ASH Review: Blood Cancer Progress

There's still a little more to be said about this year's ASH conference, and I will share that soon. 

One of the great things for me about the things that are published after a conference like this is seeing the excitement in experts' writing or hearing it n their voices, as they talk about what they have just seen at the conference. I want to share one of those commentaries. It's by Dr. Vincent Rajmukar, a blood cancer specialist at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota (you can read his profile here -- he's clearly someone who knows what's happening in the blood cancer world).

 Right after the conference, Dr. Rajmukar wrote a Twitter thread about why he was excited about the progress being made in blood cancer research. There were a whole lot of things that excited him.

You can read the thread here. You don't need to have a Twitter account to read it -- it got collected on a different website so it could be easily read. It's just a series of short statements, but together, they really do present a whole bunch or reasons to be excited about where we are, and where we're going, in blood cancer research.

It's pretty short and easy to read, but I'll sum it up for you here anyway:

• Immunotherapy is changing everything. Our ability to understand how genes and proteins influence the immune system and its relationship to cancer has completely revolutionized the way researchers approach cancer.
• CAR-T and Bispecifics are the most exciting types of blood cancer treatments happening right now, and they are just beginning. They're already good, and improvements are on the way. They are a direct result of our understanding of genes and proteins and the immune system.
• (When I say "we" and "our," I'm obviously not including myself as part of the research team doing all this. I mean it the same way as someone from Argentina saying "WE won the World Cup!" I let others do the work and then share in the excitement.)
• That understanding of genes and proteins is also creating even more targets for future treatments. (Remember, CAR-T and Bispecifics are general categories, not specific treatments. Future researchers may find different ways to target genes and proteins in ways that improve CAR-T and Bispecifics.)
• That knowledge also allows us to find very small bits of cancer that don't show up on scans -- Minimal Residual Disease -- that could let us find recurring cancer early, making it more treatable.
• mRNA technology, the same approach that created some of the Covid-19 vaccines, is being used as possible cancer treatments as well. We'll be hearing more about that in the near future.
• Technology has allowed researchers to collaborate in ways that weren't possible just a few years ago. Teams from around the world can share data and speak to one another much more easily now.
• Patients can use technology to communicate with doctors much more easily, too. A Zoom meeting can connect a patient with a cancer expert thousands of miles away. We aren't necessarily limited to the doctors that live near us.
• I'll let Dr. Rajmukar's words stand for themselves here: " I am also totally impressed by the talent of the next generation of investigators. These are some brilliant people who are driven to find ways of improving outcomes in cancer."
• Still lots of challenges --  fancy new treatments come with high prices, some of them are/will be complex to administer (like CAR-T), lots of  new treatments means lots of clinical trials, which will require willing participants and high costs, etc. 
• But even with those challenges, there is so much to be hopeful about.
  

I was very happy to have seen that thread on Twitter. There really is so, so much to be hopeful about. And hearing and seeing it directly from a leading lymphoma expert makes it even nicer. 

More ASH information to come soon.