Skip to main content

Patient Search

KaCrole Higgins was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020. “In May 2020, I found a lump in my breast. I cried. By June, it was diagnosed as breast cancer, triple positive, stage 1A. While getting this cancer diagnosis was devastating, it also became an opportunity. Suddenly, the cancer gave me clarity. It gave me clarity about what was important, what was good in my life, what was toxic in my life, and what I needed to do.” Click below to read more of KaCrole’s story

https://momentum.vicc.org/2022/04/cancer-gave-me-clarity/

If Landon Ryan had been diagnosed with bilateral retinoblastoma 10, 20 or 30 years ago, she might not be here today with nearly perfect vision.Thanks to recent improvements in the treatment for this rare form of cancer that almost exclusively affects children under the age of 5, the diagnosis had the power to change Landon’s life when she was 11 months old, but not to take it — or her eyesight. Click below to learn more about Landon and her story.

https://momentum.vicc.org/2022/04/brighter-outlook/
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1

Testing the Addition of Pembrolizumab, an Immunotherapy Cancer Drug to Olaparib Alone as Therapy for Patients with Pancreatic Cancer That Has Spread with Inherited BRCA Mutations

Pancreatic

This phase II trial studies whether adding pembrolizumab to olaparib (standard of care) works better than olaparib alone in treating patients with pancreatic cancer with germline BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations that has spread to other places in the body (metastatic). BRCA1 and BRCA2 are human genes that produce tumor suppressor proteins. These proteins help repair damaged deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and, therefore, play a role in ensuring the stability of each cells genetic material. When either of these genes is mutated, or altered, such that its protein product is not made or does not function correctly, DNA damage may not be repaired properly. As a result, cells are more likely to develop additional genetic alterations that can lead to some types of cancer, including pancreatic cancer. Immunotherapy with monoclonal antibodies, such as pembrolizumab, may help the body's immune system attack the cancer, and may interfere with the ability of tumor cells to grow and spread. Olaparib is an inhibitor of PARP, a protein that helps repair damaged DNA. Blocking PARP may help keep tumor cells from repairing their damaged DNA, causing them to die. PARP inhibitors are a type of targeted therapy. The addition of pembrolizumab to the usual treatment of olaparib may help to shrink tumors in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer with BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations.
Pancreatic
II
Cardin, Dana
NCT04548752
SWOGGIS2001