Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center

Angiosarcoma, a rare, aggressive tumor that arises from cells that line blood vessels, has a mortality rate of around 80 percent. Because of their constant contact with the blood stream, these tumors can spread quickly and freely throughout the body. The INK4a/ARF locus on chromosome 9 – a region that encodes tumor suppressor proteins – [...]

Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center’s gastrointestinal Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) has been awarded its third round of funding by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). “We decided to roll the dice and propose high-risk, high-reward projects,” said Robert Coffey Jr., M.D., Ingram Professor of Cancer Research, professor of Medicine and Cell and Developmental Biology, and director [...]

Overcoming therapeutic resistance that inevitably develops is one of the major challenges in treating lung cancer. Non-small cell lung cancers that harbor mutations in the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) are initially responsive to targeted therapies known as EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). However, most patients eventually develop resistance to these therapies. One such targeted [...]

Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C), the nonprofit organization that helps fund various Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC) investigators, returns to prime time television for its third broadcast Friday, Sept. 7, at 7 p.m. The hourlong show featuring Hollywood celebrities, recording artists and sports figures will include special performances and a celebrity phone/multi-media bank that will allow [...]

Family history is the best predictor of risk for prostate cancer, suggesting that the disease has a strong hereditary component. Recently, a heritable mutation in the HOXB13 gene was found to predispose men of European descent to prostate cancer. Jeffrey Smith, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of Medicine and Cancer Biology, and colleagues initiated a study [...]

A study led by investigators from Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC), Nashville, Tenn., finds that black men with prostate cancer receive lower quality surgical care than white men. The racial differences persist even when controlling for factors such as the year of surgery, age, comorbidities and insurance status. Daniel Barocas, M.D., MPH, assistant professor of Urologic [...]

A new tool to observe cell behavior has revealed surprising clues about how cancer cells respond to therapy – and may offer a way to further refine personalized cancer treatments. The approach, developed by investigators at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, shows that erlotinib – a targeted therapy that acts on a growth factor receptor mutated in [...]

Glioma is the most common and lethal type of brain tumor, and now investigators from Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center and three other cancer centers have identified a link between a rare genetic variant and the risk of developing glioma. The variant also appears to improve the odds of survival among glioma patients. Reid Thompson, M.D., William [...]

Smoking tobacco reduces lung function. African Americans have lower lung function compared to European Americans, but it is unclear if African ancestry modifies smoking’s impact on lung function. Melinda Aldrich, Ph.D., MPH, assistant professor of Thoracic Surgery, and colleagues evaluated lung function, tobacco smoking exposure and genetic ancestry in a large population of African Americans who [...]

Mohamed Hassanein, Ph.D., research instructor in Pulmonary Medicine, has received a Career Development Award from the LUNGevity Foundation to work on the development of noninvasive tests to help diagnose lung cancer. He will receive $300,000 over three years in support of his research efforts. Hassanein, who specializes in molecular biology and genetics, works in the [...]