As reported by Yao et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the final overall survival analysis from the phase III RADIANT-3 trial showed a median survival of 44.0 months among patients with advanced pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors initially randomized to receive everolimus (Afinitor, Zortress)...
Updated results of a Japanese phase III trial (JASPAC 01) reported in The Lancet by Uesaka et al showed that adjuvant S-1 was associated with significantly better overall survival compared with gemcitabine in patients with resected pancreatic cancer. Study Details In the open-label noninferiority ...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Davendra P. Sohal, MD, MPH, of Cleveland Clinic, and colleagues, ASCO has released a clinical practice guideline on the treatment of patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer. Recommendations are based on expert panel systematic review of the...
As reported by Edward P. Balaban, DO, of Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute, and colleagues in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, ASCO has released a clinical practice guideline on the treatment of locally advanced, unresectable pancreatic cancer. The recommendations are based on expert panel...
ASCO has released a clinical practice guideline on the treatment of potentially curable pancreatic cancer, as reported by Alok A. Khorana, MD, of Cleveland Clinic, and colleagues, in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The recommendations are based on expert panel systematic review of the literature...
The targeted PARP inhibitor rucaparib, which has demonstrated robust clinical activity in patients with ovarian cancer who have a BRCA mutation, also showed promise in previously treated patients with pancreatic cancer who have the mutation, according to results from a phase II clinical study...
John P. Neoptolemos, MD, PhD, of the University of Liverpool, discusses findings from this international phase III study of adjuvant combination chemotherapy: gemcitabine and capecitabine vs monotherapy gemcitabine in patients with resected pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (Abstract LBA4006).
For a more in-depth look at these data, as well as commentary, click here. A European phase III trial, one of the largest ever conducted in pancreatic cancer, showed that adding the oral drug capecitabine chemotherapy to gemcitabine prolongs survival without increased toxicity. Adjuvant...
First-line FOLFIRINOX (leucovorin, fluorouracil, irinotecan, oxaliplatin) is associated with median overall survival of approximately 2 years in patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer, according to a systematic review and patient-level meta-analysis reported by Suker et al in The Lancet...
In the phase III GERCOR LAP07 trial reported in JAMA by Hammel et al, there was no survival benefit of chemoradiotherapy vs continued chemotherapy in patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer controlled after 4 months of gemcitabine with or without erlotinib (Tarceva). Study Details In...
As reported by Vasen et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, surveillance for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma in high-risk individuals appears to be of benefit in individuals at risk due to CDKN2A mutation, with the advantage being less clear among individuals at risk due to familial clustering ...
Online information on pancreatic cancer overestimates the reading ability of the overall population and lacks accurate information about alternative therapy, according to a study published by Storino et al in JAMA Surgery. The degree to which patients are empowered by written educational materials ...
The presence of two species of bacteria linked to periodontal disease in the mouths of healthy individuals was associated with an increased risk of subsequently developing pancreatic cancer, according to research presented by Fan et al at the 2016 AACR Annual Meeting (Abstract 4350). ...
A CCR2 inhibitor (PF-04136309) was active in combination with FOLFIRINOX (oxaliplatin, irinotecan, leucovorin, fluorouracil) in treatment-naive patients with borderline resectable or locally advanced pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, according to a single-center phase Ib study reported by Nywening...
Mahmoud Al-Hawary, MD, of the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses the role of radiology in diagnosing and staging pancreatic tumors, optimizing imaging techniques, and the value of structured reporting.
Pancreatic cancer is often diagnosed at a late stage, when curative treatment is no longer possible. A team led by investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) identified and validated an accurate five-gene classifier for discriminating early pancreatic cancer from nonmalignant...
Patients who received chemotherapy after surgical resection of pancreatic cancer have fewer distant disease recurrences and longer overall survival than those who also had adjuvant chemoradiation therapy. While a course of radiotherapy in addition to chemotherapy and a cancer operation reduced the...
Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators may have uncovered a novel mechanism behind the ability of obesity to promote cancer progression. In their report published by Incio et al in Clinical Cancer Research, the research team describes finding an association between obesity and an...
A highly lethal cancer sometimes requires large doses of highly toxic drugs. However, a blitzkrieg approach can be unfeasible for some patients due to severe side effects. Now a team of researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has found that an implantable device can deliver a ...
Samuel M. Silver, MD, PhD, of the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Margaret A. Tempero, MD, of the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, discuss drugs developed for hematologic malignancies that have activity in pancreatic cancer, vaccines, neoadjuvant...
Joel E. Tepper, MD, of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, discusses the ways in which SBRT has changed radiotherapy, as demonstrated in key studies presented at this year's meeting on stereotactic body radiotherapy for liver metastases and hepatocellular carcinoma, and borderline...
James L. Abbruzzese, MD, of Duke University, discusses the international outlook on patterns of care and their impact on outcomes.
Novocure presented data from its ongoing phase II PANOVA clinical trial at the 2016 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium in San Francisco, showing that tumor-treating fields therapy plus first-line gemcitabine is tolerable and safe in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer. The data also suggest...
Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, Inc, announced that an updated overall survival analysis of the phase III NAPOLI-1 study of irinotecan liposome injection (Onivyde) in combination with fluorouracil (5-FU) and leucovorin achieved a substantial improvement in 12-month overall survival compared to 5-FU and...
Radiation therapy was associated with a lower risk of cancer recurrence in pancreatic cancer surgery patients, making it, like chemotherapy, an important addition to treatment, Mayo Clinic research found. Whether radiotherapy helps patients after pancreatic cancer surgery has been a long-standing...
The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network recently announced the appointment of Laurie MacCaskill to Chair of the National Board of Directors of the organization, effective July 1, 2013. Ms. MacCaskill is the first pancreatic cancer patient to hold this position. Since her diagnosis in 2006, Ms....
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a 5-year grant of more than $1.5 million to Herbert J. Zeh III, MD, and Michael T. Lotze, MD, at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI), partner with UPMC CancerCenter, to study a novel treatment for pancreatic ductal ...
In the phase III NAPOLI-1 trial reported in The Lancet, Wang-Gillam et al found that the addition of nanoliposomal irinotecan (Onivyde) to fluorouracil (5-FU) and folinic acid (leucovorin) resulted in improved overall survival in patients with metastatic pancreatic ductal cancer who had received...
In a phase II study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Catenacci et al found no benefit of adding vismodegib (Erivedge) to gemcitabine in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer. Sonic hedgehog (SHH), an activating ligand of the smoothened receptor (SMO) inhibited by vismodegib, has...
In a retrospective analysis of data from 130 patients with pancreatic cysts, scientists at Johns Hopkins have used gene-based tests and a fixed set of clinical criteria to more accurately distinguish precancerous cysts from those less likely to do harm. The findings may eventually help some...
A study at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center may explain why chemotherapy drugs such as gemcitabine are not effective for many patients with pancreatic cancer and perhaps point to new approaches to treatment, including enhancing gemcitabine's ability to stop tumor growth. The MD...
Only 1 in 5 patients with pancreatic cancer in the United States receives a widely available, inexpensive blood test at diagnosis that can help predict relative outcome (compared to others with the same disease stage) and guide treatment accordingly, a Mayo Clinic study showed. People who test...
A new study in mice by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center has found that a specialized type of immunotherapy—even when used without chemotherapy or radiation—can boost survival from pancreatic cancer by more than 75%. The findings are promising, and human clinical...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved irinotecan liposome injection (Onivyde), in combination with fluorouracil (5-FU) and leucovorin, to treat patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer who have been previously treated with gemcitabine-based chemotherapy. According to the National...
In a randomized phase II trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Hurwitz et al found no significant survival benefit of adding the JAK1/JAK2 inhibitor ruxolitinib (Jakafi) to capecitabine in patients with advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma who had treatment failure with gemcitabine....
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network announced the opening of the 2016 Research Grants Program to support early-career investigators to focus on pancreatic cancer. Two grant mechanisms, the Pathway to Leadership Grant and the Career...
Assessing blood plasma levels of certain microRNAs (miRNAs) distinguished individuals with noninvasive pancreatic precancers from healthy individuals and discriminated between patients with high-risk and low-risk neoplasms, according to a preliminary, proof-of-principle study published by...
A multi-institutional study has found a new set of genes that may indicate improved survival after surgery for patients with pancreatic cancer. The study also showed that detection of circulating tumor DNA in the blood could provide an early indication of tumor recurrence. In conjunction with the...
Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have identified a molecular partnership in pancreatic cancer cells that might help to explain how the disease metastasizes in some cases. Their findings reveal urgently needed new targets to treat pancreatic cancer and were published by Foley et...
A team of researchers at Barts Cancer Institute–Queen Mary University of London has discovered a combination of three proteins found at high levels in urine that can accurately detect early-stage pancreatic cancer. The discovery could lead to a noninvasive, inexpensive test to...
Available data suggest an increased risk of bladder cancer with pioglitazone treatment for diabetes. In an analysis of Kaiser Permanente Northern California data reported in JAMA, Lewis et al found no significantly increased risk of bladder cancer in patients with diabetes ever using pioglitazone....
UCLA Jonsson Cancer Center scientists have identified a new mechanism that delivers a key substance that fuels the growth of pancreatic and prostate cancer cells, a finding that offers new hope in the fight against two of the deadliest forms of the disease. Their findings were published by...
A protein encoded by the gene glypican-1 (GPC1) present on cancer exosomes may be used as part of a potential noninvasive diagnostic and screening tool to detect early pancreatic cancer, potentially at a stage amenable to surgical treatment, according to a study completed by University of Texas MD...
In a Dutch phase II study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Kordes et al found that adding metformin to gemcitabine-erlotinib (Tarceva) did not improve overall survival in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer. Study Details In the double-blind study, 121 patients from four centers in the...
The SENRI trial has opened the window to evaluate neurokinin 1 (NK1) antagonists for emesis prevention in patients taking oxaliplatin chemotherapy, said European Society for Medical Oncology World Congress on Gastrointestinal Cancer (ESMO) spokesperson and antiemetics expert Fausto Roila, MD....
Because of their location, cancers on the pancreas often invade and wrap around nearby veins and arteries in the abdomen. When these vessels become involved, surgery to remove the cancer, which is typically the standard treatment, becomes significantly more difficult—sometimes impossible....
New research published by Søgaard et al in Blood found that blood clots in the abdominal veins might be an indicator of undiagnosed cancer. The study also suggests that these clots predict poorer survival in patients with liver and pancreatic cancer. Clotting and Cancer Risk Compared to...
In an analysis reported in JAMA Surgery, Paniccia et al identified patient and treatment characteristics that were associated with survival of at least 10 years after diagnosis of invasive pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, including lower positive lymph node ratio, receipt of adjuvant chemotherapy, ...
Two studies from researchers at Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center add to preliminary evidence that high-dose radiation treatment, or stereotactic body radiotherapy, appears to be safe and as effective as standard radiation treatment for certain patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer....
In a phase II study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Phan et al found that the VEGFR-1, -2, -3 inhibitor pazopanib (Votrient) plus depot octreotide produced responses in patients with advanced well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumors. No responses were observed in patients with carcinoid tumors....