News

Combination Therapy May Revive Prospects for 'Embattled' Breast Cancer Drugs

More than 60 percent of breast cancer cases involve defects in the same biochemical chain of events within cancer cells — known as the PI3 kinase (PI3K) pathway — but efforts to develop therapies targeting this pathway have met with little success after hundreds of mostly failed clinical trials. And

Immune Profile for Successful Cancer Immunotherapy Discovered

In a new study published online June 25, 2018 in Nature Medicine, UC San Francisco researchers have identified a key biological pathway in human cancer patients that appears to prime the immune system for a successful response to immunotherapy drugs known as checkpoint inhibitors. The findings

UCSF Molecular Oncology Initiative/ Q&A with Alejandro Sweet-Cordero, MD

As UCSF increasingly leads the way in precision medicine, especially for cancer, the Cancer Center’s Molecular Oncology Initiative (MOI) has become central to those efforts. Using the UCSF500 gene panel assay, the MOI’s focus is on integrating genomic findings from molecular diagnostic tests with

Collaborations, Opportunities at Annual ASCO Conference

Once again UCSF had an impressive presence at this year's annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncologists (ASCO) in Chicago. One of the world’s most prestigious gatherings of oncology professionals, ASCO 2018 drew more than 40,000 cancer experts focusing on groundbreaking research and

Startup Science: How the Idea for Synthetic Cells Took Silicon Valley By Storm

​ Scientists working on the molecular and cellular level know that big things happen in small systems. In 2007, UCSF’s Kevan Shokat, PhD, parlayed his work on kinases – enzymes that regulate cellular pathways – into a company, Intellikine, which developed small-molecule drugs to fight cancer. Four

HDFCCC Reaffirms Support for National Effort on HPV Vaccine Recommendations

Recognizing the tremendous public health benfit of improving national vaccination rates for the human papillomavirus (HPV), the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center has again united with each of the 69 National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated cancer centers in issuing a joint

Resounding win for flavored tobacco ban in San Francisco

San Francisco voters gave tobacco companies a resounding message on Tuesday: Retailers are forbidden to sell flavored tobacco products in the city. Measure E passed with 68 percent of the vote. Politico called this law the "toughest in the nation." UCSF's Dr. Val Yerger and Carol McGruder led the