The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine offers a series of Topics in Interdisciplinary Medicine (TIME) courses as part of its Genes to Society medical student curriculum. As part of this year’s Cancer TIME program I taught the Frontiers in Cancer Therapy track with Dr. Shawn Lupold from the Department of Urology. This year was the 7th that Dr. Lupold and I taught. We had a record-breaking 11 students sign up for our section. Several of the students who selected this track planned to pursue post-graduate residency training in diverse specialties that include cancer care and others stated that they just wanted to improve their knowledge of cutting-edge cancer treatments.
On the first day, Dr. Lupold and I presented a cancer overview lecture on new approaches to cancer therapy. Dr. Lupold presented on new molecular cancer treatments based off the Hallmarks of Cancer. I presented an overview of game theory and adaptive paradigms for cancer treatment. Each year brings many new molecular treatments and adaptive dosing approaches for optimal outcomes.
On days 2 and 3, the students presented a recent article they chose from a list of over 40 new curated articles Dr. Lupold and I created.
The topic categories included;
Prevention
Microenvironment mechanisms
Targeted therapies
Combination therapies
Immunotherapy
Gene therapy
Biomarker targeted therapy
Therapeutic dosing and tumor response; and
Cancer physics, computation and information
A new category this year was “drugging the undruggable targets”.
“This is an exceedingly rewarding experience each year I teach the course. I learn a lot from the high level discussions by these outstanding Johns Hopkins medical students.”- Dr. J. James Frost, of BioMolecular Imaging.
The publications presented by the students spanned a wide array of topics. There were 5 articles that dealt with cancer prevention. There were 3 on clinical trials that focused on the polio virus, IDH mutants, and high folate alpha expression. A cancer screening article examined the role of MRI in prostate biopsy for prostate cancer.
A game theory article dealt with optimization of treatment for prostate and other cancers. Finally, a truly novel approach examined the scientific feasibility of silencing mutant KRAS by inducing its misfolding and aggregation, much like amyloid aggregation in the brain.
The 2023 Cancer TIME Student Tutorial Articles:
Phase 3 Trials of Tirbanibulin Ointment for Actinic Keratosis https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33567191/
A View on Drug Development for Cancer Prevention. Cancer Discov. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37067191/
Aspirin Use to Prevent Cardiovascular Disease and Colorectal Cancer: Updated Evidence Report and Systematic Review for the US Preventive Services Task Force. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35471507/
The Global Impact of Hepatitis B Vaccination on Hepatocellular Carcinoma. Vaccines. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35632549/
IARC Perspective on Oral Cancer Prevention. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36378601/
Recurrent Glioblastoma Treated with Recombinant Poliovirus. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29943666
Vorasidenib and ivosidenib in IDH1-mutant low-grade glioma: a randomized, perioperative phase 1 trial. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36823302/
Efficacy and Safety of Mirvetuximab Soravtansine in Patients With Platinum-Resistant Ovarian Cancer With High Folate Receptor Alpha Expression: Results From the SORAYA Study. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36716407/
Prostate Cancer Screening with PSA and MRI Followed by Targeted Biopsy Only. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36477032/
Optimizing Cancer Treatment Using Game Theory. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaoncology/article-abstract/2696342
Exploiting the intrinsic misfolding propensity of the KRAS oncoprotein. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36812200/
For more information on the molecular imaging aspects of cancer characterization, treatment, and monitoring, please visit BioMolecular Imaging, LLC http://biomolecularimaging.com
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