“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...
In a small phase Ib/II study, 100% of patients with newly diagnosed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma evaluated thus far responded to treatment with obinutuzumab (Gazyva), lenalidomide (Revlimid), and CHOP (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, prednisone), investigators from the University of...
In the treatment of classical Hodgkin lymphoma, antibodies targeting programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) are just the beginning, according to Stephen M. Ansell, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine and Chair of the Lymphoma Group at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota.1 Speaking at the 2016 Pan...
Scalp cooling is a means to lower scalp temperature to prevent hair loss during chemotherapy. Although there are several methods of scalp cooling, it often consists of a hypothermia cap connected to a computer-operating cooling and control unit. The system circulates coolant through channels in the ...
Hair loss can be a devastating side effect of chemotherapy, but the recent U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of the DigniCap Cooling System and the growing acceptance of scalp-cooling methods in the United States may improve the quality of life for many patients receiving...
ASCO has published an adaptation of the 2015 Cancer Care Ontario (CCO) clinical practice guideline on adjuvant chemotherapy for early-stage breast cancer.1 There were several areas of controversy that the guideline attempts to address. Should Anthracyclines Be Standard of Care? The guideline...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Neelima Denduluri, MD, and colleagues, ASCO has adapted a Cancer Care Ontario (CCO) clinical practice guideline on selection of optimal adjuvant chemotherapy for HER2-negative and adjuvant targeted therapy for HER2-positive breast cancer.1 The...
According to Susan M. O’Brien, MD, an expert in the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), novel agents and new data on patient subsets have led to a new upfront treatment algorithm for this malignancy. Speaking at the 2016 Pan Pacific Lymphoma Conference in Koloa, Hawaii, Dr. O’Brien...
“Have you received your immune checkpoint inhibitor yet?” I suspect St. Peter may have started asking this question routinely at the Pearly Gates to Heaven. If St. Peter has not, I am sure most oncologists have. With extensive media coverage on the approval of nivolumab (Opdivo) and pembrolizumab...
On June 29, 2016, Robert M. Califf, MD, MACC, the Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), announced the selection of Richard Pazdur, MD, FACP, as Acting Director of the FDA’s newly created Oncology Center of Excellence. The center was created in response to the overarching...
As scientists learn more about which genetic mutations are driving different types of cancer, they're targeting treatments to small numbers of patients, with the potential for big payoffs in improved outcomes. But even as we learn more about these driver mutations, a new study published by Spratt...
Parents are more likely to support laws that would make the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine mandatory for school entry if their state offers opt-out provisions, according to a study published by Calo et al in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. However, opt-out provisions may...
Amir T. Fathi, MD, an oncologist at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Boston, commented on the INO-VATE ALL trial for The ASCO Post. “It has been a fairly exciting time for patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia...
In patients with relapsed/refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the antibody-drug conjugate inotuzumab ozogamicin produced significantly more complete remissions and was a better bridge to transplant than treatment by physician’s choice, according to the final results of a phase III trial...
Testing for the activity of two genes could help identify women who are at increased risk of dying from breast cancer, according to a new study of almost 2,000 patients. Women whose tumors had a specific pattern of activity in the F12 and STC2 genes were three times as likely to die within 10 years ...
The ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group has received federal approval to add a quality-of-life research study, COMmunication and Education in Tumor Profiling, or COMET (EAQ152), to the NCI-MATCH (EAY131) trial already underway. Using feedback surveys before and after a patient undergoes tumor gene...
Computers can be trained to be more accurate than pathologists in assessing slides of lung cancer tissues, according to a new study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. The researchers found that a machine-learning approach to identifying critical disease-related features...
A large, nationwide study published by Lee et al in the journal JAMA Oncology found that patients who received transplants of cells collected from a donor's bone marrow had better self-reported psychological well-being, experienced fewer symptoms of graft-vs-host disease (GVHD), and were more...
As with most cancers, triple-negative breast cancer cells have abnormal amounts of chromosomes or DNA copy number aberrations in their genomes. A new study used single-cell sequencing technology to provide previously unknown details about how and when copy number aberrations impact tumor...
A team of researchers from nine leading academic hospitals and research centers have published a paper in the journal Cancer that describes pulmonary outcomes among childhood cancer survivors. The study also evaluates the impact of complications such as asthma, chronic cough, emphysema, and...
The chemotherapy drug etoposide may have adverse effects on the developing ovaries of female fetuses, according to a preclinical study of mouse cells published by Stefansdottir et al in BMC Cancer. Norah Spears, DPhil, the corresponding study author and Professor of Reproductive Physiology at the...
Leptomeningeal metastases, a serious complication in lung cancer patients, were found to be more prevalent in patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations. In a recent study of leptomeningeal metastases published by Li et al in...
Immune response measured in tumor biopsies during the course of early treatment predicts which melanoma patients will benefit from specific immune checkpoint blockade drugs, according to researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Chen et al reported their findings in...
Prostate cancer and lung cancer have been the number 1 and 2 cancers among men. Stomach cancer, the third leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide, has been on a steady decline among Koreans and Japanese. Black men had the highest overall rates of cancer. Thyroid cancer has been on the rise, and...
In an international, single-arm phase IIIB trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Saad et al found benefit with the addition of abiraterone (Zytiga) or enzalutamide (Xtandi) to radium-223 (Xofigo) in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. This early-access program was...
Three leading national cancer organizations have issued a consensus guideline for physicians treating women who have ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) treated with breast-conserving surgery and whole breast irradiation. The new guideline has the potential to save many women from unnecessary...
A study at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health showed that obesity was more prevalent in patients with a history of cancer than in the general population, and survivors of colorectal and breast cancers were particularly affected. The study is among the first to compare rates of...
For patients with the most common type of noninvasive breast cancer, routine testing for estrogen and progesterone receptors in tissue taken at the first needle biopsy is both unnecessary and wasteful, according to results of a study led by Johns Hopkins pathologists. The results for people with...
The U.S. health-care system is characterized—on a global level—by its unsustainable spending, which does not necessarily correlate to better outcomes in patients with cancer. With $2.9 trillion spent in 2013, the United States ranks first in health-care spending among the world’s...
Tumor shrinkage is not the only measure of a successful anticancer therapy. A University of Colorado Cancer Center article published by Serkova et al in Frontiers in Oncology describes a promising alternative: metabolic imaging. Tumors rush their metabolism to grow and proliferate. By recognizing a ...
A Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) research team has identified an additional mechanism for resistance to targeted treatment for BRAF-mutant melanoma. Their findings, published by Shen et al in Nature Medicine, report that inactivating mutations in two genes responsible for regulating key...
iCell Gene Therapeutics announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Orphan Drug designation for its chimeric antigen receptor engineered T-cells directed against the target protein CD4 (CD4CAR) for the treatment of peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL). William Tse, MD,...
Although a majority of states are still missing important opportunities to pass and implement legislative solutions proven to prevent and fight cancer, there is progress being made to move the nation closer to ending cancer as we know it, according to a report recently released by the American...
Many breast tumors grow in response to female hormones, especially estrogen. Drugs that reduce estrogen levels in the body often are effective in reducing tumor size and preventing recurrence of the cancer. But some tumors become resistant to these therapies and continue to grow and spread. A new...
Heron Therapeutics, Inc, announced on August 10, 2016, that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved granisetron (Sustol) extended-release injection. Granisetron is a serotonin-3 (5-HT3) receptor antagonist indicated in combination with other antiemetics in adults for the prevention ...
Men with very high-risk prostate cancer treated at hospitals with a high proportion of administered radical local treatment (radiotherapy or prostatectomy) have half of the mortality risk of men who are treated at hospitals with the lowest proportions, according to a new study conducted by...
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company announced last week that CheckMate-026, a phase III trial investigating the use of nivolumab (Opdivo) as monotherapy, did not meet its primary endpoint of progression-free survival in patients with previously untreated advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)...
Men with testicular cancer who were uninsured or on Medicaid had a higher risk of death from what is normally a curable disease than insured patients, a new study found. The findings, published by Markt et al in Cancer, add to growing evidence that differences in health insurance status can affect...
The Chinese Journal of Cancer (CJC) is soliciting the 150 most important questions in cancer research and clinical oncology from cancer researchers around the world. The editors of CJC believe this will help provide important insights and guidance in future efforts to advance cancer research...
ASCO and the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) today issued a joint clinical practice guideline on ovarian cancer treatment. The guideline provides evidence-based recommendations on whether to use neoadjuvant chemotherapy or surgery as the initial treatment for women with stage IIIC and IV...
Considered a visionary in cancer research, Alfred George Knudson, MD, PhD, was internationally recognized for his “two-hit theory” of cancer causation, which explained the relationship between hereditary and nonhereditary cancer types, predicting the existence of tumor suppressor genes. Dr. Knudson ...
As reported by Walter et al in The Lancet Oncology, incidence screening with low-dose computed tomography (CT) in high-risk individuals detected new solid nodules in approximately 5% to 7% at second and third screenings in the ongoing Dutch-Belgian NELSON trial. Larger nodule size was associated...
More than 60,000 blood and marrow transplants are performed each year worldwide, and the number of long-term survivors is increasing rapidly. But with success has come a host of new issues for patients, providers, and researchers. “Back when transplants were new, the 1-year mortality rate was high, ...
The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network has added four leaders from across the country to its Scientific and Medical Advisory Board. “Members of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network Scientific and Medical Advisory Board have committed their careers to change the course of a deadly and complex...
Members of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) have elected five new officers to the Society’s Board of Directors, including President-Elect, Secretary/Treasurer-Elect, and Vice-Chairs of three of ASTRO’s five councils (Clinical Affairs and Quality, Education, and Government...
Screening for colorectal cancer should start at age 50 and continue until age 75, according to the updated recommendation from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF).1 “Exactly what screening gets done is something that doctors and patients should decide together,” USPSTF Chair Kirsten...
In an updated recommendation statement, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) continues to strongly recommend screening for colorectal cancer for asymptomatic adults aged 50 through 75; but rather than emphasize specific screening strategies, it notes there are multiple screening...
Receiving an invitation to get screened for cervical cancer is associated with a greater likelihood of getting screened, according to a study published by Tavasoli et al in Preventive Medicine. The study explored the impact of invitation and reminder letters on cervical cancer screening...
BookmarkTitle: The Gene: An Intimate HistoryAuthor: Siddhartha Mukherjee, MDPublisher: ScribnerPublication date: May 2016Price: $32.00; hardcover, 608 pagesOn February 28, 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick entered The Eagle, a favorite watering hole for researchers working at the University of...