CU Cancer Center News and Stories

Building upon her previous research on the role of transcription factor SIX1 in sarcoma progression, Heide Ford, PhD, associate director of basic research at the University of Colorado Cancer Center, recently published a paper, in collaboration with CU Cancer Center members Paul Jedlicka, MD, and Jim Costello, PhD, in the journal Nature Communications showing that SIX1 plays a very different role in Ewing sarcoma than it does in other sarcomas — the general term for a broad group of cancers that can form in various locations in the body, including the bones and the soft tissue that connects, supports, and surrounds other body structures. 

Greg Glasgow | September 26, 2023

For many pediatric cancer patients and their families, “scanxiety” is a very real and very scary feeling – the worry that can precede scans before treatment, and the uncertainty stemming from scans after treatment is completed.

Rachel Sauer | April 05, 2023

Some 100 researchers from around the world were in Aurora last week to discuss the latest findings and news around Kaposi sarcoma herpesvirus (KSHV), the virus that causes a type of cancer known as Kaposi sarcoma.  

Greg Glasgow | July 21, 2022

Ward McNeilly thought he was a goner.  

It was summer 2021, and the sarcoma that had started in the Denver resident’s left thigh seemed to be under control, subdued by radiation and chemotherapy following a surgery in 2018 to remove the initial tumor and another surgery in 2019 to remove cancerous tumors in his groin. McNeilly was doing so well, in fact, that his doctors at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital authorized a “chemo vacation” to give his body a break from some of the side effects of the treatment.

Greg Glasgow | July 11, 2022

In normal human development, the SIX1 gene is critical for embryonic muscle development. After a person is born and as they mature, SIX1 is downregulated, or becomes less prevalent in cells.

Rachel Sauer | March 02, 2022

The cancer diagnosis came at a time when it seemed as though everything was happening – he was only 37 and soon to become president of the Denver City Council; his three children were ages 4, 6, and 9; he had just run the BOLDERBoulder 10K.

Rachel Sauer | November 03, 2021

A new movie streaming on Disney+ is shining a spotlight on a rare type of bone cancer that occurs most often in children and young adults.

Greg Glasgow | November 02, 2020

Video Transcript:

Good morning, I’m Dr. Breelyn Wilky from the sarcoma program at the University of Colorado Cancer Center.

Cancer Center | July 01, 2020

While many cancer types have added new treatments including genetically targeted drugs and immunotherapies, treatment for the rare types of cancer known as sarcomas have remained largely the same for about two decades. Now, two grants to University of Colorado Cancer Center researchers from the Sarcoma Foundation of America hope to change this.

Cancer Center | June 22, 2020

After five years as an assistant professor at the University of Miami treating sarcoma patients and running sarcoma clinical trials, Breelyn Wilky, MD, recently joined University of Colorado Cancer Center as Deputy Associate Director for Clinical Research. Here we speak with Wilky about what drew her to Colorado and what’s next for the treatment of sarcoma.

Cancer Center | February 05, 2020

I met Ben Walburn at 4:00am on a slushy spring morning four years ago in a Boulder parking lot outside the house of a mutual friend, Adam. It was still dark and clouds spit little wet icicles as Ben and I huddled by our cars in the glow of headlamps, blowing steam off insulated coffee cups while trying to raise Adam via text. The plan was to exploit Adam’s birthday as an excuse for a weekend rock-climbing trip somewhere dryer and warmer – was it Escalante or maybe it was Penitente? Finally, Adam texted back: His young kids had gotten sick overnight and he had to bail. Without Adam, the trip fell apart. Ben and I made vague plans to climb together at some point, but it never seemed to come together. He was in his early 40s, I was in my late 30s, and we were both busy. Besides, it wasn’t pressing – we had all the time in the world to make it happen.

Cancer Center | July 02, 2019