NCI Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis

Don’t miss “Advocating, Accelerating, and Amplifying Lung Cancer Discovery,” an upcoming webinar hosted by the Lung-MAP Accrual Enhancement Committee (AEC)! Join us May 14 at 1:00 pm ET to hear from experts and lung cancer advocates involved in the current Lung-MAP clinical trial. The discussions will cover recent trial updates, the challenges Lung-MAP is addressing in the traditional clinical trial landscape, and new opportunities for patient engagement in the process. Visit our website for the full agenda and to register: https://lnkd.in/es9uCFqU.

TGF-beta, a protein that spurs cancer growth and is a key player in many biological processes, was first discovered at NIH in the 1980s. Today, our investigators are still at the forefront of TGF-beta research. Read this article from the NIH Catalyst to learn more about the past and present of this field in CCR: https://go.nih.gov/o2p0W7V Image: TGF-beta signaling in human breast cancer cells National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health (NIH): Intramural Research Program (IRP), Lalage Wakefield, James Gulley MD PhD FACP, Christina Stuelten

May is brain tumor awareness month. The brain is divided down the middle from front to back into two halves called the cerebral hemispheres. Each hemisphere is divided into four lobes: frontal, parietal, occipital, and temporal. Brain tumors located in the lobes are called supratentorial, and tumors located in the cerebellum or brainstem are called infratentorial. Brain tumors, regardless of their location, can cause headaches, seizures, and problems with multitasking. Learn more about specific changes you may experience based on your tumor location in the pictured infographic. Media Description: An infographic on the anatomy and functions of the brain. The frontal lobe (blue), parietal lobe (dark blue), occipital lobe (green), temporal lobe (purple), brainstem (grey), and cerebellum (orange) are highlighted.

A descriptive analysis by FDA clinical reviewers using clinical trial data submitted to the agency aimed to uncover insights into the multi-organ patterns of adverse events related to the use of immune system therapies for patients with cancer. The study’s findings may help healthcare providers understand, predict and manage patients experiencing adverse events associated with immunotherapies. https://lnkd.in/ez3iEqV2    The analysis was published online as part of the @American Association for Cancer Research 2025 Annual Meeting.  

Headed to #AACR25 in Chicago? Don’t miss the cutting-edge science from NCI Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis #CPTAC—check out our posters & presentations throughout the event. Let’s connect next week! 🔬

National Cancer Institute (NCI)'s CTEP and the NCI National Clinical Trials Network Groups, ALLIANCE and SWOG, have launched two clinical treatment sub-trials for myeloMATCH (the precision medicine clinical trial for people with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) or acute myeloid leukemia (AML)). With the addition of these two new substudies, the total number of myeloMATCH trials is now five. In the ALLIANCE-led trial, the usual treatment of cedazuridine-decitabine will be compared to the combination of cedazuridine-decitabine and enasidenib in people with higher-risk, isocitrate dehydrogenase enzyme 2 (IDH2)-mutated MDS. Read about the ALLIANCE myeloMATCH substudy: https://lnkd.in/eRVS6Rve In the SWOG-led trial, the combination of cedazuridine-decitabine and venetoclax plus enasidenib will be compared to cedazuridine-decitabine and venetoclax alone in people with newly diagnosed AML that has an IDH2 gene change. Read about the SWOG myeloMATCH substudy: https://lnkd.in/e3NfGqA4 More information on myeloMATCH: https://lnkd.in/ej8GxFSm

National Cancer Institute (NCI)'s Cancer Imaging Program (CIP) funds The Cancer Imaging Archive (TCIA) service (managed by the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research) that de-identifies and hosts a large publicly available archive of medical images of cancer. TCIA recently released a checklist to guide data publishers in preparing a data abstract and description for TCIA submission to improve uniformity among imaging datasets. This Cancer Imaging Checklist for DAta Sharing (CICADAS) also ensures that dataset descriptions are comprehensive and easily accessible to the research community. Learn more about CICADAS: https://lnkd.in/env_GTZT

National Cancer Institute (NCI)'s CTEP, in collaboration with SWOG, has launched a clinical trial in early-stage non-small cell lung cancer. The treatment landscape for early-stage NSCLC (stage I–III) has evolved significantly with recent studies showing benefits from neoadjuvant therapy, particularly chemo-immunotherapy. As perioperative immunotherapy becomes more common, a critical question has emerged: Do patients who achieve a pathologic complete response (pCR) after neoadjuvant chemo-immunotherapy and surgery still benefit from additional immunotherapy post-surgery? This study will answer whether giving Durvalumab after surgery to patients with no remaining cancer cells improves outcomes compared to active surveillance alone. Durvalumab is a cancer-fighting antibody that targets PD-L1, a protein that helps regulate the immune system. Read more about this clinical trial: https://lnkd.in/efJDApqZ

Organoids are miniature versions of organs grown in the lab. Organoid culture systems offer a powerful platform for the development of targeted therapies and precision medicine by letting scientists easily create genetic or environmental changes (difficult or impossible in animal models or human patients) to identify networks of genes that control cellular behaviors that give way to tumors. This image shows an organoid that was grown from a single stem cell. Researchers used this system to demonstrate how a single critical gene, called Sox10 (in blue), controls whether cells turn into dangerous mini "factories", rapidly churning out more copies and variants of themselves. The Sox10 gene allows cells to migrate and take on characteristics of other cells (plasticity). In cancer cells, these features lead to metastasis and drug resistance. Inner keratin-8+ luminal cells (in green) are surrounded by peripheral keratin-14+ basal cells (in red).

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) is hosting the Co-Clinical Imaging Research Resource Program (CIRP) Annual Meeting on May 7-8, 2025. You can join virtually via WebEx (the link will be available two weeks prior to the meeting date). Registration closes on April 23, 2025. Learn more information and register here: https://lnkd.in/gXvDuYWa You will learn about how quantitative imaging methods are optimized to improve the quality of imaging results for co-clinical trials of adult and pediatric cancers and applications of co-clinical imaging to oncology precision medicine. The 2025 annual meeting celebrates a 10-year milestone and focuses on pilot applications of co-clinical imaging across several primary and metastatic cancer types, including breast, lung, gastrointestinal, hematological, and bone cancers. The keynote talk will outline the consensus of the future co-clinical imaging roadmap.