The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center today announced it has joined a global consortium dedicated to accelerating the elimination of cervical cancer worldwide. The collaboration agreement with the Elimination Partnership in Cervical Cancer (EPICC) expands UT MD Anderson’s global oncology efforts, further strengthening its commitment to advancing cancer prevention and control in medically underserved regions. The EPICC program, led by the University of Sydney in collaboration with a consortium of local and global...

A comprehensive multi-cancer study from researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center has revealed that cancer cells within tumors are genetically diverse, yet all carry the same core genetic changes that can be traced back to a common ancestral cell, providing a single-cell view of how tumors adapt, survive and diversify. Understanding this helps explain why some cancer cells manage to survive treatments, paving the way for more tailored diagnostic and therapeutic...

Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have developed a spatial map of muscle-invasive bladder cancer, revealing how tumor cell states, immune environments and therapeutic vulnerabilities are organized within tumors. The study, published in Cancer Discovery, provides a new framework for understanding why patients with bladder cancer may respond differently to treatment. The research was led by Linghua Wang, M.D., Ph.D., professor of Genomic Medicine, executive director and head of the Center...

A new treatment platform developed by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center was able to deliver messenger RNA (mRNA) of the full-length DMD gene into preclinical models of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, successfully restoring the production of an important muscle protein, dystrophin, and dramatically improving muscle strength, endurance and function in vivo. The study, published today in Nature Biomedical Engineering, was co-led by Betty Kim, M.D., Ph.D., professor of Neurosurgery and core...

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and CTMC, a joint venture between UT MD Anderson and Resilience, today announced that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a ‘safe to proceed’ for the Investigational New Drug (IND) application for a novel chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy. The cell therapy, developed in the laboratory of Sattva Neelapu, M.D., professor of Lymphoma & Myeloma at UT MD Anderson, will enter a Phase 1 clinical trial for patients with relapsed or...

The targeted RAS inhibitor therapy daraxonrasib demonstrated the potential to improve patient outcomes over current standard treatments for patients with RAS-mutant pancreatic cancer, according to results of a Phase 1/2 trial led by David Hong, M.D., deputy chair of Investigational Cancer Therapeutics. Thirty-eight patients received a 300 mg. dose of daraxonrasib. The response rate was 29% and median overall survival was 15.6 months, a significant improvement over historical response rates to second-line chemotherapy. “This trial provides a really strong signal that this...

Researchers characterized cancer cell-specific features in the tumor microenvironment (TME) of early-stage triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) tissues, identifying specific macrophage subtypes associated with chemotherapy response. The researchers developed a 13-gene panel and a machine learning model that can predict which patients are more likely to respond to treatment, laying the groundwork for developing novel diagnostic approaches and personalized therapeutic strategies. This represents one of the first large-scale single-cell genomic studies of TNBC, providing an unprecedented view of both cancer cell biology...

Researchers have discovered that some cancer cells express the YAP1 protein only after treatment with chemotherapy, allowing them to survive by becoming more invasive and leading to treatment resistance with eventual relapse in patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC). The study, led by Carl Gay, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology, suggests that targeting cells with YAP1 may be a possible strategy to help overcome treatment resistance.   “These findings highlight YAP1-expressing cells as biomarkers...

Researchers have identified specific blood-based genomic biomarkers that distinguish inflammatory breast cancer from other subtypes, providing a new and less invasive method for early diagnosis, disease progression monitoring and treatment development for patients with this aggressive disease. The study used an improved method of RNA sequencing, called TGIRT sequencing, that allows for a more comprehensive overview of all RNA types and amounts present in a given sample. The research was led by Savitri Krishnamurthy, M.D., professor of Anatomic Pathology. “These findings...

Researchers have identified a key enzyme – RNase H2 – that helps triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cells survive high levels of DNA replication stress. Because many breast cancer therapies work by causing replication stress, these results suggest RNase H2 is a promising treatment target. The study, led by Shiaw-Yih Lin, Ph.D., professor of Systems Biology, reveals that blocking RNase H2 directly damages cancer cell DNA while also activating the innate immune system to produce signals that attract T cells...