Patients with locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck treated with hyperfractionated radiation therapy experienced improved local-regional control and, with patients censored at 5 years, improved overall survival with no increase in late toxicity, according to a study...
Expression of the inflammatory cytokine interleukin (IL)-1 alpha is a very early step in the inflammatory response that characterizes the malignant phenotype and that is associated with angiogenesis, tumor invasiveness, metastasis, and cachexia. In a phase I dose-escalation study reported in The...
In a single-blind phase III trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Zhu et al compared the use of 125iodine seed–loaded vs conventional covered stents along with single high-dose brachytherapy as palliative treatment in patients with unresectable esophageal cancer. Use of the irradiated stents ...
Quality of life is rarely reported in surgical publications, yet it can be an important metric that can be of use to physicians and patients when making treatment decisions. Prior studies of average-risk patients undergoing lobectomy suggested that low baseline quality-of-life scores predict worse...
Molecular diagnosis and preventive surgery have been successful in preventing medullary thyroid cancer in patients with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2 syndrome. In a retrospective population-based study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Castinetti et al found no difference in disease-free...
Patients with radioactive iodine-refractory, locally advanced or metastatic differentiated thyroid cancer have a poor prognosis. In the double-blind phase III DECISION trial reported in The Lancet, Brose et al found that sorafenib (Nexavar) increased progression-free survival in this setting. The...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Fokas et al found that prospectively evaluated tumor regression grading was a significant prognostic factor for distant metastasis and disease-free survival after 132 months of follow-up in patients with locally advanced rectal carcinoma...
The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) has issued a new guideline, “The Role of Postoperative Radiation Therapy for Endometrial Cancer: An ASTRO Evidence-Based Guideline,” that details the use of adjuvant radiation therapy in the treatment of endometrial cancer. The...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved the first human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA test that can be used as a primary cervical cancer screening test for women aged 25 years and older. The test also can provide information about the patient’s risk for developing cervical...
In a phase IIa trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Miller et al assessed combined HER2-targeted therapy with the antibody-drug conjugate ado-trastuzumab emtansine (Kadcyla) and pertuzumab (Perjeta) in women with HER2-positive locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer. Pertuzumab...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved siltuximab (Sylvant injection) for the treatment of patients with multicentric Castleman’s disease who are human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-negative and human herpes virus-8 (HHV-8)-negative. Multicentric Castleman’s...
Disease progression in HER2-positive breast cancer treated with trastuzumab (Herceptin) may be associated with PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway activation, and use of an mTOR inhibitor might restore trastuzumab sensitivity. In the double-blind phase III BOLERO-3 trial reported in The Lancet Oncology,...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved ramucirumab (Cyramza) to treat patients with advanced or metastatic gastric cancer or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma with disease progression on or after prior treatment with fluoropyrimidine- or platinum-containing chemotherapy....
Bevacizumab has exhibited limited activity in advanced melanoma. In an interim analysis of the open-label phase III AVAST-M trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Corrie et al found that adjuvant bevacizumab (Avastin) in patients with resected melanoma at high risk of recurrence has thus far...
As reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Riester et al have identified gene-expression signatures predictive of survival and debulking status in late-stage ovarian cancer. Study Details The study involved meta-analytic techniques using integrated data from 13 publicly...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Tombal et al, a single-arm phase II trial of the androgen receptor inhibitor enzalutamide (Xtandi) has shown that the agent is active in suppressing disease and well tolerated in men with hormone-naive prostate cancer. In this ongoing trial, 67 men with...
An analysis of prostate tissue biopsies collected from participants in the placebo arm of the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial (PCPT) has found that those whose benign prostate tissue had chronic inflammation had 1.78 times higher odds of having prostate cancer, and 2.24 times higher odds of having ...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved ofatumumab (Arzerra) injection in combination with chlorambucil (Leukeran) for the treatment of previously untreated patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), for whom fludarabine-based therapy is considered inappropriate. Trial...
The optimal extent of surgical resection is unclear in patients with parotid superficial lobe lymph node metastasis from cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma and malignant melanoma. In a single-institution retrospective review reported in JAMA Otolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery, Thom et al found...
In the open-label noninferiority phase III ASPECCT trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Price et al found that anti-EGFR monoclonal antibody treatment with panitumumab (Vectibix) produced a noninferior overall survival outcome vs cetuximab (Erbitux) in patients with chemotherapy-refractory...
Cytogenetically normal acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is the largest and most heterogeneous cytogenetic AML subgroup. As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Pastore et al have developed a widely applicable prognostic model for cytogenetically normal AML that combines established patient and ...
HER3 links with HER2 in a reciprocal relationship including negative feedback signaling that can upregulate HER2-HER3 signaling to compensate for HER2 inhibition. This signal-buffering capacity protects HER2-HER3 against a nearly 2-log inhibition of HER2 catalytic activity. The anti-HER2 tyrosine...
The National Cancer Institute of Canada (NCIC) Clinical Trials Group MAP.3 (Mammary Prevention 3) trial showed that daily exemestane treatment reduced invasive breast cancer risk by 65% among postmenopausal women. In a quality-of-life study in the MAP.3 population reported in the Journal of...
Noncompliance appears to be a major challenge for active surveillance, according to the results of long-term follow-up of patients with prostate cancer presented at the European Association of Urology 29th Annual Congress in Stockholm. Over a quarter of men dropped out of the active surveillance...
ASCO has adapted the Pan-Canadian Practice Guideline on Screening, Assessment, and Care of Psychosocial Distress (Depression, Anxiety) in Adults With Cancer for use in the screening, assessment, and care of anxiety and depressive symptoms in adults with cancer. The adapted guideline, reported in...
The American Society of Clinical Oncology has released a clinical practice guideline on prevention and treatment of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy in adult cancer patients, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The overall incidence of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy ...
The St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital–Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project has identified new mutations in pediatric high-grade gliomas. The findings by Wu et al were published in Nature Genetics and may lead to improved outcomes for children with these brain...
Surgery for liver metastasis from colorectal cancer is associated with overall survival of approximately 40% at 5 years, and progression-free survival is increased with the addition of oxaliplatin and fluorouracil (5-FU). The addition of cetuximab (Erbitux) to chemotherapy has produced a survival...
Older people who are starting to have memory and thinking problems, but do not yet have dementia, may have a lower risk of dying from cancer than people who have no memory and thinking problems, according to a study by Benito-León et al published online in Neurology. “Studies have...
In women with non–small cell lung cancer, long-term hormone therapy, particularly estrogen plus progesterone, is associated with improved survival, according to the results of a retrospective study presented by Katcoff et al in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology. This finding may lead to...
In a phase II study (COIN-B) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Wasan et al examined the addition of continuous or intermittent cetuximab (Erbitux) to intermittent chemotherapy in previously untreated advanced KRAS wild-type colorectal cancer. Continuous cetuximab appeared to be associated with...
In a report in The New England Journal of Medicine, Maynard et al discuss identification of consumptive hypothyroidism due to overexpression of thyroid hormone–inactivating enzyme type 3 iodothyronine deiodinase (D3) in a patient with gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) and subsequent...
Using comprehensive genomic analysis, researchers have sorted low-grade brain tumors into three categories, one of which has the molecular hallmarks and shortened survival of glioblastoma multiforme, the most lethal of brain tumors. The findings were reported at the American Association for Cancer...
The investigational, oral drug BGJ398, which blocks the activity of fibroblast growth factor receptors (FGFRs), showed promising anticancer activity in patients with various types of cancer driven by FGFR genetic alterations, according to the results of a phase I clinical trial presented at the...
Men with localized prostate cancer that is at risk of growing and spreading have a lower risk of disease progression and recurrence if they are treated with radiotherapy combined with androgen-deprivation therapy, according to new research. The findings, which were presented at the 33rd Conference...
Research in mice and human cell lines has identified an experimental compound dubbed TTT-3002 as potentially one of the most potent drugs available to block genetic mutations in cancer cells blamed for some forms of treatment-resistant leukemia. The study by Ma et al, published in Blood, found that ...
In a phase II trial (PEAK) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Schwartzberg et al compared the EGFR inhibitor panitumumab (Vectibix) vs the VEGF-A inhibitor bevacizumab (Avastin) combined with modified fluorouracil, leucovorin, and oxaliplatin (FOLFOX6) in patients with previously...
A small clinical study of a new investigational antibody-drug conjugate called DEDN6526A in patients with metastatic or unresectable cutaneous, mucosal, or ocular melanoma has found the drug to be safe and tolerable and demonstrated early evidence of antitumor activity. The findings were presented...
A new genetic signature to identify prostate cancer patients who are at high risk of their cancer recurring after surgery or radiotherapy has been developed by researchers in Canada, according to a study presented at the 33rd Conference of the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology in...
First-line treatment with the combination of palbociclib plus letrozole extended progression-free survival by approximately 50% in patients with metastatic estrogen receptor–positive, HER2-negative breast cancer, according to final results of a randomized phase II study presented at the...
Dose-escalated intensity-modulated radiotherapy with use of a moderate hypofractionation regimen (72 Gy in 2.4-Gy fractions) can safely treat patients with localized prostate cancer with limited grade 2 or 3 late toxicity, according to a study by Hoffman et al published in the International Journal ...
The recently reported open-label phase III AURELIA trial showed that the addition of bevacizumab (Avastin) to chemotherapy resulted in significant improvement in progression-free survival, the primary study endpoint, and objective response rate in women with recurrent platinum-resistant ovarian...
Single-agent chemotherapy is standard in platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. In the open-label phase III AURELIA trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Pujade-Lauraine et al found that the addition of bevacizumab (Avastin) to chemotherapy resulted in significant improvement in...
A recent phase II study showed progression-free survival and overall survival benefits with the addition of onartuzumab (an antibody directed against MET, a receptor kinase that binds hepatocyte growth factor [HGF]) to erlotinib (Tarceva) in the subset of patients with advanced non–small cell ...
Results from the BRIGHT study combined with long-term safety data from other studies suggest that bendamustine (Treanda) plus rituximab (Rituxan) “may be an important alternative treatment option” for the initial therapy of patients with low-grade non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and mantle...
In a study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, van de Water et al found that Dutch women with hormone receptor–positive breast cancer aged ≥ 65 years at diagnosis who were treated in a clinical trial had significantly fewer comorbid diseases, higher socioeconomic...
Barrett’s esophagus with low-grade dysplasia increases risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma. In a European study reported in JAMA, Phoa et al assessed whether endoscopic radiofrequency ablation reduced the rate of neoplastic progression compared with endoscopic surveillance in patients with...
In the phase III IBIS-II trial, reported in The Lancet, Cuzick et al found that aromatase inhibitor therapy with anastrozole reduced risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women at high risk of the disease. Study Details In this double-blind trial, 3,864 postmenopausal women aged 40 to 70 years...
Non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) harboring ALK rearrangement is sensitive to the ALK inhibitor crizotinib (Xalkori), but resistance ultimately occurs. In a phase I study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Shaw et al found that the more-potent ALK inhibitor ceritinib was...
Patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in the chronic phase who are resistant or intolerant to imatinib (Gleevec) can experience long-term benefit with dasatinib (Sprycel), according to results of a randomized phase III study. The CA180-034 study also found that early molecular and...