• share
• favorite_border

Between 70 and 100 percent of cancer patients receiving treatment suffer from fatigue related to their condition, and up to one-half of all survivors have reported fatigue lasting months or even years after treatment. Fatigue can be one of the most distressing side effects of cancer treatment and can sometimes be overlooked by patients, caregivers and doctors. Experts from New Jersey’s only NCI-Comprehensive Cancer Center are available to discuss the symptoms, signs, and causes of cancer-related fatigue.

• share
• favorite_border

The outreach director at The Cancer Institute of New Jersey has been selected to take part in a unique pilot program for cancer control practitioners through the National Cancer Institute. As one of only six participants selected nationwide, Kiameesha Evans, MPH, MCHES, is taking part in The Research to Reality (R2R) Mentorship Program for one year. The program aims to strengthen the ability of public health professionals to effectively navigate and execute cancer control and prevention interventions in the community under the guidance of a mentor.

• share
• favorite_border

Every two seconds, someone in the United States is in need of blood, with more than 38,000 blood donations needed each day. The demand for blood is highest during the holiday period as the donor turnout takes a plunge due to inclement weather, busy shopping schedules, and the arrival of flu season. The Cancer Institute of New Jersey is making experts available to comment on the importance and uses of blood donations.

• share
• favorite_border

A series of vaccine injections given directly into a pancreatic cancer tumor is shown to be associated with stable disease. Early results of a clinical trial being conducted at The Cancer Institute of New Jersey are being presented on Tuesday at the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference: Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics meeting being held in San Francisco.

• share
• favorite_border

Puberty is a time in a girl’s life considered highly sensitive to stimulation by the hormone estrogen and a critical window during which estrogen exposure could greatly influence the risk of breast cancer later in life. An early onset of puberty also has been consistently shown in studies to increase the risk of breast cancer. The Jersey Girl Study, which aims to examine factors affecting puberty in girls and is based at The Cancer Institute of New Jersey, has shown that estrogen-like substances produced by fungi may act as a hormone disrupter.

• share
• favorite_border

More than 157,000 lung cancer deaths are expected nationally this year, accounting for 27 percent of all cancer deaths. The Cancer Institute of New Jersey is making experts available to discuss the risk factors surrounding the disease, as well as treatment and prevention options, during this National Lung Cancer Awareness Month.

• share
• favorite_border

Pancreatic cancer is the fifth leading cancer killer in the country, with nearly 44,000 new cases expected in 2011 and more than 37,600 deaths. The death of Steve Jobs, who suffered from a form of pancreatic cancer, has brought increased attention to the disease in recent weeks. The Cancer Institute of New Jersey is making experts available to discuss the risk factors surrounding this disease, as well as treatment and prevention options, during this National Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month.

• share
• favorite_border

Compared to Caucasian women, African-American women are more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer at a younger age and at a later stage, and have more aggressive features associated with poor prognosis. However, the reasons for these differences remain unknown. To address these issues, The Cancer Institute of New Jersey is expanding its current research efforts as part of a new consortium of four studies in African-American women.

• share
• favorite_border

The return of a delectable signature item to Panera Bread® bakery-café locations during October will help New Jersey’s only NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center tackle a disease that affects one in eight U.S. women -- breast cancer. In its tenth year of marking National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, participating Panera locations will offer their Pink Ribbon Bagel. Proceeds from the local sale of this unique treat will benefit The Cancer Institute of New Jersey.

• share
• favorite_border

After raising nearly $50,000 over the past two years to support research, treatment, prevention, and education programs at New Jersey’s only NCI-Comprehensive Cancer Center, Allstate New Jersey Insurance Company has kicked off its 2011 “Quotes for a Cure” program. This year, Allstate New Jersey hopes to raise more than $40,000 for The Cancer Institute of New Jersey through the program, which runs through November 1.

• share
• favorite_border

Could a mint-flavored additive to cigarettes have a negative impact on smoking cessation efforts? New research from investigators at The Cancer Institute of New Jersey and UMDNJ-School of Public Health shines a light on this topic. It finds that menthol cigarettes are associated with decreased quitting in the United States, and that this effect is more pronounced for blacks and Puerto Ricans.

• share
• favorite_border

A family of tiny molecules called microRNAs could potentially play a large role in the process of cancer metastasis. Researchers from The Cancer Institute of New Jersey and Princeton University, along with European colleagues, have revealed that miR-200s play a paradoxical role. On one hand, these microRNAs impede the spread of cancer early on in metastasis, while these same miR-200s further facilitate cancer metastasis later on in the process.

• share
• favorite_border

Could a drug that is now used to treat a nerve cell condition and another prescribed to treat kidney cancer be combined to combat the deadliest form of skin cancer? That is the focus of new research that has just begun at New Jersey’s only NCI-Comprehensive Cancer Center, which aims to determine safe dosing levels for the drugs known as riluzole and sorafenib when used together in the treatment of patients with melanoma.

• share
• favorite_border

Efforts to adapt tobacco cessation efforts to the unique needs of South Asians living in the U.S. may receive a boost from what is believed to be a first-of-its-kind study. The research, conducted by investigators at The Cancer Institute of New Jersey and UMDNJ-School of Public Health, closely examined tobacco- and smokeless tobacco-use patterns by South Asians in New Jersey and the Northeast.

• share
• favorite_border

As Memorial Day Weekend and the unofficial start to the summer beach season fast approach, New Jersey’s only NCI-Comprehensive Cancer Center is making experts available to discuss the risks of developing skin cancer and what steps can be taken to prevent it.

• share
• favorite_border

Measuring up, managing data, and moving quality initiatives forward. Those key elements will be at focus today during a national meeting of experts who collect, manage and analyze cancer data. The Cancer Institute of New Jersey Network of hospitals is a national leader in this area, and its director will share her expertise with participants of the National Cancer Registrars Association 37th Annual Conference.

• share
• favorite_border

Knowledge is power. This sentiment is echoed in the work of today’s nurses and their pursuit of both clinical knowledge and technical expertise. Nurses from New Jersey’s only NCI-Comprehensive Cancer Center and throughout the country will be doing their part to contribute to the art of nursing when presenting at the Oncology Nursing Society’s 36th Annual Congress being held this week in Boston.

• share
• favorite_border

April marks National Cancer Control Awareness Month, which focuses on the importance of prevention, treatment, and research. Making significant contributions is New Jersey’s only NCI Comprehensive Cancer Center, especially in the research areas of immunotherapy, biomedical informatics and cancer survivorship.

• share
• favorite_border

Research from New Jersey’s only NCI-Comprehensive Cancer Center explores the protein HER2 and the role it plays in breast cancer aggressiveness, poor clinical outcome and chemotherapy resistance. The findings, being presented at the 102 Annual Meeting of the AACR, indicate that under stressful conditions, too much HER2 can cause a decrease in the cell-survival mechanism of autophagy. This decrease can lead to the alteration of other cellular processes and may increase breast cancer metastasis.

• share
• favorite_border

New Jersey’s only NCI-Comprehensive Cancer Center is making experts available during National Minority Cancer Awareness Week (April 17th to 23rd) to discuss risk factors, treatment and prevention options for the various types of cancers that are more prevalent in ethnic and racial minority groups.

• share
• favorite_border

New Jersey’s only NCI-Comprehensive Cancer Center joins communities and schools in celebrating the contributions of their libraries and librarians during this year’s National Library Week (April 10 – 16). The Cancer Institute of New Jersey houses its own library known as The Resource and Learning Center, which provides a source of comfort and information for many patients and family members unfamiliar with the many aspects of cancer.

• share
• favorite_border

In recognition of efforts made in cancer therapeutic research, the chief scientific officer at New Jersey’s only NCI-Comprehensive Cancer Center has been honored with The Jeffrey A. Gottlieb Memorial Award sponsored by The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

• share
• favorite_border

Vassiliki Karantza, MD, PhD, a medical oncologist at New Jersey’s only NCI-Comprehensive Cancer Center will be honored with the Genentech BioOncology Career Development Award sponsored by the American Association for Cancer Research at the Association’s 102nd Annual Meeting taking place April 2 through 6. The award will support her work on autophagy and HER2 interactions in breast cancer.

• share
• favorite_border

As youth across the nation prepare for the annual “Kick Butts Day” to speak out against “Big Tobacco,” experts from New Jersey’s only NCI Comprehensive Cancer Center are available for comment on cessation efforts, the development of lung cancer and other related effects of smoking.

• share
• favorite_border

Findings by a researcher at New Jersey’s only NCI Comprehensive Cancer Center show a shortened radiation course may benefit patients with the most common type of non-invasive breast cancer. The study, which is part of a feature article in the journal Cancer, focuses on patients with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) who have had a lumpectomy.

• share
• favorite_border

Continuing to build on their collective strength in the areas of oncology research, teaching and clinical care, New Jersey’s only NCI-Comprehensive Cancer Center and Meridian Health have announced a new level of collaboration benefitting patients across the state through increased access to clinical trials. Several of Meridian Health's hospitals have longstanding affiliations with The Cancer Institute of New Jersey and will now have additional support from CINJ’s clinical and academic researchers.

• share
• favorite_border

To better serve patients and the greater community, the Resource and Learning Center at New Jersey’s only NCI-Comprehensive Cancer Center is incorporating the Apple iPad and Barnes & Noble NOOK electronic reader into its information arsenal. As a result, traditional media focused on cancer-related topics can be accessed by users in a more portable fashion.

• share
• favorite_border

March is National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, and New Jersey’s only NCI-Comprehensive Cancer Center is making experts available to discuss risk factors, treatment and prevention options surrounding the disease.

• share
• favorite_border

A team of investigators at The Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Rutgers University, and Princeton University, have determined that cancer cells are “addicted” to a self-preservation process known as autophagy. They also showed that the inhibition of that process could prove to be a valuable treatment approach for aggressive cancers.

• share
• favorite_border

Panera Bread® has expanded its contributions to the fight against cancer in the Garden State by selecting New Jersey’s only NCI-Comprehensive Cancer Center as its Community Breadbox Partner for 2011. Now through year’s end, funds collected through coin boxes near the registers at Panera Bread bakery-cafés in the central and northern regions of the state will benefit treatment, research, prevention and education efforts at The Cancer Institute of New Jersey.

• share
• favorite_border

Building upon recent laboratory discoveries on resistance by cancer cells to therapies that attempt to starve cancer, scientists at New Jersey’s only NCI Comprehensive Cancer Center are conducting a clinical trial that further explores how to prevent that action. The goal is to discover if an anti-malaria drug is able to block a cellular process that acts as a survival method for malignant cells in human melanoma.

• share
• favorite_border

Investigators from New Jersey’s only NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center have presented new research at the 33rd Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. Their work highlights how a variation in a person’s DNA sequence is associated with an earlier age of onset for breast cancer that is stimulated by the hormone estrogen.

• share
• favorite_border

Every two seconds, there is someone in the United States in need of blood. Donating blood is important year-round, but it becomes especially vital around the holiday season when donor turnout is typically low due to inclement weather, busy holiday schedules and flu season. Experts from New Jersey’s only NCI Comprehensive Cancer Center are available to comment on the importance and uses of blood donations, including the treatment of children with blood disorders.

• share
• favorite_border

New Jersey’s only NCI Comprehensive Cancer Center is helping to develop educational efforts to combat the negative effects of tobacco on the state’s South Asian population. An NCI grant will provide for the creation of a service-oriented set of instructional tools that health educators will be able to utilize not only in New Jersey, but also nationwide. The goal is to inform South Asians of the dangers of tobacco and smokeless tobacco products and what cessation resources are available.

• share
• favorite_border

Research presented by a team of investigators at New Jersey’s only NCI Comprehensive Cancer Center, shows careful consideration should be given before initiating androgen deprivation therapy, a common treatment for older men with localized prostate cancer. The investigators are concerned that this particular population has a higher than average risk of bone fracture, and that androgen deprivation therapy might add to their fracture risk.

• share
• favorite_border

Experts from New Jersey’s only NCI-Comprehensive Cancer Center are taking a fresh look at the education needs of cancer patients when it comes to treatment orientation. The team is presenting its findings -- which recommend the integration of computer reminders for healthcare team members -- at the International Cancer Education Conference being held this week in San Diego.

• share
• favorite_border

A researcher from New Jersey’s only NCI-Comprehensive Cancer Center has been chosen to receive the Clinical Award in Clinical/Basic Science Research at the 52nd Annual Meeting of The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) in San Diego next month. Dr. Amar Rewari was selected for his submission “Prognostic value of p16 expression in laryngeal cancer patients treated with radiation,” which shows that cancer of the larynx tends to be more treatable when p16 points toward HPV as the cause.

• share
• favorite_border

Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cancer killer in the country, with nearly 43,100 new cases expected in 2010 and more than 36,800 deaths by year’s end. New Jersey’s only NCI Comprehensive Cancer Center is making experts available to discuss the risk factors surrounding pancreatic cancer, as well as treatment and prevention options, during this National Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month.

• share
• favorite_border

More than 157,300 lung cancer deaths are expected this year, accounting for 28 percent of all cancer deaths nationally. New Jersey’s only NCI Comprehensive Cancer Center is making experts available to discuss the risk factors surrounding the disease, as well as treatment and prevention options, during this National Lung Cancer Awareness Month.

• share
• favorite_border

Socioeconomic factors such as a lower level of education and lack of health insurance may impact individuals’ knowledge of the type of skin cancer with which they are diagnosed. As a result, these individuals may have a poor sense of the measures they need to take to reduce the risk of future skin cancers. That is according to an investigator at New Jersey’s only NCI Comprehensive Cancer Center whose research appears in Archives of Dermatology.

• share
• favorite_border

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and New Jersey's only NCI Comprehensive Cancer Center is making experts available to discuss the latest in research, treatment and prevention options related to the disease.

• share
• favorite_border

Grabbing your morning "cup of joe" just may help save someone's life. That sentiment comes from New Jersey's only NCI Comprehensive Cancer Center, as it once again is the recipient of proceeds from the sale of the "pink ribbon bagel" by local Panera Bread cafes. The effort is part of a nationwide campaign during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

• share
• favorite_border

A new partnership between New Jersey’s only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, and that state’s Department of Health and Senior Services will create a Center of Excellence for Cancer Surveillance to help track, examine, prevent and control cancer. Its main component is the New Jersey State Cancer Registry, which is a SEER database utilized by researchers nationwide to conduct population-based and other studies pertaining to cancer.

• share
• favorite_border

Prostate cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in men other than skin cancer, and the second leading cause of cancer death in males. That is why New Jersey's only NCI-Comprehensive Cancer Center is making experts available to discuss the risks, treatments and prevention options surrounding prostate cancer during September, which is National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month.

• share
• favorite_border

Looking to gain further understanding about the impact of cancer on patients and families, New Jersey’s only NCI-Comprehensive Cancer Center is expanding its behavioral science focus by welcoming nationally-recognized population science researcher Sharon Manne, PhD, who is the recipient of major NIH grant awards.

• share
• favorite_border

While sharp debate continues among medical professionals as to whether a radical prostatectomy performed with the assistance of a robotic device is more beneficial than the traditional method, newly published research shows new evidence supporting the safety of the robotic procedure. Investigators at New Jersey’s only NCI-Comprehensive Cancer Center believe the findings show one of the lowest complication rates to date.

• share
• favorite_border

Controversy has long existed over the benefit of the PSA test used to screen for the presence of prostate cancer, and there has been little study to document the risk profile of men whose PSA is considered normal. Research by investigators at New Jersey’s only NCI-Comprehensive Cancer Center further explores this population and finds that most men with prostate cancer who tested below the normal PSA level and had low-risk disease underwent aggressive treatment.

• share
• favorite_border

Looking to harness the body’s own immune system to target prostate cancer that has spread to the bones and is unresponsive to standard treatment, investigators at New Jersey’s only NCI-Comprehensive Cancer Center have launched a clinical trial focusing on a combination of vaccine and radiation drug therapy. The goal is to see if disease progression will be further delayed by adding two different experimental injections to the standard treatment.

• share
• favorite_border

Instead of another tie or garden tool, a more meaningful gift for Dad this Father’s Day is good prostate health. Experts at New Jersey’s only NCI-Comprehensive Cancer Center say one way to promote that is to encourage Dad to get checked for prostate cancer, whether through his doctor or through a community screening.

• share
• favorite_border

Research by investigators at New Jersey’s only NCI-Comprehensive Cancer Center is showing new promise in the treatment of melanoma, the most serious of skin cancers. The team’s latest findings further validate its previous research that blocking the signaling normally activated by a receptor called Grm1 results in decreased cell growth and decreased migration of melanoma cells, confirming that Grm1 is a potential target for the treatment of melanoma.