A randomized phase III study by Borghaei et al evaluating the efficacy and safety of nivolumab (Opdivo) vs docetaxel in patients with advanced nonsquamous non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) after failure of platinum-based chemotherapy has found that nivolumab improved overall survival, 12.2...
In a randomized phase II trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Hurwitz et al found no significant survival benefit of adding the JAK1/JAK2 inhibitor ruxolitinib (Jakafi) to capecitabine in patients with advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma who had treatment failure with gemcitabine....
Overall survival data from a phase II study, reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Ellis et al, suggest a benefit of first-line fulvestrant (Faslodex) vs anastrozole in postmenopausal women with estrogen receptor–positive advanced breast cancer. The study protocol was amended to...
Cytology-based screening has led to substantial declines in cervical cancer incidence and mortality since it was introduced in the 1940s. A population-based, cost-effective analysis investigating the benefits, costs, and cost-effectiveness of current cervical cancer screening practice, however, has ...
A phase III Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) trial (E1A060) comparing melphalan, prednisone, and thalidomide (Thalomid) (MPT-T) with melphalan, prednisone, and lenalidomide (Revlimid) (mPR-R) in elderly patients with untreated multiple myeloma found that at the end of the induction period, ...
Patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma treated with tyrosine kinase inhibitors in real-world clinical practice tend to be older and sicker than the patients enrolled in pivotal clinical trials of tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Conversely, patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma treated...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Tosoian et al, a prospective active surveillance program resulted in good intermediate/longer-term outcomes in men with favorable-risk prostate cancer. Study Details The program included 1,298 men with very-low-risk or low-risk disease enrolled...
In an interim analysis of the phase III PROLONG trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, van Oers et al found that maintenance therapy with ofatumumab (Arzerra) prolonged progression-free survival vs observation in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia in complete or partial remission after...
A rare form of skin cancer known as desmoplasmic melanoma may possess the highest burden of gene mutations of any cancer, suggesting that immunotherapy may be a promising approach for treatment, according to an international team led by University of California San Francisco (UCSF) scientists. One...
A study among patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with carboplatin-paclitaxel or carboplatin-paclitaxel-bevacizumab (Avastin) found that those receiving the bevacizumab combination were more likely to experience a toxicity event but were less likely to be...
In a phase III trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Demetri et al found that treatment with trabectedin significantly improved progression-free survival vs dacarbazine in patients with advanced liposarcoma or leiomyosarcoma after prior conventional chemotherapy. Interim analysis of...
Adjuvant radiation therapy may be omitted for elderly women with estrogen receptor–positive, early-stage breast cancer who receive hormone therapy. Limited data exist to guide treatment decision-making for elderly women with triple-negative breast cancer. As some findings thus far have shown...
A new retrospective analysis explored local recurrence rates for women with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) treated between 1978 and 2010. In the research (Abstract 32) by Van Zee et al, to be presented September 25 at the 2015 Breast Cancer Symposium, in San Francisco, investigators evaluated a...
Men with unfavorable-risk prostate cancer and moderate or severe comorbidities had significantly decreased overall and cardiac mortality when treated with radiotherapy alone vs radiotherapy and androgen-deprivation therapy, according to a study described in a research letter in JAMA. In the letter, ...
Voriconazole, commonly used to prevent and treat fungal infections in lung transplant recipients, significantly increases the risk for cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma in this population, according to a new study by University of California San Francisco researchers. The team recommends physicians ...
In a phase III trial (Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group-American College of Radiology Imaging Network Cancer Research Group E4697 trial) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Lawson et al found no relapse-free or overall survival benefit with adjuvant yeast-derived granulocyte-macrophage...
In a phase I/II trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Lokhorst et al found that the CD38-targeting human IgG1κ monoclonal antibody daratumumab had an acceptable safety profile and produced durable responses in relapsed multiple myeloma. Study Details In the dose-escalation...
In a study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Yoon et al found that among patients with stage III colon cancer in the Alliance N0147 trial, Asians had the lowest rate of BRAF/KRAS mutations and longer disease-free survival vs whites among patients with N2 disease and that...
Obesity increases the risk for overall and breast cancer mortality and comorbidity. As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Rock et al, the Exercise and Nutrition to Enhance Recovery and Good Health for You (ENERGY) study has shown that a group-based behavioral intervention can produce...
In the first trial of the University of Pennsylvania's personalized cellular therapy for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), 8 of 14 patients responded to the therapy, with some complete remissions continuing past 4.5 years. These results, published by Porter et al in Science Translational...
Treating patients with metastatic melanoma with the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab (Keytruda) caused immune cells called CD8-positive T cells in the patient’s blood to express markers of reinvigoration, according to data being presented at the CRI-CIMT-EATI-AACR International Cancer...
An engineered high-affinity programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) small protein that can bind to PD-L1 (PD-1 ligand) on tumors was found to be a more effective anticancer immunotherapeutic than conventional anti–PD-L1 antibodies, and this small protein was more effective in synergizing with...
Among patients with metastatic melanoma treated with the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab (Keytruda), those whose cancer responded to the treatment had a higher frequency of T cells that were positive for the proteins CD8, PD-1, and Bim (CD8+PD-1+Bim+ T cells) in blood samples taken immediately...
A small phase I/IIa study of third-generation CD19 CAR (chimeric-antigen receptor) T-cell therapy combined with chemotherapy pretreatment has resulted in complete responses in 6 of the 11 patients with relapsed or refractory lymphoma and leukemia enrolled in the study. Although CAR T-cell...
Changing the infusion delivery method of the monoclonal antibody ch14.18/CHO (dinutuximab-beta, the European counterpart of dinutuximab [Unituxin]) in combination with interleukin-2 and oral 13-cis-retinoic acid from short-term infusion to long-term infusion in the treatment of children with...
Among patients with clinically stage I or stage II melanoma, those treated with the immune system–boosting agent CpG-B were less likely to experience recurrence of their disease than those who received placebo, according to results from two randomized, placebo-controlled phase II clinical...
For children with rare, aggressive, and advanced cancer, precision medicine may help doctors determine their best treatment options, a new study found. Using information from a patient's entire genome helped to suggest personalized treatment options for nearly half of children with cancer and...
In a retrospective cohort study reported in JAMA Surgery, Grenda et al found higher mortality and higher failure to rescue rates in patients undergoing lung resection at hospitals with high vs low mortality rates in major cancer resections. Study Details In the study, hospitals with the lowest...
In a study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Petersdorf et al found a greater risk of acute graft-vs-host disease among hematopoietic cell transplant recipients with the high-expression rs9277534G allele linked to mismatched HLA-DPB1 who received transplants from donors with the...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) 2015 Cancer Progress Report highlighted the accelerated pace of the number of U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved targeted therapies over the past 5 years, which reached 52 this year; the dramatic increase in the 5-year survival rate...
In the phase III STORM trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Bruix et al found no benefit with adjuvant sorafenib (Nexavar) treatment in patients who had undergone resection or ablation for hepatocellular carcinoma. Study Details In this double-blind trial, 1,114 patients from 202 sites in 28...
In a Japanese phase II trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Hamanishi et al found that the anti–PD-1 (programmed cell death protein 1) antibody nivolumab (Opdivo) was active in patients with relapsed or advanced platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. Study Details In the study,...
In a study reported in JAMA, Klco et al found that persistence of leukemia-associated mutations in ≥ 5% of bone marrow cells at remission predicted poorer outcome among patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), including those with intermediate-risk disease. Study Details In the study,...
A new statistical model may help predict which patients are most likely to receive life-extending benefits from surgical treatment for malignant pleural mesothelioma, according to a report published by Leuzzi et al in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery. Malignant pleural mesothelioma is an aggressive...
In a phase II study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Atkins et al found that combined treatment with the recombinant peptide-Fc fusion protein trebananib and the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibitor sunitinib (Sutent) was active in metastatic renal cell cancer and...
In two phase II studies reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Tiacci et al found that the BRAF inhibitor vemurafenib (Zelboraf) produced responses in nearly all patients with BRAF V600E–positive hairy cell leukemia who relapsed after treatment with a purine analog or who had...
About 20% of patients with colorectal cancer have cancers that have metastasized beyond the colon at the time of their diagnosis, with the liver being the most common site for these metastases. The approach to treating primary tumors within the colon and metastatic tumors in the liver continues to...
A genetic test that helps predict whether some women’s breast cancer will recur might influence how chemotherapy is used, according to a study from Duke Medicine. The study found that low-risk patients who had the test appeared to opt for more treatment, and high-risk patients who were...
Gianni Bonadonna, MD, was considered the “Father of Italian Oncology,” but his scientific contributions to the field and his generous collegial spirit extended far beyond the shores of his native land. Dr. Bonadonna was at the forefront in the battle to convince the surgical...
Analysis of a large phase III trial (S0819) suggested that adding the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-targeting monoclonal antibody cetuximab (Erbitux) to chemotherapy benefits survival in patients with squamous cell non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with tumors positive...
Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations are one of the most common driver oncogenes in lung cancer, typified by high response rates when treated with tyrosine kinase inhibitors and median progression-free survival of 10 months, commonly due to emergence of T790M. The genomic...
Previously, researchers reporting on the SQUIRE study demonstrated that the addition of necitumumab to gemcitabine-cisplatin improved overall survival in patients with stage IV squamous non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Following up on these findings, Fred R. Hirsch, MD, PhD,...
Adding the monoclonal antibody bevacizumab (Avastin) to chemotherapy for patients with surgically removed non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) did not improve overall survival, according to research (Abstract PLEN04.03) presented at the 16th World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC) in Denver,...
Smoking cessation among patients enrolled in a low-dose computed tomography screening program is associated with a three- to five-time reduction in mortality, according to research (Abstract PLEN04.07) presented at the 16th World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC) in Denver, Colorado. The Conference...
In a dose-escalation phase I study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Reid et al found that RRx-001, a representative of a new class of compounds called dinitroazetidines (sourced from the aerospace industry) that act on the tumor microenvironment, had activity in advanced cancers and a promising...
Genentech announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted the company’s New Drug Application (NDA) and granted Priority Review for alectinib, an oral investigational anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) inhibitor, for the treatment of people with ALK-positive,...
Two phase III studies of anamorelin found that the medication effectively combats wasting and increases body weight and lean body mass in certain patients with lung cancer. Results (Abstract ORAL29.01) from the ROMANA 1 and ROMANA 2 phase III trials of anamorelin were presented at the 16th...
Every hour lost to the cancer drug regulatory process costs 29 life-years lost in the United States and 260 life-years worldwide, according to research (Abstract ORAL12.05) presented on September 7 at the 16th World Conference on Lung Cancer hosted by the International Association of the...
In an updated analysis of the Italian phase III TRIBE trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Cremolini et al found that FOLFOXIRI (fluorouracil [5-FU], leucovorin, oxaliplatin, irinotecan) plus bevacizumab (Avastin) significantly prolonged overall survival in patients with unresectable metastatic...
In a phase II trial (Cancer and Leukemia Group B 50401/Alliance) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Leonard et al found that the addition of rituximab (Rituxan) to lenalidomide (Revlimid) produced a higher response rate and longer time to progression than lenalidomide alone in patients...