Better Knowledge, Better Treatments

Better understanding the mutations that a tumor has not only increases researchers' knowledge of cancer, it also improves treatments for cancer patients, MIT's Phillip Sharp tells The Boston Globe. Sharp is part of the Stand Up to Cancer organization that funds "dream teams" of researchers, including one that is investigating how some cancer cell genes are turned off by DNA modifications. "[One dream team has] found ways to reverse those modifications, and it appears to make tumors sensitive to drugs they have become resistant to," Sharp says. "If that pans out in bigger studies which are ongoing, it's quite exciting in terms of patients."