Recent MSK Discoveries & Advances

Memorial Sloan Kettering researchers are relentlessly exploring every aspect of cancer — from basic investigations of cells and molecules to clinical trials of new treatments and population-wide studies of the disease. While our core mission is to translate this knowledge into new strategies to control cancer, many of our investigators are also making scientific progress against other diseases and conditions.

Below are some examples of discoveries and advances that recently were made in our laboratories and clinics, and featured in our news stories.

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378 News Items found
Two clinical trials looking at the effects of a ketogenic diet on cancer treatment are in the works, says MSK medical oncologist Vicky Makker (above). Photo from early 2020.
Can a Keto Diet Fight Cancer?

Learn more about how the keto diet may one day be used as a boost to cancer treatment.
Human metastatic melanoma cells in a lymph node. ENPP1, a protein involved in immune evasion, is shown in green.
Taking the STING Out of Cancer: Discovery about How Cancer Cells Evade Immune Defenses Inspires New Treatment Approach

The research identifies a protein called ENPP1 as a potential drug target in the treatment of advanced cancers with chromosome instability.
Yi-Long Wu, President of CTONG, and Sir Murray Brennan, MSK’s Senior Vice President of International Programs; center: Honorable Kevin Rudd, 26th Prime Minister of Australia and 8th President and CEO of Asia Society; right (top to bottom): Lisa DeAngelis, MSK’s Physician-in-Chief and Chief Medical Officer, and Bob Li, MSK’s Physician Ambassador to China and Asia-Pacific
In the News
Memorial Sloan Kettering and the Chinese Thoracic Oncology Group Strengthen International Collaboration During Annual Symposium

The initiative lays the groundwork for speedier cancer drug approvals in both the United States and China.
Dana Pe'er, Chair of the Computational and Systems Biology Program at the Sloan Kettering Institute
Year in Review: Top 10 MSK Cancer Science Breakthroughs of 2020

Take a look back at some of the biggest cancer science stories from this past year.
Regulatory proteins (gold balls) bind to enhancer regions (light blue) and promoter regions (pink) of DNA to form clusters that enable transcription (purple).
Going the Distance: How DNA Enhancers Communicate with Their Target Genes

Scientists at the Sloan Kettering Institute are learning how far-flung regions of genes connect to start the process of making proteins.
MSK medical oncologist Robert Motzer
“Deep Dive” into Biology of Kidney Tumors Identifies Markers of Response to Immunotherapy

A study of nearly 900 kidney cancer tumors has identified previously unknown biomarkers that correlate with better treatment responses to immunotherapy and targeted therapy.
Section of a lung cancer tumor in mice
Finding
A Never-Before-Seen Cell State May Explain Cancer’s Ability to Resist Drugs

Identified in mice, this unusual cell state emerges early during tumor evolution and gives tumors enormous malleability.
Adrienne Boire
In the Lab
Iron Fiends: Cancer Cells in Brain and Spinal Fluid Survive by Monopolizing a Nutrient

Researchers gain insight into leptomeningeal metastasis, a devastating complication of advanced cancer.
MSK physician-scientists Michael Glickman and Gil Redelman-Sidi
The ABCs of BCG: Oldest Approved Immunotherapy Gets New Explanation

BCG has been used to treat bladder cancer for more than 30 years. Scientists are still learning how it works.
An illustration of sugar being sprinkled on a cancer cell.
In the Lab
Just Add Sugar: How a Protein’s Small Change Leads to Big Trouble for Cells

A study from investigators in the Sloan Kettering Institute uncovers the details of how a key protein called GRP94 becomes disrupted, leading to cancer and other diseases.