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Genetic analyses suggest that high circulating HDL-cholesterol levels may increase breast cancer risk — a surprising finding since increased HDL-cholesterol is thought to be healthy.

For the 10th year in a row Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) and Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC) have been named a CEO Cancer Gold Standard employer by the CEO Roundtable on Cancer.

This year’s Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC) Annual Scientific Retreat focused on the association between cancer development, the immune system and the microbiome, which includes all of the microorganisms and the genetic material of these microorganisms in the human body and the surrounding environment.

Using four large-scale data sets from normal and cancerous breast tissue samples, Vanderbilt researchers have identified 101 candidate breast cancer susceptibility genes with variant-associated gene expression changes.

Sirtex Medical Ltd. has renewed a grant award to Dan Brown, MD, professor of Radiology and Radiological Sciences and chief of Interventional Oncology, and his Vanderbilt Health colleagues, for a research program designed to treat patients with liver tumors that cannot be addressed with surgery.

Boehringer Ingelheim and Vanderbilt University recently announced the expansion of their successful existing collaboration to develop novel anti-cancer compounds.

Christine Lovly, MD, PhD, assistant professor of Medicine, has received a $200,000 grant to support promising new research on lung cancer.

Rising obesity rates in several Southern states are leading to a rapid increase in new cases of diabetes among both black and white adults. A new study helmed by investigators at the University of Texas Health Science Center and Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) found the risk of diabetes is double for black patients.

The first line of defense against skin cancer is the ability to repair DNA damage caused by UV light. Walter J. Chazin, PhD, and colleagues investigated how XPA – a protein involved in the repair of certain DNA damage – interacts with DNA and the effects of several disease-associated mutations in XPA on its molecular structure and ability to bind DNA.

Artist Rhonda Jennette, second from right, donated animal-themed art for display in the Radiation Oncology department. Shown here with Jennette are, from left, Mark Stavas, M.D., Leslie Mader, R.N., OCN, and Eric Shinohara, M.D., MSCI. (photo by Susan Urmy)