Cancer Research

The cancer fighters: John Glick and a legacy of a half century in oncology

A major figure in the fight against cancer, John Glick reflects on his career after decades of working with the Perelman School of Medicine and as director of Penn’s National Cancer Institute for more than 20 years, treating thousands of patients during his tenure.

From Penn Medicine News

Improving patient experiences in cancer clinical trials

Cancer clinical trials (CCTs) provide patients an opportunity to receive experimental drugs, tests, and/or procedures that can lead to remissions. For some, a CCT may seem like their only option. Yet little is known about the experiences of patient participants who withdraw from CCTs.

From Penn Nursing News

Clarifying T cell ‘exhaustion’

T cells, which are among the most powerful weapons in the immune systems of humans and other vertebrates, remain substantially programmed to stay exhausted even many weeks after exposure to a virus ended.

Hannah Messinger

How mRNA vaccines help fight cancer tumors

Penn researchers are looking to mRNA vaccines for applications outside of infectious diseases, as they can not only prompt strong antibody responses to fight off invaders, like COVID-19, but also potent cytotoxic T cell responses.

Steve Graff

Black and white women have same mutations linked to breast cancer risk

The prevalence of genetic mutations associated with breast cancer in Black and white women is the same, but the takeaway is not to change testing guidelines based on race alone, but focus on ensuring equal access to and uptake of testing to minimize disparities in care and outcomes.

Steve Graff



In the News


Associated Press

A new strategy to attack aggressive brain cancer shrank tumors in two early tests

A clinical trial led by Stephen Bagley of the Perelman School of Medicine suggests that targeting two associated proteins with CAR T cell therapy could be a viable strategy for shrinking brain tumors.

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Philadelphia Inquirer

UPenn scientists among those developing vaccines that arm the immune system to fight cancer

Penn Medicine researchers like Nobel laureate Drew Weissman are leading efforts to develop a vaccine that prevents cancer, with remarks from Susan Domchek of the Basser Center for BRCA and Robert H. Vonderheide of the Abramson Cancer Center.

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Philadelphia Inquirer

Penn’s BRCA cancer vaccine trial aims to prevent the disease in healthy people

A trial led by Susan Domchek of the Perelman School of Medicine could use a preventive vaccine to protect people with a BRCA gene mutation from cancer.

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Psychology Today

AI detects cancers and immunotherapy biomarker

Daiwei Zhang and Mingyao Li of the Perelman School of Medicine and colleagues have developed an AI tool called iStar that can automatically spot tumors and types of cancer that are difficult for clinicians to see or identify and can predict candidates for immunotherapy.

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Philadelphia Inquirer

Penn started giving cancer patients free rides to appointments. It helped reduce no-shows and increase clinical trial enrollment

The Abramson Cancer Center is attempting to address one of the most common challenges cancer patients face: lack of transportation to critically important appointments. Robert Vonderheide and Carmen Guerra of the Perelman School of Medicine are quoted on the Ride Health initiative.

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Forbes

Gut health could play a role in how blood cancer patients respond to therapy

Marco Ruella of the Perelman School of Medicine says that researchers need to tackle the problems with CAR T cell therapy to increase survival rates and improve the quality of life for cancer survivors.

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