Stanford Cancer Institute’s Post

A lack of disclosure compounded by insufficient sexual orientation and gender identity data collection by providers can lead to a myriad of challenges in prostate cancer treatment. #ProstateCancer #PrideMonth #Pride

George Hahn, PhD, a professor emeritus of radiation oncology at Stanford Medicine who pioneered the use of heat to help treat cancer, died March 10 at his home in Carmel Highlands, California. He was 98. “Dr. Hahn put his heart into his work, always thinking of the patients who could one day benefit from his research advances,” said Lloyd Minor, MD, dean of the Stanford School of Medicine and vice president of medical affairs at Stanford University. “We should all aspire to the humanity and selflessness he demonstrated as a scientist and mentor. We will miss him tremendously.” Hahn arrived at a career in biomedical science by way of personal tragedy. His second-eldest son, David, was 10 years old when he was diagnosed, in 1961, with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. David was treated at Stanford Hospital under the care of Malcolm Bagshaw, MD, a leading radiation therapist who later served as Stanford Medicine’s founding chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology. At the time, however, chemotherapy agents to treat the disease didn’t exist. David died about a year later. David’s death spurred Hahn to devote his career to cancer research. He was in his late 30s when he enrolled in the biophysics PhD program at Stanford Medicine, having already earned a master’s degree in physics at the University of California, Berkeley, nearly a decade earlier. Even before matriculating, he began working in Bagshaw’s lab. Read more https://stan.md/45fEgpZ

Stanford’s Emeryville cancer clinic opened its first cancer trial in April 2024, led by Stanford Cancer Institute (SCI) members Jennifer Caswell-Jin MD, and Candice N. Thompson, M.D. Jessica Liang, patient care manager at the Emeryville cancer clinic, says that transportation is a barrier for patients, especially if enrolling in a clinical trial means crossing a bridge to Palo Alto. “Being able to offer trials locally where they don’t have to travel too far means a lot in terms of providing the same standard of care to patients and having access where it wasn’t previously available.” https://stan.md/3Vb7bqB #StanfordCancer #HealthEquity #CancerResearch

Each May, Stanford Medicine Children’s Health celebrates Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Island providers and staff who help make Stanford Children's Health | Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford exceptional with their diversity and extraordinary talents. This year, for AANHPI Heritage Month, Stanford Medicine Children’s Health introduces you to three of our Pediatric Hematology and Oncology doctors, who reflect on their heritage and share how it influenced their careers. https://bit.ly/3V7D1EK #AANHPI

Join us for the inaugural Stanford Cancer Institute Advances in Mass Spectrometry Enabled Drug Discovery symposium. On October 29, 2024, leading experts in academia and industry will come together to explore current challenges and opportunities, as well as recent achievements across diverse applications in drug development.  This field has revolutionized ligand and target discovery by enabling the detection of interactions proteome-wide. Chemoproteomic techniques targeting reactive residues have grown and expanded the scope of covalent ligand discovery. Mass spectrometry instrumentation continues to improve, deepening proteomic coverage, accuracy, and sensitivity while becoming more accessible. The symposium is open to Stanford faculty, students, and postgraduates, as well as those outside of Stanford who are interested in diving into the cutting-edge world of proteomics. Join us for this all-day dynamic learning experience to discuss the exciting progress in mass spectrometry-based proteomics. Early bird registration is available now. https://stan.md/3WYqJRP #DrugDiscovery #MassSpectrometry #StanfordCancer #proteomics

Stanford scientists recently published an article in Nature illuminating the relationship between adoptively transferred T cells and macrophages and how two immunotherapies, adoptively transferred T cell and anti-CD47 therapies, may work together to increase their tumor-fighting capabilities. Adoptively transferred T cell therapies are derived from a patient’s T cells, engineered to better target cancer cells, and then infused into the patient. In this work, the authors focused on two different kinds of adoptive T cell therapies: chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) and engineered T cell receptor (TCR)-T cells. CD47 is a protein expressed throughout the body that protects cells against macrophages, white blood cells that engulf dead cells and microorganisms, by signaling “do not eat this cell.” Cancer cells express a high level of CD47 to avoid detection and destruction by macrophages. As such, anti-CD47 therapy has become a promising immunotherapy. Anti-CD47 antibodies negate cancer cells’ CD47 signals and increase the likelihood the cancer cells are found and destroyed by macrophages. This study used mouse models to combine the CAR-T or TCR-T cells and anti-CD47 therapies to see if the ability to fight tumors was increased compared to each therapy alone. However, unexpectedly, the initial results showed a decreased tumor killing effect because blocking the CD47 “don’t eat me” signal caused macrophages to quickly destroy the adoptively transferred T cells. Making use of this phenomenon, the authors realized that as toxicity is a noted problem of CAR-T cell therapy, which occurs when the patient’s side effects become too severe, anti-CD47 therapy could be used as a “safety switch” to quickly remove the T cells from the body if toxicity occurred. Read more... https://stan.md/3X1RHb4 #immunooncology #celltherapy

Pamela Herena, director of clinical operations at the Stanford Cancer Institute Clinical Trials Office, shares her insight into the challenges and rewards of being an oncology nurse. #OncologyNursingMonth #CancerCare 

Happy 20th anniversary to the Stanford Cancer Institute! The institute was founded in 2004 to advance the understanding of cancer through a multidisciplinary, integrated, and collaborative community of physicians and scientists. Stanford Cancer Institute director Steven Artandi, MD, PhD, said, “In biomedicine, we’re faced all the time with intractable problems, and cancer is one of these problems that is very difficult to solve. Often, these problems are solved by thinking about problems from a completely different perspective, and that’s the kind of attitude and approaches that we foster at Stanford.”  https://stan.md/3yqp6lr #StanfordCancer

Happy Clinical Trials Day! Today, we recognize the dedicated team at the Stanford Cancer Institute Clinical Trials Office (SCI-CTO) for their ongoing efforts in advancing cancer research. From their crucial clinical trial coordination to the vital support they offer to patients and investigators, the SCI-CTO plays a pivotal role in the fight against cancer.  The team ensures cancer clinical trials run smoothly, offering patients the best possible care and fostering an environment of progress and innovation in cancer treatment.  In celebration of their hard work, the team enjoyed ice cream, lawn games, and good company. Let's continue to appreciate the SCI-CTO team's incredible work and dedication to improving cancer research. #cancerresearch #cancertreatment #clinicaltrials #stanfordcancer #teamwork

Stanford Cancer Institute's Deputy Director Heather Wakelee, MD, is the 2024 recipient of the Remarkable Mentor to Women in Oncology Award. This professional honor, initiated by the ECOG-ACRIN Task Force on Advancement for Women in 2023, recognizes an ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group member for their sustained commitment to developing the careers of women in cancer medicine and advancing women investigators in ECOG-ACRIN. Dr. Wakelee is the division chief for medical oncology and the deputy director of the Stanford Cancer Institute at Stanford University. She is the Winston Chen and Phyllis Huang Professor at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Her expertise as a physician-scientist focuses on the treatment of patients living with lung cancer, thymoma, and mesothelioma. She was ECOG-ACRIN’s Young Investigator of the Year for 2015. Dr. Wakelee’s track record of mentorship is outstanding, having mentored many individuals, particularly women, within her institution, Stanford University, the ECOG-ACRIN Thoracic Cancer Committee (which she co-chaired for several years) and at the national and international levels. Many of her mentees are now in distinguished careers at academic institutions across the country, and are the first authors of research manuscripts in prominent publications. Notably, Dr. Wakeleee served as the president of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer from 2021-2023 and, in that role, prioritized the career development of women. She is also an active participant in the annual ECOG-ACRIN Young Investigator Symposium. A trailblazer in oncology, when Dr. Wakelee joined the faculty at Stanford University, she was the only oncologist focused on clinical research for thoracic malignancies. She spearheaded Stanford’s lung cancer research program into eminence, all the while passing on her experience and wisdom to trainees. She continues to use her leadership positions to mentor women and advocate for equal representation in research. https://bit.ly/3V4KZQg #womeninmedicine #StanfordCancer #mentorshipmatters #womenleaders