Scientific Studies

Scientific Studies, Cancer News, & Medical Sources

Ready to learn a new language? Scientific research lingo is a new language, indeed.

Cancer research is conducted throughout the United States at academic centers, commercial and non-profit laboratories, and government agencies like the National Cancer Institute (NCI). This research includes in vitro studies (in a petri dish/test tube), in vivo studies (in animal models), and clinical trials (human subjects). Some studies may be trying to discover or synthesize a new molecule that can treat cancer, refining and improving existing treatments, exploring dietary impacts on cancer, testing a new therapy in humans that has shown promise in laboratory and animal studies, or anything in between. Cancer research leads to new insights, discoveries, and a deeper understanding of cancer and its characteristics, however there is not a centralized database for researchers to report their findings. This means that information, some of which may be critical to another's research or may speed the development of therapies, is not being shared in a democratized, streamlined, or comprehensive manner. Not only does this limit how much scientists and researchers can be learning from each other's successes and failures, but it also means that patients do not have access to this collective knowledge. It's hopeful that with better technology and collaboration, cancer intelligence can be shared more widely. In the meantime, we can turn to publications, medical journals, and other announcements from the scientific and cancer communities to augment our learning and understanding.

Locating, understanding, and assessing the validity of scientific research is a complex skill that takes time to develop, but there are plenty of resources available to help shorten the learning curve for our purposes. As patients and caregivers, we don't need to grasp the minutiae, but it's beneficial to have a good, broad understanding so the information we access makes sense and can be put to good use.

Conventional cancer care is led by evidence-based medicine. Evidence-based medicine is the marrying of relevant research data, clinician experience, and patient preferences and values to form the best possible treatment plans for individual patients. The quality of research data can be scientifically assessed to determine its strength using a qualitative hierarchy, often referred to as an Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) Pyramid. This pyramid is a visual representation of the various levels of evidence (LOEs) and their correlating strengths (weak at the bottom to strong at the top, essentially). The better the quality of the evidence (higher up on the pyramid), the more reliable and influential the data is.

When you read a scientific paper, what are some things you need to look for and understand?

Date: how recent or old is the data?
Was the study conducted in petri dishes in the lab (in vitro), in animal models like mice (in vivo), or in humans (clinical studies)? The results of in vitro and in vivo studies don't always translate directly to human health and can't be assumed to produce the same outcomes (safety or efficacy) in people.
How big was the sample size or population studied? The results of a 12-person study are typically not as valid or impactful as results from a 1,200-person study.
Did the study use a control arm to compare outcomes? A control arm in cancer clinical trials often uses standard-of-care treatment, though a placebo may be a safe, appropriate option in some scenarios. A "single-arm study" is one in which a control group is not used for comparison. Without a comparison, conclusions from the data can be hard to draw.
How many times has the article been cited? More citations generally enhance the credibility of a paper, though this is not a hard-and-fast rule.
In a clinical trial, was the population studied diversely represented? Research conduced primarily on white people does not account for the racial and ethnic diversity that exists across cancer types and the impact that diversity has on cancer incidence rates, therapies, and safety & efficacy outcomes. If we want to have clinical trial results that mean something to everyone, the population studied must be representative of the audience we are trying to help., e.g. all Americans, not just white Americans.
Did the research focus on a specific cancer type, subtype, or stage? The specificity of the cancer studied determines how broadly or narrowly we can apply the results. If the research was on Stage IV right-sided colorectal cancer patients with a RAS mutation, we may not be able to directly apply those results to Stage 2 left-sided colorectal cancer patients with wild-type RAS and a TP53 mutation, for example.
Look for yourself (or your loved one) in studies. Try your best to match up the cancer type, subtype, stage, driver mutations, patient age, race, ethnicity, metastatic sites, previous treatments received, etc. for the most applicable results.

There is more in store for this page so stay tuned! In the meantime, take advantage of the resource collection at the bottom of this page for more information on understanding scientific research, assessing the validity of news and data, and more. If you haven't already, please check out our Newly Diagnosed page for a thorough overview of the early cancer experience.

Resources On Scientific Studies & Medical News

We regularly review these resources to make sure that all links work correctly and are of value to our visitors. If you find a link that isn't working, please email coral@oncologyoffense.com. If you would like us to consider adding a resource to our list, please email us with details.

Resources on Understanding Scientific Studies & Medical News

Understanding Cancer Research Study Design and How to Evaluate Results (Cancer.net/ASCO)

https://www.cancer.net/research-and-advocacy/introduction-cancer-research/understanding-cancer-research-study-design-and-how-evaluate-results

Understanding the Publication and Format of Cancer Research Studies (Cancer.net/ASCO)

https://www.cancer.net/research-and-advocacy/introduction-cancer-research/understanding-publication-and-format-cancer-research-studies

Studying Studies 5-Part Series by Peter Attia, MD "As we set off on our inaugural Nerd Safari, we think a primer on interpreting research—“studying studies,” so to speak—might be helpful. This Nerd Safari will be the first in a series that explores just that: how does one actually read and make sense of the barrage of “studies” cited? Relative and absolute risk, observational studies and clinical trials, power analysis and statistical significance, the myriad biases and threats to internal validity are some of the larger themes throughout the series. There’s almost an endless number of topics within topics (e.g., how do meta-analyses work and why we should be skeptical of them) that we may skim over today, but dig into tomorrow: in these cases we’ll cover a number of them in more detail in the future and update the links in this original series. Similar to going on a safari in the same place every few years, observing animals in their natural habitat, and enjoying different experiences each time: learning something new, seeing something new—when you come back to a Nerd Safari, you may pick up a new piece of knowledge or visit a new link on our site that wasn’t there before, and expand your knowledge."

https://peterattiamd.com/ns001/

What is Cancer Research? (AACR) Cancer research transforms and saves lives. The purpose of studying cancer is to develop safe and effective methods to prevent, detect, diagnose, treat, and, ultimately, cure the collections of diseases we call cancer. The study of cancer is called oncology.

https://www.aacr.org/patients-caregivers/about-cancer/what-is-cancer-research/

How to Read Research: A Biolayne Guide It takes years of experience to read and comprehend scientific studies. Using our years of research experience, we created this guide.

https://biolayne.com/reps/how-to-read-research-a-biolayne-guide/

FORCE's X-RAY program: Our user-friendly system allows you to search for trustworthy, relevant research, makes the results easy to understand, and takes you behind the headlines to provide reliable information on the latest cancer research.

XRAY: Reviewing Cancer Articles & News Stories for Accuracy (facingourrisk.org)

Society for Integrative Oncology: Don't believe everything you read (assessing info sources)

https://integrativeonc.org/knowledge-center/don-t-believe-everything-you-read

National Cancer Institute: Understanding Cancer Statistics

https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/understanding/statistics

NCI- How to Find and Evaluate Cancer Resources (online, written, etc.)

https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/managing-care/using-trusted-resources

Finding & Evaluating Online Resources (NCCIH/NIH)

Finding and Evaluating Online Resources | NCCIH (nih.gov)

NCI- Common Cancer Myths & Misconceptions

https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/myths

Medical Library Association- Recommended Websites for Cancer Information (great reference)

https://www.mlanet.org/page/recommended-websites-for-cancer-information

The Risks of Using the internet to Self-Diagnose (Verywell Health)

The Risks of Using the Internet to Self-Diagnose (verywellhealth.com)

Evaluating Health Information (MedLinePlus)

Evaluating Health Information: MedlinePlus

Tips for Evaluating Health News Stories (Science Communication Breakdown)

Tips For Evaluating Health News Stories – Science Communication Breakdown (wordpress.com)

Don't Believe Everything You Read (Society for Integrative Oncology)

https://integrativeonc.org/dont-believe-everything-you-read/

What to Know When Searching for Cancer Information Online: An Expert Perspective (Cancer.net/ASCO)

https://www.cancer.net/blog/2021-12/what-know-when-searching-cancer-information-online-expert-perspective

Google Scholar Google Scholar provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature. From one place, you can search across many disciplines and sources: articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and other web sites. Google Scholar helps you find relevant work across the world of scholarly research.

https://scholar.google.com/

Google Scholar: The Ultimate Guide (Paperpile.com) Google Scholar (GS) is a free academic search engine that can be thought of as the academic version of Google. Rather than searching all of the indexed information on the web, it searches repositories of: publishers, universities, and scholarly websites. This is generally a smaller subset of the pool that Google searches. It's all done automatically, but most of the search results tend to be reliable scholarly sources.

https://paperpile.com/g/google-scholar-guide/

Connected Papers Connected Papers is a unique, visual tool to help researchers and applied scientists find and explore papers relevant to their field of work.

https://www.connectedpapers.com/

Semantic Scholar A free, AI-powered research tool for scientific literature

https://www.semanticscholar.org/

Literature Review: How to find scientific research papers with Google Scholar and Connected Papers (YouTube video by Scientific Writing School) Scientific & medical writers are the target audience for this video but it provides a good tutorial on using Google Scholar and Connected Papers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHEPiLgLmLs

Overview of FDA Drug Approval Process Infographic

https://www.fda.gov/media/82381/download

Statistical significance or clinical significance? A researcher's dilemma for appropriate interpretation of research results (Sharma, Hunny. “Statistical significance or clinical significance? A researcher's dilemma for appropriate interpretation of research results.” Saudi journal of anaesthesia vol. 15,4 (2021): 431-434.)

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8477766/

The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) is a research funding agency that supports transformative biomedical and health breakthroughs – ranging from the molecular to the societal – to provide health solutions for all.

ARPA-H Home | ARPA-H

Concern Foundation Though cancer research is a broad field, Concern Foundation focuses its funding in the areas of immunology, immunotherapy, genetics, and cell biology. These are the basic building blocks needed to achieve a better understanding of a cell’s function and mis-function within the human body for both adults and children. By targeting talented post-doctoral scientists and providing crucial salary support for innovative projects, Concern Foundation bridges the gap in the scientific research community. The knowledge gained from these young research scientists will lead to future treatments and early diagnosis, and eventually stop this insidious disease. Founded in 1968 and over $70M delivered to cancer researchers during that time.

https://www.concernfoundation.org/

Friends of Cancer Research Friends of Cancer Research (Friends) is working to accelerate policy change, support groundbreaking science, and deliver new therapies to patients quickly and safely. Once we set a goal, we talk, we listen, we advocate, and we leave no stone unturned for patients. That’s how breakthroughs transpire. That’s how better policies happen. That’s how patients get what they need. We unite scientists, pharmaceutical companies, and policy makers with shared trust and guide them toward meaningful cooperation. We work for patients, families, and anyone impacted by cancer. That’s what Friends does. Founded in 1996, by Ellen Sigal and Marlene Malek to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the National Cancer Act, Friends is committed to creating and implementing policies ensuring patients receive the best treatments in the fastest and safest way possible. Through multi-stakeholder collaboration, we convene the right people at the right time to put forth revolutionary yet realistic ideas.

https://friendsofcancerresearch.org/

OncoLink® was the first cancer information website on the Internet, started in 1994, and remains one of the largest. This award-winning site is maintained by a group of oncology healthcare professionals who understand the needs of patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals. OncoLink® content is continually updated and ranges from treatment and disease information for a newly diagnosed patient, support through the side effects of treatment, and into survivorship. Our primary goal is to support patients, caregivers, and practitioners through education. This can empower patients to make educated treatment decisions, be active participants in their care, and be their own advocates. We provide up-to-date cancer information, free of charge. We hope our passion for this goal shows in the resources you find on OncoLink®.

https://www.oncolink.org/

The Cancer Letter, an independent weekly news publication, has been the leading source for information on the issues that shape oncology since 1973. The Cancer Letter provides authoritative, award-winning coverage of the development of cancer therapies, drug regulation, legislation, cancer research funding, health care finance, and public health. Our coverage focuses on the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Food & Drug Administration, U.S. Congress, cancer centers, and the pharmaceutical industry.

The Cancer Letter’s readers include key opinion leaders at academic institutions, community oncology practices, government agencies, professional associations, health IT and pharmaceutical companies, Wall Street, and advocacy organizations. Paid subscription plans available.

https://cancerletter.com/

The V Foundation for Cancer Research, founded by ESPN and renowned basketball coach Jim Valvano, has a singular mission: to achieve Victory Over Cancer®. Since its inception in 1993, the V Foundation has allocated over $353 million in grants for cancer research across the nation, solidifying its position as a leading advocate for cutting-edge cancer research. Through the generosity of donors, the Foundation has an endowment covering administrative expenses, ensuring that 100% of direct contributions support the most promising cancer research conducted by exceptional scientists from diverse backgrounds, investigating various cancer types in all stages of the cancer journey – from the lab to the clinic.

https://www.v.org/

The Median Isn't the Message (Personal Narrative in the AMA Journal of Ethics; Virtual Mentor. 2013;15(1):77-81. doi: 10.1001/virtualmentor.2013.15.1.mnar1-1301.) This is a personal story of statistics, properly interpreted, as profoundly nurturant and life-giving. It declares holy war on the downgrading of intellect by telling a small story to illustrate the utility of dry, academic knowledge about science. Heart and head are focal points of one body, one personality.

https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/median-isnt-message/2013-01

Understanding Scientific Studies & Cancer News

Scientific Studies, Cancer News, & Medical Sources

Resources On Scientific Studies & Medical News

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