A new study has revealed a promising new approach to curb the spread of triple‑negative breast cancer, one of the most aggressive and difficult‑to‑treat forms of the disease.   Dan Duda, Ph.D., scientific director of transplant oncology and therapeutics at Houston Methodist Research Institute, and his research team discovered pairing targeted treatments with CAR T‑cell therapy may help control cancer recurrence when intervention options are otherwise limited.   CAR T‑cells are immune cells engineered in the laboratory to recognize and attack cancer. While they have worked well in some blood cancers, success in solid tumors such as breast cancer has been more...

Patients with leptomeningeal metastasis (LM) have historically had few treatment options. Now, researchers have found a combination of targeted therapies, tucatinib and trastuzumab, plus the chemotherapy drug, capecitabine, may improve symptoms and extend survival in some breast cancer patients with LM. The Phase II study included 17 female patients with newly diagnosed LM and HER2+ breast cancer. Median overall survival (OS) in those treated with the combination therapy increased from a historical average of 4.4...

Researchers found that simultaneously blocking two key “don’t eat me signals” found in cancer cells heightens the immune response and sensitizes tumors to immunotherapy in models of glioblastoma (GBM), highlighting a promising strategy. The study was co-led by Wen Jiang, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of Radiation Oncology, and Betty Kim, M.D., Ph.D., professor of Neurosurgery and core member of the James P. Allison Institute™. Low testosterone levels may be associated with an increased risk of...

Researchers developed a new computational approach designed to better account for changes in gene expression within tumors relative to their unique microenvironments. This approach outperformed current methods for predicting chemotherapy response in patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). The new tool, developed by Wenyi Wang, Ph.D., professor of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, and colleagues, aims to improve upon similar methods to predict treatment responses using an approach known as deconvolution, which involves breaking down, calculating...

Bloodstream infections (BSI) can turn deadly fast, particularly for patients with weakened immune systems. A new study from Houston Methodist Research Institute finds that artificial intelligence can assist clinicians in identifying previously unseen patterns of infection inpatients and save lives.   Led by Masayuki Nigo, M.D., associate professor in the Department of Medicine at Houston Methodist, the study was published in the American Journal of Transplantation and used an unsupervised machine learning model to identify...

Seventy-five percent of patients with blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm (BPDCN) who were treated with the antibody-drug conjugate pivekimab sunirine (PVEK) had a complete response, according to new data from the Phase I/II multicenter international CADENZA trial. The study was led by principal investigator and corresponding author Naveen Pemmaraju, M.D., professor of Leukemia, and senior author Naval Daver, M.D., professor of Leukemia.   “These strong, durable response results offer hope to BPDCN patients with limited treatment options,” Pemmaraju said....

The eyes – specifically, the outer area of the retina – may provide a window into early detection of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) long before irreversible brain damage has occurred, according to new research from Houston Methodist. This discovery could dramatically change how the disease is diagnosed, monitored and treated.   “By identifying these retinal changes that occur before the brain’s ‘plumbing’ system fails, doctors may eventually be able to use routine eye exams to catch...

Metastasis-directed therapy significantly improved outcomes in patients with oligometastatic prostate cancer, according to a first-of-its-kind meta-analysis evaluating the addition of metastasis-directed radiation therapy to standard-of-care treatment. According to corresponding author Chad Tang, M.D., associate professor of Genitourinary Radiation Oncology, gathering level one evidence of the benefits of MDT in this cancer type has been a challenge due to several factors. Most significant among them are that only a small number of patients have oligometastatic cancer – meaning they have multiple...

Researchers identified a targetable driver of brain metastases in patients with aggressive inflammatory breast cancer. The study uncovers a novel role for soluble E-cadherin (sEcad) in promoting tumor invasion while resisting cancer cell death and triggering brain inflammation via the CXCR2 signaling pathway. The results suggest that targeting sEcad or the CXCR2 pathway could treat or prevent brain metastasis. The study was led by Xiaoding Hu, M.D., Ph.D., instructor of Breast Medical Oncology, and Bisrat Debeb, D.V.M., Ph.D., associate professor...

American women now have the option of screening for cervical cancer at home, using newly approved self-collection tools. While experts hope this will increase uptake in the under-screened population, a first-of-its-kind study found the majority (60.8%) still prefer to see a medical professional in-clinic. The study also revealed that marginalized populations were more likely to prefer at-home self-sampling, and women with low income and those who do not trust the health care system were more...