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Deoxycholic acid (DCA), a secondary bile acid that is increased by high dietary fat intake – a western diet – has been linked to intestinal carcinogenesis. In a previous study, Fang Yan, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues showed that DCA accelerated the progression of adenoma to adenocarcinoma in mice that spontaneously develop intestinal adenomas. Now, the researchers […]

A grant from cancer research nonprofit Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation is allowing a Vanderbilt chemical and biomolecular engineering doctoral student to join the fight against pediatric neuroblastoma. Kyle Garland is spending his summer on a project titled Immunotherapeutic Targeting of the STING Pathway to Combat Neuroblastoma. He’s working with John Wilson, assistant professor of chemical […]

African-Americans are more likely to die from lung cancer than whites and yet few studies of possible genetic factors that contribute to this disparity have been conducted. Melinda Aldrich, Ph.D., MPH, and colleagues conducted a first-of-its-kind genome-wide association study of lung cancer survival in 286 African-Americans enrolled in the Southern Community Cohort Study. Reporting recently […]

Cyclic dinucleotides (CDNs) are intracellular messengers produced in bacteria that can bind to and activate an immune-mediated signaling cascade called STING in mammalian cells. CDNs have shown antitumor activity in melanoma and breast tumors. Reporting this month in the journal Head & Neck, Young J. Kim, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of Otolaryngology at Vanderbilt University, […]

About 10 percent of patients with colorectal cancer express a mutated form of the signaling molecule BRAF, which may be targeted for treatment by selective BRAF inhibitors. PET (positron emission tomography) imaging using a standard glucose probe is not able to predict response to BRAF inhibitors. In addition to becoming dependent on glucose, cancer cells […]

An international genomic data-sharing consortium has analyzed nearly 19,000 patient genomic records and found that testing of patient tumors for relevant gene mutations often provides a roadmap for the use of effective therapies. The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Genomics Evidence Neoplasia Information Exchange (GENIE) is a multi-phase, multi-year data-sharing project launched in 2015 […]

Ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer deaths among women in the United States. Last year more than 14,000 deaths were reported. Despite treatment advances, overall five-year survival after diagnosis remains abysmally low at 45 percent. ABO blood type has been linked to multiple diseases including pancreatic and ovarian cancer risk. Two small […]

Tennessee has one of the lowest human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination rates in the nation, and investigators at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) are hoping to change this by improving the way medical providers present these vaccines to patients and by improving patient and patient family education. “HPV is the most commonly sexually transmitted infection in […]

A study led by Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC) investigators suggests a drug combination which includes a PDK1 protein blocker may be more effective for breast cancer that has become resistant to cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK4/6) targeted therapy. The study, published in Cancer Research, was led by first author Valerie Jansen, M.D., Ph.D., instructor in Medicine. Valerie […]

**Registration is now closed. For questions or to request late registration, please contact:  Lynnette M. Stanton-Williams phone: (615) 936-1374 lynnette.stanton-williams@vanderbilt.edu Leading cancer investigators from several prominent universities and laboratories will headline the 2017 Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC) Annual Scientific Retreat. Clinicians, scientists, students, staff members and patients are invited to attend the free retreat to be […]