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Showing 13551 - 13600Using Hyperthermia for Cancer Treatment: Proofs, Promises, and Uncertainties
With the headline, “Rare Cancer Treatments, Cleared by F.D.A. but Not Subject to Scrutiny,” a recent article in The New York Times reported that several medical centers were treating patients with cancer using a hyperthermia system that had received a Humanitarian Use Device approval from the U.S....
Oncology Meetings
January 2014 2014 Gastrointestinal Cancers SymposiumJanuary 16-18 • San Francisco, CaliforniaFor more information: www.gicasym.org 10th Annual Clinical Breakthroughs and Challenges in Hematologic MalignanciesJanuary 18 • Orlando, FloridaFor more information:...
Ludwig Cancer Research Contributes One-Half Billion in New Funding to Six U.S. Research Institutions
On behalf of its founder, Daniel K. Ludwig, Ludwig Cancer Research has awarded $540 million across six Ludwig Centers, including those at Johns Hopkins University, Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Stanford University, and the...
Making Progress in Survivorship Care Planning
The recommendation that a survivorship care plan be provided to patients and their primary care providers was first presented in the 2006 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, From Cancer Patient to Cancer Survivor: Lost in Transition. The IOM committee proposed that this document include two parts—a ...
Improvements Needed in Use of Survivorship Care Plans
Survivorship care plans, consisting of treatment summaries and follow-up plans, are intended to promote coordination of post-treatment cancer care, but little is known about how survivorship care plans are being used in routine oncology practice. In a study reported in the Journal of the National...
Assessing Patients for Palliative Care
In 2012, ASCO issued a provisional clinical opinion addressing the integration of palliative care services into standard oncology practice at the time a patient is diagnosed with metastatic or advanced cancer and for patients with uncontrolled symptoms.1 However, despite ASCO’s provisional clinical ...
Stress and Tumor Biology: Insights Into Managing Stress to Help Improve Cancer Care
Stress is ubiquitous in our society, especially for people diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. There is a common misconception that stress is derived from a particular negative event. However, the event itself (the stressors, such as cancer diagnoses and treatment) does not causes stress....
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Names Susan Desmond-Hellman New CEO
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has selected Susan Desmond-Hellmann, MD, MPH, as its next Chief Executive Officer. Currently the Chancellor of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), Dr. Desmond-Hellmann will assume her role on May 1, 2014. “We chose Sue because of her...
Developing Intermediate Endpoints in Immunotherapy
“The immune system holds tremendous potential for long-term sustained antitumor activity,” said James P. Allison, PhD, Immunology Chair, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, as he opened a panel discussion at a meeting cosponsored by the Friends of Cancer Research and the...
Diagnosing and Treating Chronic Mucocutaneous Graft-vs-Host Disease
Chronic graft-vs-host disease is a major cause of late, nonrelapse death following allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. In addition, chronic graft-vs-host disease results in significant functional impairment and decreased quality of life for long-term survivors of stem cell...
Adjuvant Gefitinib in Patients With NSCLC: Bad Idea or Wrong Patient Selection?
Despite optimal surgical resection and adjuvant chemotherapy with cisplatin-based doublets, the 5-year overall survival for patients with early-stage non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains suboptimal. In the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) staging project, the...
ASCO Statement on Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer
Clifford A. Hudis, MD, FACP, President of ASCO, commented recently on the Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, co-authored by the National Cancer Institute, the American Cancer Society, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the North American Association of Central...
Overcoming Drug Development Challenges in the New Era of Cancer Care
While the last 15 years have brought unprecedented advances in oncology drug development, the next 10 years promise to usher in even greater opportunities to realize the goal of precision medicine in the treatment of cancer, providing patients with more effective care and better outcomes. Reaching...
Sorafenib in Differentiated Thyroid Carcinoma
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. New Indication On November 22, 2013, sorafenib (Nexavar) was...
Inhibition of LAT Transporters and Leucine Uptake: A Step Forward for Therapeutic Strategies in Prostate Cancer
The seminal study by Wang and colleagues reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute1 and reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post suggests a potential new therapeutic option in the treatment of advanced prostate cancer. The authors draw attention to the reliance of cancer cells on...
L-Type Amino Acid Transporters (LAT) Inhibition May Be a New Therapeutic Option for Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer
L-type amino acid transporters (LATs) uptake neutral amino acids including L-leucine into cells, stimulating mTOR complex 1 (mTORC1) signaling and protein synthesis. LAT1 and LAT3 are overexpressed at different stages of prostate cancer and are involved in increasing nutrients and stimulating cell...
ASCO Resources for Transitioning to ICD-10
ASCO has developed resources to educate and assist oncology practices in transitioning to the 10th Edition of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) coding system. Practices are encouraged to prepare for the transition before the October 1,...
Ongoing NCI-Funded Clinical Trials Actively Recruiting Patients With Advanced Cancer
This issue of The ASCO Post launches a Clinical Trials Resource Guide to increase awareness of NCI-funded phase I, II, and III clinical studies for your patients with advanced cancer. All of the studies are listed on the National Institutes of Health website at ClinicalTrials.gov. The clinical...
Cautious Comments on the TARGIT-A Trial
Numerous randomized trials have demonstrated that whole-breast irradiation plays an important role after breast-conserving surgery for invasive breast cancer. A recent meta-analysis of these trials indicated that whole-breast irradiation decreased the risk of total breast cancer relapse events and...
Molecularly Targeted Therapy for Lung Cancer
INSIDE THE BLACK BOX is an occasional column offering insight into the FDA and its policies and procedures. This installment addresses a changing paradigm in the treatment of lung cancer, exemplified by concurrent approval of a companion diagnostic with each of several new targeted agents or new...
Surprising Findings for Lenalidomide Maintenance in Updated IFM 2005-02 Analysis
A new analysis of the multiple myeloma Intergroupe Francophone du Myelome (IFM) 2005-02 trial showed that lenalidomide (Revlimid) maintenance prolongs progression-free survival after stem cell transplantation, but does not improve overall survival.1 This is possibly attributed to the shorter...
Overall Survival Improved by Adding Panitumumab to FOLFOX4 but Only in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer Without RAS Mutation
Patients with metastatic colorectal cancer that harbors KRAS mutations in exon 2 and patients with other activating RAS mutations do not benefit from anti–epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) therapy and may in fact be harmed by it. In an analysis reported in The New England Journal of Medicine ...
Study Explores Protective Effect of Aspirin Against Colorectal Cancer
It has been posited that aspirin treatment may reduce risk for colorectal cancer through inhibition of WNT/cadherin-associated protein β1 (CTNNB1, or β-catenin) signaling. In a study reported recently in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Nan et al investigated the potential role of the...
Genetic Flaw That Drives Some Ovarian Cancers Identified
Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, have identified an overactive gene that drives about one-third of high-grade serous ovarian tumors—the most common and malignant type of ovarian cancer. The gene, GAB2, isn’t mutated or abnormal, but triggers cancerous cell growth because the...
Younger Women With Younger Children Less Likely to Receive Radiation Therapy After Breast-Conserving Surgery for Breast Cancer
In a study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Pan et al assessed factors associated with noncompliance with recommended radiation therapy following breast-conserving surgery for breast cancer.1 A primary factor in underuse of radiation therapy was younger patients having...
Can Postoperative Radiotherapy Be Avoided in Older Women With Early Breast Cancer and High Estrogen Receptor Expression?
A more conservative approach that avoids radiation therapy seems to be a reasonable option for a subgroup of older women with hormone receptor–positive breast cancer at low risk of recurrence. Overall outcomes were similar with or without radiation in older women with hormone receptor–positive...
HER2-Positive Breast Cancer Patients With Small Tumors Benefit From Low-Toxicity Regimen
There may be a benefit for treating small HER2-positive tumors—a breast cancer subset for whom treatment recommendations have not been established but for whom there is still risk of recurrence—and this can be done with little toxicity, according to a multicenter study presented at the 2013 San...
Philips Receives FDA Clearance for Spectral Breast Density Measurement Application
Royal Philips has announced that that it has received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the Spectral Breast Density Management Application for its MicroDose SI full-field digital mammography system. The application is the first spectral breast density measurement ...
Novel BRAF Fusions Identified in 'Pan-Negative' Melanomas Subset May Be Sensitive to MEK Inhibition
A study by Sosman et al has identified two novel BRAF fusions in melanomas previously considered to be negative for molecular targets. In addition, these “pan-negative” melanomas were found to be sensitive to MEK inhibitors. According to the study, BRAF fusions define a new molecular subset of...
Addressing the Challenges of an Aging Population
We have an aging population, which is a good thing since people are living longer. [But] cancer is a disease that tends to occur most frequently in older people, so the combination of those two events will lead to many more older people with cancer, a larger cancer population in general, and a...
Expert Point of View: Carlos L. Arteaga, MD and David Cameron, MD, MRCP
After the IBIS-II presentation at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, Carlos L. Arteaga, MD, of Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville, noted that women at high risk are afraid of developing breast cancer and that pharmacologic intervention may allay their anxiety. “Dr. Cuzick’s study...
Who Opts for Chemoprevention?
Based on age and risk, an estimated 10 million women in the United States may be eligible for an agent aimed at preventing breast cancer, but chemoprevention is underutilized. Fewer than 5% of women at high risk who are offered tamoxifen for chemoprevention agree to take the drug, partly due to...
Anastrozole Halves Risk of First Breast Cancer in High-Risk Postmenopausal Women
Five years of treatment with anastrozole reduced the risk of breast cancer by 53% in postmenopausal women at high risk for developing the disease, according to an analysis of the International Breast Cancer Intervention Study (IBIS)-II trial. Anastrozole reduced the risk of estrogen...
Mounting Success in Trials of Genetically Engineered T Cells to Treat Leukemias and Lymphomas
Reports have been trickling in from centers conducting research on the use of chimeric antigen receptor–modified T cells (CAR-T) in hematologic cancer, and the news is encouraging. When directed against CD19, such personalized therapeutic T cells are known as CTL019, and small pilot trials of this...
Risk-Based Breast Cancer Screening: Studies Suggest Alternatives to Age-Based Guidelines
Measuring certain hormone levels could help determine a woman’s risk for breast cancer and add a key factor to current risk-prediction models, according to investigators from Harvard Medical School. Their new study results were presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual ...
Oncology Meetings
FEBRUARY 25th International Congress on Anti-Cancer TreatmentFebruary 4-6 • Paris, FranceFor more information: www.icact.fr APOS 11th Annual ConferenceFebruary 13-15 • Tampa, FloridaFor more information:www.apos-society.org/apos2014/ European Society for Medical Oncology Sarcoma and GIST...
Bosutinib Shows 'Acceptable Safety' in Philadelphia Chromosome–Positive Leukemia
Bosutinib (Bosulif) demonstrated “acceptable safety with manageable toxicities” in a phase I/II study among patients with chronic-phase chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) or advanced Philadelphia chromosome–positive leukemia (accelerated-phase/blast-phase CML or acute lymphoblastic leukemia). Patients...
Some Lung Cancers Detected by Low-Dose CT in National Lung Screening Trial May Be Indolent
More than 18% of all lung cancers detected by low-dose computed tomography in the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) may be clinically insignificant. Overdiagnosis should be considered when describing the risks of [low-dose computed tomography] screening for lung cancer, according to a review of...
Texas Children’s Hospital Announces New Chief of Interventional Radiology
The Department of Pediatric Radiology at Texas Children’s Hospital recently announced that Kamlesh U. Kukreja, MD, has been named the new Chief of Interventional Radiology. Dr. Kukreja has also been appointed as Assistant Professor of Radiology at Baylor College of Medicine. “For more than a...
Expect Questions, and Some Reluctance, About Getting a Flu Shot
People with weakened immune systems due to diseases like cancer are at increased risk of severe complications from the flu virus and should get flu shots annually. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) strongly encourages this practice, and most oncologists would recommend that for...
Cancer Patients Are at Increased Risk of Complications From the Flu and Should Receive Flu Shots, but Not the Nasal Spray
Widespread influenza activity continues to be reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with a recent increase in flu-related hospitalizations.1,2 Patients with cancer are at increased risk from flu complications and should receive the flu shot, but not the flu nasal spray...
An Overview of the REGAL Trial and Anti-VEGF Therapies in Recurrent Glioblastoma
As published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Batchelor and colleagues1 and reviewed in a recent issue of The ASCO Post (November 15, 2013, page 106), the REGAL trial was a randomized, phase III, placebo-controlled, partially blinded trial evaluating the efficacy of cediranib, an...
Major Cancer Milestones in History, From ASCO’s CancerProgress.Net
To help tell the story of progress against cancer, ASCO launched CancerProgress.Net in 2011. The site is intended as a resource for media, policymakers, oncologists, advocates, and the public. One central feature of the site is an interactive timeline of major milestones in cancer treatment,...
Drugging PI3K in Breast Cancer: Findings From SABCS 2013
Components of the phosphatidylinositide 3-kinase/mammalian target of rapamycin (PI3K/mTOR) pathway are deregulated in many human cancers, with about 30% of breast cancers harboring PIK3CA gene mutations. Emerging research shows that these mutations may render estrogen receptor alpha-positive tumors ...
Common Mutations May Impact Neoadjuvant Treatment Outcomes in Breast Cancer
Emerging research is suggesting that outcomes from neoadjuvant chemotherapy may be correlated with two genetic mutations that are common in breast cancer—PIK3CA and TP53. Their presence may affect response to treatment, and mutational shift after treatment may affect survival, according to studies...
Expert Point of View: Andrew D. Zelenetz, MD, PhD
Andrew D. Zelenetz, MD, PhD, Chair of the Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Guideline Panel of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) and former Chief of the Lymphoma Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, commented on the study by Yamshon et al for The ASCO Post. He said the...
‘R-Squared’ Lymphoma Treatment: Possible Markers of Response Identified
A correlative analysis of a study evaluating lenalidomide (Revlimid) plus rituximab (Rituxan) in patients with indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma found that increases in the levels of several cytokines correlated with response to treatment. The study by investigators from the University of California...
Lenalidomide/Rituximab Doublet a Potential Front-Line Treatment in Some Lymphomas
The biologic doublet of lenalidomide (Revlimid) plus rituximab (Rituxan) can achieve high response rates and durable remissions in lymphoma, according to a parade of phase II studies presented at the 2013 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting in New Orleans. The immunomodulatory agent ...
Cancer Genes, Promiscuity, and the National Debt
There is no doubt that this is a halcyon period in oncology. The unraveling of the genome has been tremendously important, and finally has helped us to move treatment selection from an era of rational empiricism to one of refined, molecular prognostication. In the care of breast cancer, the impact...
Major Cancer Advances in 2013 Highlight Importance of Federal Funding
About one-third of the most important clinical advances in cancer last year were made possible at least in part through federal funding, according to ASCO’s annual report on progress in cancer, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.1 Significant Declines in Funding The report, “Clinical...
