Cancer and Oncology Terms

A type of glioma (cancer of the brain that comes from glial, or supportive, cells).

A rare pancreatic tumor that produces a hormone called glucagon.

An alternative therapy that is being studied as a treatment for pancreatic cancer.

A substance being studied in the treatment of several types of cancer.

A tumor-specific antigen used in the development of cancer vaccines.

A peptide (short piece of protein) made from the tumor-specific antigen gp100, and used to make vaccines being studied in the treatment of melanoma.

A description of a tumor based on how abnormal the cancer cells look under a microscope and how quickly the tumor is likely to grow and spread.

A fast-growing type of central nervous system tumor that forms from glial (supportive) tissue of the brain and spinal cord and has cells that look very different from normal cells.

Answers how the cells look, never how far the disease has traveled, which is why the number is so often quoted alone and misread.

An immune response to a person's tumor cells by immune cells present in a donor's transplanted tissue, such as bone marrow or peripheral blood.

The active ingredient in a drug used to treat nausea and vomiting caused by cancer treatment.

A malignant, green-colored tumor of myeloid cells (a type of immature white blood cell).

An ovarian tumor arising from the cells that nurse a developing egg, and one that usually keeps making estrogen.

A vaccine used to prevent cervical cancer caused by human papillomaviruses (HPV) types 16 and 18.

A drug used with another anticancer drug to treat breast cancer that is HER2 positive and has advanced or metastasized (spread to other parts of the body) after treatment with other drugs.

A drug that is used to treat kidney cancer and is being studied in the treatment of other types of cancer.

Cancer of the female reproductive tract, including the cervix, endometrium, fallopian tubes, ovaries, uterus, and vagina.

A substance being studied in the treatment of several types of lymphoma.

A slow-growing blood cancer named for the fringed look of its cells, marked by a large spleen and low counts across the board.

Surgery for breast cancer in which the breast, chest muscles, and all of the lymph nodes under the arm are removed.