A randomized clinical trial found that introducing palliative care shortly after a diagnosis of certain metastatic cancers greatly increases a patient’s coping abilities, as well as overall quality of life. Researchers also found that early integration of palliative care results in an...
An analysis of data from more than 1,200 caregivers in the United States finds that cancer caregivers report a higher burden and spend significantly more hours per week caregiving, as opposed to individuals who care for people with other conditions. The analysis was based on survey data from the...
Patients with cancer have heightened risks of unintentional and intentional injuries during the diagnostic process, revealed findings from a large study published by Shen et al in The BMJ. A range of injuries are common, and some are potentially life-threatening, the study showed. The authors...
University of North Carolina (UNC) Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers, by tracking p16INK4a, a molecular marker that has been shown to increase in white blood cells as people age, have uncovered clues suggesting that stem cell transplant is linked to a marked increase in the...
The words “cost control,” “value-based health care,” and similar iterations are floating around freely these days to make us aware of the unsustainable upward trajectory of health-care costs. We are reminded constantly about how health care in America currently costs more than $3.4 trillion...
Approximately 20% of patients with follicular lymphoma will relapse within 2 years of diagnosis. Although the optimal management of these patients has not been established, clinicians may be guided by data from recent clinical trials, according to Nathan H. Fowler, MD, Associate Professor and...
In a retrospective multicohort study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Hearn et al found that the inherited HSD3B1 (1245C) allele was significantly associated with resistance to androgen-deprivation therapy and poorer outcome in men with prostate cancer. HSD3B1 (1245A>C) has been linked to...
Approximately one in four patients who undergo radical prostatectomy experience a cancer recurrence. Now a study by Stura et al investigating a prostate-specific antigen (PSA)-based computational model that uses four consecutive postsurgical PSA values has found the mathematical model to be highly...
Genmab A/S announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a supplemental Biologics License Application for the use of ofatumumab (Arzerra) in combination with fludarabine and cyclophosphamide for the treatment of patients with relapsed chronic lymphocytic leukemia...
Retinoic acid may play a critical role in suppressing colorectal cancer in mice and humans, according to researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Mice with the cancer have lower-than-normal levels of the metabolite in their gut, the researchers found. Furthermore, colorectal...
A novel magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) method that detects low levels of zinc ion can help distinguish healthy prostate tissue from cancer, The University of Texas (UT) Southwestern Medical Center radiologists have determined. The findings were published by Clavijo Jordan et al in the Proceedings ...
In a genome-wide DNA-methylation analysis to identify genes implicated in Li-Fraumeni syndrome, Samuel et al found a significant association of loss-of-function <em>TP53</em> mutations with differential methylation at the locus encoding microRNA-34A (miR-34A). The study was reported in...
In a phase III trial (MINDACT) reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Cardoso et al found that adjuvant chemotherapy may be avoidable in women with early-stage breast cancer who are at high clinical risk but low genomic risk as determined by the 70-gene signature assay (MammaPrint)....
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted Clovis Oncology’s New Drug Application (NDA) for accelerated approval of rucaparib and granted Priority Review status to the application with a Prescription Drug User Fee Act date of February 23, 2017. Rucaparib is an...
The Cancer Research Institute (CRI), a nonprofit organization established in 1953 to advance biomedical research with the goal of developing lifesaving immunotherapies for all forms of cancer, will bestow its highest honors on three scientists who have made fundamental contributions to the fields...
Radiation for prostate cancer typically requires 40 to 45 daily treatments, given over 8 to 9 weeks. Long fractionation schemes are chosen for most cancers, because they allow for tumor killing while reducing the potential for injury to normal tissue. However, the radiobiology of prostate cancer...
A study of women receiving hormone therapies such as tamoxifen as part of their treatment for breast cancer found that the number and seriousness of side effects they experienced were influenced by their expectations. The study, published by Nestoriuc et al in Annals of Oncology, found that women...
The proportion of patients with papillary thyroid cancer identified as having node-negative disease decreased substantially with an increased number of lymph nodes examined, according to an analysis of data from the National Cancer Database. Robinson and colleagues, of Duke University, reported...
Sarah B. Goldberg, MD, of Yale University School of Medicine, and colleagues found that pembrolizumab (Keytruda) was active in untreated or progressive brain metastases in melanoma and non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to a single-center phase II trial reported in The Lancet Oncology....
Patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) positive for the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor T790M resistance mutation on a plasma assay had similar outcomes with the EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor osimertinib (Tagrisso) as did those who were positive ...
To accelerate breakthrough cancer research in the human genome, the Gene Editing Institute at Christiana Care’s Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute has entered into an agreement with The Wistar Institute. The agreement expands the historic partnership between the Graham Cancer...
The University of Pittsburgh Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) will receive nearly $62.3 million over 5 years from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to broaden its mission of speeding translation of scientific research into realistic treatments for the people who need them....
On July 14, ASCO announced the 14 practices that are participating in the 2016 Quality Training Program. The program is designed to train oncology health-care providers to investigate and implement data-driven quality improvement and manage clinical and administrative processes and outcomes. “One...
The Conquer Cancer Foundation of ASCO funds the brightest minds in clinical and translational cancer research through its Grants and Awards Program. Since its inception in 1984, the Grants and Awards program has awarded more than $100 million through more than 1,500 grants and awards to at least 65 ...
The Conquer Cancer Foundation of ASCO (CCF) presented more than $6.1 million in grants and awards to nearly 250 promising oncology researchers at the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting. The Conquer Cancer Foundation and ASCO congratulate the recipients on their contributions to the field of oncology and...
The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation has named four outstanding young scientists as recipients of the prestigious Damon Runyon–Sohn Pediatric Cancer Research Fellowship Award, committing nearly $1 million to help address a critical shortage of funding for pediatric cancer research. The...
Looking back, I’m haunted by what might have been if my advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) had been caught in its earliest stage, when perhaps a cure was possible. I certainly presented my physicians with enough clues—shortness of breath, coughing, and some body weakness—to have warranted...
On August 5, 2016, the U. S. Food and Drug Administration granted accelerated approval to pembrolizumab (Keytruda), an anti–PD-1 (programmed cell death protein 1) therapy, for the treatment of patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma with disease progression on or ...
BookmarkTitle: Breast Cancer Surgery and Reconstruction: What’s Right for YouAuthor: Patricia Anstett, with photography by Kathleen GalliganPublisher: Rowman & LittlefieldPublication date: June 2, 2016Price: $35.00; hardcover, 224 pages Over the past 2 decades, we have seen tremendous...
With the increasing population of older adults with cancer, there has been a commensurate need for more readily available and widely accessible educational and clinical resources in geriatric oncology. As part of the Cancer and Aging Research Group and ASCO’s Geriatric Oncology Special Interest...
After the Vietnam War, close to a million refugees, known as “boat people,” fled Vietnam, hazarding the open ocean on dangerously overloaded vessels. The term “boat people” is often used generically to refer to all the Vietnamese (about 2 million) who left their country by any means between 1975...
The Cancer Moonshot initiative is bringing together scientists, oncologists, patient advocates, and representatives of the biopharmaceutical industry with renewed collaborative focus and the ambitious objective of consolidating 10 years of cancer research in 5 years. Achieving this outcome will...
In a phase III trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Hagop M. Kantarjian, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and colleagues found that treatment with the antibody-drug conjugate inotuzumab ozogamicin resulted in a greater complete remission rate and improved ...
A new study published online by JAMA Oncology examined the prevalence and significance of estrogen receptor mutations in patients with metastatic breast cancer.1 The activation of the estrogen receptor is a feature of most breast cancers in which estrogen receptor expression is detected. An...
In a phase III trial (CALGB 40503/Alliance) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Maura N. Dickler, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and colleagues found that the addition of bevacizumab (Avastin) to first-line endocrine therapy with letrozole improved progression-free...
Receiving an invitation to undergo screening for cervical cancer is associated with a greater likelihood of getting screened, according to a study published by Tavasoli et al in Preventive Medicine.1 The study explored the impact of invitation and reminder letters on cervical cancer screening...
The European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) has released new consensus guidelines for the management of metastatic colorectal cancer that reflect an increasingly personalized approach to treatment. These guidelines were published by Van Cutsem et al in Annals of Oncology.1 “Management of...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO) by N. Lynn Henry, MD, PhD, of University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, Ann Arbor, and colleagues,1 ASCO has endorsed Cancer Care Ontario guideline recommendations on the role of patient and disease factors in decisions on adjuvant...
The children of Indianapolis philanthropists Sidney and Lois Eskenazi have made a $2 million gift to the Indiana University School of Medicine to be used to recruit a highly accomplished researcher focused on discovering new ways to treat, diagnose, and prevent cancer. The gift, to honor their...
The effect of combined hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in increasing a woman’s risk of breast cancer is likely to have been underestimated by a number of previous studies, according to a new prospective study published by Jones et al in the British Journal of Cancer. HRT is used to treat...
The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) has selected four early career scientists to receive a total of $275,000 in research awards, including one winner of the ASTRO Junior Faculty Career Research Training Award and three recipients of ASTRO Resident/Fellows in Radiation Oncology...
The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) has awarded Ethan Basch, MD, MSc, a 5-year, $5.45 million grant to support research into whether there are clinical benefits of having people with cancer self-report their symptoms while undergoing treatment. Dr. Basch, Director of the...
Double-hit lymphomas are a challenging subset of high-grade B-cell lymphomas, previously characterized histologically as diffuse large B-cell lymphoma or B-cell lymphoma unclassifiable with intermediate features between diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and Burkitt lymphoma. Expert guidance in their...
After several dose-finding phase I and II studies in a variety of B-cell malignancies, the potential clinical role of the newer anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody obinutuzumab (Gazyva) remained unclear. These early trials tested low and high doses as well as weekly and every-3-week schedules of...
In the phase III GADOLIN trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Laurie H. Sehn, MD, Chair, British Columbia Cancer Agency Lymphoma Tumor Group, and Clinical Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, and colleagues, found that adding the anti-CD20 antibody obinutuzumab...
The combination of more precise diagnostic tools and advances in surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and targeted therapy in the treatment of cancer has led to unprecedented numbers of cancer survivors in the United States—more than 15.5 million, according to the latest figures from the...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network awarded nine grants to outstanding scientists who will undertake novel research in the field of pancreatic cancer. “By recruiting the brightest scientists with the most novel ideas, we continue to build a ...
For diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, does the dose of rituximab (Rituxan) matter? Are there patient characteristics that determine outcomes as well as the optimal dose? These questions were explored at the 2016 Pan Pacific Lymphoma Conference by Matthew A. Lunning, DO, Assistant Professor of...
“We are in an era of unprecedented scientific opportunities in cancer research,” said Margaret Foti, PhD, MD (hc), Executive Officer, American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), as she introduced the Congressional briefing, “Seizing Today’s Opportunities to Accelerate Cancer Research.” “Thanks ...
As reported by Alexi A. Wright, MD, MPH, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and colleagues in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, ASCO and the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) have released a clinical practice guideline on neoadjuvant therapy for patients with newly diagnosed stage IIIC or IV...