Frontiers Spring 2021

On March 23, President Joe Biden brought his passion for cancer research to Ohio State, where he met with doctors to discuss innovation at Ohio State's Comprehensive Cancer Center – James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James) — a "source of hope" that continues to break ground in the nationwide effort to create a cancer-free world.

A large research study at the OSUCCC – James will evaluate how vaccination against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, impacts the immune system of cancer patients.

Preliminary results from two independent phase II clinical trials investigating a new PD-1 (programmed cell death protein 1)-based immune therapy for metastatic cervical cancer suggest potential new therapies for a disease that has few effective treatment options and disproportionately impacts younger women.

A study by researchers at the OSUCCC – James shows that RNA nanoparticles have elastic and rubbery properties that help explain why these particles target tumors so efficiently and why they possess lower toxicity in animal studies.

New data published by researchers at the OSUCCC – James suggests that an oral drug used to treat neuromuscular diseases could also help prevent a common form of skin cancer caused by damage from ultraviolet-B (UVB) radiation from the sun.

A study led by researchers at the OSUCCC – James described a potential therapeutic anticancer vaccine that frees suppressed cancer-killing immune cells, enabling them to attack and destroy a tumor.

Despite advances in treating acute myeloid leukemia (AML), Black patients below age 60 with this aggressive blood cancer have a 27% higher chance of dying compared with younger white patients.

The OSUCCC – James is leading a multi-institutional phase III clinical trial to determine whether combining targeted immunotherapy with radiation therapy will reduce cancer recurrence in women with high intermediate-risk endometrial cancer.

There could be an intervention on the horizon to help prevent heart damage caused by the common chemotherapy drug doxorubicin, new research suggests.

Older minority cancer patients with poor social determinants of health are significantly more likely to experience negative surgical outcomes compared to white patients with similar risk factors, according to a study by researchers at the OSUCCC – James.

Learn more about this phase Ib adaptive study of dasatinib for the prevention of oxaliplatin-induced neuropathy in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.

The Ohio State University’s cancer program took root decades before the signing of the National Cancer Act in 1971, but it began to flourish soon after that historic event.

For the third consecutive time, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in 2020 rated Ohio State's cancer program as "exceptional" — the highest rating provided — following a review of the OSUCCC – James' application for re-designation as a Comprehensive Cancer Center and a virtual site visit by a team of NCI surveyors.

Cancer had a formidable foe in Clara D. Bloomfield, MD, a determined medical scientist who was every bit as demanding as the discipline to which she devoted her life.

When asked several years ago what he had learned from more than four decades of work and discovery in science, Albert de la Chapelle, MD, PhD, replied, “Not much.”

Read about some of the nationally renowned oncology experts recently recruited to the OSUCCC – James.

Read about some of the significant grants and gifts for Ohio State’s cancer program in recent months.

Learn more about the recent achievements and awards received by OSUCCC – James physicians and researchers.

The OSUCCC – James Clinical Translational Science Shared Resource (CTSSR) team works with clinical and translational researchers to design and develop customizable portfolio validation assays that provide correlative science studies for early-phase solid tumor oncology clinical trials.

In June 2020, the James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute opened a James Cancer Diagnostic Center to give patients direct, expedited access to diagnostic testing for cancer.