Johns Hopkins Hospital / Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center
Johns Hopkins is the birthplace of cancer genomics (Vogelstein), MSI-high immunotherapy (Le, Diaz), and liquid biopsy and MCED science (CancerSEEK).
Vogelstein/Kinzler cancer genome sequencing; pembrolizumab in dMMR tumours (first tumour-agnostic approval); CancerSEEK spun into Exact Sciences' MCED programme; Bloomberg-Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy.
- Cancer genomics
- MSI-H immunotherapy
- Liquid biopsy / MCED
- Bloomberg-Kimmel Immunotherapy
Bert Vogelstein is the most-cited scientist in cancer genetics: he mapped how colorectal cancer develops and founded the field of cancer genome sequencing and blood-based detection.
Immunologist who helped define the PD-1 pathway's role in cancer and built one of the largest immunotherapy institutes.
First author of the studies that showed mismatch-repair-deficient tumours respond to PD-1 blockade regardless of origin.
Pancreatic cancer immunologist who developed the GVAX vaccine and led national cancer policy panels.
Her cervical cancer cells, taken in 1951 without her knowledge, became HeLa, the first immortal human cell line. Her story changed how consent and family rights in research are handled.
Led CheckMate 017, the first trial to show immunotherapy beats chemotherapy in lung cancer.
Developed the MANAFEST assay to track the tumour-specific T cells that immunotherapy awakens.
Co-discovered APC, the gatekeeper gene of colorectal cancer, and co-led the first cancer genome sequences.
Led CheckMate 816, which established neoadjuvant chemo-immunotherapy for resectable lung cancer.
Founder of cancer epigenetics, showing that abnormal DNA methylation silences tumour-suppressor genes and can be reversed by drugs.
Suzanne Topalian led the first nivolumab trials showing PD-1 blockade works across several cancers.
William Nelson is the long-time director of the Johns Hopkins cancer centre and a prostate cancer epigenetics researcher.
Patients with operable stage II-III lung cancer without EGFR or ALK alterations should have chemo-immunotherapy discussed before surgery rather than only afterwards. Three pre-operative cycles do not compromise the operation and improve cure rates. Whether to continue immunotherapy after surgery, as the perioperative trials do, and whether patients with pCR need any further treatment, remain open questions.
For stage II colon cancer, where most patients are cured by surgery alone, a blood test can identify the minority who benefit from chemotherapy and spare everyone else its side effects. It does not yet prove that treating ctDNA-positive patients improves survival compared with not treating them.
A blood test can find early, treatable cancers in people who feel well, including cancers for which no screening exists. It is not a replacement for mammography or colonoscopy but a possible addition. Larger randomised trials are needed to show benefit outweighs harm.
There are not thousands of cancer genes, and any one patient's tumour is driven by only a few of them. That makes targeted sequencing panels sensible, but because most drivers are lost tumour suppressors, drugs exist for only a minority, which is why the same group turned to early detection.
Pages like this
not linked directly; found by shared links- Key paperLe 2015: PD-1 blockade works in tumours with mismatch-repair deficiency, whatever the organ
Shares Dung T. Le, Drew M. Pardoll, Microsatellite instability (MSI-H) / mismatch repair deficiency (dMMR), Pembrolizumab.
- Key paperTopalian 2012: the first large trial of a PD-1 antibody shows durable responses across melanoma, lung and kidney cancer
Shares Julie R. Brahmer, Drew M. Pardoll, Suzanne L. Topalian, Pembrolizumab.
- Key paperKEYNOTE-177: pembrolizumab instead of chemotherapy as first treatment for mismatch-repair-deficient metastatic colorectal cancer
Shares Dung T. Le, Microsatellite instability (MSI-H) / mismatch repair deficiency (dMMR), Pembrolizumab, Colorectal cancer.
- Key paperLe 2017: mismatch-repair deficiency predicts response to PD-1 blockade across twelve tumour types, leading to the first tissue-agnostic drug approval
Shares Dung T. Le, Microsatellite instability (MSI-H) / mismatch repair deficiency (dMMR), Pembrolizumab, Colorectal cancer.
- TechnologycfDNA fragmentomics
Shares DELFI Diagnostics, Multi-cancer early detection (MCED), Liquid biopsy (ctDNA).
- Key paperIwai and Honjo: tumours use PD-L1 to escape T cells, and blocking it restores attack
Shares Drew M. Pardoll, Antigen presentation & immune editing, Pembrolizumab.
- InstitutionCleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi
Shares Tawam Hospital, Prostate cancer, Colorectal cancer.
- BottleneckMost lethal cancers are found late
Shares Cheap DNA fragment-pattern blood test as a first sieve before expensive cancer tests, AI that spots pancreatic cancer on scans taken a year before diagnosis, DELFI Diagnostics, DETECT-A: a blood test plus PET-CT found treatable cancers in 10,000 women with no symptoms.