CRI’s 2014 Blog in Review: Top 10

How time flies with another year of incredible successes under the Cancer Research Institute’s “belt.” We’ve seen cancer immunotherapy break through into public and scientific consciousness in 2014 more than ever before, and have shared as many of these news bytes as we can in our communications with you. After all, what is a blog for, if not to bring the latest updates and stories about the burgeoning field right to your mobile phone (or desktop, or tablet)?

We think hard about the kinds of stories we want to share on our blog and how these editorials impact and accelerate the basic research and clinical development of immunotherapies, so that ultimately, patients affected with any kind of cancer, can benefit. Knowledge is power, right? The role of our blog is to disseminate the innovative discoveries our researchers make and foster conversation about the science we fund with others—be it other scientists, health care professionals, patients, caregivers, general interest readers—anyone fascinated with the immune system’s power to fight cancer.

This past year, we’ve shared the FDA approvals of two PD-1 immunotherapies, Keytruda and Opdivo, for the treatment of melanoma, as well as the first FDA-approved BiTe antibody Blinctyo for leukemia; other immunotherapies were also awarded “breakthrough therapy” status. These advancements, pioneered by our scientists, were made possible through our research across generations and a variety of areas, including but not limited to

• engineering the modern day lab mouse,
• understanding bacteria’s role in cancer,
• learning why anti-CTLA-4 works (or doesn’t),
• surging CAR T cell therapy forward to target leukemia,
• putting a hurt on pancreatic cancer, or
• applying “zoobiquitous” immunology in veterinary medicine.

In part, because of this, cancer immunotherapy was spotlighted in a number of news media outlets in 2014, including NBC Sports, CNN, Huffington Post, Scientific American, Scientist Magazine, the Stupid Cancer podcast, the Tom Roten radio show, and WABC Radio (to name a few), and was a focal point at major scientific annual meetings of the American Society of Hematology, American Society of Clinical Oncology, and American Association of Cancer Research.

CRI scientists were honored with the prestigious Gardner Award, two AACR awards, the Szent-Györgyi Prize, and many others. But of course, these stories couldn’t be told without perspectives from patients and caregivers, Team CRI runners and cyclists, and other donors and supporters.

With all this great content, you can see why it was with some effort that the communications team at CRI voted on our favorites from more than 100 posts published in 2014. These were also among the most viewed by our readers. That said, our top blog posts from 2014, in chronological order, are… (drumroll, please…):

• Cancer Immunotherapy: The Next Decade?
• Smoke Screens: Searching for the Causes of Lung Cancer
• Immunotherapy Today: The View from ASCO
• Coley to Cure: 60 Years and Counting
• When AIDS Was a Cancer
• CRI Names Winners of Top Scientific Prize
• FDA Approves New Cancer Immunotherapy
• The Arrival of Personalized Immunotherapy?
• Novel Antigens, New Checkpoints a Focus at Annual CRI Symposium
• Found: A Molecular Needle in the Cancer Haystack

BONUS: Even though this is from December 2013, it remains our most popular blog post today: Cancer Immunotherapy Named Breakthrough 2013 “Breakthrough of the Year”

What were some of your favorite posts from 2014? Have any ideas for posts you’d like to see in 2015? Share your responses and suggestions in the comments.

On behalf of everyone here at the Cancer Research Institute, thank you for being dedicated readers of our blog, commenting on our posts, and sharing them with your friends and family. We wish you a happy New Year!