Sylvester researchers have become the first to look at trends in alcohol-linked cancer mortality across the U.S. Their findings, presented last month at ASCO 2025, found that alcohol-related cancer deaths nationwide nearly doubled between 1990 and 2021. Moreover, the highest burden fell on men over 55, whose alcohol-linked cancer mortality rose by more than 1% a year between 2007 and 2021. "That's a big and concerning rise," said Chinmay Jani, M.D., Sylvester hematology and oncology fellow, who led the study and presented the results.
New Alcohol Consumption Guidelines Anticipated from HHS and USDA
As the alcohol industry is coming under increasing scrutiny regarding the elevated health risks that alcohol consumption presents, updated guidelines are expected soon from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. According to this Reuters article , the long-standing recommendation of no more than one drink per day for women or two drinks per day for men may be replaced in the new guidelines with other, less specific language. According to Tracy Crane, Ph.D., RDN , director of lifestyle medicine, digital health and cancer prevention at Sylvester, many people are surprised to learn that drinking any amount of alcohol is associated with an increased risk of developing several types of cancer. However, research suggests that alcohol consumption is one cancer risk factor – along with diet, exercise and other lifestyle modifications – that we can modify.
Blood Cancer
New Standard Emerges for Treating Multiple Myeloma (Video Available)
A new, four-drug combination is both highly effective and safe in treating patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma, according to findings from the Sylvester-led ADVANCE clinical trial presented recently at ASCO 2025. The trial tested adding the drug daratumumab to the standard three-part regimen called KRd. "This study shows that daratumumab added to KRd is a new standard of care for those patients who had previously been candidates for just KRd," said C. Ola Landgren, MD, PhD , director, Sylvester Myeloma Institute and lead study author.
Brain Cancer
Brain Cancer Patients Find Hope With New Drug
A new drug tested as part of an international clinical trial conducted at Sylvester and collaborating organizations is offering hope for patients with low-grade gliomas. The drug, vorasidenib, was given to patients whose brain tumors showed mutations with the IDH1 or IDH2 genes. About 80% of patients with grade 2 gliomas have these mutations. "The results of this clinical trial are changing the way we treat gliomas," explained Macarena de la Fuente, M.D., chief of neuro-oncology and co-director of the Sylvester Brain Tumor Institute . "My colleagues in the field and I are very excited about this development."
Prostate Cancer
Using Years of Clinical Data to Improve Prostate Cancer Treatment
Patients with immediate- to high-risk prostate cancer face significant risks after completing treatment, including relapse and a myriad of side effects from hormone therapy. That's prompted Sylvester researchers to use years of clinical data to create a new approach that could reshape future treatment. Their work, funded by a $2.6 million, five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health, seeks to develop and test a model using MRI techniques and liquid biopsy markers to guide treatment decisions.
Sylvester Researcher Receives Endowed Chair For Work Tackling Prostate Cancer
Kerry Burnstein, PhD, renowned researcher, educator and mentor who serves as an esteemed member of Sylvester Cancer, has been honored with the prestigious J. Enloe Dodson Chair in Cancer Research. Burnstein's endowed chair will provide funding to advance her research in androgen receptor signaling and experimental therapeutics to battle a lethal and incurable stage of the disease known as castration-resistant prostate cancer.
Colorectal Cancer
Gene Hunt Leads to Potential Colorectal Cancer Treatment, Research Award
Sylvester physician-scientist Justin Taylor, M.D. , has released a preclinical study highlighting a possible new way to treat colorectal cancer and, in doing so, has secured a prestigious Stanley J. Glaser Foundation Research Award to continue his work. Taylor's study, which appeared online first in Cancer Research , showed that the XPO1-targeting drug selinexor shrank tumors in preclinical models when used with the chemotherapy drug irinotecan, a current colorectal cancer therapy.
