Cancer Research | Penn Today

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.

Artist's depiction of tumor microenvironment

‘Switchable’ bispecific antibodies pave way for safer cancer treatment

Immunotherapy utilizing an FDA-approved drug has enabled Penn researchers to develop a novel switchable bispecific T cell engager that mitigates negative outcomes of immunotherapy.

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.

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.

Imaging just one week after starting treatment can predict melanoma response to immunotherapy

New Penn Medicine research shows that following a single dose of a particular immunotherapy drug, CT scans “lit up” with metabolic changes in tumors that correlated with longer survival.

3d illustration of a damaged and disintegrating cancer cell.

Secondary cancers following CAR T cell therapy are rare

A new Penn Medicine analysis shows that the development of any type of second cancer is a rare occurrence, and some of the earliest patients have gone on to experience long-lasting remissions of a decade or more.

New AI tool brings precision pathology for cancer into quicker, sharper focus

Researchers at Penn Medicine have developed an artificial intelligence tool to quickly analyze gene activities in medical images and provide single-cell insight into diseases in tissues and tissue microenvironments.

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.

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.

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.

Filters