Cancer

Jason MacGurn and colleagues have characterized a “rheostat” that sets WNT pathway signaling in breast cancer cells. Read More

Gene variants associated with cancer risk appear to contribute to carcinogenesis by regulating target genes that in turn promote the generation of mutations. Read More

Written by Heidi Hall Alpacas aren’t the typical animals that drivers spot as they wind their way through rural Tennessee, but there’s a happy herd of them outside Waverly, where they eat the finest pellets, walk up and down a scenic hill and potentially save lives. They’re owned by… Read More

A previously unrecognized role for a cell surface receptor may open new therapeutic options for the treatment of fibrotic diseases. Read More

Cellular soldiers created using the body’s own defenses can track down and kill escaping cancer cells during surgeries, preventing metastasis and saving lives, a Vanderbilt University biomedical engineer has discovered, particularly in cases of triple negative breast cancer. Read More

Microbial species in the mouth could be playing a role in colorectal cancer development, according to new research from epidemiologists at VUMC. Read More

A report by researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center has shattered conventional wisdom about how cells, including cancer cells, shed DNA into the bloodstream. Read More

Stephen Fesik and colleagues have uncovered more details about how a crucial component of RAS proteins, which trigger about a third of all tumors, work. This finding will help advance the discovery of new cancer therapies. Read More

The finding gives a boost to the field of metabolomics, the next big thing in fighting cancer. It can complement immunotherapies, which use the body’s natural defenses to kill cancer cells. Read More

Zhijun Yin and colleagues have found that breast cancer patients who message their doctors about certain topics are more likely to discontinue hormone therapy than others--which enables doctors to better predict which patients are at risk of stopping their treatment early. Read More

A team led by biomolecular engineer John Wilson and cancer biologist Rebecca Cook have found a way to trigger an immune response that targets breast cancer cells. Read More

A large-scale study conducted among East Asians and led by Vanderbilt researchers has identified multiple, previously unknown genetic risk factors for colorectal cancer. Read More

New research led by Rebecca Cook demonstrates that an antiviral receptor called RIG-I has potent immunogenic and therapeutic effects in breast cancer. Read More

The grant will support Mary Philip's research to develop an organoid model — a miniature cell model of a functioning organ — of the liver to enable three-dimensional observation of immune-cancer interactions at the single-cell level at the earliest stages of cancer development. Read More

New research by Jonathan Lehman and Pierre Massion have identfied a bioimarker that suggests poor prognosis for small-cell lung cancer, as well as potential target for new therapies. Read More

Pulmonary hypertension may be treated by targeting a bone marrow cell that normally promotes the growth of new blood vessels, according to new research by David Merryman. Read More

The grant will allow Charles Caskey to lead research into using ultrasound as an image-guided therapy for drug delivery. Read More

Vanderbilt chemists have been awarded $7.2 million over the next five years from the National Cancer Institute to lead an initiative to better understand how a combination chemotherapy for breast cancer targets DNA. Read More

A potential cancer drug aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of ionizing radiation in lung cancer patients is a step closer to development with funding support from the Small Business Innovation Research program. Read More

A trans-institutional team of researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Vanderbilt University has received an $11 million Cancer Moonshot grant to build a single-cell resolution atlas to map out the routes that benign colonic polyps take to progress to colorectal cancer, the third most common cancer among both men and women in the United States. Read More