Cancer Prevention Science:

A research blog from the NCI Division of Cancer Prevention

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Research Issues in Gynecology and Women's Health: How do Benign Conditions Become Cancer?

September 28, 2020 | Authored By: Goli Samimi, Ph.D., M.P.H.

An illustration of the female reproductive system.

Research to uncover how and why benign gynecologic conditions like endometriosis or uterine fibroids progress to invasive and deadly ovarian cancer or uterine sarcomas, is a critical and overlooked issue in women’s health. A new report on research priorities and an open funding opportunity are focused on addressing this issue.

In April 2019, Program Directors from the Division of Cancer Prevention and the Division of Cancer Biology within the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the Gynecologic Health and Disease Branch within the National Institute of Child Health and Human...

Smart Technology Is Aimed at Nutrition, Gut and Metabolism in Cancer Prevention Research Funding Opportunities

September 8, 2020, by DCP Staff

The Gut Microbiome's Important Role in Immunity

As the availability and sophistication of smart technology for health (such as wearables, sensors, and micro-robotic tools) continues to increase, these devices could prove transformative in cancer prevention. Two ongoing Division of Cancer Prevention (DCP) funding opportunities are promoting the creation of smart devices to examine the interrelationships among nutrition, the gut microbiome, and human metabolism as tools for progress in cancer prevention research.

One DCP funding opportunity (PAR-20-133) seeks to examine the diet-host-microbiome interactions along the biogeography...

New Technology Gives Patients Access to a 5-Minute, Office-Based Test to Identify Risk for Esophageal Cancer

June 1, 2020, by DCP Staff

How the swallowable balloon device helps detect Barrett Esophagus.

A new technology coupled with a new biomarker test now in clinical trials are giving patients timely access to a quick, accurate and less invasive way to identify risk for one type of esophageal cancer.

EsoCheck™ and EsoGuard™ are the device and test created for the detection of Barrett's esophagus, the benign and treatable precursor condition to esophageal adenocarcinomas (EAC). EAC are usually diagnosed at an advanced stage and are difficult to treat. Finding Barrett's esophagus, a sign of risk, could help patients by giving physicians a chance to intervene early. The technology...

Researchers Search the Genome for Clues to Early Age Onset Cancers in Racial/Ethnic Minorities

March 5, 2020, by DCP Staff

Minority Underserved NCORP Sites Taking Part in the Early Onset Malignancy Initiative

While researchers have identified some of the genetic changes that lead to cancer development, a key knowledge gap remains: finding the genetic changes that drive the development of cancers that arise at an earlier age than average (early onset) in racially and ethnically diverse populations. Compared to a White population, people who are Non-Hispanic Black, Hispanic, American Indian or Alaska Native are more likely to develop early age onset cancers and an overall higher incidence and mortality for breast, prostate, colorectal, liver, and kidney cancers, and for multiple myeloma. Although...

Optimizing Clinical Interventions for Prevention of Cervical Cancer and HPV-related Cancers in People Living with HIV

February 3, 2020 | Authored By: Vikrant Sahasrabuddhe, M.B.B.S., M.P.H., Dr.P.H.

Members of the US-Latin American-Caribbean Clinical Trials Network and National Cancer Institute staff.

Cervical cancer is highly preventable, yet it is not fully prevented. Significant advancements in our understanding of the human papillomavirus (HPV)-linked development of cervical cancer have created highly effective clinical tools for primary prevention (HPV vaccines) and secondary prevention (screening and treatment of precancerous lesions). Despite this, more than half a million women are diagnosed and over 300,000 women die of cervical cancer every year globally.

Women with HIV have a three to five times higher risk of cervical cancer due to immunosuppression. Facing a dual...

Preventing the Progression of Low-Risk Localized Prostate Cancers: A New Frontier

January 17, 2020 | Authored By: Howard L. Parnes, M.D.

Infographic: Percent of Prostate Cancer Cases by Stage

In the path toward understanding the development and ultimate prevention of prostate cancer, researchers are studying how to keep low-grade, early stage prostate cancer being monitored on Active Surveillance from progressing to disease that needs definitive treatment.

Attempts at prevention of prostate cancer have had mixed results. While both dutasteride and finasteride reduced the incidence of prostate cancer in large, randomized clinical trials, both agents were associated with an increase in high-grade, potentially more aggressive, cancers. Notably, long-term follow-up studies...

Taking Advantage of the Transportation Processes from Inside to Outside the Cell to Detect Cancer

December 11, 2019, by DCP Staff

Parts of a cell, displaying where an extracellular viscile forming.

As cancer researchers delve into the many molecular processes that guide cell life within the body, NCI is looking for ways to characterize and measure different substances in this process, with an eye to identifying who has cancer or who is at risk for the disease. One ongoing funding opportunity is promoting research on the isolation and characterization of extracellular vesicles (EVs) and their cargo for the discovery of biomarkers to predict cancer and cancer risk.

EVs are membrane-enclosed vesicles that are secreted by all cells. EVs are circulated in the blood and are readily...

New Onset Diabetes Cohort Sought to Unravel Complexities of Pancreatic Cancer Development

November 19, 2019, by DCP Staff

Pancreatic Cancer New Onset Diabetes: About 1 in 100 people with new onset diabetes are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer within 3 years of the diabetes diagnosis; 1 in 4 people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer were first diagnosed with diabetes.

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) is leading a project to create a cohort of people who are newly diagnosed with diabetes in the hopes that this group, who are at increased risk of developing pancreatic cancer, provide the clues in their blood and tissues to unravel some of the unknowns about this highly fatal cancer. The New Onset Diabetes Study (NOD) will include 10,000 people ages 50 to 85 across the United States.

Diabetes is a disease that occurs when your blood glucose is too high. The hormone insulin, made by the pancreas, is responsible for regulating blood glucose, so...

Cancer Prevention Science is Key to Making Progress Against Cancer

October 31, 2019, by DCP Staff

Cancer prevention interventions available today include: medications, lifestyle choices, treatments for infections, screening tests, vaccines, and surgery.

Cancer Prevention Science editors spoke with Deborah Winn, Ph.D., acting director of the NCI Division of Cancer Prevention, about cancer prevention and early detection research in the division and beyond.

Why is cancer prevention research important?

One important way to make sustained progress against cancer deaths is to prevent people from developing cancer in the first place. In 2019, there will be about 1.76 million people diagnosed with cancer in the United States.  By 2025, the estimate is that there will be 2.1 million people who get cancer...

TMIST Ramps Up to Illuminate Breast Cancer Screening

October 16, 2019, by DCP Staff

Photo of Worta McCaskill-Stevens and Etta Pisano

TMIST (Tomosynthesis Mammographic Imaging Screening Trial), the large NCI screening study to learn about the best ways to find breast cancer in women who have no symptoms, is ramping up with 16,505 participants enrolled to date at 84 certified mammography clinics in the United States, Canada and Argentina.

The number of women and sites participating is likely to increase rapidly in the months ahead. Etta Pisano, M.D., chief research officer at the American College of Radiology, and the principal investigator of TMIST, heads the efforts to get clinics involved.  “We have 15 approved...