On February 12, 2014, ibrutinib (Imbruvica) was granted accelerated approval for the treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) who have received at least one prior therapy.1,2 Ibrutinib previously received accelerated approval for the treatment of patients with mantle cell...
The optimal time interval between surgery and initiation of adjuvant chemotherapy for early-stage breast cancer is not well established. Although most physicians aim to initiate adjuvant chemotherapy within a few weeks of surgery, clinical factors may cause delay. The influence of delay on relapse...
In a study reported in Clinical Cancer Research, Ye and colleagues showed that CD137 can be used to identify tumor-reactive T cells and to enrich for tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes and tumor-associated lymphocytes for use in adoptive immunotherapy. In the study, tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes from...
In a study reported in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, Kokolusa and colleagues showed that fundamental aspects of antitumor immunity are significantly affected by ambient housing temperature for lab mice. Standard ambient temperature in research facility lab mice housing is...
In a study reported in Clinical Cancer Research, del Alcazar and colleagues assessed the effects of the dual PI3K/mTOR inhibitor NVP-BEZ235 as a radiosensitizer in glioblastoma. No DNA double-strand break repair inhibitors have been successful in treating glioblastoma. However, in prior studies in...
Citing a World Health Organization report that lists Israel as having one of the highest rates of breast cancer in the world, The New York Times reported on a proposed screening program to identify women with BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations.1 “A number of influential geneticists and cancer doctors from...
Encourage your patients to use social media to stay-up-to-date with the new resources available on Cancer.Net. It is easier than ever for patients to get the latest cancer information on their computer or mobile device by subscribing to the Cancer.Net Blog at www.cancer.net/blog, or on...
ASCO has much to celebrate this year—namely, the Society’s 50th Anniversary. This occasion brings with it many other notable milestones. 2014 is a prime time to reflect on the remarkable growth of ASCO, from seven founders and 51 physicians at its first Annual Meeting to nearly 35,000 members...
In 1999, Kornelia Polyak, MD, PhD, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, received a Career Development Award from the Conquer Cancer Foundation for her project, “Isolation of Tumor Suppressor Genes Inactivated in DCIS of the Breast.” “The Career Development Award got me started,” she said. “When...
On this historic year, as ASCO proudly commemorates its 50th anniversary and decades of evolutionary change and growth, it also celebrates the significant progress that has been made against cancer throughout history. ASCO’s anniversary website, CancerProgress.Net, chronicles these achievements and ...
Neoplasms originating from skin keratinocytes are increasing in frequency in the United States and include a spectrum of diseases culminating in the development of invasive cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma. Although most cases of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma can be treated conservatively with ...
The development of novel targeted therapies that capitalize on our growing understanding of the molecular underpinnings and vulnerabilities of specific malignancies has to rank among the most important advances we have seen in the 50 years since the American Society of Clinical Oncology was...
The availability of the tyrosine kinase inhibitor imatinib (Gleevec) has dramatically increased survival in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Nonadherence to therapy with imatinib and other tyrosine kinase inhibitors is associated with disease progression and treatment resistance. In a study reported ...
In a recent study, reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post, Li et al present data from two long- term prospective studies—the Physicians Health Study (PHS, from 1982 to 1998), and the Health Professionals’ Follow-up Study (HPFS, from 1986 to 2010)—both of which suggest a strong association between...
History of severe acne, which is a surrogate for high androgen activity, has been associated with increased risk of prostate cancer, and recent data suggest that severe teenage acne is a risk factor for melanoma. Such findings suggest a role of androgens in etiology for both prostate cancer and...
Laura Zitella, MS, RN, ACNP-BC, AOCN®, moderator: Lead Advanced Practice Provider, Inpatient Hematology/Oncology, Stanford University Medical Center, Stanford, California, and Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Physiological Nursing, University of California, San Francisco Jeannine M....
The professional paths of advanced practitioners (APs) in oncology are as varied as the locations in which they work. The first annual JADPRO Live 2014 educational symposium was held in St. Petersburg, Florida, and hosted by JADPRO, the Journal of the Advanced Practitioner in Oncology. A...
Anas Younes, MD, Chief of the Lymphoma Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, told The ASCO Post, “Of the 800 or so ALK-positive anaplastic large-cell lymphoma patients in the United States, 70% to 80% are cured by CHOP [cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine,...
The monoclonal antibody gemtuzumab ozogamicin (Mylotarg) improved event-free survival and reduced the risk of relapse in children with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in a study from the Children’s Oncology Group, presented at the 55th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition ...
Idelalisib is being studied in three ongoing registration trials. [Study 116] was stopped early after idelalisib/rituximab demonstrated high efficacy in relapsed chronic lymphocytic leukemia [CLL],” said Jennifer R. Brown, MD, PhD, Director of the CLL Center at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston. ...
Idelalisib plus rituximab (Rituxan) improved progression-free survival, overall response rates, and overall survival compared with rituximab alone in heavily pretreated patients with relapsed chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Moreover, the combination provided effective, durable disease control...
Phase II results suggest that brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) has encouraging activity in CD30-positive cutaneous T-cell lymphomas and lymphoproliferative disorders, including mycosis fungoides, the most common type of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. High levels of responses were achieved in a 48-patient ...
Zoledronic acid does not improve outcomes in patients with early breast cancer who do not have a full response to neoadjuvant anthracycline/taxane–based chemotherapy, according to results of the Neo-Adjuvant Trial Add-On (NATAN) study presented at the 2013 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.1 A...
The addition of bevacizumab (Avastin) to adjuvant chemotherapy did not improve invasive disease-free survival or overall survival in patients with high-risk HER2-positive breast cancer in the large randomized phase III BETH trial. Although not specifically designed to answer this question, BETH...
In patients with acute leukemia, outcomes after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation are negatively impacted by the presence of minimal residual disease. However, transplant can prolong survival in patients with minimal residual disease after consolidation, according to two studies presented at...
Avoiding Foods I don’t eat beans, I don’t eat onions. I’m kind of careful on greens because they just don’t digest well. I don’t eat as many salads. I couldn’t because they went right through. Behavioral Adjustments You learn, over the years, what you can and can’t do. And you can’t overeat....
The fight against colorectal cancer leaves many survivors with battle wounds, according to studies that show a high incidence of assorted morbidities that can affect quality of life. Clinicians, in fact, may be unaware of the struggles with bowel function that occur during survivorship, researchers ...
Targeted biologic agents have improved long-term outcomes in metastatic colorectal cancer, but debate continues as to their relative efficacy and proper sequencing. At the 2014 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium, a number of studies attempted to answer these questions by interrogating the clinical...
Multiple studies reported at the 2014 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium add further support for widening the genetic analysis of colorectal cancer tumors. In fact, experts predict that more extensive genetic testing for RAS gene mutations (in KRAS and NRAS) beyond the routine analysis of KRAS exon ...
Screening for colorectal cancer based on age alone may contribute to both underuse and overuse of colonoscopy, sigmoidoscopy, and fecal occult blood testing among older people, according to a study by investigators at the University of Michigan and the Veterans Affairs Center for Clinical...
This study has the potential to expand the number of patients who can benefit from organ-sparing therapy,” said Thomas W. Flaig, MD, Associate Professor in the Division of Medical Oncology at the University of Colorado Denver, commenting on the pooled analysis of RTOG 9906 and 0233 presented at the ...
Organ preservation is a hallmark of progress in the world of cancer management. For patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer, the bladder-sparing approach is a well-established alternative to radical cystectomy. Patients undergo cystoscopic evaluation between the induction and consolidation...
Ipilimumab (Yervoy) failed to meet the primary endpoint of improving overall survival in the randomized, phase III CA184-043 trial. However, the immunotherapy did improve progression-free survival and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) response compared with placebo in postdocetaxel metastatic...
Over the past 5 decades, National Cancer Institute (NCI) Clinical Trials Cooperative Groups have played an enormous role in the fight against cancer, tackling a broad social agenda, including cancer prevention, quality-of-life issues for patients with cancer, and comparison of benefits among...
Early last year, just as I returned to my residency in neurologic surgery at Stanford University after completing 2 years of my postdoctoral fellowship in a laboratory developing optogenetic techniques, I started losing weight—dropping from 180 lb to 160 lb in just 6 months—and I was having fairly...
The 2014 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium, held in San Francisco from January 29 to February 1, brought together more than 3,100 participants from around the world involved in the care of patients with genitourinary malignancies. The abstract presentations and plenary discussions offered the latest...
The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) is deeply frustrated by the failure of Congress to permanently repeal the flawed sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula used to set Medicare physician payments and passage of the 17th patch to the system. ASCO and the entire physician community worked ...
Oncology is a demanding field that requires special qualities to care for very sick patients, many of whom will die prematurely of their disease. Research indicates that years of facing life-and-death decisions in the clinic can be associated with oncology burnout syndrome, which effects physician...
Extended follow-up in the Scandinavian Prostate Cancer Group Study Number 4 (SPCG4), reported recently in The New England Journal of Medicine,1 found that men with early-stage prostate cancer, particularly those under 65 years old, who were treated with radical prostatectomy had increased survival...
“It’s not a matter of if a child will be seriously poisoned or killed. It’s a matter of when.” Lee Cantrell, PharmD, Director of the San Diego Division of the California Poison Control System and Professor of Clinical Pharmacy at the University of California, San Francisco, commenting on the...
Scientific name: Ganoderma lucidum Common names: Ling zhi, lin zi, mushroom of immortality Overview A fungus, reishi mushroom is an important component of the traditional medical systems of China, Japan, Korea, and other Asian countries. It is used to increase energy, stimulate the immune system,...
Two champions of gender equality in medicine and research were recently honored by The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Laurie Glimcher, MD, the Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean of Weill Cornell Medical College and Provost for Medical Affairs of Cornell University since 2012, received...
The mechanism of action of lenalidomide (Revlimid) in multiple myeloma and other B-cell neoplasms remains largely uncharacterized. In a study reported in Science, Krönke and colleagues identified one of the effects of lenalidomide in this setting. Use of quantitative proteomics showed that...
Although recent findings indicate that targeting of inhibitory receptors on T cells can produce durable responses in some cancer patients despite the presence of advanced disease, the mechanisms controlling T-cell function in immunosuppressive tumors have not been well characterized. In a study...
Nearly 4,000 attendees, including more than 700 cancer survivors along with friends and family members, will gather in Chicago’s Grant Park for the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University’s Annual Cancer Survivors’ Celebration Walk & 5K Run. This year’s event will ...
Patients with cancer who are struggling with sleep troubles, due in part to pain or side effects of treatment, can count on two behavioral interventions for relief—cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia and mindfulness-based stress reduction—Penn Medicine researchers reported in a recent study...
INSIDE THE BLACK BOX is an occasional column providing insight into the FDA and its policies and procedures. In this installment, Robert Dean, MBA, Director, and Michael Sauers, Deputy Director, of Division II in the FDA’s Office of Prescription Drug Promotion discuss the FDA’s Bad Ad program. The...
When I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2008, at just 47, I was lucky. I was asymptomatic, my cancer was detected through a routine blood test, and I had the smoldering type, so I didn’t need immediate treatment. Plus, I knew that recent advances in more effective therapies were making it...
In 2011, the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF) announced the launch of CoMMpass (Relating Clinical Outcomes in Multiple Myeloma to Personal Assessment of Genetic Profile), a clinical study at the heart of its Personalized Medicine Initiative. CoMMpass will follow 1,000 newly diagnosed...
Specialist bias, in which specialists recommend the therapy that they are capable of delivering, is thought to influence the treatment of patients with localized prostate cancer and to contribute to overtreatment of men with limited life expectancy,” Ayal A. Aizer, MD, MPH, and colleagues, from the ...