To facilitate and enhance the work of Center researchers, MSKCC maintains a system of core facilities that offer centralized expertise and state-of-the-art equipment to multiple users, eliminating duplication of costly tools of the trade. The newest core to be established is the Sloan-Kettering Institute stem cell research facility to grow and study embryonic stem cells.
MSKCC clinicians and researchers have been at the forefront of developing new ways to guide the body's immune system toward producing a response that targets and destroys cancer cells. This article is the first in a series that will highlight various ways the immune system can be used to fight cancer.
A study by MSKCC researchers, conducted in mice and published in Nature, helps to explain how breast cancer metastasis can occur and highlights targets for therapeutic treatment.
A large cooperative group trial led by MSKCC found that patients with primary gastrointestinal stromal tumor who received Gleevec® after complete removal of their tumor were significantly less likely to have a recurrence of the cancer compared to those who did not receive the drug.
Researchers at MSKCC have demonstrated that imaging with Positron Emission Tomography (PET) using a radiolabeled antibody accurately identifies whether a patient has clear cell renal carcinoma - the most common and aggressive type of renal tumor - and arms the urologist with crucial information that will help determine whether surgery is needed.
An international Phase III clinical trial has demonstrated that the addition of Avastin® to standard chemotherapy improves survival for patients with previously untreated metastatic colorectal cancer, although the improvement was more modest than had been expected.
Glioma is a form of brain cancer that is difficult to treat and often develops resistance to chemotherapy and radiation therapy. But now, MSKCC researchers have found a way in the laboratory to make these stubborn cancer cells more sensitive to the lethal effects of radiation by tinkering with the proteins governing this resistance.
The first report of an international study looking at computed tomography (CT) to screen current or former smokers for lung cancer found that screening did not reduce deaths from lung cancer. The multi-center study was led by researchers at MSKCC and published in JAMA.
Recently revised American Cancer Society guidelines now state that MRI should be used in addition to mammography to screen certain women at high risk for breast cancer and those women who have newly diagnosed cancer in one breast.
Joan Massagué is the recipient of the 2007 Passano Award for the originality and importance of his work elucidating the mechanism of action for transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-b) signaling.
Johanna Joyce, of the Sloan-Kettering Institute's Cancer Biology and Genetics Program, has been named the first incumbent of a Geoffrey Beene Junior Faculty Chair.
Lawrence N. Rothenberg has been named Member Emeritus upon his retirement from MSKCC after more than 35 years of service in the Department of Medical Physics.
News@MSKCC provides journalists with news and information from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and is released six times a year.
For more information about these and other potential story ideas, contact Memorial Sloan-Kettering's Department of Public Affairs at: 212-639-3573 or at mediastaff@mskcc.org
