Tag Archives: thomas-jefferson

Killing cancer by protecting normal cells

“It was a stroke of luck that the drug that most effectively protected normal cells and tissues against radiation also has anti-cancer properties, thus potentially increasing the therapeutic index of radiation therapy,” says Ulrich Rodeck, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Dermatology and Cutaneous Biology and Radiation Oncology at Thomas Jefferson University, and senior author on the study. Together with first author Vitali Alexeev, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Dermatology and Cutaneous Biology, Dr. …

Novel cancer vaccine approach for brain tumors

“In recent years, researchers and the public have begun to realize the role that the immune system plays in both cancer prevention and treatment,” says senior author Craig Hooper, Ph.D., a Professor in the Department of Cancer Biology at Thomas Jefferson University. “The immune system has great potential for helping fight cancer. This study helps give us a roadmap for future brain cancer vaccines.” The study reports on the results of a second phase 1 clinical trial, after the first phase 1 trial in 2001 lead by David Andrews, M.D., Professor of Neurological surgery at Jefferson, saw tumor shrinkage in eight out of 12 patients tested. …

Circulating tumor cells provide genomic snapshot of breast cancer — ScienceDaily

“Counting the number of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) can tell us whether a patient’s cancer is aggressive, or whether it is stable and responding to therapy,” says the article’s first author Sandra V. Fernandez, Ph.D., assistant professor of Medical Oncology at Thomas Jefferson University. “Our work suggests that these cancer cells in the blood also accurately reflect the genetic status of the parent tumor or its metastases, potentially giving us a new and easy to source of genomic information to guide treatment.” First discovered for their diagnostic potential in 2004, circulating tumor cells are beginning to be used in the clinic to help guide treatment decisions and track a patient’s progress as the cancer progresses. …