls for larger studies which can develop this treatment further. "Survival rates were higher than in historical controls, suggesting it may extend lives and, importantly, do so without adding severe toxicity," said Prof Anna Raciborska of the Warsaw Mother and Child Institute, lead author of the article in Frontiers in Oncology . "Moreover, the quality of life of treated children was good. After the end of IV treatment, patients could receive pazopanib as a home treatment." A potential lifesaver Pazopan...

  Australian researchers have identified two nervous system components that drive tumor growth in gastrointestinal cancers , creating promising new avenues for treatment with existing approved therapies. Our gut contains its very own nervous system and is commonly regarded as the second brain. Key players of this system are neuropeptides, the signaling factors that are produced and released by nerves. These factors relay messages throughout our nervous system by connecting to receptors on the outside of cells, influencing a variety of processes. The team at the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute (ONJCRI) and La Trobe School of Cancer Medicine discovered that CGRP, a common neuropeptide, and its receptor RAMP1 influence tumor growth in colorectal and stomach cancers. This is a significant breakthrough because drugs targeting CGRP and RAMP1 are already available to treat migraine. These therapies could potentially be repurposed to treat cancer, fast-tracking the path for cl...

  Researchers fhave created a new type of drug molecule that can precisely destroy TERRA, an RNA molecule that helps certain cancer cells survive. Using advanced "RIBOTAC" technology, their compound finds TERRA inside cells and breaks it down without harming healthy molecules. This discovery could pave the way for a new generation of RNA-based cancer treatments, targeting the disease at its genetic roots rather than just its symptoms. Scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have developed a new kind of drug molecule that can find and destroy a piece of RNA linked to cancer growth. The research, published in Advanced Sciences, was led by Dr. Raphael I. Benhamou, Elias Khaskia, and Dipak Dahatonde from Hebrew University's Faculty of Medicine . Their work focuses on a molecule called TERRA, which helps protect the ends of our chromosomes - the parts of our DNA that keep our cells healthy and stable. When TERRA doesn't work properly, it can cause problems with ho...

  A new study published in JCO Clinical Cancer Informatics demonstrates that machine learning models incorporating patient-reported outcomes and wearable sensor data can predict which patients with non–small cell lung cancer are most at risk of needing urgent care during treatment. The study was led by researchers and clinicians at Moffitt Cancer Center. Patients undergoing systemic therapy for non-small cell lung cancer often experience treatment-related toxicities that can result in unplanned urgent care visits. In this study, Moffitt researchers tested whether integrating multiple sources of patient-generated health data including self-reported quality-of-life surveys and wearable device metrics such as sleep and heart rate could improve predictions beyond standard clinical and demographic information. The team used explainable machine learning approaches called Bayesian Networks to build predictive models among 58 patients monitored with Fitbit devices and surveyed through a qu...

  Results from a trial led by researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center showed that a targeted therapy combination improved outcomes for patients with metastatic clear-cell renal carcinoma (ccRCC) – a type of kidney cancer – whose disease progressed following immunotherapy. Data from the LenCabo Phase II trial were presented today by Andrew W. Hahn, M.D., assistant professor of Genitourinary Medical Oncology, at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2025 (Abstract LBA94). What are the key findings of this study? The randomized study found that patients whose disease got worse after immunotherapy and who were treated with the combination of lenvatinib and everolimus lived longer without disease progression compared to those who received cabozantinib. "This is the first randomized trial to directly compare these two commonly used second-line treatments," Hahn said. "These findings offer insights into treatment sequencing and the...

  Patients with estrogen-receptor-positive HER-2-negative advanced breast cancer showed significantly improved progression-free survival when treated with an oral combination regimen that includes giredestrant, a novel, next-generation selective estrogen receptor degrader and full antagonist, compared to a standard combination approach. These findings, from the phase 3 evERA Breast Cancer study, are presented today by Dr. Erica Mayer of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute at the annual meeting of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) in Berlin, Germany. Tumors that express the estrogen receptor (ER) account for roughly 70% of all breast cancer cases and metastatic forms of these ER-positive cancers can be difficult to treat. In addition, the development of resistance to current endocrine therapies poses a major challenge for both clinicians and patients, underscoring the need for novel therapies that effectively target this breast cancer subtype. Giredestrant is a next-generati...

  Many advanced cancers develop resistance to treatment and become highly aggressive, often leaving patients with limited treatment options. In some cancers, including lung, pancreatic and prostate tumors, a key driver of treatment resistance and metastasis is a protein called integrin αvβ3, which is absent in normal tissues but enriched in aggressive tumors. Previous attempts to target αvβ3 with antibody therapies worked by activating a specific type of cell in the immune system called natural killer cells, but this approach ultimately failed to significantly improve patient survival in clinical trials, potentially because the tumors didn't have enough natural killer cells to mount a strong immune response. Now, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have developed a new approach that overcomes this barrier by taking advantage of the tumor's own immune landscape. By engineering a new anti-αvβ3 antibody that activates macrophages - a type of immune...

  Researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have discovered a previously unknown mechanism that explains how bacteria can drive treatment resistance in patients with oral and colorectal cancer. The study was published today in Cancer Cell. Tumor-infiltrating bacteria have been known to impact cancer progression and treatment, but very little is understood about how they do this. The new study shows how certain bacteria – particularly Fusobacterium nucleatum (Fn) – can induce a reversible state, known as quiescence, in cancer epithelial cells. This allows tumors to evade the immune system and resist chemotherapy. How do bacteria help cancer cells evade detection? The study describes how a bacterium can enter tumors and surround tumor epithelial cells, effectively cutting off their communication with surrounding cells and causing the cancer cells to enter a temporary resting state known as quiescence. This, in turn, allows them to evade the immune system, res...

  University of Arizona Cancer Center researchers will study the potential effects of the loss of the Y chromosome in the development and progression of bladder cancer thanks to a grant of up to $6.5 million over seven years from the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Dan Theodorescu, the Nancy C. and Craig M. Berge Endowed Chair for the Director of the Cancer Center, was awarded the NCI Outstanding Investigator Award, which is given to allow "substantial time for funded investigators to take greater risks and be more adventurous in their research," according to the NCI. Theodorescu's goal is to better understand the biology of Y chromosome loss with an eye toward prevention, early detection and treatment approaches for bladder and other cancers. Theodorescu has made pioneering discoveries about the potential effects of the loss of the Y chromosome on the development of cancer, as well as the immune system. He and his team have shown that bladder cancer was more aggressive i...

  Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute and Vividion Therapeutics have identified chemical compounds that can precisely block the interaction between the major cancer-driving gene RAS, and a key pathway for tumor growth. Now entering the first clinical trial in humans, if found to be safe and effective, these drugs could be used to treat many different types of cancers while avoiding effects on healthy cells. A gene called RAS, which kickstarts cell growth pathways, is mutated in around one in five cancers. Mutated versions of the gene lock the RAS protein in an activated state, telling the cancer cell to keep growing bigger and keep dividing. The RAS protein sits in the cell membrane and is the first 'runner' in a relay of cell growth. But completely blocking the activity of the RAS protein or the enzymes it controls can cause side effects, because these growth pathways are also important for healthy cells. For example, an enzyme found to interact with RAS, called PI3K, a...

  Tumors are not a comfortable place to live: oxygen deficiency, nutrient scarcity, and the accumulation of sometimes harmful metabolic products constantly stress cancer cells. A research team from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and the Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP) in Vienna has now discovered that the acidic pH value in tumor tissue-known as acidosis-is a decisive factor in how pancreatic cancer cells adapt their energy metabolism in order to survive under these adverse conditions. The results were published in the journal Science. Poor blood circulation and increased metabolic activity often create hostile conditions in tumors: typical symptoms include a lack of oxygen, glucose, and other nutrients, the accumulation of sometimes harmful metabolites , and acidification of the tumor environment. Experts refer to this as acidosis. The team led by Wilhelm Palm from the DKFZ and Johannes Zuber from the IMP investigated how cancer cells adapt to these harsh conditio...