Cancer – Johns Hopkins Medicine Podcasts

Cancers continue to change, or mutate, as time goes on, often acquiring the ability to outmaneuver treatments. Valsamo Anagnostou, a cancer researcher at Johns Hopkins, has used repeated blood sampling for cancer cells with treatment strategies like radiation to stay …

Can peripheral blood sampling be combined with radiation therapy for cancer? Elizabeth Tracey reports Read More »

Genetics are foundational to much of cancer treatment, and now both the environment surrounding the tumor as well as analysis of cancer cells shed into the blood may also be used to inform treatment as well. That’s according to studies …

A combination of strategies help determine best cancer treatment strategies, Elizabeth Tracey reports Read More »

Radiation of a primary tumor can activate immune cells around distant metastases, a study by Valsamo Anagnostou, a cancer researcher at Johns Hopkins, and colleagues has shown. Anagnostou says the mechanism is clear.  Anangostou: Radiation induces cell death. The cells …

How does radiation benefit the body’s response to cancer? Elizabeth Tracey reports Read More »

When cancer develops resistance to immunotherapy, radiation may help. That’s according to a study by cancer researcher Valsamo Anagnostou at Johns Hopkins. Anagnostou: We’re administering radiation as a sensitizer for immunotherapy and as the way to circumvent primary resistance to …

Radiation is emerging as an important tool in helping improve immune response in cancer, Elizabeth Tracey reports Read More »

If someone with cancer has initially responded to immunotherapy but then develops metastasis, radiation of the primary tumor may help treat those distant sites, research by Valsamo Anagnostou, a cancer researcher at Johns Hopkins, has shown. Anagnostou: Radiation can activate …

Can radiation affect distant metastasis? Elizabeth Tracey reports Read More »

Immunotherapies have proven very successful in the treatment of different types of cancer, but over time it is common for resistance to develop. Valsamo Anagnostou, a cancer researcher at Johns Hopkins, has found that radiation may help activate someone’s own …

Can radiation improve the success of immunotherapies to treat cancer? Elizabeth Tracey reports Read More »

How tumors respond to treatment has to do with both their internal and external environments, research by Valsamo Anagnostou, a cancer researcher at Johns Hopkins, and colleagues has shown. Anagnostou: The way we do this is by looking very deeply …

What does the area around a tumor tell us about response to treatment? Elizabeth Tracey reports Read More »

Immunotherapies hold enormous promise for treating cancers of various types, but the bad news is that while many patients may initially respond many will also become resistant. Valsamo Anagnostou, a cancer researcher at Johns Hopkins, is looking at tumor specific …

Assessing individual cancer characteristics is needed to determine resistance to new types of therapies, Elizabeth Tracey reports Read More »

Studies looking at lung cancer in people who smoked showed that those who did experienced a lot more lung cancer than those who didn’t. That’s a correlation study, says Otis Brawley, a cancer epidemiology expert at Johns Hopkins. Then came …

Laboratory studies demonstrate causation when it comes to cancer, Elizabeth Tracey reports Read More »

A new blood test used to screen people for colorectal cancer just isn’t ready to replace colonoscopy or fecal immunochemical tests, since these are capable of detecting early lesions that respond best to treatment. That’s according to Kimmel Cancer Center …

Could more targeted screening be helpful in colorectal cancer? Elizabeth Tracey reports Read More »