Australian scientists have identified a critical molecular “feedback loop” that helps initiate and drive neuroblastoma, a cancer of the nervous system in children that is triggered in embryonal nerve cells. This feedback loop massively accelerates cancer development. The research team...
More children are surviving malignant brain tumors than in the past, thanks to the use of intense treatments using platinum-based chemotherapy (cisplatin and high-dose carboplatin). Unfortunately, the therapy has a known side effect of permanent hearing loss, resulting from damage to the inner ear. ...
A University of Colorado Cancer Center study recently published by Corr et al in the International Journal of Gynecological Cancer shows that protein cytokeratin 5 (CK5), known to be a marker of poor prognosis in breast cancer, also marks ovarian cancers likely to be resistant to the common...
Patients with metastatic breast cancer who have higher insulin levels than normal, but are not diabetic, have a significantly worse prognosis compared with those who have normal insulin levels, according to data being presented (Abstract BP129) at the Advanced Breast Cancer Third International...
Organizations that issue “damaging messages” about advanced breast cancer need to be identified and educated to change the way they talk about the disease, a patient told the Advanced Breast Cancer Third International Consensus Conference in Lisbon, Portugal, on November 5, 2015. In...
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) researchers have described costs across the entire care process for low-risk prostate cancer—from the time a patient checks in for his first appointment to his post-treatment follow-up testing—using time-driven activity-based costing. For the ...
Only 1 in 5 patients with pancreatic cancer in the United States receives a widely available, inexpensive blood test at diagnosis that can help predict relative outcome (compared to others with the same disease stage) and guide treatment accordingly, a Mayo Clinic study showed. People who test...
After breast cancer surgery, women are prescribed adjuvant therapies such as chemotherapy and endocrine drugs to reduce the risk of the cancer returning. It has been assumed that the treatment effects of these therapies remain constant over time, but a new study from the Cancer Therapy &...
A Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) research team, in collaboration with investigators at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, may have found a reason why the use of antiangiogenic drugs—which has improved outcomes for patients with several types of cancer—fails to benefit some breast...
Cleveland Clinic researchers have discovered a gene associated with Cowden syndrome, an inherited condition that carries high risks of thyroid, breast, and other cancers, and a subset of noninherited thyroid cancers. These findings were published by Yehia et al in the American Journal of Human...
Cologuard stool DNA testing for colorectal cancer was found to be an accurate noninvasive screening option for Alaska Native people, a population with one of the world's highest rates of colorectal cancer, concluded researchers from the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium and Mayo Clinic. The...
A new study in mice by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center has found that a specialized type of immunotherapy—even when used without chemotherapy or radiation—can boost survival from pancreatic cancer by more than 75%. The findings are promising, and human clinical...
Regular physical activity could play a role in helping women at high-risk of breast cancer delay the need for drastic preventive measures such as prophylactic mastectomy, according to new research led by the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Results of the WISER Sister...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has expanded the approved use of ipilimumab (Yervoy) to include a new use as adjuvant therapy for patients who have cutaneous melanoma with pathologic involvement of regional lymph nodes of more than 1 mm and have undergone complete resection, including total...
Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Inc's telotristat etiprate was shown to have clinical benefit in treating carcinoid syndrome in cancer patients not adequately controlled by long-acting somatostatin analog therapy, the current standard of care, according to data from the phase III TELESTAR study presented...
Of the hundreds of genes that can be mutated in a single case of melanoma, only a handful may be true drivers of cancer. A new study published by Arafeh et al in Nature Genetics, a Weizmann Institute of Science team has revealed one of the drivers of a particularly deadly subset of melanomas that...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the biologics license application for talimogene laherparepvec (Imlygic), a genetically modified oncolytic viral therapy indicated for the local treatment of unresectable cutaneous, subcutaneous and nodal lesions in patients with melanoma...
Estrogen-mimicking chemicals called parabens, which are commonly found in an array of personal care products, may be more dangerous at lower doses than previously thought, according to a new study. The findings, published by Pan et al in Environmental Health Perspectives, could have implications...
ASCO has called for comprehensive physician payment reform to support the full scope of services required by patients with cancer, rather than jeopardizing patient outcomes by reducing the available resources in a particular cancer care setting in an effort to achieve "site neutrality" in...
On October 21 in Washington, DC, the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship (NCCS) hosted a reception to honor Richard Pazdur, MD, and Ellen Goodman. Special guest Robert M. Califf, MD, Deputy Commissioner for Medical Products and Tobacco at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA),...
A new analysis indicates that when American adults are diagnosed with cancer, they experience significant decreases in the probability of working, in the number of hours they work, and correspondingly, in their incomes. Such negative impacts of a cancer diagnosis are particularly pronounced among...
Prostate cancer patients who face recurrence after radical prostatectomy have better overall survival rates with a combination of salvage radiation therapy and 24 months of antiandrogen therapy than with radiation therapy alone, according to research (Abstract LBA5) presented by Shipley et al on...
Hypofractionated radiation therapy results in similar rates of cure and side effects compared to a longer treatment schedule for some men with low-risk prostate cancer, according to research (Abstract LBA6) presented by Lee et al October 19, 2015, at the American Society for Radiation Oncology...
For men with prostate cancer who have had a prostatectomy and salvage radiation therapy, analyzing their tumor genome provides clues as to whether their cancer will metastasize, thereby enabling clinicians to better personalize treatment options, according to research presented by Den et al...
Outcomes for pediatric patients as young as 12 months old with ependymoma who are treated with immediate postoperative radiation therapy are favorable and consistent, based upon tumor surgical resection and tumor grade, according to research presented by Merchant et al (Abstract 1) on October...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved the chemotherapy drug trabectedin (Yondelis) for the treatment of specific soft-tissue sarcomas—liposarcoma and leiomyosarcoma—that are unresectable or metastatic. This treatment is approved for patients who previously received...
Margaret Foti, PhD, MD (hc), CEO of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), issued the following statement regarding Vice President Joe Biden’s call for a “moon shot” to end cancer: “We extend our deepest sympathy to Vice President Biden and his family for the...
Long-term patient-reported outcomes indicate that for some men with localized prostate cancer, hypofractionated intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) may be a reasonable treatment option and result in similar quality-of-life outcomes, compared to conventional radiation therapy, according to...
Patients with intermediate meningiomas treated with radiation therapy after surgery experienced a 96% 3-year progression-free survival rate and had minimal adverse events, according to research presented by Rogers et al October 21, 2015, at the American Society for Radiation Oncology’s...
A long-term follow-up of RTOG 9202 indicated that for patients with locally advanced prostate cancer, an additional 24 months of long-term androgen-deprivation therapy after radiation therapy plus short-term androgen-deprivation therapy improved disease-free survival by 60%, compared to patients...
For patients with locally advanced esophageal cancer that has spread to the lymph nodes, radiation therapy that targets only the involved lymph node regions results in less toxicity without causing a statistically significant difference in locoregional lymph node recurrence, distant failure, and...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved irinotecan liposome injection (Onivyde), in combination with fluorouracil (5-FU) and leucovorin, to treat patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer who have been previously treated with gemcitabine-based chemotherapy. According to the National...
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), a not-for-profit alliance of 26 of the world's leading cancer centers, has unveiled its new value initiative—the NCCN Evidence Blocks, published within new versions of the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines) for...
Patients with stage III non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who receive intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) have 44% fewer cases of severe pneumonitis and improved likelihood of completing consolidative chemotherapy after radiation, compared to patients who receive three-dimensional...
A collaborative, patient-reported outcome–based approach by palliative care and radiation oncology teams results in better outpatient symptom management and a decrease in end-of-life hospitalizations and costs for late-stage cancer patients, according to research presented by Read et al...
For cervical cancer patients undergoing postsurgical radiation therapy, image-guided intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) resulted in a 14% reduction in moderate-to-severe bowel side effects when compared to conventional three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy (3D CRT), according to...
For high-risk patients who receive chemoradiotherapy for head and neck cancer, frequent follow-up appointments conducted by advance practice nurses (APNs) in a clinical outpatient setting allowed for more intensive symptom management, resulting in fewer post-treatment emergency room visits and...
For some early-stage breast cancer patients, accelerated partial-breast irradiation using multicatheter brachytherapy following breast-conserving surgery may be an excellent treatment option, as it has now been proven to be as effective as the current standard treatment—whole-breast...
The steroid dexamethasone reduces radiation-induced pain flare in cancer patients with painful bone metastases, according to research presented by Chow et al (Abstract LBA1) October 18, 2015 at the American Society for Radiation Oncology’s (ASTRO’s) 57th Annual Meeting in San Antonio,...
For some patients with human papillomavirus (HPV)-related cancer of the tonsils and tongue, reduced-intensity radiation therapy and chemotherapy may be as effective as standard-dose radiation and chemotherapy, and result in fewer acute side effects, according to research presented by Chera et al...
Immunotherapy combined with palliative radiation therapy for a subset of patients with metastatic melanoma reduces the growth and spread of the cancer, according to research presented by Hiniker et al (Abstract 215) on October 20, 2015 at the American Society for Radiation Oncology’s...
The potential risks and harms of low-dose computed tomography lung cancer screening in current 20 to 29 pack-year smokers needs to be assessed before recommending such screening to this group, according to a study published by Pinsky and Kramer in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute....
Researchers at King's College London have investigated a new method that could be used by general practitioners to quickly determine the number of moles on the entire body by counting the number found on a smaller “proxy” body area, such as an arm. These findings were published by...
Pfizer announced that the investigational antibody-drug conjugate inotuzumab ozogamicin received Breakthrough Therapy designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The Breakthrough Therapy designation was based on the results of the phase III...
Researchers have discovered details of the abnormal molecular signals and biologic events that drive a high-risk form of the childhood cancer neuroblastoma. They aim to use these findings to develop more effective targeted treatments. “As we improve our knowledge of different biologic...
A study led by Johns Hopkins researchers has linked the immunosuppressive drug mycophenolate mofetil to an increased risk of central nervous system lymphoma in solid organ transplant patients. But the same study also found that another class of immunosuppressive drugs, calcineurin inhibitors, given ...
Among children with intermediate-risk rhabdomyosarcoma that is negative for a fusion gene, those who had a high score for expression of a specific gene signature called MG5 had poorer survival outcomes compared with those who had a low MG5 score, according to a study published by Hingorani et al in ...
Cancer is the result of normal cellular functions going wildly awry on a genetic level. That fact has been known for some time, but increasing evidence is showing that the human microbiome, the diverse population of microorganisms within every person, may play a key role in either setting the stage ...
While most cancer survivors in the United States are motivated to seek information about food choices and dietary changes to improve their health, a new study comparing their dietary patterns to federal guidelines indicates that they often fall short. By Zhang et al in Cancer, the findings point to ...
Badly designed studies may lead to the efficacy of drugs being overestimated and money being wasted on trials that prove fruitless, according to new a study from McGill University in Montreal. The findings, published by Henderson et al in eLife, highlight the importance of ensuring that other...