New on NCI’s Websites for September 2020

September 2, 2020, by NCI Staff

NCI’s collection of cancer information products is constantly growing, so we provide periodic updates on new and updated content of interest to the cancer community.

NCI’s Annual Plan and Budget Proposal for Fiscal Year 2022

Each year, NCI prepares a plan for advancing cancer research and proposes the budget required to fund a broad research portfolio, support the cancer research workforce, and sustain the infrastructure that enables rapid progress against cancer.

The NCI Annual Plan & Budget Proposal for Fiscal Year 2022 opens with a message from NCI Director Norman Sharpless, M.D., who acknowledges the challenges and uncertainty posed by recent events but explains that cancer research remains NCI’s top priority. The FY 2022 plan also highlights four new and emerging scientific opportunities that, with further investment, NCI believes will catalyze progress in cancer research:

Better understanding and overcoming resistance to cancer therapies
Developing molecular diagnostics to better guide cancer treatment
Improving the understanding of the link between obesity and cancer
Improving the lives of cancer survivors

New Videos Offer Guidance on Managing A Child’s Cancer Diagnosis

NCI has released a series of new videos that offer parents and loved ones important guidance about dealing with their child’s diagnosis of cancer. The videos offer recommendations and information about finding and deciding on treatments, proven ways to support a child with cancer, and how to help the entire family get through this difficult time. The videos are available on NCI’s YouTube channel and can also be found on NCI's resource for parents: Support for Families When a Child Has Cancer.

Video—How Monoclonal Antibodies Treat Cancer

Many of the drugs used to treat cancer today are what are known as monoclonal antibodies. These lab-produced proteins are designed to attach to specific molecules on cancer cells. A new video explains the different types of monoclonal antibodies and how they work to treat cancer.

Center for Cancer Research Websites Updated

NCI’s Center for Cancer Research (CCR) has added two new resources to its Surgical Oncology Program website. The new pages provide detailed information about CCR’s Endocrine Surgery Team and Surgical Oncology Team. CCR has also updated the website for its Physician-Scientist Early Investigator Program with a new video and text explaining the program.

NCI News Release—New Treatments Lead to Drop in Lung Cancer Mortality

The rate of deaths from non-small cell lung cancer has fallen sharply in recent years. This news release discusses a new study led by NCI researchers that suggests the drop in deaths is likely due in large part to new targeted treatments, which are improving survival.

Dense Breasts: Answers to Commonly Asked Questions

This recently updated resource about breast density covers topics including the features of the four groups of breast density and how breast density affects mammograms and the risk of breast cancer.

NCI News Release—NCI Partners with Cancer Research UK on Cancer Grand Challenges Initiative

NCI has announced that it is partnering with Cancer Research UK to fund Cancer Grand Challenges, an initiative to address profound and unanswered questions in cancer research. Under the initiative, both organizations will fund international teams to conduct cutting-edge, bold research that can improve outcomes for people affected by cancer. Details on the initiative are available on NCI’s Cancer Grand Challenges initiative page.

Integrated Canine Data Commons Launched

NCI has launched the Integrated Canine Data Commons (ICDC). The biology of humans and dogs is very similar, and the ICDC is intended to provide insights into how the treatments and approaches being studied in dogs with cancer may be translated to help people with the disease. This resource includes information for researchers as well as for pet owners about enrolling their pet dogs with cancer in clinical trials being conducted as part of NCI’s Comparative Oncology Program.

Continuing the Work of Cancer Research in the Time of Two Pandemics

Louis Staudt, M.D., who directs NCI’s Center for Cancer Genomics, recently shared his thoughts on two pandemics in the United States—COVID-19 and racial injustice. He discusses how these two problems are related and how science can help address them.

Tests to Detect Colorectal Cancer and Polyps

NCI’s fact sheet on colorectal cancer screening has been revised to include updated information about the different methods used to screen for colorectal cancer and the benefits and drawbacks of these screening tests.

Helping Informal Caregivers of People with Cancer

An updated NCI resource for caregivers of family or friends with cancer includes information about the roles, needs, and burdens of being an informal caregiver to a person with cancer and ways to ease that burden and increase personal growth.

Information on Newly Approved Cancer Drugs

Three new drug information summaries have been added to NCI’s collection of summaries about drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat cancer.

In July, FDA approved the combination of decitabine and cedazuridine under the brand name Inqovi to treat people with myelodysplastic syndromes.
Also in July, FDA approved the drug tafasitamab (Monjuvi) to treat people with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.
A combination of the drugs pertuzumab, trastuzumab, and hyaluronidase-zzxf was approved by FDA in June under the name Phesgo to treat HER2-positive breast cancer.

Video—NCI Cancer Research Data Commons

The NCI Cancer Research Data Commons is a cloud-based data science infrastructure intended to help scientists share and analyze the massive amounts of data created by NCI-supported research. This new video provides an overview of the different types of data and other resources available in this important cancer research tool.