Here at OncoBites, a team of cancer professionals and advocates has gathered to share cutting-edge research with a non-specialist audience. We understand that jargon and isolated professional communities have made science feel inaccessible to most people, even people considering the field. In addition, paywalls on articles can make trying to investigate topics alone a challenge.... Continue Reading →
Integrating Race, Ethnicity, and Now Ancestry Into Cancer Research—Why Does it Matter?
Reading time: 4 minutes Aileen I Fernandez Cancer health disparities are prevalent in the United States and are defined as “adverse differences between certain population groups in cancer measures”. It is well known that there are variations in cancer burden associated with racial/ethnic identity and that this is due to many factors. Among these are... Continue Reading →
Knowing the Result Before the Test – ‘zAavatars’ Predicting Therapeutic Responses in Cancer Patients
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes Darshak Bhatt Wouldn’t it be nice if a cancer patient was given therapy only if it was going to work? Although it seems like a no-brainer, many patients undergo therapy without knowing how good the chances are for a successful outcome. Reasons for this uncertainty depend on the type and... Continue Reading →
Immune-related Adverse Events: A Blessing or a Curse for Cancer Immunotherapy?
Reading time: 7 minutes Aishat Motolani You have most likely heard of several branded FDA-approved drugs during TV commercials and sighed, “Ah! not again with this rhythmic list of symptoms.” Well, some of those symptoms may have included immune-related adverse events (IRAEs). iRAEs are composed of an array of side effects that are reminiscent of... Continue Reading →
Cancer Research and Care Under the Biden Administration
Reading time: 5 minutes Michael Marand In the third most-viewed TED talk of all time, Simon Sinek explained: people do not care what you do, they care why you do it. He asserted great leaders inspire action by communicating their why. For many of us involved in cancer research or cancer care, our work comes... Continue Reading →
Are Clinical Trials in Oncology Biased?
Reading time: 3 minutes Varshit Dusad Randomized controlled clinical trials (RCTs) are an important part of medical studies. Properly supervised trials act as the source of evidence for the safety and efficacy of new drugs, therapies, and medical devices. Hence, it is imperative that clinical trials are designed, conducted, and analysed in a robust and... Continue Reading →
Targeting cancer’s sweet spots
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes Payal Yokota One of the main differences between a rapidly dividing cancer cell and a normal cell is that the cancer cells rely on glycolysis followed by lactic acid fermentation, rather than oxidative phosphorylation. This effect is called the Warburg effect, one we have previously discussed in the context of... Continue Reading →
AlphaFold: A game changer in cancer?
Reading time: 4 minutes Chamath Chandrasekera Proteins are the molecular machines that perform nearly every bodily function including contracting muscles, digesting food, and healing wounds. They also provide structural support by reinforcing the shape of cells and tissues. So how do proteins go from a string of amino acids to a 3D structure with a... Continue Reading →
A Link Between Neurodegeneration and Cancer
Reading time: 5 minutes Jessica Desamero Cancer and neurodegenerative disease (a group of disorders that involve progressive degeneration of the central nervous system) are two very serious and distinct ailments. The basis of their development is distinctly different, with hallmarks of cancer centering around abnormally prolonging cell life and hallmarks of neurodegenerative disease centering around... Continue Reading →
Progress in Screening: The Key To Lower Colorectal Cancer Mortality
Reading time: 6 minutes Kate Gavaghan Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common form of cancer in the US, and the second most common cause of cancer death. It’s estimated that in 2020, approximately 148,000 individuals were diagnosed with CRC and about 53,200 died. The good news is that the incidence of CRC has... Continue Reading →
In sickness and in health: Myc and Max
Reading time: 4 minutes Suchitra Mitra Normal cells grow, age, and ultimately die to be replaced by new cells. Cancer cells, on the other hand, experience cell cycle malfunctions and grow out of control to become invasive, spreading undesirably and harmfully. This anomalous cell proliferation is a consequence of genetic alterations, or changes in the... Continue Reading →
The circulating tumor DNA: a promising cancer biomarker
Reading time: 6 minutes Aishat Motolani What if I say a floating DNA in the blood could broadcast a glimpse of a diseased system’s future, particularly that of cancer? Diagnosing cancer commonly involves the use of invasive procedures, such as tumor tissue biopsy. This involves the examination of tissues extracted from a primary or metastatic... Continue Reading →
The road not taken – Cancer cells adore a lymphatic detour to avoid being ‘ferried’ to death
Darshak Bhatt Reading time: 4 minutes Migration is tough! The International committee for the Red Cross states that “… on their journey, migrants face multiple risks and high degree of vulnerability”, and adds “Thousands (of migrants) die or disappear along the way every year.” Similarly, a cancer cell faces challenges related to migration and the... Continue Reading →
Rapalogs and Male Reproduction: Do these cancer treatments affect fertility long-term?
Reading time: 6 minutes Taylor A. Johnson Over the past few months, we have repeatedly discussed ways in which cancer may intersect with reproduction. On the female side, we have seen some of the challenges women face with fertility as well as links between bacterial infections and the development of ovarian cancer. On the male... Continue Reading →
Closing the Gap: At-Home Cancer Tests Reduce Health Disparities in Cervical Cancer
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes Sara Musetti It is shocking to absolutely no one that there are large disparities in health care outcomes associated with socioeconomic status. As Morgan McSweeney recently wrote for OncoBites, melanoma patients on Medicaid or without access to health insurance wait longer for doctor’s visits and have poorer outcomes than patients... Continue Reading →
Tissue Issues: Moving Towards Patient-Centered Tissue Donation for Cancer Research
Reading time: 5 minutes Patty Spears There are many issues with tissue; that is, tissue donated by patients for cancer research. Patients are often asked to donate tissue when joining a research study. Research on patient tissue is an important step to bring new discoveries from the laboratory to the clinic, which will improve the... Continue Reading →
This Rapid Cancer Test is as Easy as: Inhale, Exhale
Michael Marand Reading time: 3 minutes Albert Einstein famously said, “If I had an hour to solve a problem, I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about the solutions.” While more robust cancer treatments are indubitably necessary, cancer detection is a crucial part of providing effective patient care. Early detection... Continue Reading →
Female Fertility Challenges After Cancer
Clare Meernik Reading time: 4 minutes Fatigue. Hair loss. Loss of appetite, nausea, or vomiting. Constipation or diarrhea. Pain. Easy bruising. Bleeding. All common side effects of chemotherapy. Now, imagine you are a 25-year old woman, newly diagnosed with cancer--unsure if and when you may want to have children--and your oncologist tells you about another... Continue Reading →
Investigating the genetic basis of Graft versus Host Disease
Reading time: 5 minutes Kate Secombe The treatment for many blood cancers can be invasive and have a range of side effects. One such side-effect is known as Graft versus Host Disease (GvHD). While GvHD invokes a range of unwanted symptoms, we currently do not fully understand how and why it develops. New research by... Continue Reading →
Black in Cancer: Not Just a Week-long Event, but an Ongoing Movement
Reading time: 6 minutes Jessica Desamero Black in Cancer week, held from October 11-17, is a week-long event full of highlighting amazing Black scientists in cancer research and medicine, addressing cancer myths and disparities in the Black community, and discussing ways to diversify the cancer workforce. The Black in Cancer event was hosted by the... Continue Reading →
Biological Differences in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer by Race
Nisitha Sengottuvel Reading time: 4 minutes A study by Mitchell and colleagues published in Clinical Cancer Research sought to understand how the genetic differences between African Americans and European Americans could be changing the way lung tumors behave. In order to answer this question, the researchers looked at seven different Baltimore hospitals that had about... Continue Reading →
Metals Against Cancer: Vanadium Delivery to Neuroblastoma Cells Through Liposomes
Reading time: 3 minutes Garima Khanna Vanadium is a hard, silvery-grey, malleable transition metal. Transition metals are chemical elements that have valence electrons capable of participating in formation of chemical bonds. While the term transition has no particular chemical significance, it is a convenient name by which to distinguish the similarity of the atomic structures... Continue Reading →
Promiscuous kinase inhibitors: When having more than one partner can be good
Reading time: 4 minutes Chris Wang Unlike the Merriam Webster definition of promiscuous, describing a kinase inhibitor as promiscuous actually refers to the number of kinases it inhibits. The more promiscuous an inhibitor is, the higher number of off-targets it has. Traditional drug development strategies avoid promiscuous compounds because off-target effects can lead to side... Continue Reading →
Black in Cancer Week
October 11-17th is Black in Cancer Week! Co-founded this year by Dr. Henry J. Henderson (@DrHJHenderson) and Sigourney Bell (@siggs28), Black in Cancer Week is focused on “strengthening networks and highlighting Black Excellence in cancer research and medicine.” We are taking this week to highlight some articles written by our Black contributors and share the... Continue Reading →
The Y’s of Testicular Cancer
Reading time: 5 minutes Taylor A. Johnson Here at Oncobites, we cover all varieties of cancers, whether they are located in the brain, heart, breast, circulation, or elsewhere. Although we’ve previously discussed ovarian cancer in multiple posts (i.e. Ovarian Cancer and Infections), we have yet to discuss the homologous structure to the ovaries in men;... Continue Reading →
Stakeholders in commercialization of oncology
Reading time: 6 minutes Varshit Dusad Oncology is a vibrant research area with many exciting discoveries unfolding every year, each emerging from research labs all over the world. However, the road from innovations in the lab to successful commercial realization in the real world is long and challenging. For a new therapy and drug to... Continue Reading →
Targeting Hypoxia in Cancer Therapies: Using the Lack of Oxygen as an Advantage
Reading time: 4 minutes Jessica Desamero With cancer, the environment that surrounds a tumor, or the tumor microenvironment (TME), can be just as important as the tumor itself in terms of cancer progression and drug resistance. How can this be? First, let’s take a look at what the TME is composed of. In a tumor... Continue Reading →
Connections between the gut and the brain: the key to reducing pain after chemotherapy?
Reading time: 5 minutes Kate Secombe Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) is a relatively common side-effect of some types of chemotherapy, affecting between 19 to 85% of people. It refers to a few different conditions involving damage to the peripheral nervous system. The peripheral nervous system sends signals back to the central nervous system (brain and... Continue Reading →
AACR 2020 Dispatches Part One: Examining cancer under a new molecular lens
Reading time: 5 minutes Emily Costa Every spring, researchers, oncologists, policymakers, journalists, advocacy groups, and patients from around the globe gather at AACR, a scientific conference hosted by the American Association for Cancer Research and the largest of its kind. Matching this spectrum of attendees, the conference’s programming covers a wide array of cancer-related topics,... Continue Reading →
How cancer cells dodge targeted “silver bullet” treatments: BRAF/MEK resistance in melanoma
Reading time: 5 minutes Chris Wang Like Keanu Reeves dodging bullets within The Matrix, cancer cells can dodge even carefully designed anti-cancer agents. Scientists strive to design “silver bullets,” ones which target cancer cells while sparing healthy normal cells. This "silver bullet" approach is appealing to researchers due to the promise of improved therapeutic response... Continue Reading →
Cannabis for Neuropathic Pain in Cancer
Reading time: 4 minutes Garima Khanna Marijuana, a popular plant cultivated throughout the globe has caught the eye of scientists to unravel the mysteries of it’s medicinal properties. The dried buds and leaves derived from Cannabis sativa and Cannabis indica have shown potential to cater pain management. While the active cannabinoid properties in marijuana have... Continue Reading →
