Cancer Research | Penn Today

Two cartoon hands holding lines of yarn, twisted into genetic shapes.

A new study finds genome refolding contributes to resistance to cancer therapy

While gene mutations can lead to drug resistance, researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine have identified an important, non-genetic adaptation that could also drive resistance to targeted therapy in T cell leukemia, a type of blood cell cancer.

Links between diet and cancer

Kathryn E. Wellen, an associate professor of Cancer Biology and principal investigator of the Wellen Lab, seeks answers to find the connections between metabolism and cancer biology.

Inspiring people, place, and purpose

Penn President Amy Gutmann’s record tenure of nearly 18 years is the University’s most transformative.

Two people stand closely together, smiling

Decade-long remission after CAR T cell therapy

Two patients represent longest-known CAR T cell response to date, providing insight into treatment effect and outcomes.

Researchers find new potential targets for skin-cancer treatment

Making up for the genetic mutations of MLL4 in skin cells, one of the most commonly mutated genes across all of human cancers, may keep epithelial cancer from beginning and progressing

A cancer cell being attacked by CAR T cells.

Vaccine-like mRNA injection can be used to make CAR T cells in the body

An experimental immunotherapy can temporarily reprogram patients’ immune cells to attack heart fibroblast cells via only a single injection of mRNA.

This new ovarian cancer treatment could improve survival rates | 5 Questions

Janos L. Tanyi of the Perelman School of Medicine spoke about a large-scale trial of Cytalux, which makes cancer cells glow during surgery, being conducted at the Abramson Cancer Center. “Those patients who have all the visible cancerous lesions removed have the best survival rates,” he said.

How should cancer immunotherapy be used?

Ravi Parikh of the Perelman School of Medicine was interviewed about his research on the use of new and expensive immunotherapy medications to treat cancer patients considered to be ineligible for clinical trials. These older, sicker patients turned out be “about twice as likely to receive these novel immunotherapies compared to healthier patients who would have been included, and this is despite the fact that these drugs have never been studied in this particular group of individuals,” said Parikh. Furthermore, the study found “no survival difference” for trial ineligible patients receiving these treatments.

Gloved hands holding a pipette over a lab petri dish.

New insights into T-cell exhaustion could improve cancer immunotherapies

A new Penn Medicine study finds that suppressing key exhaustion genes may allow CAR T cell treatments to be used much more effectively against pancreatic and other solid cancers.

Medical worker in a face mask holds a clipboard for an African American person to sign.

Improving diversity in cancer clinical trials

The Cancer Clinical Trials Community Ambassador Training Program at the Abramson Cancer Center was established in August 2021 to create spokespersons and resources to increase awareness and access to cancer clinical trials in the diverse Philadelphia communities.

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