7 Most Exciting Cancer Stories for 2022

Over the last few years, in my coverage of medical and health topics, I have seen significant and encouraging progress against cancer. In 2022, some of my favorite articles described exciting new areas of research, from the possible role fungi play in tumor biology to the burgeoning field of pet cancer diagnostics. rice field.

National Cancer Institute

Most vaccines take 10 to 15 years to develop, but the most popular coronavirus vaccines have been in use worldwide in less than a year. Many of these inoculations rely on strands of messenger RNA or mRNA that stimulate immune cells to recognize and destroy invaders, whether viruses or tumor cells. However, in the case of cancer, not all cells look exactly the same, and cancer vaccines face more hurdles as they are used as a treatment rather than a prevention. With the leap in mRNA technology and knowledge gained from coronavirus research, scientists hope to overcome these cancer vaccine challenges. “Unfortunately, it took a pandemic for mRNA vaccines to become widely accepted by the scientific community,” says Karine Breckpot, a biomedical scientist who studies mRNA vaccines at the Free University of Brussels in Belgium. “However, the global use of a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine has demonstrated the safety of this approach and will open the door to cancer vaccines.“

(Cancer vaccines are promising.Here’s how it works.)

science news

First CAR T cell immunotherapy approved only by US FDA Discovered in 2017, the technology has since become one of the most promising treatments for a range of cancers. CAR-based therapies remove a person’s immune cells and genetically engineer them to better recognize and fight cancer before injecting them into the body. In 2010, two blood cancer patients received her CAR T-cell therapy. Today, ten years later, those patients are still in remission. At his February briefing announcing the results, University of Pennsylvania oncologist David Porter said the treatment worked “far beyond what we expected.” CAR therapy does not work for everyone, but it has been proven to be very effective against certain cancers and applicable to other conditions. In September of this year, researchers reported that five of her patients with the autoimmune disease lupus received her CAR T-cell therapy, which reset their immune systems and cleared their symptoms.talk science newsimmunologist Linrong Lu of the Shanghai Institute of Immunotherapy called the results “revolutionary”“

Quanta Magazine

If we could visualize the trillions of cells that make up the human body, each person would appear to be covered in cells equivalent to the static electricity of a television. “I watch my body every day, and it hasn’t changed much,” says Peter Debreotes, a cell biologist at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Quanta“But the cells in it are always moving.” Researchers have usually thought that cells move along simple gradients of chemicals or molecules. It’s like following the scent of cookies to a bakery. But scientists recently discovered that cells could use “self-generating gradients” to navigate themselves, even in miniaturized mazes designed to mimic London’s famous Hamptons He Court hedge maze. ” was identified.They do so by metabolizing the chemicals around them Create a new gradient or possibly soften the surrounding cells to create a rigid gradient. Such movements are then involved in everything from cancer progression to immune cell migration to embryonic development. It may affect treatments designed to pull cancer cells into more vulnerable areas. Jonna Alanko, Postdoctoral Researcher at the Austrian Institute of Science and Technology, said: “I’m sure this is just the tip of the iceberg.“

statistics news

About 90% of the people who participate in clinical trials are Caucasian, and only about 40% are female. But scientists are recognizing how factors such as race, ethnicity, and gender influence an individual’s risk of developing the disease and response to treatment.Breast Surgeon, University of California, San Francisco Laura Esserman, who is wisdom It challenges the traditional recommendation that women have annual mammograms. This is based on outdated information that could lead to unnecessary medical tests, she says. Instead, the trial calculates a “risk score” that incorporates a person’s age, reproductive history, family history, breast density, and genetic status to determine how often to have a mammogram. As a result, Esserman had to adopt new ways of thinking and engaging with patients, including soliciting the input of black women for study design. “The biggest rationale for the WISDOM trial is if we can think of something else about personal risk,” she says. statistics“It’s an advancement, a new technology, and unless it builds fairness in testing, it doesn’t really help black women and can actually make their results worse.“

new york times

In 2020, several research groups independently pointed out that tumors long thought to be sterile are actually teeming with microorganisms.Initially, much of the research was looking at the bacterial component of this tumor microbiome, but this year, scientists turned their attention Similarly for fungal fractionation, we identified tumor fungi in 35 different cancers and tumor-associated fungi in seven different parts of the body, surprising those working in the field.the researcher after being pointed out The aggregates found in tumors, including viruses, bacteriophages, protozoa, and bacteria and fungi, are often unique to cancer types. Scientists can therefore use the microbiome to detect and monitor cancer early, diagnose tricky cases, manipulate the microbiome to kill cancer outright, or at least make existing treatments better. It may be possible to develop treatments that make them more accessible..

the scientist

1 in 5 US households adoption New pets were born during the COVID-19 pandemic, and research shows that people are becoming more willing to pay for their pets’ medical needs. “Pet owners are more open to specialty care and advanced diagnostics,” says veterinary oncologist Andy Frawley. the scientist“And they treat their pets like family and come to expect the same level of care from them. [that] they do it for themselves. Several companies have released diagnostic tools that use genomic data to identify more than 40 types of canine cancer and develop personalized treatments. However, unlike tests developed for humans, animal tests do not require regulatory approval. One in her four of her dogs will be diagnosed with cancer in her lifetime. Not all are ultimately fatal, but the diagnosis leaves owners often out of pocket and out of pocket, with few treatments available. To develop the method, companies are building databases to better characterize genetic variation in dog populations..

Atlantic

Michael Goldman rolled up his sleeves in a COVID-19 booster in September 2021, shortly after his lymphoma diagnosis. An immunologist himself, Goldman knew that chemotherapy would quickly weaken his immune system, and he wanted to do everything he could to protect himself. But three weeks later, his cancer had spread so dramatically that both Goldman and his brother, an expert in nuclear medicine, suspected the boosters had exacerbated the disease. As he recovered at his home, Goldman pored over the scientific literature and teased what he eventually suspected had happened to him. paper The boosters seemed to have served their intended purpose — supercharging his helper T cells to fight the virus — but in his case, these cells went too far, causing his cancer to spread out of control. Goldman said Atlantic He “remains adamant that a COVID-19 vaccine is needed and useful for the majority of people”. However, he now advocates that scientists collect more rigorous data on side effects. doing..