Gianni Bonadonna, MD, was considered the “Father of Italian Oncology,” but his scientific contributions to the field and his generous collegial spirit extended far beyond the shores of his native land. Dr. Bonadonna was at the forefront in the battle to convince the surgical...
Analysis of a large phase III trial (S0819) suggested that adding the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-targeting monoclonal antibody cetuximab (Erbitux) to chemotherapy benefits survival in patients with squamous cell non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with tumors positive...
Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations are one of the most common driver oncogenes in lung cancer, typified by high response rates when treated with tyrosine kinase inhibitors and median progression-free survival of 10 months, commonly due to emergence of T790M. The genomic...
Adding the monoclonal antibody bevacizumab (Avastin) to chemotherapy for patients with surgically removed non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) did not improve overall survival, according to research (Abstract PLEN04.03) presented at the 16th World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC) in Denver,...
Two phase III studies of anamorelin found that the medication effectively combats wasting and increases body weight and lean body mass in certain patients with lung cancer. Results (Abstract ORAL29.01) from the ROMANA 1 and ROMANA 2 phase III trials of anamorelin were presented at the 16th...
The standard of care for malignant pleural mesothelioma may be poised for change, judging by results from a study (Abstract ORAL11.01) by the French Cooperative Thoracic Intergroup. The addition of bevacizumab (Avastin) in the first-line setting to the current standard of care, pemetrexed...
Many clinical trials use genome sequencing to learn which genetic mutations are present in a patient’s tumor cells. The question is important, because targeting the right mutations with the right drugs can stop cancer in its tracks. But it can be difficult to determine which particular...
Women who are obese have a higher risk and a worse prognosis for breast cancer, but the reasons why remain unclear. A Cornell study published by Seo et al in Science Translational Medicine suggests that obesity changes the consistency of breast tissue in ways that predispose an individual to tumor...
Recent evidence suggests that survivors of childhood cancer have a high risk of suffering a stroke at a surprisingly young age. A new study from the UC San Francisco Pediatric Brain Center shows that childhood cancer survivors suffering one stroke have double the risk of suffering a second stroke...
Scientists have developed a blood test for breast cancer that may be able to identify which patients will suffer a relapse after treatment, months before tumors are visible on hospital scans. The test may uncover small numbers of residual cancer cells that have resisted therapy by detecting cancer...
The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) issued an updated policy statement on genetic and genomic testing for cancer susceptibility. Published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the statement reviews the ways in which new technologies are transforming the assessment and identification of ...
Alternative medicines are widely thought to be at least harmless, and very often helpful, for a wide range of discomforts and illnesses. However, although they’re marketed as “natural,” they often contain active ingredients that can react chemically and biologically with other...
Concerns about fertility kept one-third of young women with breast cancer surveyed in a recent study from taking tamoxifen, despite its known benefit in reducing the risk of breast cancer recurrence. In addition, the study found fertility concerns led one-quarter of women who started...
A study by researchers at Sweden's Karolinska Institutet is reportedly the first to suggest that cells in the tumor blood vessels contribute to a local environment that protects the cancer cells from tumor-killing immune cells. The results, published by Hong et al in the Journal of the...
In cancer clinical trials, doctors typically report side effects that patients experience—not patients themselves. Previous research has shown that doctors underreport these symptoms. Ethan Basch, MD, MSc, Director of the UNC Lineberger Cancer Outcomes Research Program and Associate...
Women who have inherited mutations in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene are more likely to develop breast cancer or ovarian cancer, especially at a younger age. Approximately 5% of women with breast cancer in the United States have mutations in BRCA1 or BRCA2, based on estimates in non-Hispanic white women. ...
Research by a Veterans Affairs team has confirmed that longer-lasting colonoscopies are associated with lower cancer rates. Their findings were published by Shaukat et al in Gastroenterology, and were based on nearly 77,000 screening colonoscopies. Experts already know about the link between...
In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers demonstrated a benefit in overall survival among patients with epithelial ovarian cancer receiving generic beta-blocker heart medications. Survival was shown to be greatest among those prescribed first-generation nonselective beta-blockers. According to...
People with more than 50 moles have an increased risk of developing melanoma, but those with fewer than 50 moles should still be alert for this disease. In fact, according to new research presented at the American Academy of Dermatology’s 2015 Summer Academy Meeting in New York, those with...
An endovaginal magnetic resonance imaging technique is more accurate at detecting early-stage cervical cancer than the best available external detection technique, a new study reported. Researchers at The Institute of Cancer Research and The Royal Marsden Hospital found that using an...
In a study reported in JAMA Oncology, Narod et al found that the risk of breast cancer mortality was elevated in some patients with ductal carcinoma in situ compared with the general population, with the risk being higher in younger vs older women and black vs white women. Approximately half of...
New software could speed up breast cancer diagnosis with 90% accuracy without the need for a specialist, according to research published by Dobbs et al in Breast Cancer Research. This method could improve breast cancer management, particularly in developing countries, where pathologists are not...
Non-Hispanic black women with endometrial cancer had worse outcomes than women of other racial/ethnic groups diagnosed with the same subtype of endometrial cancer and at the same stage of disease, according to a study published by Cote et al in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention....
In women with breast cancer, taxane-based chemotherapy—docetaxel and paclitaxel—did not appear to increase the incidence of lymphedema, according to a study by Swaroop et al in Breast Cancer Research and Treatment. However, the investigators did note that adjuvant chemotherapy with...
For children with aggressive brain cancers called high-grade gliomas, the chances of survival are improved when surgery is successful in eliminating all visible cancer, according to a report published by McCrea et al in Neurosurgery. In addition to showing better survival with gross total...
Organ transplant recipients are twice as likely to develop melanoma as people who do not undergo a transplant and three times more likely to die of the skin cancer, suggested new research by a multi-institutional team. The findings, reported by Robbins et al in the Journal of Investigative...
A first-of-its-kind study published by Bradley Palmer et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology found that music therapy lessened anxiety for women undergoing surgical breast biopsies for cancer diagnosis and treatment. The 2-year study, conducted at University Hospitals (UH) Seidman Cancer Center, ...
A study from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Cancer Center researchers—the first to examine the effects of combined radiation and chemotherapy on the healthy brain tissue of glioblastoma patients—revealed not only specific structural changes within patients’ brains, but also...
Researchers have shown that magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can detect the earliest signs of breast cancer recurrence and fast-growing tumors through detecting micrometastases, breakaway tumor cells with the potential to develop into dangerous secondary breast cancer tumors elsewhere in the body....
A large observational study investigating the effect of coffee consumption on advanced-stage colon cancer and survival has found that patients who drank four or more cups of coffee a day were 42% less likely to experience a recurrence than non-coffee drinkers and were 33% less likely to die from...
In an equatorial African region known as the “lymphoma belt,” children are ten times more likely than in other parts of the world to develop Burkitt lymphoma. This area is also plagued by high rates of malaria, and scientists have spent the past 50 years trying to understand how the two ...
A novel combination therapy appears to be effective in treating patients with melanoma skin metastases, according to new research from the University of California (UC) Davis. Led by Emanual Maverakis, MD, of the UC Davis Department of Dermatology, the research found that interleukin-2...
Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have identified a molecular partnership in pancreatic cancer cells that might help to explain how the disease metastasizes in some cases. Their findings reveal urgently needed new targets to treat pancreatic cancer and were published by Foley et...
Results of a phase I trial show that an investigational topical drug, resiquimod gel, causes regression of both treated and untreated tumor lesions and may completely remove cancerous cells from both sites in patients with early-stage cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. Currently, there is no cure for...
As reported in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report by Guy et al, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicate that there were an estimated 65,647 new cases of invasive melanoma in the United States in 2011. In the absence of intervention, the annual incidence is...
Combing data collected on thousands of California patients with ovarian cancer, University of California Davis researchers have determined that almost one-third of patients survived at least 10 years after diagnosis. The findings upend the notion that women diagnosed with cancer of the ovaries...
Scientists have known for years that a mutation in the BRAF gene makes moles start to grow but until now have not understood why they sometimes do not become cancerous. Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have identified a major genetic factor that...
Duke University researchers found that packaging the widely used cancer drug paclitaxel into nanoparticles more than doubled the drug’s effectiveness in destroying tumors in preclinical models. Their findings were published by Bhattacharyya et al in Nature Communications. Paclitaxel has been ...
Patients undergoing surgery for lung cancer may wait too long to receive treatment, and too many patients skip vital diagnostic steps that are needed to help determine the best possible treatment, according to findings published by Faris et al in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery. The 5-year relative ...
Researchers investigating a risk index for colorectal cancer and advanced precancerous polyps among average-risk people have found that patients classified as low risk had fewer advanced adenomas than patients classified as high risk. Their findings suggest that those at low risk for colorectal...
High-grade serous ovarian cancer often responds well to the chemotherapy drug carboplatin, but it frequently recurs after the first line of treatment. A team of University of California, Los Angeles, researchers has discovered that a subset of tumor cells that don’t produce the protein CA125, ...
A team of researchers at Barts Cancer Institute–Queen Mary University of London has discovered a combination of three proteins found at high levels in urine that can accurately detect early-stage pancreatic cancer. The discovery could lead to a noninvasive, inexpensive test to...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Van Poznak et al, ASCO has issued a clinical practice guideline on the use of biomarkers to guide decisions on systemic therapy in women with metastatic breast cancer. The statement is based on an ASCO expert panel assessment of systematic reviews, ...
A new way to detect—and perhaps treat—one of the deadliest types of breast cancer may have been found. Led by researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM), the study was published by Papageorgis et al in Breast Cancer Research. A subset of the triple-negative breast...
A large-scale genetic study of the links between telomere length and risk for five common cancers found that long telomeres are associated with an increased risk of lung adenocarcinoma. No significant associations between telomere length and other cancer types or subtypes were observed. The study,...
ASCO has issued a clinical practice guideline update on the use of hematopoietic colony-stimulating factors, as reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Smith et al. This update to the ASCO 2006 guideline was based on a systematic review of randomized clinical trials, meta-analyses, and ...
The stem cells in the gut divide so fast that they create a completely new population of epithelial cells every week. However, this quick cell division is also why radiation and chemotherapy wreak havoc on the gastrointestinal systems of patients with cancer, as such therapies target rapidly...
Pharmaceutical firms underinvest in long-term research to develop new cancer-fighting drugs due to the greater time and cost required to conduct such research, according to a newly published study authored by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) economists. These findings were published by...
Cancer can be caused solely by protein imbalance within cells, a study of ovarian cancer has found. Until now, genetic aberrations have been seen as the main cause of almost all cancer. The research, published by Timsah et al in Oncogene, demonstrates that protein imbalance is a powerful prognostic ...
An observational study investigating the use and effectiveness of a combination regimen of intraperitoneal and intravenous chemotherapy in the treatment of advanced-stage ovarian cancer has found that although the dual approach substantially improved survival—81% of those treated with the...