Jedd D. Wolchok, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon-Lilly Clinical Investigator ‘03-‘08) and colleagues at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, reported the results of a Phase I study testing a combination therapy (Yervoy plus Opdivo/nivolumab) vs. Yervoy alone in patients with metastatic melanoma (with wild type BRAF gene). In 72 patients, the rate of confirmed response was 61% for the combination therapy (22% with complete response) vs. 11% for Yervoy alone (0% complete response).

Carey K. Anders, MD (Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator '12-'15), and C. Ryan Miller, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator '09-'12) of UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, Chapel Hill, and colleagues, reported that they identified a drug treatment strategy that can improve survival for a particularly aggressive breast cancer sub-type (triple negative breast cancer) after it has spread to the brain. They demonstrated, in a mouse model of this cancer, that a combination of the drugs carboplatin and a PARP inhibitor improved survival.

Maximilian W. Popp, PhD (HHMI-Damon Runyon Fellow '12-'15) and colleagues at the University of Rochester, Rochester, discovered that stopping a cellular quality-control mechanism can make chemotherapy more effective. This mechanism is called NMD (nonsense-mediated mRNA decay). The researchers found that exposing breast cancer cells to a molecule that inhibits NMD prior to treatment with doxorubicin, a drug used to treat leukemia, breast, bone, lung and other cancers, speeds cancer cell death.

Eirini Papapetrou, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon-Edward P. Evans Foundation Innovator '13-'16) of Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, reported the results of a technique called cellular reprogramming that takes mature blood cells from patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and reprograms them back into stem cells to study the genetic origins of MDS. MDS is a rare blood cancer that can progress into acute leukemia; its causes are not well understood.

Li Li, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator '01-'06), of Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, and colleagues, demonstrated that a combination of the diabetes drug metformin and vitamin D3 work together to prevent colorectal cancer in two animal models. They plan to advance these findings to develop clinical trials in humans. These results were reported in the journal Cancer Prevention Research.

William C. Hahn, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow '98-'99) of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, will be honored with the 39th annual AACR-Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Memorial Award. He is being recognized for his seminal contributions to the understanding of the mechanisms underlying cancer initiation, maintenance, and progression. His work has defined new paradigms and has provided a foundation for novel therapeutic approaches that are being tested in the clinic. He will receive the award at the AACR Annual Meeting 2015 in April.

Sidi Chen, PhD (Damon Runyon-Dale F. Frey Scientist ‘15, Damon Runyon Fellow '12-'15) and Feng Zhang, PhD (Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovator '12-'14), of the Broad Institute and MIT’s David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Cambridge, used CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology to systematically target every gene in the genome in an animal model. The study revealed genes involved in tumor evolution and metastasis, including some well-known tumor suppressor genes as well as novel genes not previously linked to cancer.

Agnel Sfeir, PhD (Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovator ‘13-‘15) and colleagues at New York University School of Medicine, New York, reported that inhibiting the action of a particular enzyme called polymerase theta, or PolQ, dramatically slows the growth of tumor cells containing BRCA1 and BRCA2 genetic mutations. This could have an impact on breast and ovarian cancers. The findings were published in the journal Nature.

Terry Magnuson, PhD (Fellowship Award Committee Member), William Y. Kim, MD (Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator ‘09-‘14), and colleagues at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, created the first mouse model of ovarian clear cell carcinoma using data from The Cancer Genome Atlas. Specific types of mutation of the genes ARID1A and PIK2CA gave rise to ovarian cancer 100 percent of the time.

Moritz F. Kircher, MD, PhD (Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovator ‘14-‘16) and colleagues at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, reported development of a new type of nanoparticle called “nanostars,” which accumulate in tumor cells and scatter light, making the tumors easily visible with a special camera. The nanoparticles cannot enter noncancerous cells in the body, so only the cancer cells light up.