UF researchers are uncovering new insights into the complex relationship between the collection of microorganisms that live in the gut — known as the gut microbiota — and our health and immune system. 

Hormone therapy is commonly combined with radiation therapy for prostate cancer, but patients are often unsure how long it should be continued and why. A new study published in JAMA Oncology from researchers at University Hospitals Seidman Cancer tried to find the answer to that question.

The presence of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive breast cancer after they received neoadjuvant treatment and surgery predicted worse outcomes than in those patients without ctDNA, even in patients with a pathologic complete response (pCR).

New research from Fox Chase Cancer Center confirms that preoperative radiation therapy does not reduce surgical complexity, reinforcing evidence that most patients benefit from proceeding directly to surgery. The study reinforces findings from a major international clinical trial and suggests that, due to ineffectiveness, radiation should not be used to shrink tumors before surgery.

A team led by investigators at the Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute has discovered that a particular marker on tumor cells circulating in the blood indicates whether a patient with lung cancer will experience a lasting response to a newly approved immunotherapy called tarlatamab. The findings, which are published in Cancer Discovery, could allow clinicians to easily and noninvasively determine which patients should receive the drug.