In the News

Researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center have identified, for the first time, an epigenetic mechanism promoting breast cancer. The team found that inhibition of the PI3K pathway leads to activation of ER-dependent transcription through the epigenetic regulator KMT2D. These findings provide a rationale for epigenetic therapy in patients with PIK3CA-mutant, ER-positive breast cancer. While epigenetic factors have been known to play an important role in various cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma, this is the first evidence found in breast cancer. This research co-led by José Baselga, MD, PhD, Physician-in-Chief and Chief Medical Officer, appears in the March 24, 2017 issue of Science. For more information on this work and to speak with the study authors, contact [email protected].

MSK gastroenterologist Robin Mendelsohn weighs in on the possible benefits and drawbacks of using aspirin to reduce the risk of colon and rectal cancer.

Learn how a patient’s intestinal bacteria may influence the risk of cancers such as leukemia or lymphoma returning after bone marrow transplantation.

Learn how tiny sensors made of nanotubes could serve as implantable devices that offer a noninvasive way to monitor cancer and its treatments.

Research is providing new clues about how cancer spreads to spinal fluid, a condition called leptomeningeal metastasis.

Leptomeningeal metastasis, cancer that has spread to the areas surrounding the brain and spinal cord, has long been a formidable clinical challenge for oncologists. Researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center have identified the molecular basis of this increasingly prevalent complication of cancer. With the help of a mouse model, researchers have identified a drug strategy that may combat this virtually untreatable condition. This research by Joan Massagué, PhD, Adrienne Boire, MD, PhD, and colleagues, was published in the March 9, 2017 issue of Cell. For more information on this work and to speak with the study authors, contact [email protected].

Scientists know that cancer can result from mistakes in DNA repair. But understanding what controls the repair process itself has been a hard nut to crack.

Learn more from Andrea Cercek about a new study showing that colorectal cancer rates are increasing in younger people.

What do you get when you combine two of the hottest areas of biotechnology? A new paper from MSK researchers explains.

Researchers devised a novel method to ferry drugs to head and neck cancers using nanoparticles that naturally stick to a protein in tumor blood vessels.