Published on Nove 14, 2014

People with gynecologic and prostate cancers can now receive high-dose, targeted radiation therapy in a few hours in a dedicated brachytherapy suit at the Duke Cancer Center. Having advanced imaging and treatment planning technology in one convenient location minimizes the need for an overnight hospital stay, as well as the discomfort and safety concerns typically associated with delivering high-dose radiation. For more info: http://bit.ly/1yPhkHt

The Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, in conjunction with the Abramson Cancer Center, is at the leading edge of personalized medicine with its Center for Personalized Diagnostics and the Clinical Cell and Vaccine Production Facility. To learn more about the Center for Personalized Diagnostics, visit http://www.pennmedicine.org/personalized-diagnostics/.

Penn Medicine's Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine is at the forefront of shaping the future of personalized medicine and, in conjunction with the Abramson Cancer Center, is developing a Center for Personalized Diagnostics, integrating molecular pathology, pathology informatics, and genomic pathology for diagnosis and research. The Department also maintains the Clinical Cell and Vaccine Production Facility as an ACC Shared Resource.

A key component in personalized medicine is diagnostics: the ability to identify molecular signatures present, for example, in the DNA of tumor cells. Collection of a large number of molecular features from individuals is now possible thanks to the development of massively parallel "next-generation" DNA sequencing technologies. These molecular signatures can be used to discover novel targets for specific therapies and to identify patients who would most benefit from currently available treatments. By collecting signatures prospectively and following patients over time, researchers will be able to identify new markers to predict the course of an individual patient's disease and new targets for therapy. Thus, personalized diagnostics is a crucial component of current treatment and also underpins the discovery of future targeted therapies.

Moreover, as the locus for infusional therapeutics, the Department embraces next-generation therapeutics that involve the infusion of cells, proteins, and genes—including recent milestones in cancer immunotherapy. The Clinical Cell and Vaccine Production Facility (CVPF) uses novel bio-therapeutics to treat cancer and other malignancies such as HIV, and autoimmune diseases such as graft versus host disease and diabetes. These treatments harness and engineer the patient's own cells as part of medical care to provide a targeted personalized therapy with minimal autoimmune-mediated toxicity because the patient is not receiving anything considered foreign.

The Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Ruth and Raymond Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania is a fully integrated academic Pathology Department, with divisions of Anatomic Pathology, Laboratory Medicine, Transfusion Medicine, Neuropathology, as well as in Experimental Pathology and Immunobiology, and it is one of two hospital-based departments at Penn Medicine with a primary focus on clinical diagnostics. The Department is consistently ranked in the top three in the nation in NIH funding.

PENN MEDICINES CANCER VACCINE: The Future of Cancer Treatment
About this Event: Dr. Janos Tanyi from the University of Pennsylvania Abramsons Cancer Center Will Explain How a Vaccine Made from a Patients Own Tumor Boosts the Immune System to Kill Recurrent Ovarian, Primary Peritoneal and Fallopian Tube Cancer. On Thursday, December 5th at 6:30 pm Dr. Janos Tanyi, MD, PhD, Surgeon and Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Pennsylvania Abramsons Cancer Centers Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine and Principal Investigator will be at Gildas Club Delaware Valley. Dr. Tanyi will explain to cancer patients and survivors as well as health care practitioners how Penn Medicines two-step personalized immunotherapy treatment works. In the first step, the cancer patients own dendritic cells and tumor cells are used to generate a personalized vaccine that can kill the patient's own tumor. In step two, the patients T-cells trigger an anti-tumor immune response that kills cancer cells. The trial vaccine studys lead author, Lana Kandalaft, PharmD, PhD, MTR, Research Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Director of Clinical Development and Operations in Penn Medicines Ovarian Cancer Research Center explained, This is the first time such a combination immunotherapy approach has been used for patients with ovarian cancer and we believe the results are leading us toward a completely new way to treat this disease. Patients with advanced ovarian cancer whose five-year survival rate is normally under 30% were treated with this personalized cancer vaccine are clearly benefiting from this immunotherapy combination.

Abramson Cancer Center's Christina Chu, MD, responds to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists new guidelines for cervical cancer screening. Click here for ACOG cervical cancer screening recommendations -- http://www.acog.org/departments/dept_notice.cfm?recno=20&bulletin=5021

Katrina Armstrong, MD, MSCE, Director of General Internal Medicine and Associate Director at Abramson Cancer Center discusses recent controversy regarding US Preventive Services Task Force Breast Cancer Screening Guidelines.

Carrie Stricker, PhD, RN, AOCN - Treatment Summaries
Oncology Nurse Practitioner, Abramson Cancer Center
Clinical Assistant Professor, School of Nursing, Abramson Cancer Center, University of Pennsylvania

What would you give for more time with your family your friends your dreams? What would you do to stop the anxiety the fear to stop your cancer from spreading. Is your life worth another treatment a new therapy a different outcome altogether? The answer is the Abramson Cancer Center at Penn.

With more breakthrough treatments than anywhere else in the region: Like a vaccine that can fight cancer. A proton beam that destroys tumors with precision. And specialists with the experience to treat cancer at every stage Penn's Abramson Cancer Center has more ways to save your life.

When faced with cancer. When you need a reason to hope. When the only option is every option. Your life is worth Penn Medicine. To learn more visit http://www.PennMedicine.org or call 800-789-PENN.

On December 2nd, 2013, almost 400 people came together to celebrate the Abramson Cancer Center's (ACC) 40th Anniversary of being designated a Comprehensive Cancer Center by the National Cancer Institute. This momentous milestone granted us the opportunity to celebrate achievements in cancer research, patient care, and education during the last four decades that bring hope to patients and their families affected by cancer. Tara shared her story

Penn Medicine's Abramson Cancer Center celebrates 40 years of hope and innovation.