In a phase III trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Cainap et al found that treatment with linifanib, an ATP-competitive inhibitor of VEGF and PDGF receptor tyrosine kinases, did not improve overall survival compared with sorafenib (Nexavar) treatment in patients with advanced...
In a Canadian study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Kremer et al found that postdiagnosis use only or pre-and postdiagnosis use of bisphosphonates for treatment or prevention of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women with breast cancer was associated with a significant...
A new analysis suggests that women who use bisphosphonates have about half the risk of developing endometrial cancer as women who do not use the drugs. The findings by Alford et al, published early online in Cancer, supports other research that has shown an anticancer effect of this type of...
Next-generation sequencing in malignant pleural mesothelioma tumors shows a complex mutational setting with a high number of genetic alterations in genes involved in DNA repair, cell survival, and cell proliferation pathways, according to a study by Lo Iacono et al in the Journal of Thoracic...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Eskander et al found that rates of 30-day hospital readmission after surgery for advanced ovarian cancer are high and have increased significantly in recent years. In the study, the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)-Medicare ...
In a study reported in JAMA, Bekelman et al found that approximately two-thirds of patients with early-stage breast cancer for whom hypofractionated whole-breast irradiation is endorsed receive conventional whole-breast irradiation after breast-conserving surgery. Health-care expenditures were...
Racial disparities in colon cancer survival rates may be explained by differences in the health of the patients at diagnosis—both in the stage of the cancer and comorbid conditions—rather than by differences in subsequent treatment, a new study has found. Focusing efforts on prevention...
The addition of everolimus to weekly trastuzumab (Herceptin) plus paclitaxel did not improve outcomes in the phase III BOLERO-1/TRIO-019, but did provide a “signal” in the hormone receptor–negative subset. The study was reported at the 2014 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium by...
Among early-stage breast cancer patients who reduced their dietary fat intake for 5 years following a diagnosis, after over 15 years follow-up, death rates from all causes were significantly reduced in those who had hormone-unrelated breast cancer, according to data from the Women’s...
In elderly breast cancer patients with moderate- to high-risk early-stage disease for whom standard chemotherapy is too toxic, capecitabine, which causes fewer side effects than standard chemotherapy agents, did not improve outcomes when tested as monotherapy, according to data from the phase III...
Among women with triple-negative breast cancer, both basal-like and non–basal-like tumors were equally likely to demonstrate a pathologic complete response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy, but they responded differently to exposure to carboplatin and bevacizumab (Avastin), in an analysis of the...
Women with HER2-positive breast cancer who had high levels of immune cells in their tumors had a decreased risk of cancer recurrence after treatment with chemotherapy alone compared with their counterparts who had low levels of tumor-infiltrating immune cells, according to data presented at the...
Single-agent treatment with the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab (Keytruda) produced a “signal of activity” and led to some durable response, in patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer, Rita Nanda, MD, of the University of Chicago, reported at the 2014 San Antonio Breast...
In a phase II study, the histone deacetylase inhibitor pracinostat demonstrated significant clinical activity in combination with azacitadine in elderly patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Interim data from 33 evaluable patients were presented at the 56th American Society of ...
Outcomes in children with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), which has traditionally been considered a poor-prognosis cancer, are better than expected, even for the early thymic precursor (ETP) phenotype, according to investigators from the Children’s Oncology Group (COG) who...
Although the data are preliminary, single-agent AG-221 therapy targeted to the IDH2 mutation holds great promise as a nonchemotherapy approach for the treatment of advanced hematologic malignancies, including relapsed/refractory acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) and untreated AML. The findings were...
Daniel F. Hayes, MD, FASCO, has been elected President of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) for the term beginning in June 2016. He will take office as President-Elect during the ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago in June 2015. “I'm honored to be elected incoming President of...
Although small cell lung cancer is an aggressive disease with a high mortality rate, in contrast to other lung carcinomas, there has not been significant progress in the development of therapies for the disease in more than 3 decades. Now, researchers using a high-throughput cellular screen of a...
In Hodgkin lymphoma patients at risk for disease progression following autologous stem cell transplant, early consolidation post-transplant with brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) significantly improved progression-free survival compared with placebo in the phase III AETHERA trial. The findings were...
In the phase III GETUG 13 trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Fizazi et al found that treatment intensification based on early tumor marker decline resulted in a numeric and borderline statistically significant improvement in progression-free survival in patients with poor-prognosis germ cell...
In the phase III SWOG S0221 trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Budd et al found no differences in disease-free survival among four different doxorubicin/cyclophosphamide plus paclitaxel regimens in patients with node-positive or high-risk node-negative breast cancer. A subgroup...
The Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) awarded the Gold Medal, the organization’s highest honor, to three individuals at the RSNA 100th Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting: Gary J. Becker, MD, of Tucson; Allen S. Lichter, MD, FASCO, of Alexandria, Virginia; and Etta D. Pisano,...
A study of breast cancers detected with screening mammography found that strong family history and dense breast tissue were commonly absent in women between the ages of 40 and 49 diagnosed with breast cancer. Results of the study were presented today at RSNA 2014, the annual meeting of the...
Two studies have found that bisphosphonates may be effective in preventing certain cancers—including lung, breast, and colon—by blocking abnormal growth signals passed through HER family receptors. The studies suggest that bisphosphonates, the most commonly prescribed medications for...
As reported in The Lancet by Allemani et al, the CONCORD-2 study of global cancer survival indicates improvements in survival in many countries in colorectal, breast, and prostate cancers, persistent poor outcomes in lung and liver cancers, and wide variability in survival in many cancers. The...
In the French phase II AVATAXHER trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Coudert et al found that 18F–fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron-emission tomography (PET) predicted complete response to trastuzumab (Herceptin)/docetaxel neoadjuvant therapy and that adding bevacizumab (Avastin) in...
In a phase Ib/II study of patients with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML), the addition of vosaroxin to cytarabine demonstrated antileukemic activity and an acceptable risk-benefit profile, according to a study by Lancet et al in Haematologica. Based on the findings from this...
In a retrospective single-institution study reported in JAMA Surgery, Gangi et al found a low risk of breast cancer after diagnosis of ovarian cancer in women harboring BRCA mutations. The study involved 364 women who had BRCA mutation testing for stage I to IV epithelial ovarian...
Adult survivors of retinoblastoma, a type of eye cancer that usually develops in early childhood, have few cognitive or social problems decades following their diagnosis and treatment, according to a study by Brinkman et al published in Cancer. The findings offer good news for patients, but the...
In a phase III study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Robert et al found that the combination of the BRAF inhibitor dabrafenib (Tafinlar) plus the MEK inhibitor trametinib (Mekinist) significantly improved overall survival compared with the BRAF inhibitor vemurafenib (Zelboraf) in...
New evidence that immune checkpoint inhibitors may work in glioblastoma and brain metastases was presented today at the ESMO Symposium on Immuno-Oncology 2014 in Geneva (Abstract 1O). The novel research shows that brain metastases of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes, providing an immunoactive...
Researchers have found a way to identify which ovarian cancer patients are likely to respond well to a new anticancer drug called rucaparib. Previous clinical trials have shown that women with platinum-sensitive tumors with BRCA1/2 mutations respond well to rucaparib. In new findings presented...
In a combined analysis of outcomes in the translational research cohort of the Arimidex, Tamoxifen Alone or in Combination trial (TransATAC) and the Austrian Breast and Colorectal Cancer Study Group 8 (ABCSG 8) trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Sestak and colleagues found that the ...
A phase I trial of the first drug designed to inhibit the cancer-causing activity of a mutated enzyme known as isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) 1, which is involved in cell metabolism, has shown clinical activity in patients with advanced acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with the IDH1 mutation. The...
Current guidelines discourage tumor marker assessment in surveillance of nonmetastatic breast cancer. In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Ramsey et al found that > 40% of Medicare patients with early-stage breast cancer had at least one tumor marker assessment and that...
The combination of different patterns of sun exposure experienced by children and biomarkers of melanoma risk, such as the number of freckles or moles that develop as a result, may play a large role in future melanoma risk, a study investigating gene and environmental interactions has found....
In a study on use of the most common definitive therapies for non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in Medicare patients reported in JAMA Surgery, Shirvani et al found that lobectomy was associated with improved outcome vs sublobar resection and that stereotactic ablative radiotherapy may be of...
In the largest series of its kind to date, researchers at Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) have shown that performing thoracoscopic pneumonectomy, removal of the entire lung through a minimally invasive endoscopic approach, at a high-volume center appears to be safe and may provide pain and...
A review of advance care planning and end-of-life communication practices among physicians by the American College of Physicians has found that implementing early discussions about goals of care with seriously ill patients results in better quality of life, reduced use of life-sustaining treatments ...
In the phase III Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) E-3193 (Intergroup 0142) trial, reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Tevaarwerk et al, adding ovarian function suppression to tamoxifen was associated with worse patient-reported outcomes in premenopausal women with...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Friedman and colleagues, the Children’s Oncology Group study AHOD0031 has shown that early response to dose-intensive chemotherapy can be used to tailor subsequent therapy in pediatric intermediate-risk Hodgkin lymphoma. Study Details In...
Patients with untreated metastatic colorectal cancer who received FOLFOXIRI (fluorouracil [5-FU], leucovorin, oxaliplatin, irinotecan) plus bevacizumab (Avastin) had improved survival compared to patients who received FOLFIRI (5-FU, leucovorin, irinotecan) plus bevacizumab in a phase III...
In a Danish population-based cohort study reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Daugaard and colleagues found that surveillance for stage I nonseminoma testicular cancer after orchiectomy was associated with high cure rate and low treatment burden over long-term follow-up. Study Details The...
Despite evidence that cervical cancer screening saves lives, about 8 million women aged 21 to 65 years have not been screened for cervical cancer in the past 5 years, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly ...
More than 80% of breast cancer patients in the United States use complementary therapies following a breast cancer diagnosis, but there has been little science-based guidance to inform clinicians and patients about their safety and effectiveness. In newly published clinical practice guidelines...
Adjuvant radiotherapy may play a role in the management of ovarian clear cell adenocarcinoma, which appears to be less prone to peritoneal dissemination than other subtypes, according to the results of a small retrospective study reported by Macrie et al in the International Journal of...
In patients with ductal carcinoma in situ of the breast who underwent breast-conserving surgery, hypofractionated radiation therapy was not significantly associated with an increased risk of any local recurrence when compared with conventional radiation therapy, according to the study findings...
Cancer is an unwanted experiment in progress. As the disease advances, tumor cells accumulate mutations, eventually arriving at ones that give them the insidious power to grow uncontrollably and spread. Distinguishing drivers of cancer from benign mutations open opportunities for developing...
Analysis of data from an institutional patient registry on stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) indicates excellent long-term, local control in 79% of tumors for medically inoperable, early-stage lung cancer patients treated with the procedure from 2003 to 2012, according to research presented at...
Even before the next Congress is formally elected, a national group of health-care stakeholders called the Cancer Innovation Coalition (CIC) went to Capitol Hill today to call for early legislative and regulatory action in 2015 that will reinvigorate cancer innovation in the United States. The...