| | | | | Bruce Campbell has stage IV lung cancer, but lung cancer doesn't have him. Thanks to a new type of treatment that's having miraculous results in some patients, the retired Navy captain and nuclear engineer is no longer facing the original dismal prognosis. |
When he was diagnosed six years ago, Bruce knew that most stage IV lung cancer patients die in less than a year. He battled it for four years and underwent grueling chemotherapy. Then, over two years ago, just as a recurrence of his tumors made it seem that all hope was lost, John Heymach, M.D., Ph.D., chair of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology and co-leader of the Lung Cancer Moon Shot, suggested a clinical trial with an immune checkpoint agent. Dr. Heymach wanted to make sure Bruce had the best chance possible, and immunotherapy is the most recent weapon in MD Anderson's arsenal against cancer. | Immunotherapy capitalizes on our own natural defenses, strengthening and aiding the immune system in fighting off invading cancer cells, a field MD Anderson's Jim Allison, Ph.D., Vivian L. Smith Distinguished Chair in Immunology and director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at MD Anderson, brought into the forefront of cancer research. | Immunotherapy has done wonders for Bruce, as he and his wife, Carol Ann, have watched his tumors either disappear or shrink to 72% of the diagnosed size. Bruce recently underwent radiation therapy to eliminate the remaining tumor remnants. It is too early to know the result of the radiation therapy, but all signs are extremely positive. He presented both Dr. Heymach and Dr. Allison with a framed Churchill quote ("Never, never, never give up") to thank them for "saving his life." | | | Screening with a simple blood test |
An international study of CA-125, a protein found in the blood, revealed that a simple screening test combined with risk assessment can serve as a strong tool for predicting the possibility a patient will develop ovarian cancer. This conforms earlier work done at MD Anderson by Robert Bast, Jr., M.D. |
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| | Jim Allison, Ph.D., Vivian L. Smith Distinguished Chair in Immunology and director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at MD Anderson, has won just about every award you can win in the biomedical sciences. But it wasn’t always this way. When he started out to research immunotherapy as a cure for cancer decades ago, people laughed at him. They said it would never work. But his pioneering research has transformed the field of immunology, most famously bringing sustained survival of 10-plus years to melanoma patients who were predicted to have only months to live. His discoveries led to the first immune checkpoint inhibitor drug approved by the FDA: |
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| ipilimumab. Recruited to MD Anderson in November 2012, he is building a team of physician-scientists to accelerate the movement of immune-based therapies into clinical trials. Dr. Allison has earned much recognition from local and national media, with the Houston Chronicle calling him the scientist who "just might cure cancer." His discoveries led to the first immune checkpoint inhibitor drug approved by the FDA: ipilimumab. Recruited to MD Anderson in November 2012, he is building a team of physician-scientists to accelerate the movement of immune-based therapies into clinical trials. Dr. Allison has earned much recognition from local and national media, with the Houston Chronicle calling him the scientist who "just might cure cancer." | | The Moon Shots Program, the all-out assault on cancer, has doubled the number of disease-focused projects to 12. |
These initiatives focus on leukemias (acute myeloid leukemia myelodysplastic syndrome and chronic lymphocytic leukemia), B-cell lymphoma, triple-negative breast and high-grade serous ovarian cancers, glioblastoma, melanoma, high-risk multiple myeloma, HPV-related cancers and colorectal, lung, pancreatic and prostate cancers. |
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| | John Heymach, M.D., Ph.D., chair of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology and co-leader of the Lung Cancer Moon Shot, is using the most recent weapon in our arsenal against cancer: immunotherapy. Immunotherapy capitalizes on our own natural defenses, strengthening and aiding our immune system in fighting off invading cancer cells. Now he and others are working on more agents that unleash the immune system against cancer. | Immunotherapy can cause serious side effects, but for many it has fewer toxicities than traditional treatments like radiation and chemotherapy. Dr. Heymach can finally say he has a majority of patients that he's treated for more |
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| than a year — previously unheard of in the world of lung cancer. Our physicians and scientists are still trying to learn why immunotherapy fails to work in many patients, but every patient like Bruce Campbell is a new reason to hope — and a new reason to never give up. Dr. Heymach can finally say he has a majority of patients that he's treated for more than a year — previously unheard of in the world of lung cancer. Our physicians and scientists are still trying to learn why immunotherapy fails to work in many patients, but every patient like Bruce Campbell is a new reason to hope — and a new reason to never give up. | | "MD Anderson educates thousands of kids each year on the dangers of smoking and tobacco." — Jeanette Lastrape |
Jeanette Lastrape, senior health education specialist, Community Relations, who focuses on youth and nicotine, says if you don't want your kids to smoke, be proactive and be honest. | "Kids are bombarded with images of people using tobacco, so the earlier you start the conversation with them, the better," she says. "If you don't know the answer to a question, say so and work together to get the information." |
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