News

Response to Cancer Immunotherapy May Be Affected by Genes We Carry from Birth

For all their importance as a breakthrough treatment, the cancer immunotherapies known as checkpoint inhibitors still only benefit a small minority of patients, perhaps 15 percent across different types of cancer. Moreover, doctors cannot accurately predict which of their patients will respond. A

Camp Okizu, a Refuge for Families Affected by Childhood Cancer, Pledges to Rise from the Ashes

In September, the North Complex West Zone fire ripped through Butte County, killing 16 residents and decimating more than 2,000 structures. The structures destroyed in the blaze included almost all of the cabins, bathrooms and main buildings that make up Okizu – a 500-acre refuge for families of

Advancing Focused Ultrasound Technology for Musculoskeletal Applications and Cancer Treatment

Matthew Bucknor, MD's interest in focused ultrasound developed during his radiology residency at UCSF when Fergus Coakley, MD (former faculty and current chair of radiology at Oregon Health Sciences University) brought the technology here. At that time, Dr. Bucknor was unsure if he wanted to pursue

Cancer Drug Shows Potent Activity in the Lab Against SARS-CoV-2, Including B.1.1.7 Variant

Scientists at UC San Francisco’s Quantitative Bioscience Institute (QBI) and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai (ISMMS) in New York have shown that plitidepsin (Aplidin), a drug approved by the Australian Regulatory Agency for the treatment of multiple myeloma, has potent antiviral activity

Community Advisory Board: Champions for Health Equity

Over the past 15 years, the cancer center’s Community Advisory Board (CAB) has become one of UCSF’s most instrumental community outreach groups for improving health equity. In a Q&A below, CAB Chair Arnold Perkins and Dr. Kim Rhoads discuss why CABs are critical to the work of NCI cancer centers and

'Invisible' Stem Cells Evade Natural Killer Cells Using Immune 'Off-Switch'

UC San Francisco scientists have discovered a new way to control the immune system’s “natural killer” (NK) cells, a finding with implications for novel cell therapies and tissue implants that can evade immune rejection. The findings could also be used to enhance the ability of cancer immunotherapies

Cancer Metastasis is Target of New Research Initiative

Six UC San Francisco researchers have won an Endeavor Award to build a new research collaborative at the University focused on decoding the “rulebook” of metastatic cancer as a pathway to new treatments. The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research established the awards to support research challenges