News & Breakthroughs at Siteman
Stay informed with the latest cancer news and breakthroughs from Siteman Cancer Center. Our news feed provides timely updates on research breakthroughs, clinical trials, and community events.
Research
CRISPR enhances cancer immunotherapy
Last year, the Food and Drug Administration approved the first cellular immunotherapies to treat cancer. These therapies involve collecting a patient’s own immune cells — called T cells — and supercharging them to home in on and attack specific blood cancers, such as hard-to-treat acute lymphoblastic leukemia and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. But so far, these T […]
Research
Similarities found in cancer initiation in kidney, liver, stomach, pancreas
Recent research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis demonstrated that mature cells in the stomach sometimes revert back to behaving like rapidly dividing stem cells. Now, the researchers have found that this process may be universal; no matter the organ, when tissue responds to certain types of injury, mature cells seem to […]
Research
Cutting off cervical cancer’s fuel supply stymies tumor
Cancer therapies have improved — in some cases dramatically — over the past two decades, but treatment for cervical cancer has remained largely unchanged. All patients receive radiation and chemotherapy, yet despite the aggressive approach, the regimen fails in about one-third of patients with cervical cancer that has spread beyond the cervix but not outside […]
Research
Light-triggered nanoparticles show promise against metastatic cancer
A new anti-cancer strategy wields light as a precision weapon. Unlike traditional light therapy — which is limited to the skin and areas accessible with an endoscope — this technique can target and attack cancer cells that have spread deep inside the body, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. […]
Staff/Faculty Update
DiPersio to become president of transplantation society
John DiPersio, MD, PhD, director of the Division of Oncology and deputy director of Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has been elected to the top leadership post in the American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (ASBMT). He will take over the role during the society’s meetings […]
Prevention
Initiative to help cancer patients quit smoking
Smoking rates in the United States have decreased dramatically in recent decades, but many smokers diagnosed with cancer continue to light up. To make smoking cessation a major focus at cancer centers, including Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the National Institutes […]
Research
Study prompts new ideas on cancers’ origins
Rapidly dividing, yet aberrant stem cells are a major source of cancer. But a new study suggests that mature cells also play a key role in initiating cancer — a finding that could upend the way scientists think about the origins of the disease. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have […]
In the Media, Research, Staff/Faculty Update
Undaunted explorer
Timothy Ley, MD, the Lewis T. and Rosalind B. Apple Professor of Medicine, has been investigating leukemia, particularly acute myeloid leukemia (AML), for decades. A glimpse of his research over just the past 10 to 15 years — featured in journals like Nature, Cell, the New England Journal of Medicine and Journal of the American Medical Association — illustrates how challenging […]
In the Media, Staff/Faculty Update
Medical School faculty named to National Academy of Inventors
Noted innovators Samuel Achilefu, PhD, David Holtzman, MD, and Eric Leuthardt, MD – faculty members at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis – have been named fellows of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). The 2017 class of NAI fellows was announced Tuesday. They are recognized as fellows for demonstrating innovation in creating and facilitating […]
Research
How cells detect, mend DNA damage may improve chemotherapy
The busy world inside a cell is directed by its DNA blueprint. When the blueprints are altered, cells can sicken, die or become cancerous. To keep DNA in working order, cells have ways to detect and mend damaged DNA. Now, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report that they have found […]