University of Minnesota School of Public Health researchers from the Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, have determined that lung cancer screenings using a low-dose spiral computed tomography (CT) scan can reduce lung cancer deaths by 20 percent.

The latest findings, led by researcher Timothy R. Church, Ph.D., from the School of Public Health’s Division of Environmental Health Sciences, is published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Lung cancer is the largest contributor to cancer mortality rates, and for years experts have tried to determine the most optimal ways to decrease deaths from the disease through more accurate and effective screening. Now, according to Church and his colleagues, the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) has shown screening with low-dose helical computed tomography (CT) – rather than chest radiography – can reduce mortality from lung cancer.

Researchers from the Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, and the University’s Brain Tumor Program, have developed a new mouse model of malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNST) that allow them to discover new genes and gene pathways driving this type of cancer.

MPNST is a genetically diverse, aggressive form of sarcoma impacting connective tissue surrounding nerves that occurs sporadically or in association with Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1) syndrome. The exact cause of MPNST is not known, but symptoms include swelling in the arms and legs, soreness and stiffness at the site of the tumor.  MPNSTs are the most common malignancy in adults with NF1 syndrome and leading cause of NF1-related mortality.

Actress Angelina Jolie in 2005
Photo by Remy Steinegger

In a heartfelt and open editorial appearing earlier today, Angelina Jolie told New York Times readers and the world at large about a major health decision: her choice to have a double mastectomy.

Jolie writes that she carries the BRCA1 gene, which significantly increases the likelihood of a woman getting breast or ovarian cancer. Jolie’s mother died in 2007 after a long battle with ovarian cancer, and the actress said she did not want her children to have the same experience.

A recent study led by researchers from the Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, found a process for mass-producing human natural killer (NK) cells, white blood cells that are known for attacking malignant tumors, to make them available for clinical-scale use.

A cord blood transplant is prepared for delivery to the patient at the University of Minnesota.

Cord blood transplants can do amazing things for people with very difficult diseases. But it’s important to remember that cord blood transplantation is a potentially life-saving but highly risky procedure, and is only used to treat the sickest patients, including one recently here at the University of Minnesota diagnosed with both HIV and leukemia.

A cord blood transplant does complex work inside the body, and preparation and recovery is hard work for both the patient and the doctor.

So it might be surprising to know that despite such a transplant being one of modern medicine’s most amazing treatments, the procedure itself is quite simple when compared to major surgery like a joint replacement or solid organ transplant.

The Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota lost one of its most prominent and influential scientists and physicians with the sudden death of John Kersey, M.D., at the age of 74.

A native Minnesotan and a graduate of Dartmouth College and the University of Minnesota Medical School, Kersey dedicated his life to the development of new treatments for childhood cancer.  He was the founder of the University’s Blood and Marrow Transplant program, serving as director from 1974 to 1995.  He was also the founding director of the Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, which became a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated comprehensive cancer center in 1998.

In 1975, Kersey led the team that completed the world’s first successful bone marrow transplant for malignant lymphoma.  That patient is alive and well today, and bone marrow transplantation has become the standard of care for many types of blood cancers and other illnesses.