Research Headlines
In 2020, UF Health Cancer Center researchers made notable achievements, such as a first-in-human clinical trial for a brain tumor immunotherapy vaccine, the discovery of a molecular address that may aid gut health, and the finding that changing the gut microbiota may help battle colorectal cancer.
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UF Health study provides guidance to avoid unnecessary thyroid biopsies
The number of people diagnosed with thyroid cancer has more than quadrupled in the last 40 years, even as the disease’s death rate remained relatively unchanged.
It is a classic case of disease overdiagnosis, with little resulting benefit for many patients, said University of Florida Health endocrinologist Naykky Singh Ospina, M.D., an assistant professor in the UF College of Medicine’s division of endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism and a member of the UF Health Cancer Center. READ MORE
UF brain tumor researcher embarks on first-in-human clinical trial of novel immunotherapy vaccine
UF Health pediatric oncologist Elias Sayour, M.D., Ph.D., has received a $2.5 million grant from the pediatric cancer foundation CureSearch for Children’s Cancer to undertake a first-in-human clinical trial to test a novel form of immunotherapy to treat the most aggressive forms of malignant brain tumors. READ MORE
UF Health researchers find medication most effective quitting method for cancer survivors who smoke
For years, evidence has shown the negative effects that smoking cigarettes has on cancer patients’ health outcomes, but sometimes quitting is easier said than done. Now University of Florida researchers have found that medications that help people quit smoking are the most effective method used by cancer survivors to stop tobacco use. READ MORE
UF researchers discover molecular address system that may aid gut health
Building on previous findings that show a specific protein is associated with gut health, University of Florida researchers have discovered an intricate molecular mechanism that encodes a unique address system, identifying the route a certain type of immune cell takes to reach its final destination: the large intestine. READ MORE
UF researchers find changing gut microbiota, taming inflammation may help battle colorectal cancer
Colon cancer may be treated or even prevented by altering microorganisms in the intestine and by combating inflammation with a clinical treatment previously used to treat inflammatory bowel diseases, findings from a study led by University of Florida researchers suggest. READ MORE
UF Health researchers find anticancer drugs are effective against Epstein-Barr virus-related cancers
University of Florida Health researchers Sumita Bhaduri-McIntosh, M.D., Ph.D., and Michael McIntosh, Ph.D., and their collaborators have published new research showing a class of drugs used to treat a limited set of breast and ovarian cancers are also effective against cancers linked to the Epstein-Barr virus when tested on human cells. They also discovered a way to predict the susceptibility of other types of cancer to the anticancer drugs, potentially expanding their use. READ MORE
National effort to hasten treatments for those with pancreatic cancer enrolling patients at UF
A novel clinical trial platform that aims to accelerate treatment discoveries for people battling pancreatic cancer is now enrolling patients at 15 sites nationwide, including the University of Florida Health Cancer Center.
An initiative of the national nonprofit organization Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, or PanCAN, Precision PromiseSM began development in 2016. The UF Health Cancer Center is the only site in Florida participating in the novel clinical trial platform that hopes to ramp up treatments for patients with the aggressive form of cancer. READ MORE
UF named new member of prestigious Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium
When Sridharan Gururangan, FRCP, joined the University of Florida College of Medicine’s department of neurosurgery in 2016, he had a big goal for the university: become a member of the Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium.
On July 16, Gururangan achieved that objective when UF was named one of four new PBTC member institutions along with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston; Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio; and the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. READ MORE
UF Health Cancer Center researchers create groundbreaking microbiome resource
University of Florida Health Cancer Center researchers have developed a groundbreaking resource for basic science and clinical researchers to advance cancer-related microbiome research: the first cancer-specific microbiome biorepository in the country. READ MORE
