Metastatic colorectal cancer patients have improved survival rates when they respond to the first line of chemotherapy their doctors recommend. To better predict how patients will respond to chemotherapeutic agents before they begin treatment, researchers at University of California (UC) San Diego...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Turnbull et al identified a four-gene predictive model of response to aromatase inhibitor therapy that was highly predictive of response on the basis of pretreatment and 2-week on-treatment measurements. The classifier was a significant predictor of...
A large population-based prospective analysis of the consumption of psoralen-rich citrus products and the risk of malignant melanoma has found that the melanoma risk was 36% higher in people who consumed citrus fruit or juice at least 1.6 times daily compared with those who consumed it less than...
A new study led by Vanderbilt University Medical Center investigators found new diagnoses of prostate cancer in the United States declined 28% in the year following the draft recommendation from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) against routine prostate-specific antigen (PSA)...
Blood and marrow transplantation is a potentially curative treatment for patients with leukemia or other life-threating blood diseases. With a goal of increasing survival rates, a research team led by Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) investigators verified patient outcome data submitted by more ...
Statin use has been associated with improved outcome in prostate cancer. In a study reported in JAMA Oncology, Harshman et al found that statin use at the time of initiation of androgen-deprivation therapy was associated with prolonged time to progression during androgen-deprivation therapy in men...
In a press conference today, ASCO detailed the contents of the initial version of a conceptual framework for assessing the value of new cancer treatment options based on the treatment’s clinical benefit, side effects, and cost. Other important measures, such as quality of life and...
In a study reported in JAMA Surgery, Huang et al found that use of nephron-sparing surgery has more than doubled since 2001 among older patients with small kidney cancers. Use of nonsurgical approaches has remained stable. Study Details The study involved Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End...
In a study reported in JAMA Oncology, Beltran et al found that whole-exome sequencing of metastatic and treatment-resistant cancers revealed biologically informative alterations in the majority of cases. Although treatment recommendations could be made in the majority of cases, treatment was guided ...
Women who were exposed to higher levels of the pesticide DDT in utero were nearly four times more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer as adults than women who were exposed to lower levels before birth, according to a study published by Cohn et al in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & ...
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, ...
In a study assessing factors in racial/ethnic survival disparities in breast cancer reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Warner et al found that black women with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer were significantly more likely to die from the disease within the first 2 years of ...
As reported in JAMA Oncology, Shankar et al developed a rapid genotyping assay to detect single nucleotide variants in telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) promoter and isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 (IDH1) genes that may assist in intraoperative decisions to perform definitive neurosurgical...
In an analysis of Children’s Oncology Group (COG) trials reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Chow et al found that dexrazoxane use did not appear to be associated with poorer survival among pediatric patients with leukemia or lymphoma in long-term follow-up. Study Details The...
Scientists at multiple institutions have found a new way of classifying brain cancers that could very well change how the illness is diagnosed and treated. The study, a project of The Cancer Genome Atlas, found striking molecular differences between various forms of gliomas by looking at the makeup ...
In the phase III EURAMOS-1 trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Bielack et al found that the addition of postoperative pegylated interferon alfa-2b (Pegintron, Sylatron) to MAP (methotrexate, doxorubicin, and cisplatin) in patients with osteosarcoma showing good histologic response...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Lichtenthal et al found that parents who have lost a child to cancer report wanting and frequently using mental health services, although barriers to seeking care exist and retention in care is suboptimal. Study Details The cross-sectional...
Pictures illustrating the dangers of cigarette smoking were more effective at strengthening people’s intentions to quit smoking than text warnings, a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill analysis of multiple research studies has found. These findings were published by Noar et al in...
A modified poliovirus therapy that is showing activity in patients with glioblastoma works best at a low dosage, according to the research team at Duke’s Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center. The dosage findings for the first 20 patients in the phase 1 trial were presented June 1 at the...
In the largest study of its kind, transplant physicians at Mayo Clinic in Florida have found that liver cancer patients have similar beneficial outcomes whether using organs donated by patients after cardiac death or brain death. The study was recently published by Croome et al in the American...
In a Swedish study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, He et al identified numerous predictors of discontinuation of adjuvant hormone therapy in patients with breast cancer. Study Details The study involved 3,395 women diagnosed with breast cancer between 2005 and 2008 in Stockholm who...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Menon et al, findings in the United Kingdom Collaborative Trial of Ovarian Cancer Screening indicate that the number of screen-detected ovarian cancers is doubled by using the risk of ovarian cancer algorithm (ROCA) with serial CA-125 measurements...
A recent analysis of a large observational study has revealed that men with a history of asthma are less likely than those without it to develop lethal prostate cancer, researchers at Johns Hopkins reported. These findings were published by Platz et al in the International Journal of Cancer....
In a study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Silvestri et al of the AEGIS study team found that use of a bronchial airway gene-expression classifier improved the diagnostic performance of bronchoscopy in patients being evaluated for suspected lung cancer. Study Details The study...
ASCO’s wholly owned nonprofit subsidiary, CancerLinQ LLC, provided the first demonstration of its groundbreaking health information technology platform at the 2015 ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago. Beginning May 30, demonstrations of the CancerLinQ platform’s initial components were...
Results from the phase III registration study PALOMA-3 show that adding the investigational targeted agent palbociclib (Ibrance) to the standard hormonal therapy fulvestrant (Faslodex) more than doubled the duration of disease control, delaying disease progression by roughly 5 months in women with...
A phase III trial comparing 5 years of tamoxifen vs 5 years of the aromatase inhibitor anastrozole for postmenopausal women treated for ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) found 10-year breast cancer–free interval rates were higher in the anastrozole group than in the tamoxifen group (93.5% vs...
Investigators for the nationwide trial NCI-MATCH: Molecular Analysis for Therapy Choice announced at the 2015 ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago that the precision medicine trial will open to patient enrollment in July. The trial seeks to determine whether targeted therapies for people whose tumors...
ASCO announced its first-ever clinical trial, which will offer patients with advanced cancer access to molecularly targeted cancer drugs and collect “real-world” data on clinical outcomes, to help learn the best uses of these drugs outside of indications approved by the U.S. Food and...
In a phase III head-to-head trial comparing the safety and efficacy of two EGFR-directed treatments, afatinib (Gilotrif) treatment resulted in a significant improvement in overall survival over erlotinib (Tarceva) in patients with previously treated advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the lung....
A randomized phase III trial among patients with previously untreated melanoma found that initial therapy with nivolumab (Opdivo) alone more than doubled the median progression-free survival compared with ipilimumab (Yervoy) alone (6.9 vs 2.9 months), and the benefit was even greater when the two...
Significant clinical variations exist among patients with the most common type of liver cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, depending on the viral cause of the disease—hepatitis B virus (HBV) or hepatitis C virus (HCV). These differences suggest that hepatitis status should be considered when...
Immunotherapy with pembrolizumab (Keytruda) produced a clinically meaningful overall response rate in a study among 132 patients with recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. The overall objective response rate was 24.8%, and 57% of patients experienced some tumor...
The current annual report of cancer statistics by the American Cancer Society, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Cancer Institute, and North American Association of Central Cancer Registries includes a focus on breast cancer incidence by subtype using new national-level data. The ...
In a preplanned interim analysis of the international open-label STEVIE trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Basset-Seguin et al have provided safety data and efficacy outcomes with the use of vismodegib (Erivedge) for 1 year in patients with advanced basal cell carcinoma. STEVIE was designed to...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Chavez-MacGregor et al found that the majority of older breast cancer patients receiving trastuzumab (Herceptin)-based chemotherapy do not receive adequate cardiac monitoring. Study Details The study involved 2,203 patients aged ≥...
Expanding on the Consolidated Payments for Oncology Care (CPOC) payment model circulated last year to improve the quality and affordability of care for patients with cancer, ASCO’s new Patient-Centered Oncology Payment: Payment Reform to Support Higher Quality, More Affordable Cancer Care...
In the SWOG S0927 trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Hershman et al found that both omega-3 fatty acids and placebo resulted in marked persistent reductions in aromatase inhibitor–related arthralgia among patients with early breast cancer, with no difference between...
Active surveillance has become a viable option for many men with low-risk prostate cancer who choose not to undergo active treatment such as surgery or radiotherapy. Four studies evaluating effectiveness, trends, and other considerations for active surveillance in managing prostate cancer were...
To provide guidance on high-value cancer care screening strategies, the American College of Physicians (ACP) recently reviewed clinical guidelines issued by various medical organizations for screening strategies in five common cancers for asymptomatic, average-risk adults. The five cancers focused...
An early-phase study testing the anti–PD-L1 agent MPDL3280A in combination with standard chemotherapy in the treatment of advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has provided promising early results, prompting multiple phase III studies in lung cancer. The findings are being...
A large prospective study investigating the association between dense breast tissue and the risk for interval breast cancer has found that breast density alone should not be the sole criterion for recommending supplemental breast imaging, because not all women with dense breasts have high interval...
In patients with recurrent/persistent uterine or ovarian/primary peritoneal/fallopian tube cancers, ixabepilone (Ixempra), especially with the addition of biweekly bevacizumab (Avastin), appears to be safe and effective, according to a study by Roque et al in Gynecologic Oncology. Further...
In a Dutch study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Heemskerk-Gerritsen et al in the Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer in the Netherlands (HEBON) study group found no apparent reduction in the risk for breast cancer with salpingo-oophorectomy in healthy BRCA1/2 mutation...
Long-term and frequent use of aspirin is associated with significantly decreased risk of cervical cancer, according to a study led by researchers at Roswell Park Cancer Institute and published by Friel et al in the Journal of Lower Genital Tract Disease. Study Findings Aspirin use was associated...
In the phase III ENESTg1 trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Blay et al found that nilotinib (Tasigna) was associated with poorer progression-free survival vs imatinib (Gleevec) as first-line treatment in patients with unresectable or metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST). Trial...
A survey sent to medical and radiation oncologists to identify factors contributing to observed disparities in cancer treatment between patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and those not infected found that 21% of physicians would alter their treatment recommendations based on...
Roche announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the cobas KRAS Mutation Test for diagnostic use. The real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test is designed to identify KRAS mutations in tumor samples from patients with metastatic colorectal cancer and aid...
Taking aspirin reduces a person's risk of colorectal cancer, but the molecular mechanisms involved have remained unknown, until a recent discovery by researchers at The Hormel Institute, University of Minnesota. These findings were published by Li et al in EBioMedicine. EGFR and COX-2 Association ...
In a study reported in JAMA Oncology, Coromilas et al found that axillary lymph node evaluation is frequently performed in women with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), and a number of hospital or surgeon characteristics are associated with likelihood of evaluation. As noted by the authors, benefit...