In 2017, Stuart Sherrow had surgery to remove an aggressive soft tissue sarcoma called dedifferentiated liposarcoma from his abdomen. Three months later, he felt a mass growing in the same spot. His doctors suggested chemotherapy followed by an additional surgery, but they said the cancer would likely keep coming back. “At the time, I didn’t have many options or choices,” Sherrow says. Then his doctors suggested he enroll in a clinical trial investigating whether immunotherapy given before surgery could help shrink the tumor and train his immune system to keep the disease at bay. Sherrow’s cancer responded to the treatment, and he had a second surgery. Today, more than seven years later, Sherrow has no evidence of disease.
Sherrow’s story illustrates how oncologists are increasingly using immunotherapy before surgery in people with early-stage and locally advanced disease with the goal of improving the body’s long-term ability to fight cancer. “We’ve found that some of these patients who traditionally would be considered incurable appear to be cured,” says Mark Yarchoan, MD, a medical oncologist at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center in Baltimore. The latest issue of Cancer Today, a magazine and online resource for cancer patients, survivors, and caregivers published by the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), explores the potential benefits of neoadjuvant immunotherapy, as well as questions that remain about the approach.
Treating Prostate Cancer With PSMA-targeted Therapy
Another article in Cancer Today’s summer issue details how oncologists incorporate prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-targeted therapy into care for people with metastatic prostate cancer. While the disease remains incurable, PSMA-targeted therapy is another tool in the oncologist’s toolbox when the prostate cancer stops responding to other treatments. Researchers also are exploring other ways the therapy could be incorporated in care. “There are many, many trials looking at PSMA now,” Praful Ravi, MB, BChir, a medical oncologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, tells Cancer Today. “They’re looking at targeted agents all across the disease spectrum and not just in the advanced setting.”
Overcoming Shame, Finding Support, and More Advice for Cancer Patients
In the same issue, Cancer Today explores how people with cancer often feel shame about their diagnosis—whether because it is an “embarrassing” type of cancer or they feel they’re responsible for their disease. Researchers have found that people who feel shame about their cancer may delay medical care or withhold details from their oncologist. As researchers become more aware of how shame can be detrimental to cancer care, they are developing ways to help patients overcome those negative feelings.
Additionally, Cancer Today highlights Lorrinda Gray-Davis, a liver cancer survivor who received a liver transplant in 2018. Since her surgery, Gray-Davis has hosted support groups that create a community for transplant recipients—something she wishes she’d had during treatment. “That was the worst part of my journey—that lack of knowing anyone who knew what I was going through,” she says.
Cancer Today’s latest issue also provides practical information for patients, including analysis of the recent approval of a T-cell receptor therapy for synovial sarcoma. Articles also offer advice on topics ranging from how to prevent treatment-related bone damage to dealing with cancer ghosting. Plus, William G. Nelson, MD, PhD, director of the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and Cancer Today’s editor-in-chief, provides commentary about the link between air pollution and lung cancer risk.
The AACR offers Cancer Today free of charge to those affected by cancer. To view content from the summer issue, visit Cancer Today’s website or read the digital edition.
To stay up to date with the latest in cancer research and care, subscribe to the magazine or sign up to receive Cancer Today’s e-newsletter released twice a month.
