Matthew G. Vander Heiden, MD, PhD, and Karen H. Vousden, PhD: A Conversation About the Role of Diet in Cancer
AACR Annual Meeting 2021
Karen H. Vousden, PhD, of The Francis Crick Institute, and Matthew G. Vander Heiden, MD, PhD, of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT, discuss emerging evidence that diet may affect which nutrients are available to tumor cells, which can influence both tumor growth and response to therapy. Clinicians may be able to personalize dietary interventions to optimize patient care.
The ASCO Post Staff
Charlotte E. Ariyan, MD, PhD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses improved outcomes with metastasectomy in the setting of checkpoint inhibitors, with the removal of residual disease and “escape” lesions. Surgical outcomes may also be better than targeted treatments, although long-term data and biomarkers are needed to confirm these findings.
The ASCO Post Staff
Joann G. Elmore, MD, MPH, of the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, discusses previous studies that show wide variability in cancer diagnoses, the uncertainties introduced by computer-aided detection tools, and new research on artificial intelligence and machine learning that may lead to more consistent and accurate diagnoses and prognoses, potentially improving treatment (Abstract SY01-03).
The ASCO Post Staff
Samra Turajlic, MBBS, PhD, of The Francis Crick Institute, discusses our limited understanding of metastases in terms of the timing of dissemination, the many metastatic phenotypes and varieties of seeding, as well as how the spread of cancer evades the immune system and resists treatment. Expanding this knowledge base is critical to better managing malignant disease.
The ASCO Post Staff
Jeanne Tie, MD, MBChB, of the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, discusses how to improve the current, somewhat imprecise, approach based on pathologic staging alone, used to select patients for adjuvant treatment. Circulating tumor DNA analysis after curative-intent treatment may detect minimal residual disease and might be used to predict recurrence and adjuvant treatment efficacy across multiple tumor types.
The ASCO Post Staff
Carey K. Anders, MD, of the Duke Cancer Center, discusses the ways in which treatment of brain metastases arising from solid tumors has moved into a new era of patient care and how the field may advance.
