Sylvester Cancer Tip Sheet for October 2025

(Press-News.org) OCTOBER 2025 TIP SHEET (October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month) Breast Cancer Living Near Toxic Sites Linked to Aggressive Breast Cancer Women living near federally designated Superfund sites are more likely to develop aggressive breast cancer – including the hard-to-treat triple-negative subtype – according to new research from Sylvester. Three recent Sylvester studies have uncovered links between breast cancer, Superfund sites and social adversity. Superfund sites are locations contaminated by hazardous waste and identified by the Environmental Protection Agency as needing cleanup to minimize risks to human health and the environment.

Sylvester to Participate in $16M National Study on Artificial Intelligence in Breast Cancer Screening Sylvester researchers will co-lead a newly funded, multi-institutional clinical trial to evaluate whether artificial intelligence (AI) can help support radiologists in interpreting mammograms more accurately. The study, known as the PRISM Trial (Pragmatic Randomized Trial of Artificial Intelligence for Screening Mammography), is supported by a $16 million award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), and will involve hundreds of thousands of mammograms interpreted at academic medical centers and breast imaging facilities in California, Florida, Massachusetts, Washington and Wisconsin.

Brain Cancer Study Shows Brain Cancer Cells ‘Unstick’ From Neighbors to Become More Deadly Glioblastoma cells that “cluster” with other cells of the same type are less deadly than those that disperse from these clusters, according to a recent study by Sylvester Cancer.  The findings were corroborated in breast cancer samples and suggest a possible new principle in solid tumor biology. “This gives us a much better grasp of the biology of glioblastoma, a tumor type where a lot still remains to be discovered,” explained Anna Lasorella, M.D., co-director of the Sylvester Brain Tumor Institute with Antonio Iavarone, M.D., and senior author of the paper published in Cancer Cell.

Blood Cancer ChatGPT, MD? Cancer Expert Prescribes Dose of Healthy Skepticism How should patients approach using AI-powered services for medical information and even advice about blood cancer? That was the premise for a study by Sylvester researchers, evaluating responses provided by ChatGPT to a set of 10 medical questions. The study, published in Future Science OA, showed that the popular chatbot performed best at general questions, but struggled with providing information about newer therapies and approaches. “I would warn patients to have some skepticism, especially about answers dealing with specific types of cancer and treatments, and check with their doctor,” said senior author Justin Taylor, M.D.

Study Maps Timeline of DNA Damage for Common Blood Cancer A Sylvester study has mapped the timeline of DNA damage leading to multiple myeloma, the second most common blood cancer. The findings, appearing in Nature Genetics, may lead to better ways to group patients by their DNA state and define new subtypes of disease to better predict treatment strategies and outcomes. “Better definition of biological subtypes of multiple myeloma is critical for the development of precision medicine treatment strategies,” said C. Ola Landgren, M.D., Ph.D., study author and director of the Sylvester Myeloma Institute.

NCI Award Funds Discoveries of Lymphoma Biology, Potential Drug Target Sylvester researchers have received a $2.4 million award from the National Cancer Institute to further explore their discovery of a new role for the protein, GAK, in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) – the most common form of blood cancer. The research team, led by Jonathan Schatz, M.D., and Hassan A. Ali, Ph.D., will continue its work on this previously undiscovered aspect of cancer biology and investigate the possibility of treating DLBCL by targeting GAK.

Cancer Recovery Remote Monitoring Improves Recovery From Cancer Surgery Patients receiving remote perioperative monitoring (RPM) following their cancer surgery recovered faster and experienced fewer complications, according to results from a trial co-led by Sylvester Cancer. The study, published in npj Digital Medicine, compared RPM to traditional surgeon-only care in almost 300 patients undergoing surgery for various cancers. “The first two weeks after surgery are critical,” said Tracy Crane, Ph.D., R.D.N., study co-author and director of lifestyle medicine, prevention and digital health at Sylvester.

Cancer Leadership Sylvester Division Chief Elected to ASH Executive Committee Mikkael Sekeres, M.D., M.S., chief of the Division of Hematology at Sylvester, has been elected to the executive committee of the American Society of Hematology (ASH), the world’s largest organization dedicated to conquering blood diseases. Sekeres will begin his four-year term after the 2025 ASH Annual Meeting, Dec. 6-9, in Orlando, Florida.

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