Debu Tripathy, M.D.

Finding balance to detect and treat prostate cancer without overtreatment is important for patients.

Mantle Cell Lymphoma (MCL), as described in this issue of CURE®, has an interesting and inspiring story. It was one of the first cancers known to have a genetic abnormality-chromosomal translocation t(11;14).

The evolving understanding of cancer genetics is allowing for clinicians to look at how to move rare cancer treatments, and identifications, forward.

Telemedicine has been a growing trend in the cancer landscape, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is an essential part of cancer care. And here's why it's here to stay.

Immunotherapy is a wonderful testament to the benefits that arise from our growing understanding of the incredibly intricate human immune system.

In the spring 2020 issue of CURE®, Editor-in-Chief Dr. Debu Tripathy details how preventing liver cancer starts with understanding the precursors to cancer’s development.

CURE®’s Editor-in-Chief weighs in on how the treatment and detection landscape needs to be refined to help patients with ovarian cancer.

Targeted therapies have changed the landscape of cancer care, and now, hope for remission is a possibility for certain patients with acute myeloid leukemia with new approved therapies.

PARP Inhibitors are opening new doors in cancer treatment by targeting vulnerabilities in cancer that researchers are beginning to understand better.

Paraneoplastic syndromes are uncommon disorders that can arise with any cancer type but are more common with lung cancer.

The development of the drug Herceptin (trastuzumab) to treat HER2-positive breast cancer marked an enormous milestone: In the opinion of many, it represented the birth of targeted therapy for cancer.

For a variety of reasons, some AYAs disappear from the health care system during the transition from treatment to survivorship and do not get the medical follow-up they require.

In the medical community, we know that, at a population level, active surveillance is better for certain men with prostate cancer, so we believe the benefit weighs in their favor. We would like to offer men more certainty that surveillance can work for them and hope that, in the next few years, research will bring that to pass.

Although there is much to learn about the intricacies of how the immune system interacts with cancer, advances are occurring rapidly as immunotherapy for cancer has exploded with myriad ongoing clinical trials and newer drugs coming on line constantly.

Where does hope lie when it comes to improving the treatment landscape for rare cancers?

We owe patients complete information, navigation for decision-making and, of course, more research into this common problem. Initiating public dialogue and education is the first step.

In this issue of CURE®, we tackle the controversial topic of medical cannabis.

More and more patients are being offered palliative, or supportive, care, and this is a welcomed trend.

Cancer isn’t black and white, nor is it predictable. A diagnosis and the subsequent treatment of the many varieties of this complex disease can be challenging because of gray areas and uncertainties.

There’s a greater responsibility than ever to understand gastric cancer, its causes and its treatments.

Involving patients in the decisionmaking process is an important and welcome trend, because it incorporates their values and preferences in situations where there are no black-and-white answers as to which path is best.

MANY OF US GREW up with the adage that one cannot challenge fate. This has long been extended to the notion that the effects of one’s genetic makeup are inalterable.

Is co-targeting the future of small cell lung cancer?

The ability to rewrite the (genetic) code in a purposeful way and redirect biology is a milestone that few might have believed could be done routinely in any kind of cell.

Family history was one indicator that a man should undergo periodic screening, but it wasn’t until a couple of decades ago that scientists confirmed a link between inherited mutations of the BRCA gene and the development of prostate cancer.

Although it may be more difficult to weigh the pros and cons of therapy in light of potential chemo brain than when considering other possible side effects, it still should be a part of the equation. This is especially true because numerous strategies may help ease chemo brain once (or if) it arises.

With an incidence rate of about three cases per million people a year in the United States, Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia is a rare malignancy, and, therefore, has no widely used screening tools. Diagnosing the disease early and, most important, accurately is the art of medicine that remains to be perfected.

We've known for over a century about rare patients who experience spontaneous regressions of cancer. We don’t have absolute proof, but, presumably, this occurs because their immune systems are able to rally and fight the disease.

It takes a lot to call something a revolution in medicine ... The most important, of course, is its impact on people’s lives — particularly, a cure for illness or a major extension of life. A revolution also implies a sweeping cataclysmic change, one that is disruptive and boldly states that things will no longer be the same.

Lung cancer has gone from being a dismal diagnosis — it still is very serious — to one that is the poster child for targeted therapeutics, immunotherapy and molecular diagnostics. These advancements are just the beginning.