Project Data Sphere, which launched on April 8, is a “giant digital laboratory, an enormous library containing data about tens of thousands of patients and hundreds of clinical trials, all of which will be in the public domain,” said Martin J. Murphy, Jr, DMedSc, PhD, FASCO, Chief Executive Officer ...
A phase III clinical trial has shown that noninvasive magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound treatment that heats the cancer within the bone, relieves pain and improves function for most patients when other treatment options are limited. The results were published recently in the Journal of...
“The function of the formal controlled clinical trial is to separate the relative handful of discoveries that prove to be true advances in therapy from a legion of false leads and unverifiable clinical impressions, and to delineate in a scientific way the extent of and the limitations that attend...
INSIDE THE BLACK BOX is an occasional column providing insight into the FDA and its policies and procedures. In this installment, National Toxicology Program scientists Kembra L. Howdeshell, PhD, and Michael D. Shelby, PhD, discuss a recently completed monograph that reviews the published data on...
A series of new workshops are teaching nurses and administrators from community hospital cancer programs how to promote, run, and improve their institutions’ clinical trials. The training focuses on specific skills and tasks, offers postcourse support and aims for long-term, measurable outcomes,...
Two surgical oncology experts who squared off in a “Great Debate” at the 2014 Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) Annual Cancer Symposium in Phoenix. Heidi Nelson, MD, Professor of Surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, argued for the superiority of randomized controlled trials in...
The legislation signed into law in early April creating another patch for the fundamentally flawed sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula for reimbursing physicians under Medicare also delays the adoption of International Classification of Diseases, 10th edition (ICD-10) coding system, which will...
Palliative care is essential to good cancer care, but it is a topic that can raise red flags because of the common misperception that it is reserved for those in the terminal stage of the disease. In truth, palliative care is highly necessary for all patients with cancer, and when it is integrated...
ASCO is stepping up its efforts to address the link between obesity and cancer—both as a leading cause of cancer and as a complicating factor for treatment. In recent years, research has demonstrated that a growing number of cancers are linked to obesity, and public health researchers predict that...
In April, as part of the Obama administration’s work to make the U.S. health-care system more transparent, affordable, and accountable, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a vast amount of privacy-protected data on services and procedures provided to Medicare...
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. On April 28, 2014, an oral suspension of mercaptopurine (Purixan) ...
ASCO is committed to providing people with cancer and their caregivers with top quality educational information and resources to help them manage their cancer care, treatment, and survivorship. This ongoing commitment is best reflected in its patient-facing educational website, Cancer.Net...
Pancreatic cancer still kills 40,000 Americans a year out of approximately 44,000 diagnosed. While advances in diagnosis and treatment are extending the lives of patients with other cancers, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma remains the second most lethal tumor (behind lung cancer). While a magic...
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. On April 23, 2014, the anti–interleukin (IL)-6 monoclonal antibody...
ASCO’s educational symposia have historically provided attendees with a forum for learning and discussion, demonstrating ASCO’s commitment to promoting a network of global oncology expertise. The 2014 Breast Cancer Symposium, to be held in San Francisco from Thursday, September 4, to Saturday,...
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. Panitumumab (Vectibix) was recently approved by the U.S. Food and...
In the longest follow-up to date of any programmed death (PD)-1 receptor inhibitor in previously treated advanced melanoma, one-third of patients are demonstrating durable responses to the investigational agent nivolumab, and in some cases, these persist following discontinuation of the drug,...
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. On July 3, 2014, belinostat (Beleodaq) was granted accelerated...
Obesity and physical inactivity are associated with an increased risk of developing and dying of breast cancer via several proposed mechanisms. Two studies presented at the 2014 ASCO Annual Meeting explored the relationships among exercise, weight loss, and breast cancer risk. One study was...
The emerging approach to treating metastatic melanoma is a full-throttle effort to stimulate an immune response. One of the components of this strategy could be intralesional injections, according to studies presented at the 2014 ASCO Annual Meeting. T-VEC Oncolytic Immunotherapy Talimogene...
Centrosomes, the primary microtubule organizing centers within cells, are commonly amplified in tumors, but the role of centrosome amplification in tumorigenesis is unclear. Centrosome amplification is not favored in nontransformed cells, with extra centrosomes being spontaneously lost in the...
In a study reported in Clinical Cancer Research, Li and colleagues found that overexpression of Id1 protein resulted in insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-2 production, which, in turn, resulted in esophageal cancer cell proliferation, survival, and invasion via autocrine activation of AKT....
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. On July 28, 2014, the approved use of ibrutinib (Imbruvica) in...
INSIDE THE BLACK BOX is an occasional column providing insight into the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and its policies and procedures. In this installment, FDA oncologists Sean Khozin, MD, MPH, and Dikran Kazandjian, MD, discuss anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-positive non–small cell...
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has approved ASCO’s Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI®) as a pathway for oncologists to meet the agency’s quality reporting requirements. Starting in the fall of 2014, oncology practices registered with QOPI will have the opportunity to...
Aspirin use reduces the risk of colorectal cancer at least in part via inhibition of prostaglandin-endoperoxide synthase 2 (PTGS2, COX-2) pathways. Hydroxyprostaglandin dehydrogenase 15-(nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide; 15-PGDH, HPGD) is a metabolic antagonist of PTGS2 and is downregulated in...
In a study reported in Cell, Kitambi and colleagues screened patient-derived glioblastoma cells to identify targetable cellular processes gained by these cells that are not necessarily involved in malignancy. They found that a quinine derivative (NSC13316) selectively compromised viability of...
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. On August 14, 2014, bevacizumab (Avastin) was approved for the...
Conquer Cancer Foundation donors are a consistently creative bunch when it comes to encouraging others to help conquer cancer: Tyler invited his friends and family to a charity spin class; elementary school students in Malibu, California, sold bracelets in honor of their principal; Steve competed...
Although most major cancer centers in the United States offer support groups and individual counseling sessions to help patients with cancer cope with their disease and treatment, over the past decade Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York has broadened its psycho-oncology programs to...
In a study reported in Cancer Immunology Research, Salazar and colleagues found a remarkable response to a strategy of sequential intratumoral and intramuscular injections of the stabilized dsRNA viral mimic and pathogen-associated molecular pattern (PAMP) polyinosinic-polycytidylic...
Tissue mechanics are altered in tumor progression, although many of the mechanisms underlying the changes remain unclear. In a study reported in Nature Medicine, Mouw and colleagues found that increased tissue extracellular matrix stiffness modulated microRNA expression to promote tumor progression ...
In March, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) transformed its Cooperative Group Program into the National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN). Spurred by recommendations in the Institute of Medicine (IOM) 2010 report, A National Cancer Clinical Trials System for the 21st Century: Reinvigorating the NCI...
At the 50th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, Conquer Cancer Foundation Board Member Raj Mantena, RPh, announced that for the coming year he would match individual donations to the Conquer Cancer Foundation up to $1 million, allowing meeting attendees the opportunity to...
ASCO’s Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI®) is transforming to meet the reporting needs of its members. The approval of new reporting pathways by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), along with a new QOPI platform, will offer new opportunities for practices participating or ...
Inhibitors of heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) look promising for the treatment of advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and have the advantage of not needing a specific mutation to target, said Suresh S. Ramalingam, MD, Professor and Chief of Medical Oncology at the Winship Cancer Institute of...
Oncologists love jargon—a language peculiar to a particular trade, profession, or group that facilitates communication among members. Our day-to-day communications, medical notes, and journal reports are filled with this type of jargon. Other definitions of jargon are less flattering, including...
Newly launched in 2014 by LIVESTRONG, “The Big C” is a one-of-a-kind global competition to generate innovations that improve the daily quality of life for the 32.5 million people around the world living with cancer now. The competition was open to entrepreneurs, trailblazers, technology whizzes,...
Men with moderate pattern baldness on the front and the crown of the head at age 45 had a 40% increased risk, compared to men with no baldness at that age, of developing prostate cancer later in life, according to a study led by researchers from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and published in...
The use of dietary supplements by patients with cancer has increased significantly over the past 2 decades despite insufficient evidence of safety and effectiveness. Finding reliable sources of information about dietary supplements can be daunting. Patients typically rely on family, friends, and...
Eleven days before Patricia J. Goldsmith, joined CancerCare as its CEO last May, she received the unexpected news that she had early-stage colorectal cancer. While the diagnosis was shocking, Ms. Goldsmith said it gave her a unique perspective on what it means to have this serious disease and a...
Clinical depression is highly prevalent, associated with significant morbidity, often underrecognized, and inadequately treated in cancer patients. Professor Michael Sharpe and Jane Walker, PhD, and their colleagues’ seminal work on enhancing treatment of depression in cancer patients using a...
Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO) and Journal of Oncology Practice (JOP) “Exclusive Coverage” summaries, available on ASCO.org and ASCO Connection, are designed to provide quick insight and additional author perspectives on select recently published studies. Based on interviews conducted with the...
The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) recently launched a new video series for people newly diagnosed with cancer through its patient education website, Cancer.Net. This initiative was made possible by a grant from the LIVESTRONG Foundation to the Conquer Cancer Foundation. After a...
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. On September 4, 2014, pembrolizumab (Keytruda) was granted...
For patients with cancer who already have compromised immune systems, what may seem like a minor medical issue—ie, fever, dehydration, viral infection—can rapidly escalate into an emergency situation requiring care from a medical team familiar with managing the side effects of cancer treatment....
Approximately 12% of women in the United States will develop breast cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. That’s more than 30,000 in Tucson alone, 2,500 of whom are estimated to have a genetic risk factor for cancer. In response to this growing concern, The Breast Center at Carondelet...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) is accepting submissions of ideas for the Stand Up To Cancer–Ovarian Cancer Research Fund–Ovarian Cancer National Alliance–National Ovarian Cancer Coalition (SU2C-OCRF-OCNA-NOCC) Translational Research Dream Team Grant that will offer up to $6...
Subcutaneous implants containing testosterone in combination with a low dose of anastrozole can relieve menopausal symptoms in breast cancer survivors, according to research presented at the 2014 ASCO Breast Cancer Symposium.1 “Menopausal symptoms can be quite severe in breast cancer survivors in...
The pathologic evaluation of lumpectomy margins is “fraught with problems and pitfalls,” said Stuart J. Schnitt, MD, Director of Anatomic Pathology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School, Boston, who was part of a multidisciplinary discussion of ...