22 Apr New study offers hope for a rare and devastating eye cancer

By Mark Johnson, The Washington Post

After more than a decade studying a rare eye cancer that produces some of the hardest-to-fight tumors, researchers from University of Pittsburgh Medical Center have found a treatment that works on some patients and, more importantly, a tool that can predict when it is likely to succeed.

The work, published in Nature Communications, is being validated in a clinical trial involving at least 30 patients. It could pave the way for similar methods designed to overcome one of the enduring frustrations of cancer care.

Because tumors differ, not only between patients but even inside the same patient, a treatment that works on one mass may fail on another, even when both are of the same cancer type. Read more…