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Scientists Discover Gene Mutation That Signals Aggressive Melanoma

Newswise — New York, NY (April 6, 2022)— Mutation of a gene called ARID2 plays a role in increasing the chance that melanoma, a deadly skin cancer, will turn dangerously metastatic, Mount Sinai researchers report. The findings suggest that patients whose melanoma tumors have an ARID2 mutation may have a more aggressive cancer and may need to be treated … Continued

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HIV drug shows promise against metastatic cancer

A drug widely used in HIV therapy has shown to stop disease progression in 25 percent of patients with fourth-line metastatic colorectal cancer. Findings from the trial, published in Cancer Discovery, raise the possibility of an unexpected promising direction in cancer treatment, not just colorectal cancer. The drug used in the study was lamivudine, a reverse transcriptase inhibitor. … Continued

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Hands, Feet, and Fins: The Connection That Explains Acral Melanoma

To understand cancer in humans, researchers at the Sloan Kettering Institute (SKI) are turning to our distant relatives from 425 million years ago: fish. A lot has evolved since then: Fish use their fins to swim, whereas we use our hands to play Wordle. But there remains a deep similarity, explains 2017 Pershing Square Sohn Prize winner Richard … Continued

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SKI Scientists Discover a New Twist on an 80-Year-Old Biochemical Pathway

Every year, thousands of biochemistry majors and medical students around the world learn to memorize the major biochemical pathways that allow cells to function. How these 10 or so pathways are described in textbooks hasn’t changed much since the early 20th century, when they were first discovered. But with the resurgence of interest in cancer metabolism in … Continued

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Old Drug May Have New Trick: Protecting Against COVID-19 Lung Injury

An FDA-approved drug that has been in clinical use for more than 70 years may protect against lung injury and the risk of blood clots in severe COVID-19 and other disorders that cause immune-mediated damage to the lungs, according to a preclinical study from researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. The … Continued

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PRESS RELEASE: The Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research Alliance Is Now Accepting Applications for its 2022 Prize for Early-Career, Radically Innovative Cancer Researchers 

The Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research Alliance Is Now Accepting Applications for its 2022 Prize for Early-Career, Radically Innovative Cancer Researchers  NEW YORK, OCTOBER 4, 2021 (Business Wire) – The Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research Alliance (PSSCRA) today announced the opening of applications for the 2022 Pershing Square Sohn Prize for Young Investigators in Cancer … Continued

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Why Are Only Some Cells ‘Competent’ to Form Cancer? MSK Scientists Say Context Is Key

Right now, in your body, lurk thousands of cells with DNA mistakes that could cause cancer. Yet only in rare instances do these DNA mistakes, called genetic mutations, lead to a full-blown cancer. Why? The standard explanation is that it takes a certain number of genetic “hits” to a cell’s DNA to push a cell … Continued

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Can mRNA Vaccines Fight Pancreatic Cancer? MSK Clinical Researchers Are Trying to Find Out

Messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines may be the hottest thing in science now as they help turn the tide against COVID-19. But even before the pandemic began, Memorial Sloan Kettering researchers had already been working to use mRNA vaccine technology to treat cancer. Vinod Balachandran a physician-scientist affiliated with the David M. Rubenstein Center for Pancreatic Cancer Research and … Continued

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How pancreatic cancer cells dodge drug treatments

Cancer cells can become resistant to treatments through adaptation, making them notoriously tricky to defeat and highly lethal. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) Cancer Center Director and Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research Alliance Scientific Review Council member David Tuveson and his team investigated the basis of “adaptive resistance” common to pancreatic cancer. They discovered one of the backups … Continued

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When cancer cells “put all their eggs in one basket”

Normal cells usually have multiple solutions for fixing problems. For example, when DNA becomes damaged, healthy white blood cells can use several different strategies to make repairs. But cancer cells may “put all their eggs in one basket,” getting rid of all backup plans and depending on just one pathway to mend their DNA. Cold … Continued

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