The American Pyschosocial Oncology Society (APOS) announced today that it is accepting nominations for its 2015 awards. The deadline for submitting nominations is December 31, 2014. These awards will be presented at the World Congress of Psycho-Oncology, to be held July 30 to August 1, 2015. For...
A new analysis suggests that women who use bisphosphonates have about half the risk of developing endometrial cancer as women who do not use the drugs. The findings by Alford et al, published early online in Cancer, supports other research that has shown an anticancer effect of this type of...
Today’s approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of olaparib (Lynparza) occurred concurrently with that of a companion diagnostic, BRACAnalysis CDx. This genetic test is designed to detect the presence of mutations in the BRCA genes in blood samples from patients with ovarian...
The genetic abnormality that drives the bone cancer Ewing sarcoma operates through two distinct processes, both activating genes that stimulate tumor growth and suppressing those that should keep cancer from developing. The findings by Riggi et al, published in Cancer Cell, may lead to new...
In a retrospective study of patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) of the superior sulcus, induction chemoradiotherapy followed by resection provided complete or partial response in over 50% of subjects, according to a report by Truntzer et al in Radiation Therapy. However, the...
A new study led by researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James) describes a novel marker that might help doctors choose the least toxic, most effective treatment for many...
Men with localized prostate cancer who walked or cycled for 20 minutes or more a day had a 30% decreased overall mortality and a 39% decreased prostate cancer–specific mortality compared with men who spent less time engaging in those activities, a large Swedish study has found. The study...
In the phase III EORTC 30994 trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Sternberg et al found no overall survival difference between immediate and delayed adjuvant chemotherapy after radical cystectomy in patients with muscle-invasive urothelial carcinoma of the bladder. Immediate treatment was...
The addition of everolimus to weekly trastuzumab (Herceptin) plus paclitaxel did not improve outcomes in the phase III BOLERO-1/TRIO-019, but did provide a “signal” in the hormone receptor–negative subset. The study was reported at the 2014 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium by...
Among patients with advanced, hormone receptor–positive breast cancer who had not been treated previously for advanced disease, those who took fulvestrant (Faslodex) lived longer than those who took anastrozole, according to data from the phase II FIRST trial presented at the 2014 San Antonio ...
Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), which accounts for 30% of all newly diagnosed breast cancer, is actually a precancerous lesion. A proportion of patients will have progression to invasive breast cancer, but up until recently, it has not been possible to identify which patients require further...
Among early-stage breast cancer patients who reduced their dietary fat intake for 5 years following a diagnosis, after over 15 years follow-up, death rates from all causes were significantly reduced in those who had hormone-unrelated breast cancer, according to data from the Women’s...
After a median of 16 years of following women at high risk for breast cancer, the International Breast Cancer Intervention Study-I (IBIS-I) trial found that tamoxifen significantly decreased the incidence of all breast cancers, according to data presented at the 2014 San Antonio Breast Cancer...
Among women with triple-negative breast cancer, both basal-like and non–basal-like tumors were equally likely to demonstrate a pathologic complete response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy, but they responded differently to exposure to carboplatin and bevacizumab (Avastin), in an analysis of the...
Results from the largest series of male breast cancer cases ever studied showed that there was significant improvement in overall survival for male breast cancer patients over the duration of the study, but the improvement was not as good as has been seen for female breast cancer patients,...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved recombinant nine-valent human papillomavirus vaccine (Gardasil 9) for the prevention of certain diseases caused by nine types of HPV. The nine-valent vaccine covers five more HPV types than the previously approved quadrivalent vaccine...
Single-agent treatment with the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab (Keytruda) produced a “signal of activity” and led to some durable response, in patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer, Rita Nanda, MD, of the University of Chicago, reported at the 2014 San Antonio Breast...
Interest is high in studying the PI3K pathway in hormone receptor–positive breast cancer, but it is not clear which of the PI3K inhibitors under development—if any—will be a “home run.” Adding the pan-class I selective PI3K inhibitor pictilisib to fulvestrant...
Common variations in four genes related to brain inflammation or cells′ response to damage from oxidation may contribute to the problems with memory, learning, and other cognitive functions seen in children treated for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), according to a study presented at the...
Although the data are preliminary, single-agent AG-221 therapy targeted to the IDH2 mutation holds great promise as a nonchemotherapy approach for the treatment of advanced hematologic malignancies, including relapsed/refractory acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) and untreated AML. The findings were...
Results from a large prospective study suggest that children and young adults with acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) may respond better to a chemotherapy regimen pioneered in pediatric patients. The findings were presented at the 56th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and...
Results from the international phase II BLAST study show that one cycle of blinatumomab (Blincyto) immunotherapy achieved complete minimal residual disease response in 78% of patients with precursor B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Complete minimal residual disease response was...
Patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-related relapsed/refractory lymphoma can safely undergo autologous hematopoietic cell transplant, according to results of a phase II multicenter trial. At many centers, patients with HIV-related lymphoma are currently excluded from this potentially...
An investigational new class of drugs, the anti-CD38 monoclonal antibodies, could be the next blockbuster agents in multiple myeloma, experts in this malignancy predicted at the 56th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition. Anti-CD38 antibodies target multiple myeloma...
A novel mechanism—similar to how normal tissue stem cells respond to wounding—might explain why bladder cancer stem cells actively contribute to chemoresistance after multiple cycles of chemotherapy drug treatment. Targeting this “wound response” of cancer stem cells can...
In a population-based study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Arnold et al estimated that 3.6% of all new cancers worldwide in 2012 were attributable to high body mass index (BMI). The proportions of such cases were greater in women than in men and in highly developed vs less-developed countries....
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved a new use for ruxolitinib (Jakafi) to treat patients with polycythemia vera, a chronic type of bone marrow disease. Ruxolitinib, a JAK inhibitor, is the first drug approved by the FDA for this condition. Polycythemia vera occurs when too...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Breakthrough Therapy status to Takeda Pharmaceuticals’ investigational, oral proteasome inhibitor, ixazomib (MLN9708), for the treatment of relapsed or refractory systemic light-chain amyloidosis. This is the first proteasome inhibitor...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Stewart et al found that 30% or more of renal cell carcinoma recurrences were missed using National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) and American Urological Association (AUA) guidelines for surveillance after surgery for renal cell...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today granted accelerated approval to blinatumomab (Blincyto) for the treatment of patients with Philadelphia chromosome–negative, relapsed or refractory precursor B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-cell ALL). Blinatumomab is a bispecific...
A study of breast cancers detected with screening mammography found that strong family history and dense breast tissue were commonly absent in women between the ages of 40 and 49 diagnosed with breast cancer. Results of the study were presented today at RSNA 2014, the annual meeting of the...
Two studies have found that bisphosphonates may be effective in preventing certain cancers—including lung, breast, and colon—by blocking abnormal growth signals passed through HER family receptors. The studies suggest that bisphosphonates, the most commonly prescribed medications for...
A new study presented at RSNA 2014, the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America, has found that digital breast tomosynthesis, also known as three-dimensional (3D) mammography, has the potential to significantly increase the cancer detection rate in mammography screening of women ...
In a phase I study, a DNA vaccine targeting the breast cancer–associated antigen mammaglobin-A (MAM-A) was found to be safe and effective in eliciting immune responses in women with metastatic breast cancer. Preliminary evidence also suggests that the vaccine improved progression-free...
In a study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Sprague et al found that more than 40% of U.S. women have mammographically dense breasts, with the prevalence being inversely proportional to age and body mass index (BMI). As noted by the authors: “National legislation is...
In a phase Ib/II study of patients with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML), the addition of vosaroxin to cytarabine demonstrated antileukemic activity and an acceptable risk-benefit profile, according to a study by Lancet et al in Haematologica. Based on the findings from this...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced that it is taking immediate steps to help reduce the risk of spreading unsuspected cancer in women being treated for uterine fibroids. In an updated safety communication, originally issued in April 2014, the FDA warned against using...
Adult survivors of retinoblastoma, a type of eye cancer that usually develops in early childhood, have few cognitive or social problems decades following their diagnosis and treatment, according to a study by Brinkman et al published in Cancer. The findings offer good news for patients, but the...
High-dose interleukin-2 can be effective in selected metastatic renal cell cancer patients pretreated with VEGF-targeted agents, according to research presented recently at the ESMO Symposium on Immuno-Oncology in Geneva (Abstract 4O). “Despite the wide and increasing range of therapies...
In a phase III trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Wagner et al found that use of two units vs one unit of umbilical cord blood in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation did not improve 1-year overall survival in children and adolescents with hematologic cancers. Use of...
New evidence that immune checkpoint inhibitors may work in glioblastoma and brain metastases was presented today at the ESMO Symposium on Immuno-Oncology 2014 in Geneva (Abstract 1O). The novel research shows that brain metastases of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes, providing an immunoactive...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved hydrocodone bitartrate (Hysingla ER), an extended-release opioid analgesic to treat pain severe enough to require daily, around-the-clock, long-term opioid treatment and for which alternative treatment options are inadequate. The product...
Researchers have found a way to identify which ovarian cancer patients are likely to respond well to a new anticancer drug called rucaparib. Previous clinical trials have shown that women with platinum-sensitive tumors with BRCA1/2 mutations respond well to rucaparib. In new findings presented...
Results from the ARMOR2 of the anticancer drug galeterone shows that it is successful in lowering prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels in men with a variant form castration-resistant prostate cancer. The findings, presented at the 26th EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer...
Researchers have found that patients with an advanced form of kidney cancer, for which there is no standard treatment and a very poor prognosis, respond well to a combination of two existing anticancer drugs. The combination of bevacizumab (Avastin) and erlotinib (Tarceva) produced excellent...
A phase I trial of the first drug designed to inhibit the cancer-causing activity of a mutated enzyme known as isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) 1, which is involved in cell metabolism, has shown clinical activity in patients with advanced acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with the IDH1 mutation. The...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted orphan drug designation to BGB324 for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). BGB324 is a first-in-class, highly selective small-molecule inhibitor of the Axl receptor tyrosine kinase. It blocks the epithelial-mesenchymal transition...
Scientists have found that altering members of the p53 gene family, known as tumor-suppressor genes, causes rapid regression of tumors that are deficient in or totally missing p53. Study results suggest existing diabetes drugs, which impact the same gene-protein pathway, might be effective for...
ASCO issued its new Policy Statement on Medicaid Reform yesterday, which calls for major changes to the program to ensure access to high-quality cancer care for all low-income individuals. The Society’s recommendations call for Medicaid expansion in all 50 states to close coverage gaps,...
In a phase III trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, O’Shaughnessy et al found that the addition of iniparib to gemcitabine and carboplatin did not improve overall survival or progression-free survival in patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer. An exploratory...