In an article in The Lancet Oncology, Sartor et al report symptomatic skeletal event outcomes in the phase III ALSYMPCA trial, which was the study supporting the May 2013 approval of radium-233 dichloride (Xofigo) in patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer and bone metastases. They found ...
A randomized phase Ib study of a combination of low radiosensitizing doses of gemcitabine and fractionated doses of 90Y-clivatuzumab tetraxetan in patients with metastatic pancreatic ductal cancer who had received at least two prior systemic therapies, has found a significant survival advantage in...
A series of studies evaluating the cost-effectiveness, risks, and outcomes associated with detecting, diagnosing, and treating testicular cancer were presented at a press conference during the 2014 Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Urological Association in Orlando, Florida. Although...
According to the results from three studies published in European Urology, the 17-gene Oncotype DX Genomic Prostate Score is a significant predictor of disease aggressiveness at the time of diagnosis before intervention with radiation or surgery. The test provides more precise and individualized...
Two preclinical studies of tumor samples taken from 39 patients with pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors and 39 patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma has found that for both these pancreatic cancers, CD47 is expressed at elevated levels on the cells that make up the bulk of the tumors and on...
Researchers investigating the effects of water pipe smoking on the health of young adults have found elevated levels of nicotine, cotinine, tobacco-related cancer-causing agents, and volatile organic compounds, including benzene and acrolein, in the urine of users. Given the significant intake of...
In the large phase III SQUIRE trial of necitumumab (IMC-11F8) in combination with gemcitabine and cisplatin in the first-line treatment of advanced squamous non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), patients with stage IV metastatic disease showed a statistically significant improvement in overall...
A new model projects 5-year outcomes of implementing the recent U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommendations for annual low-dose computed tomography (CT) lung cancer screening in a high-risk Medicare population. The model estimates that gradual implementation of the screening...
According to early results from a phase I study, a new targeted drug, PLX3397, appears remarkably active against a rare neoplastic joint disorder known as pigmented villonodular synovitis. The study evaluated patients whose disease had progressed despite all other available therapies. More than...
Findings from a phase I study of a new mutant-selective epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor, AZD9291, point to a promising new treatment option for patients with advanced, EGFR-mutant, non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that is resistant to standard EGFR...
According to a large, population-based observational study of men who had a prostate-specific antigen (PSA)-only based relapse after prostate surgery or radiation therapy, delaying androgen deprivation therapy until the onset of symptoms or appearance of cancer on a scan does not substantially...
The use of cord blood cells as hematopoietic stem cell grafts for patients with hematologic malignancies receiving an allogeneic stem cell transplant has been limited to children due to the small number of stem cells present in a single cord blood collection. The result of these limitations has...
A new study by researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center–Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC–James) provides evidence that genetically modifying immune cells might effectively treat multiple myeloma. The findings by ...
In a study reported in British Journal of Cancer, Shaw et al assessed the accuracy of several reported criteria for identifying insignificant prostate cancer for active surveillance in a population of unscreened men. None of the examined tools provided sufficient discrimination of insignificant...
In patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), preoperative positron-emission tomography (PET) has been shown to limit the number of unnecessary surgeries, according to the results of a study presented by Zeliadt et al in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine. Besides its value in accurate...
A new method for using immunotherapy to specifically attack tumor cells that have mutations unique to a patient’s cancer has been developed by scientists at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health. The researchers demonstrated that the human immune...
Researchers from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital conducted a phase I study of hu14.18K322A, an experimental monoclonal antibody genetically engineered at the hospital, in 38 children with refractory or recurrent neuroblastoma. The patients received escalating doses of hu14.18K322A...
Preclinical data suggest that triple-negative breast cancer is sensitive to interstrand crosslinking agents and that the combination of a taxane, trastuzumab (Herceptin), and a platinum may have synergistic effects in HER2-positive breast cancer. In a randomized phase II trial (GeparSixto, German...
Geographic proximity to services has been identified as a potential barrier to cancer screening, and there is evidence of disparity in colorectal cancer outcomes between urban and rural U.S. residents. In a study reported in JAMA Surgery, Aboagye et al identified a significantly greater density of...
An analysis of the metabolic profiles of hundreds of ovarian tumors has revealed a new test to determine whether ovarian cancer cells have the potential to metastasize. The study, which was published in Molecular Systems Biology, also suggests how ovarian cancer treatments can be tailored based on...
Men who begin taking statins after prostate cancer surgery are less likely to have a recurrence of their cancer, according to a retrospective analysis led by researchers at Duke Medicine. The study by Allott et al was published in BJU International. “Our findings suggest that beginning...
A surgical method combining two techniques for removing precancerous polyps during colonoscopies can substantially reduce the recovery time and the length of hospital stays, which may translate into significant cost savings, according to research presented this week at Digestive Disease Week in...
A retrospective study published online ahead of print in Urology by researchers at Roswell Park Cancer Institute found that patients with metastatic kidney cancer—even those with chronic renal insufficiency—can tolerate and benefit from high-dose interleukin-2 (HDIL-2) immunotherapy....
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, D’Souza et al found that while human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive patients with oropharyngeal cancer had high prevelances of oncogenic oral HPV DNA and oral HPV16 DNA, their sexual partners did not appear to have increased risk of...
As many as half of patients with metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer develop brain metastases over time. The American Society of Clinical Oncology recently released a clinical practice guideline on disease management for patients with advanced HER2-positive breast cancer and brain metastases. A...
Approximately 15% of patients with breast cancer have tumors that overexpress the HER2 protein, and these patients can benefit from HER2-targeted therapies. The American Society of Clinical Oncology recently released a clinical practice guideline on systemic therapy for patients with advanced...
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...
Cryoablation of breast tumors, which destroys lesions by exposing them to extremely low temperatures, may be a promising alternative to surgery in carefully selected women with early-stage disease, according to a study presented at the American Society of Breast Surgeons Annual Meeting in Las...
Researchers at the University of Louisville School of Medicine are using breath analysis to detect the presence of lung cancer. Preliminary data indicate that this noninvasive tool offers the sensitivity of PET scanning and has almost twice the specificity of PET for distinguishing patients with...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted accelerated approval to ceritinib (Zykadia) for patients with a metastatic anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-positive non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who were previously treated with crizotinib (Xalkori). Ceritinib is an ALK tyrosine...
A study investigating vitamin D status and prostate cancer diagnosis in high-risk men has found an association between vitamin D deficiency and aggressive prostate cancer. The study enrolled 667 men, ages 40 to 79 years, who were undergoing their first prostate biopsy following an abnormal...
Different mechanisms of carcinogenesis and molecular characteristics have been proposed for human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive and HPV-negative oropharyngeal carcinomas, and better outcomes have been observed in patients with HPV-positive tumors. Some experts advocate classification of the two as...
Researchers from the Abramson Cancer Center and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have employed a novel DNA vaccine that indirectly kills cancer cells by targeting a protein found in the tumor vasculature. The vaccine also indirectly creates an immune response to the ...
A new study has found that loss of paid employment after a diagnosis of early-stage breast cancer may be common and potentially related to the type of treatment patients received. Published early online in Cancer, the findings by Jagsi et al support efforts to reduce the side effects and burden of...
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...
As part of its implementation of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act signed by the President in 2009, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today proposed a new rule that would extend the agency’s tobacco authority to cover additional tobacco products. ...
OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals, Inc, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Fast Track designation to the investigation of custirsen (OGX-011) when administered in combination with cabazitaxel (Jevtana Kit)/prednisone for the treatment of men with metastatic...
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,...
In female patients undergoing breast cancer lumpectomies, intraoperative frozen section margin assessment has been shown to decrease overall reoperation rates, according to the results of a study reported by Boughey et al in the journal Surgery. This finding may lead to lower health-care costs, a...
Most drugs used to treat lung, breast, and pancreatic cancers also promote drug resistance and ultimately spur tumor growth. Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine have discovered a biomarker called CD61 on the surface of drug-resistant tumors that may be...
Antibiotic monotherapy is considered standard in empiric therapy in febrile neutropenic cancer patients, but the approach may be insufficient given the increase in infections due to multidrug-resistant microorganisms. Tigecycline (Tygacil), the first in a new class of glycylcycline antibiotics, has ...
In a prospective cohort study reported in JAMA Internal Medicine, Li et al found that recent and ever use of sildenafil for erectile dysfunction was associated with increased risk of subsequent melanoma, but not squamous cell or basal cell carcinoma. The RAS/RAF/MAPK and ERK kinase/ERK cascade is...
A common genetic variant that affects one in three people appears to significantly increase the risk of colorectal cancer from the consumption of processed meat, according to a study published today in PLOS Genetics by Figueiredo et al. The study of over 18,000 people from the United States,...
Although doctors have long known that people with Down syndrome have a heightened risk of developing acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) during childhood, they haven’t been able to explain why. In a new study published online in Nature Genetics, Lane et al tracked the genetic chain of events...
Pulmonary nodules are common and many more will be found with implementation of lung cancer screening. In a retrospective cohort study reported in JAMA Internal Medicine, Wiener et al found that patients with pulmonary nodules were at high risk of both underevaluation and overevaluation for cancer, ...
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 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...
Scientists have identified two unlikely partners found in macrophages that work together in response to cancer drugs to increase inflammation in a way that may alter tumor growth. The study by Lowe et al was published in Cancer Research. These partners are the p53 protein that suppresses tumors...
In a study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Park et al examined single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with other cancers for potential associations with lung cancer. They found that the breast cancer SNP LSP1 rs3817198 was associated with significant risk 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...