Peter WT Pisters, M.D., begins tenure as MD Anderson president
MD Anderson Cancer Center welcomes Peter WT Pisters, M.D., as the 76-year-old institution’s fifth full-time president. Pisters was officially named to the post in September after being unanimously selected as the sole finalist by the UT System Board of Regents. The renowned cancer surgeon, researcher, professor and administrator previously served MD Anderson in faculty and leadership roles for more than 20 years. Most recently, he...
Six MD Anderson researchers chosen for AAAS
In recognition of their contributions to basic, translational, and clinical research, six faculty members from MD Anderson Cancer Center have...
Chronic stress may promote resistance to lung cancer therapy
Elevated levels of chronic stress hormones, such as those produced by psychological distress, may promote resistance to drugs commonly used...
Addition of ribociclib improves survival over hormone therapy alone
The addition of ribociclib, an inhibitor of the cell cycle, to standard hormone therapy significantly improved progression-free survival (PFS) in pre-menopausal patients with advanced hormone receptor-positive (HR+) breast cancer, according to results of the MONALEESA-7 Phase III clinical trial led by researchers at MD Anderson.
The trial results, presented at the 2017 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium by...
Study shows PARP inhibitor’s benefit for advanced breast cancer
In a randomized, Phase III trial led by MD Anderson researchers, the PARP inhibitor talazoparib extended progression-free survival (PFS) and...
Advances in blood cancer treatment presented at ASH meeting
Researchers from MD Anderson Cancer Center presented their latest findings involving drug treatments for blood cancers at the American...
Repurposed drug yields unprecedented response rates in metastatic lung cancer
A targeted therapy resurrected by the Moon Shots Program™ at MD Anderson has produced unprecedented response rates among patients with metastatic...
MD Anderson named site of NIH immunotherapy research center
A major national effort to expand the reach of cancer immunotherapy in order to benefit more patients will draw upon the expertise...
'I’ve seen suffering and dying from an avoidable disease'
In Texas, the number is even lower. Only 33% of Texas teens were up to date. That’s a lot of room for improvement.
Having spent the...
MD Anderson pancreatic cancer researcher to lead Dream Team
Deeply entrenched and mature by the time it’s found, pancreatic cancer is one of the hardest types of the disease to defeat. A Dream Team...
5 years in, Moon Shots Program is primed for continued progress
It's been five years since MD Anderson launched its Moon Shots Program™, a collaborative effort to more quickly turn scientific discoveries...
Hydrocodone prescriptions decreasing, study shows
The effectiveness of opioids in treating cancer pain has been well established over the years. But today’s opioid epidemic that began slowly...
Pioneering breast cancer researcher V. Craig Jordan elected to the National Academy of Medicine
V. Craig Jordan, Ph.D., professor of Breast Medical Oncology, has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine for his discovery of selective...
Healthy eating and exercise habits may heighten chemotherapy’s effectiveness in children
Pediatric cancer patients who eat a healthy diet and exercise regularly may experience fewer cancer treatment side effects later in life,...
Multiple surgeries may be unnecessary for some stage zero breast cancer patients
Patients with stage zero breast cancer, also known as ductal carcinoma in situ, who undergo breast-conserving surgery that results in narrow...
New therapies for follicular lymphoma on the horizon
Recently approved targeted and immunotherapy drugs are helping patients diagnosed with follicular lymphoma live longer. Knowing the available...
For carriers of Lynch syndrome, an elevated cancer risk runs in the family
When Craig Bunk began experiencing severe abdominal pain, blood loss and fatigue, his family doctor thought a stomach ulcer was to blame....
Research training programs to address cancer disparities among minorities
Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the U.S., and will claim the lives of an estimated 600,920 in this country in 2017, according...
Tibetan yoga may help breast cancer patients sleep better
Practicing Tibetan yoga twice a week may reduce sleep disturbances and improve sleep quality for breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy...
Researchers analyze precursor lesions to define earliest genetic changes in lung cancer
Despite significant advances in lung cancer treatment, new approaches for early detection and prevention remain limited because the earliest...
How to handle side effects of CAR-T cell therapy
Immune-cell based therapies opening a new frontier for cancer treatment carry unique, potentially lethal side effects that provide a new challenge...
Building on progress against pancreatic cancer
Nationally, only about 9% of people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer survive five years. In most cases, the disease has spread to other organs...
Immunotherapy is unleashed on blood cancers
Tomas Sandoval was about to become a father for the second time in June 2014, when he was devastated to learn he had non-Hodgkin lymphoma...
In the news: Hero doctors braved Harvey to reach patients
Hurricane Harvey brought with it unprecedented rainfall – 27 trillion gallons – and staggering destruction – 33 Texas counties declared federal...
Sunbeatables' lessons in skin cancer prevention now available online to teachers across the US
As teachers across the country prepare for a new school year, it is now easier than ever to make sun safety a part of daily lesson plans with...
Study helps predict lung cancer patients’ response to checkpoint blockade therapy
An MD Anderson study may help researchers predict which patients with non-small cell lung cancer will respond to checkpoint blockade therapy...
Tumor-targeting drug shows potential for treating bone cancer
The treatment of osteosarcoma, the most common tumor of bone, is challenging. An MD Anderson study found a drug known as bone metastasis-targeting...
Findings may help doctors ‘customize’ glioblastoma treatment
Patterns in how genes express themselves may help doctors personalize treatment for glioblastoma, the most deadly of brain cancers, according...
Identifying an enzyme that keeps ovarian cancer safe from immune attacks
A study of high-grade ovarian cancer has shown the enzyme protein kinase C iota (PRKCI) to be an ovarian oncogene, suggesting PRKCI inhibition...
Symposium to address prevention, detection and treatment of HPV-related throat cancer
This fall, experts from MD Anderson, the American Dental Association (ADA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the University...
MD Anderson is again No. 1 in cancer care
MD Anderson Cancer Center again has been ranked No. 1 for cancer care by U.S. News & World Report’s annual “Best Hospitals” survey...
Together, chemo and proton therapy lengthen survival for late-stage lung cancer patients
For patients with advanced, inoperable stage 3 lung cancer, chemotherapy and a specialized form of radiation treatment known as proton...
MD Anderson is first in Texas to be accredited to train tobacco treatment specialists
Since 2006, MD Anderson’s Tobacco Treatment Program (TTP) has been providing tobacco cessation services to patients and employees seeking...
Metastatic colorectal cancer patients with a certain genetic mutation respond well to immunotherapy
A practice-changing clinical trial conceived and led by MD Anderson investigators showed that metastatic colorectal cancer patients with a...
Engineered exosomes shut down pancreatic tumor growth in mice
Genetic manipulation of exosomes, virus-sized particles released by all cells, may offer a new therapeutic approach to treating pancreatic...
Biomarkers predict response to breast cancer treatment
Two challenges in treating patients with estrogen-positive breast cancer (ER+) have been the inability to predict who will respond to standard...
Two combination therapies shrink melanoma brain metastases in more than half of patients
High response rates to a pair of combination therapies point to potentially new options for a group of metastatic melanoma patients who have...
Targeting a genetic mutation that causes many cancers
A study at MD Anderson Cancer Center has shown promise for effective treatment of therapy-resistant cancers caused by a mutation...
A diverse gut bacteria may slow metastatic melanoma
Researchers at MD Anderson Cancer Center have found that the blend of bacteria in the digestive tract of metastatic melanoma patients is associated...
Utilizing the body’s natural born killers to take out blood cancers
Natural killer cells sound menacing, but they play a friendly role in keeping us healthy. And they might do much more in stopping...
Treatment puts the freeze on breast cancer
When Jo Ann West learned she had early-stage breast cancer, her doctor suggested an inventive new treatment that involves no major surgery...
Drug shows promise in treating BRCA-related breast cancer
After all 13 breast cancer patients in a first-of-its-kind clinical trial responded positively to a new targeted therapy, MD Anderson researchers...
Research shows HPV vaccine’s enormous potential to stop oral infection
Researchers have found that the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine may reduce the rate of oral HPV infections in young adults by as much as...
A first-line therapy’s success in treating rare mantle cell lymphoma
Two new clinical trials at MD Anderson are taking aim at mantle cell lymphoma – a rare form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Most mantle...
Leukemia doctor creates a clinical trial for patients ineligible for clinic trials
What if you or a loved one had cancer but were denied access to a research study testing a poten-tially beneficial treatment?
This...
Is this enzyme the key to the formation of highly malignant brain cancer?
There are many moving parts when it comes to the mechanics of how otherwise healthy cells are transformed into those that cause deadly cancers...
Program helps at-risk group beat nicotine addiction
More than 50 years after the U.S. Surgeon General first warned about the dangers of cigarettes, smoking rates have plummeted.
An MD Anderson drug developed to starve cancer is tested on an aggressive leukemia
For decades, combination chemotherapy has been the main treatment for patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) – an aggressive cancer of...
Grants nurture innovative approaches to pancreatic cancer treatment
New initiatives to improve the treatment of pancreatic cancer have earned two early-career investigators at MD Anderson multi-year support...
Immunotherapy pioneer named one of TIME's most influential people
MD Anderson Chair of Immunology Jim Allison, Ph.D., whose pivotal work to attack cancer by treating the immune system instead of...
A new approach: Partnering with dentists to prevent oral cancer
The American Dental Association (ADA) and MD Anderson Cancer Center have announced a joint effort to improve patient outcomes...
Andrew Sabin Family Fellows awarded $100,000 in research funding
Eight MD Anderson researchers have been named 2017 Andrew Sabin Family Fellows. The Andrew Sabin Family Fellowship Program provides $100,000...
MD Anderson genetics expert elected to National Academy of Sciences
Guillermina Lozano, Ph.D., chair of Genetics at MD Anderson, is one of 84 new members and 21 foreign associates elected to the National...
Dual procedures offer relief from lymphedema
Cancer patients who have undergone lymph node removal or radiation therapy as part of cancer treatment know all too well the pain and discomfort...
Breast cancer patients who respond to chemo may not need surgery
Select breast cancer patients who after undergoing chemotherapy as their first line of treatment show no residual cancer – a state known as...
MD Anderson cancer experts share discoveries at AACR Annual Meeting
A number of MD Anderson physicians and scientists chaired or co-chaired sessions and presented research, ranging from racial disparities in...
Evidence supports the need to raise the legal tobacco age
(Editor's note: This article was updated on April 9, 2019 to reflect new Texas legislation filed in 2019, similar legislation passed...
Neurofeedback reduces chemo-induced nerve damage
A type of functional brain training known as neurofeedback shows promise in reducing symptoms of chemotherapy-induced nerve damage, or neuropathy...
Breakthrough research targets immunotherapy resistance
Stories of immunotherapy’s success against metastatic melanoma in patients such as former President Jimmy Carter are well publicized, but...
Drug outperforms chemo for treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia
The biopharmaceutical drug blinatumomab is more effective for the treatment of relapsed or treatment-resistant acute lymphoblastic leukemia...
Advanced radiation technique shows promise for lung cancer treatment
An advanced form of image-guided radiation therapy known as intensity modulated proton therapy (IMPT) has shown early promise for the treatment...
MD Anderson scientists unraveling complexities of bile duct cancer
Extensive genomic analysis led by MD Anderson researchers has opened new avenues to explore in the treatment of a rare and tenaciously lethal...
Immunotherapy pioneer Jim Allison honored with Sjöberg, Wolf and Fudan-Zhongzhi awards
International recognition continues to accumulate for Jim Allison, Ph.D., for opening up an entirely new way to treat cancer by freeing the...
Can gut bacteria affect cancer’s response to immunotherapy?
Melanoma patients’ response to a major form of immunotherapy is associated with the diversity and makeup of trillions of potential allies...
Loss of tumor suppressor allows triple-negative breast cancer to grow
When triple-negative breast cancer is still in its earliest, pre-cancerous stages, the tumor suppressor miRNA-29c becomes progressively deactivated...
Scientists identify aggressive pancreatic cancer cells and their vulnerability
Researchers have identified a gatekeeper protein that prevents pancreatic cancer cells from transitioning into a particularly aggressive cell...
Chemotherapy may not be necessary for early-stage breast cancer
A new study from MD Anderson finds that women with early-stage breast cancer who had an intermediate risk recurrence score (RS)...
Trio of biomarkers could boost early detection of pancreatic cancer
Adding two blood-borne proteins associated with cancer cell migration increases the predictive ability of the current biomarker for pancreatic...
A new way to kill lung cancer with little collateral damage
Next-generation cyclin dependent kinase 2/9 (CDK2/9) inhibitors offer a new way to kill lung cancer while doing minimal harm to normal cells...
Gene may promote formation of breast, prostate tumors
UBE20, a gene found on chromosome 17, may play a role in breast and prostate tumor formation, MD Anderson researchers found in a recent study...
Hormone therapy shows big promise for ovarian cancer patients
For women with a rare subtype of epithelial ovarian or peritoneum cancer, known as low-grade serous carcinoma (LGSC), hormone maintenance...
Staining technique predicts breast cancer recurrence
Cyclin E, a protein important for DNA replication, is present in various forms of cancer in high levels. Overexpression of cyclin E correlates...
Mobile devices help motivate cancer survivors to exercise, lower recurrence risk
Researchers in MD Anderson’s Center for Energy Balance in Cancer Prevention and Survivorship are using mobile technology to learn what motivates...
ECHO 'Superhub' status expands MD Anderson's reach into underserved areas
Major innovations in cancer prevention, screening and treatment continue to develop at a rapid pace, especially through research initiatives...
'Collateral lethality' may lead to new cancer treatments
Cancer cells often delete genes that normally suppress tumor formation. These deletions also may extend to neighboring genes, an event known...
Study links contralateral breast cancer with dense tissue
Breast cancer patients with dense breast tissue have almost a two-fold increased risk of developing disease in the other breast, according...
Partnership formed to speed up widespread use of liquid biopsies
MD Anderson Cancer Center and Guardant Health recently announced a multi-year partnership designed to more quickly make comprehensive liquid...
Cancer centers join together to endorse new HPV vaccine guidelines
As national vaccination rates for the human papillomavirus (HPV) remain low, MD Anderson Cancer Center has again united with the...
FDA’s push to regulate smokeless tobacco should be applauded
MD Anderson Cancer Center fully supports the proposed rule by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to limit a known carcinogen in finished...
FDA approves immunotherapy drug for advanced bladder cancer
Bladder cancer patients with advanced disease have a new option for treatment after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) this week approved...
Global cancer prevention efforts support
World Cancer Day goals
World Cancer Day is Saturday, Feb. 4. It’s the one singular initiative under which the entire world unites to fight cancer through prevention...
Some breast cancer patients may avoid surgery in future
In a pilot study conducted at MD Anderson Cancer Center, image-guided biopsies identified select breast cancer patients who achieved...
First-of-its-kind study examines cosmetic outcomes for older breast cancer patients
In the first study evaluating patient-reported cosmetic outcomes in older women with breast cancer, MD Anderson researchers found that...
Nivolumab plus chemotherapy improves leukemia patients’ survival
The immunotherapy drug nivolumab in combination with standard chemotherapy more than doubled response rates and improved overall survival...
New partnerships push innovative approaches to cancer treatment forward
In the modern world of biomedical research, collaborations between academic institutions and pharmaceutical and biotech companies have become...
Quality of life’s role in improving exercise study participation for uterine cancer patients
Certain quality-of-life factors, such as pain and anxiety, have a significant impact on the likelihood of endometrial cancer survivors to...
Discovery may lead to earlier treatment of inflammation-linked cancers
A study by MD Anderson researchers is shedding new light on how the protein PD-L1 suppresses the immune system, which may help scientists...