February 24, 2022:

Just over 50 years ago, President Richard Nixon signed the National Cancer Act – more commonly known as the “War on Cancer.” While harnessing the resources of the federal government was an important step forward, many have commented (including current NCI director Dr. Ned Sharpless) the effort was simultaneously ambitious and naïve. Naïve in the sense that we did not yet understand our enemy. About 25 years into the “war,” the New England Journal of Medicine published an article entitled, “Cancer Undefeated” wherein declining death rates were attributed to changing incidence rates and early detection practices (Bailar, et al. N Engl J Med 336:1569 1997 PMID: 9164814), not because of advances in therapy. Read More

February 23, 2022:

This month, the Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium highlights the Masonic Cancer Center at the University of Minnesota and physician-scientist Emil Lou, MD, PhD, FACP.

Investigator Spotlight: Emil Lou, MD, PhD, FACP (@cancerassassin1), Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology, Oncology and Transplantation, Department of Medicine and Graduate Faculty Program member in the Integrative Biology and Physiology Program (IBP) at the University of Minnesota; and Medical Director of the UMN Masonic Cancer Center’s Clinical Trials Office (CTO)-Solid Tumor Unit. Read More

February 18, 2022:

Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium investigators presented a Trial in Progress abstract at the 2022 American Society of Clinical Oncology Genitourinary Cancer Symposium. The abstract titled, A single arm, phase I/II trial of neoadjuvant androgen deprivation, darolutamide, and ipatasertib in men with localized, high-risk prostate cancer, is led by David J VanderWeele, MD, PhD of the Robert H Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University. Read More

February 14, 2022:

Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium Investigators recently presented abstracts during the 2022 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium. The abstracts included a poster featuring the BTCRC-GI15-015 study, led by Al B. Benson III, MD of Robert H Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, and a trials in progress poster featuring BTCRC-GI20-457 led by Kristen Renee Spencer, DO, MPH of Rutgers Cancer Institute. Read More

February 12, 2022:

Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium (Big Ten CRC) investigators recently published results of clinical trial BTCRC-ESO14-012 in the notable Frontiers in Oncology journal. 

The publication titled, A Phase II Trial of Adjuvant Durvalumab Following Trimodality Therapy for Locally Advanced Esophageal and Gastroesophageal Junction Adenocarcinoma: A Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium Study, found adjuvant durvalumab in patients with residual disease in the surgical specimen following trimodality therapy (a combination of chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery) for locally advanced esophageal and gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma led to clinically meaningful improvement in 1-year relapse free survival compared to the historical control rate.  Read More

February 11, 2022:

Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium investigators presented a trial in progress abstract at the 2021 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. The abstract titled, A Phase II Study of Pembrolizumab plus Fulvestrant in Hormone Receptor Positive, HER-2 Negative Advanced/Metastatic Breast Cancer Patients, was presented by Nancy Chan, MD of Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey. Read More