HOUSTON, JULY 16, 2026 ― At The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center , research breakthroughs are made possible through seamless collaboration between the institution's world-leading clinicians and scientists, bringing discoveries from the lab to the clinic and back. The studies below showcase the latest advances in cancer care, research and prevention.
Experimental cell therapy delivers encouraging results for patients with rare, potentially fatal brain infection
Read the full release | Read the study in Clinical Infectious Diseases
In the largest study of its kind, a virus-specific T cell therapy achieved a response in more than half of treated patients with a rare and often deadly neurological condition caused by viral infection, according to Phase 2 study results. The investigational, off-the-shelf virus-specific T cells achieved an overall response rate of 56.8% in 37 patients with progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), including 43.2% achieving complete viral clearance with stabilization or improvement of neurological symptoms. Patients responded quickly – typically within 23 days – and the one-year overall survival rate for all treated patients was 61.1%. Patients who responded after their first infusion experienced a one-year survival rate of 93.3%.
"For decades, physicians have had no approved treatment to offer patients with PML, and this disease has long represented one of the greatest unmet needs in neuroinfectious medicine," said corresponding author Katy Rezvani, M.D., Ph.D. , vice president and head of the Institute for Cell Therapy Discovery & Innovation , and professor of Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapy , whose team developed the virus-specific T cell platform. "Seeing rapid viral clearance and meaningful clinical responses in more than half of treated patients is extremely encouraging as we try to identify a potential standard treatment."
Novel CAR T cell therapy offers promising option for hard-to-treat kidney cancer
Read the full release | Read the study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology
Patients with advanced clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) who were treated with the CD70-targeted allogenic chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy, ALLO-316, experienced encouraging results with durable responses, according to results of the Phase 1a/b TRAVERSE clinical trial. This first-in-human study evaluated ALLO-316 in patients with metastatic ccRCC who had progression after treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors and tyrosine kinase inhibitors. The Phase 1a portion of the study established the recommended dose and lymphodepletion regimen for ALLO-316 while demonstrating a manageable safety profile. In the Phase 1b study, about half of patients saw their cancer stop growing or significantly shrink, with some patients remaining in continued response for over a year after a single infusion of ALLO-316.
"Patients with advanced clear cell renal cell carcinoma who progress on standard therapies have very limited treatment options and historically poor outcomes," said principal investigator Samer Srour, M.B Ch.B. , associate professor of Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapy . "For years, CAR T cell therapies have transformed outcomes in blood cancers, but reproducing that success in solid tumors has proven to be challenging. These results represent an important milestone in expanding the promise of CAR T cell therapy into kidney cancer and other solid tumors."
Hidden metastases reveal clues to colorectal cancer recurrence
Read the full release | Read the study in Cancer Cell
Researchers identified a six-gene signature in microscopic colorectal cancer (CRC) liver metastases that may help predict recurrence after treatment. These tiny, often undetectable tumor deposits could serve as a tissue-based marker of residual cancer cells, recurrence risk and chemotherapy resistance. The comprehensive spatial analyses of CRC metastases used advanced genomic technologies to uncover insights into how micrometastases evolve, evade the immune system and persist after treatment. The study was co-led by Dipen Maru, M.D. , professor of Anatomical Pathology ; Scott Kopetz, M.D., Ph.D. , professor of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology and associate vice president for Translational Integration; Linghua Wang, M.D., Ph.D. , professor of Genomic Medicine , executive director and head of the Center for Cellular Language Intelligence , associate member of the James P. Allison Institute ™, and focus area co-lead with the Institute for Data Science in Oncology ; together with co-first authors Yang Liu, Ph.D., postdoctoral fellow of Genomic Medicine, and Akshaya Jadhav, M.D., research scientist in Translational Molecular Pathology .
"These findings provide critical insights into how colorectal cancer cells can hide after treatment and later return, suggesting that tissue-based markers could complement blood-based tests to help identify patients at higher risk of recurrence," Maru said. "While this gene signature needs validation in larger cohorts to establish clinical efficacy, we are encouraged by the translational relevance of these results."
KRAS-targeting drugs show promise for rare appendix cancer
Read the full release | Read the study in the Journal of Hematology & Oncology
A new study demonstrated that targeting mutant KRAS may offer a promising new treatment option for appendix cancer . Researchers led by John Paul Shen, M.D. , assistant professor, Saikat Chowdhury, Ph.D., instructor, and Ichiaki Ito, Ph.D., research scientist, all of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology , demonstrated that KRAS inhibitors significantly reduced tumor growth, blocked key cancer signaling pathways and triggered cancer cell death in advanced preclinical models of appendiceal adenocarcinoma. In a clinical cohort of 15 patients treated with a variety of different KRAS drugs, all evaluable patients experienced a marked reduction in serum tumor markers – the most effective measure of response in appendix cancer.
"Appendiceal cancer has long lacked effective systemic treatment options, and patients urgently need new approaches," Shen said. "I am very excited about the future prospects of KRAS inhibition. This study is just the first step."
Immune ecotypes may explain multiple myeloma outcomes missed by disease staging
Read the full release | Read the study in Blood
Researchers created a comprehensive single-cell map of the tumor immune microenvironment in multiple myeloma and its precursor conditions, providing new insights that may explain why patients with similar diagnoses often have differences in disease progression, treatment response and outcomes. The study was co-led by Robert Orlowski, M.D., Ph.D. , professor of Lymphoma/Myeloma and Experimental Therapeutics ; and Linghua Wang, M.D., Ph.D. , professor of Genomic Medicine , executive director and head of the Center for Cellular Language Intelligence , associate member of the James P. Allison Institute ™, and focus area co-lead with the Institute for Data Science in Oncology .
"Our delineation of five distinct tumor microenvironment ecotypes in the bone marrow of patients with plasma cell disorders provides a new framework to understand the critical role of the host immune system in the biology of these diseases," Orlowski said. "Importantly, this information may provide added prognostic value beyond our current models, which predominantly focus solely on tumor cells. We are hopeful this may help guide treatment selection and provide new avenues to improve host immune system health as part of our strategy to ultimately cure myeloma."
Early inflammation signal drives oral cancer development, highlights path for immunoprevention
Read the full release | Read the study in Cancer Research
Researchers identified an immune pathway that may promote the progression of oral precancerous lesions into head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. These results provide insights into how precancers gradually establish an immune tolerance to allow for cancer development. The findings highlight potential biomarkers for high-risk precancerous lesions and suggest that targeting a key inflammation signal known as interleukin-1 alpha (IL-1α) could help restore immune surveillance and prevent high-risk lesions from becoming invasive. The study was led by Yu Leo Lei, D.D.S., Ph.D. , associate professor of Head & Neck Surgery , Cancer Biology and Translational Molecular Pathology ; along with co-first authors Wang Gong, Ph.D., research scientist in Cancer Biology, and Hülya Taner, D.D.S., Ph.D., at the University of Michigan School of Dentistry.
"Identifying immune shifts in the precancerous stage provides an opportunity to intervene earlier and prevent high-risk lesions from progressing into cancer," Lei said. "These results suggest that IL-1α may actively create an immunosuppressive environment and that blocking this signal early on could give the immune system an opportunity to regain control, ultimately improving patient outcomes and quality of life."
Scientists develop new, improved method to find and isolate the strongest cancer-fighting immune cells
Read the full release | Read the study in Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer
A new platform developed at UT MD Anderson quickly finds and isolates rare, tumor-reactive immune cells that are especially good at recognizing and attacking cancer cells, even without knowing which tumor targets are recognized by the immune cells. This approach addresses a major bottleneck in immunotherapy development and could potentially accelerate the creation of personalized treatments. The platform, called ATTACH (Assessment of T cells Tethered to Antigen Class I Histocompatibility), identifies the strongest interactions between T cells and cancer-specific proteins, isolating only the most effective, tumor-reactive T cells for further study and therapeutic use. The study was led by Alexandre Reuben, Ph.D. , assistant professor of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology , and Amanda Montoya, senior research assistant in the Reuben lab .
"This approach turns an extremely rare population of tumor-reactive T cells into something we can reliably detect, study and use, opening new possibilities for truly personalized medicine," Reuben said. "It overcomes key challenges associated with antigen-specific T cell isolation, allowing the tumor itself to reveal which immune cells are most effective against it instead of trying to guess those targets in advance."
Epigenetic therapy shows promise against treatment-resistant AML
Read the full release | Read the study in Clinical Cancer Research
Researchers have discovered that an investigational epigenetic therapy remained effective in treatment-resistant acute myeloid leukemia (AML) through activating the Hippo pathway, a tumor-suppressing pathway linked to cancer growth and drug resistance. In preclinical models, NTX-301, a hypomethylating agent, was more effective than standard hypomethylating therapy and retained anti-leukemia activity in therapy-resistant and TP53-mutant AML. Researchers also found that the therapy activated the Hippo pathway through targeted epigenetic changes, revealing a previously unrecognized mechanism that may contribute to its anti-leukemia effects. The findings suggest a potential new strategy for patients whose disease relapses after frontline therapy, including those with TP53 mutations, one of the highest risk forms of AML. The study was led by Michael Andreeff, M.D., Ph.D. , and Bing Z. Carter, Ph.D. , both professors of Leukemia .
"Leukemia cells are remarkably adaptable and often find new pathways to survive after treatment," Andreeff said. "These findings suggest NTX-301 may disrupt several of those survival mechanisms simultaneously while reactivating pathways that normally restrain cell growth. That dual effect could help explain why NTX-301 remained active in some of the most therapy-resistant forms of AML."
Immune cells use previously unknown pathway to eliminate AML
Read the full release | Read the study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Researchers discovered a new way in which T cells attack acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells, which may help explain why AML is particularly sensitive to immune-based treatments and could guide the development of future cancer immunotherapies. The findings reveal that leukemia cells, which lack the molecular machinery normally required for T cell recognition, use a different pathway that depends on the CD64 protein and an intact T cell receptor (TCR). The study was led by Cassian Yee, M.D. , professor of Melanoma Medical Oncology , and Kapil Saxena, M.D., former member of the Yee laboratory .
"By chasing a simple, unexplained observation, we challenged a basic assumption about how T cells can recognize and kill tumor cells," Yee said. "The freedom to explore things that aren't conventional is what drives innovation, and this contrarian finding is an example of that, with broad implications for overcoming immune resistance in leukemia and possibly other cancers."
Fasting primes gut microbiome to improve intestinal recovery after radiation treatment
Read the full release | Read the study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
A new preclinical study has identified a gut bacterium that, when combined with short-term fasting, helps prepare the small intestine to regenerate more effectively after radiation damage.
These findings support a possible new strategy for reducing the harmful side effects of radiation therapy in cancer patients, potentially allowing doctors to deliver safer, more effective treatment. The study was co-led by Helen Piwnica-Worms, Ph.D. , professor of Experimental Radiation Oncology, and Kunal Rai, Ph.D. , professor of Genomic Medicine .
"Fasting helps prepare intestinal cells to respond more quickly and effectively after injury, almost like training the cells with an emergency preparedness plan," Piwnica-Worms said. "This study helps explain how that plan is organized and identifies a key bacterium involved in coordinating the response."
