News

Novel CRISPR-Cas9 genetic screening approach enables discovery of new drug targets to aid cancer immunotherapy

A novel screening method, using CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing technology to test the function of thousands of tumor genes in mice, has revealed new drug targets that could potentially enhance the effectiveness of PD-1 checkpoint inhibitors, a promising new class of cancer immunotherapy.

Dana-Farber/Boston Children's again named a top national pediatric cancer program

U.S. News & World Report has ranked Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center the nation's #2 pediatric cancer program in its new 2017-18 Best Children's Hospitals report.

Gene Therapy 2.0

Levi Looks, diagnosed through newborn screening with “bubble boy” disease, is a healthy toddler thanks to gene therapy, resurgent now after early setbacks, MIT Technology Review reports.

How dogs may help fight bone cancer

In the growing field of comparative oncology, veterinarians are teaming up with oncologists to study the similarities in human and canine cancer to boost cure rates for people and pets alike, CBS Sunday Morning reports.

How a child made scientists think of cytokines as knobs instead of switches

An unusual case of a rare anemia is opening scientists up to a new way of thinking about how to adapt and employ cytokines, messenger molecules of the blood and immune system, as tools for treatment and to illustrate the promise of precision medicine, Harvard Gazette reports.

Martial arts instructors volunteer with kids fighting cancer

Karate and its ability to calm is proving to be a powerful combination to help children cope with cancer, WCVB-TV reports, in a story that features a young stem cell transplant patient.

One boy’s cure raises hopes and questions about gene therapy for sickle cell disease

Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s researchers, who are developing a gene therapy trial for sickle cell disease, commented in Stat and other outlets on a case report from a different trial.

The Lifesaving Care Act

A young woman, whose treatment at Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s for Hodgkin’s lymphoma included a stem cell transplant, tells Boston Globe columnist Kevin Cullen how the Affordable Care Act helped her.

From moving mountains to climbing mountains, Fulton native seeks to redefine ‘possible’

A young upstate New York man, blind since leukemia spread to his eyes, is preparing to climb Mount Kilamanjaro, Oswego County (NY) Today reports.

Stem-cell-derived cells flag possible new treatment for Diamond-Blackfan anemia

Researchers were able, for the first time, to use patients’ own cells to create cells similar to those in bone marrow, and then use them to identify potential treatments for a blood disorder. The team derived the so-called blood progenitor cells from two patients with Diamond-Blackfan anemia. After converting some patient skin cells into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS), researchers got the iPS cells to make blood progenitor cells.