The Program Chairs of the 2013 CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, which will be held December 10–14, 2013, have highlighted what they consider to be the most important abstracts to be presented at the Symposium. In a telebriefing in advance of the December meeting, C. Kent...
In a study reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Stéphanie Hoppe, PhD, of Institut Bergonié in Bordeaux, France, and colleagues assessed functional status in older patients with cancer receiving first-line chemotherapy using the Activities of Daily Living (ADL) scale. Clinically...
Although nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as aspirin have been shown to be protective against colorectal cancer and are associated with reduced disease recurrence and improved outcome, they are also associated with toxicities that limit their use in therapy. Recent data suggest that the...
ASCO and the College of American Pathologists (CAP) today issued a joint, updated guideline to improve the accuracy and reporting of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) testing in patients with invasive breast cancer. The six-recommendation guideline is based on a systematic review of...
Rural cancer survivors aged 65 or older were 66% more likely to forgo routine follow-up health care and 54% more likely to forgo dental care because of cost, compared with their urban counterparts, according to a study by Nynikka Palmer, DrPH, MPH, Post-doctoral Fellow in the Department of Social...
Scientific data suggest that a woman reduces her risk of breast cancer by breastfeeding, having multiple children, and giving birth at a younger age. However, a study led by the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, indicates that women of Mexican descent may not fit that profile. ...
New research shows that children with an inherited genetic defect in a critical anti-inflammatory pathway have a genetic predisposition to lymphoma. Results of the study, published online today in Blood, reveal an important association between the genetic defect, which causes chronic intestinal...
Although, historically, white women aged 40 years and older have had the highest incidence rates of breast cancer, the rising rate of breast cancer among African American women—especially among women aged 50 to 59—is narrowing the gap, according to a study by American Cancer Society...
There is no consensus on the value of routine prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening. Weighing in on this issue, investigators presented a study at the European Cancer Congress 2013 in Amsterdam (Abstract 1481) suggesting that population-based PSA screening does more harm than good. The...
Use of existing, well-established hypertension drugs could improve the outcome of cancer chemotherapy by opening up collapsed blood vessels in solid tumors. In a report published in Nature Communications, investigators from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) described how the angiotensin...
Results of the phase III TH3RESA trial show that the antibody-conjugate ado-trastuzumab (Kadcyla, previously known as T-DM1) extends progression-free survival in women with advanced HER2-positive breast cancer that progressed on two or more previous HER2-directed therapies including trastuzumab...
For the first time, an immunotherapy shows promise in smokers with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The engineered monoclonal antibody MPDL3280A achieved encouraging and durable responses in a phase I study in metastatic NSCLC in smokers and nonsmokers, and with squamous and adenocarcinoma ...
Men with advanced prostate cancer are now living longer than ever, and it is estimated that one in six U.S. men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime. However, little research has been conducted to understand the psychosocial needs of these men and their caregivers after...
According to an analysis of the Women’s Health Initiative, continuous combined use of estrogen plus progestin reduces the risk of endometrial cancer among postmenopausal women. The study was reported at the European Cancer Congress 2013 in Amsterdam (Abstract LBA13) by Rowan Chlebowski, MD,...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today granted accelerated approval to pertuzumab (Perjeta) in combination with trastuzumab (Herceptin) and docetaxel for patients with early-stage breast cancer in the neoadjuvant setting. Pertuzumab is the first FDA-approved drug for the neoadjuvant...
Cancer cells are known to have short telomeres, but just how short they are from cancer cell to cancer cell may be a determining factor in a prostate cancer patient's prognosis, according to a study led by scientists at Johns Hopkins. "Doctors are looking for new ways to accurately predict...
A bioinformatics approach to repurposing drugs resulted in identification of a class of antidepressants as a potential new treatment for small cell lung cancer, according to a study published in Cancer Discovery. Based on data generated using bioinformatics, two drugs approved by the U.S. Food and ...
Protecting the stem cells that reside in and around the hippocampus substantially reduces the rate of cancer patients' memory loss during whole-brain radiotherapy without a significant risk of recurrence in that area of the brain, a new study shows. Results of the phase II clinical trial of...
A new study from researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Proton Therapy Center found that the use of feeding tubes in patients with oropharyngeal cancer treated with intensity modulated proton therapy decreased by more than 50% compared to patients treated with intensity modulated...
New results from a large retrospective study of the National Cancer Institute’s SEER database, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, show that patients with cancer who were married at the time of diagnosis live markedly longer compared to unmarried patients. Researchers also found...
According to a study published in The Lancet Oncology, abiraterone acetate (Zytiga) taken in conjunction with prednisone significantly delays progression of pain and quality of life deterioration in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. The study was led by Ethan Basch, MD,...
Aurora A kinase is overexpressed in aggressive lymphomas and may correlate with more histologically aggressive forms of disease. In a phase II study reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Jonathan W. Friedberg, MD, of University of Rochester Wilmot Cancer Center, and colleagues assessed the...
When treated with stereotactic radiosurgery that is not combined with whole-brain radiotherapy, adult brain cancer patients who were 50 years old and younger were found to have improved survival, according to research presented on Sunday, September 22, at the American Society for Radiation...
When used to treat pediatric patients with intracranial malignant tumors, proton therapy may limit the toxicity of radiation therapy while preserving tumor control, according to research presented on Sunday, September 22, at the American Society for Radiation Oncology’s 55th Annual Meeting...
A large study assessing glomerular function in adult survivors of childhood cancers who were treated with certain chemotherapy drugs or kidney surgery found that they had worse kidney function, which did not recover over time, compared with adult survivors who were not given nephrotoxic therapy....
Mindfulness-based cancer recovery was shown in to be superior to supportive-expressive group therapy decreasing symptoms of stress and improving overall quality of life and social support among survivors of stage I to III breast cancer who were distressed, according to a study reported in Journal...
Researchers have discovered why multiple myeloma frequently recurs after an initially effective treatment that can keep the disease at bay for up to several years. The study, published in Cancer Cell, was a collaboration between researchers at Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto, Mayo Clinic in...
In an analysis reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Frank A. Sinicrope, MD, of the Mayo Clinic and North Central Cancer Treatment Group (NCCTG), and colleagues investigated the association of deficient DNA mismatch repair with prognosis in patients with stage III colon cancer treated with...
Patients with metastatic colorectal cancer that harbors KRAS mutations in exon 2 do not benefit from anti-EGFR therapy. However, other activating RAS mutations may predict poorer outcome with anti-EGFR therapy. In an analysis reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Jean-Yves Douillard,...
New research shows that microRNA-486 (miR-486) is a potent tumor-suppressor molecule in lung cancer, and that it helps regulate the proliferation and migration of lung cancer cells, as well as the induction of apoptosis in those cells. Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of...
Young women with breast cancer may overestimate the risk that cancer will occur in their other healthy breast and decide to undergo contralateral prophylactic mastectomy, a survey conducted by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute investigators indicated. The survey also shows that many patients may opt for ...
According to new research at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute a gene encoding the enzyme phosphoinositide-dependent kinase-1 (PDK1) plays an essential role in the development and progression of melanoma. The finding, published online in Oncogene, may offer insight toward a new approach to ...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized the marketing of the UroLift system, a permanent implant to relieve low or blocked urine flow in men age 50 and older with benign prostatic hyperplasia. As men age, the prostate can become enlarged, also known as benign prostatic hyperplasia....
Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc, has announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Breakthrough Therapy designation to volasertib, an investigational inhibitor of polo-like kinase (Plk), which being evaluated for the treatment of patients aged 65 or older with...
In an exploratory analysis of long-term survival data from the GeparTrio trial reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Gunter von Minckwitz, MD, of the German Breast Group in Neu-Isenburg, and colleagues found that response-guided neoadjuvant chemotherapy appears to improve disease-free survival...
A new plasma biomarker, isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 (IDH1), has been shown to be more sensitive in detecting non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) than currently used biomarkers, including CEA, Cyfra21-1, and CA125, according to a study published in Clinical Cancer Research. The study by Jie He,...
A comparison of three methods of predicting the risk of recurrence in women treated for estrogen-receptor–positive breast cancer found that only the breast cancer index (BCI)—a biomarker based on the expression levels of seven tumor-specific genes—accurately identified patients...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) voted 13 to 0, with one abstention, in favor of recommending accelerated approval of a pertuzumab (Perjeta) regimen for neoadjuvant treatment in patients with high-risk, HER2-positive, early-stage breast...
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, the manufacturer of ipilimumab (Yervoy), released results from its phase III randomized double-blind study investigating the drug in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. The study findings show that ipilimumab, a monoclonal antibody that blocks the ...
A study by researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital found that brachytherapy was associated with better cause-specific survival and overall survival in women with cervical cancer. The population-based analysis also revealed geographic disparities and decline in brachytherapy treatment in the...
A family of microRNAs (miR-200) blocks cancer progression and metastasis by stifling a tumor’s ability to weave new blood vessels to support itself, researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center reported in Nature Communications. Patients with lung, ovarian, kidney, or...
In a keynote lecture during the 2013 Breast Cancer Symposium breast cancer expert and ASCO Past President George Sledge, MD, offered five predictions for the future of the medical management of breast cancer. Dr. Sledge is now Chief of Oncology at Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto,...
Syndax Pharmaceuticals Inc today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has designated entinostat as a Breakthrough Therapy for the treatment of locally recurrent or metastatic estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer when added to exemestane in postmenopausal women whose...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced class-wide safety labeling changes and new postmarketing study requirements for all extended-release and long-acting opioid analgesics intended to treat pain. “The FDA is invoking its authority to require safety labeling changes and ...
For the first time, a genetic link specific to risk of childhood leukemia has been identified, according to a team of researchers from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, University of Washington, and other institutions. The discovery was reported...
Larry Norton, MD, of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, is the recipient of the 2013 Gianni Bonadonna Breast Cancer Award, which he received at the 2013 Breast Cancer Symposium. The Symposium is sponsored by ASCO, the American Society of Breast Surgeons, the American Society of Radiation...
A new analysis has found that most deaths from breast cancer occur in younger women who do not receive regular mammograms. Published early online in Cancer, the study indicates that regular screening before age 50 should be encouraged. The use of mammograms to prevent breast cancer deaths has been ...
After neoadjuvant chemotherapy, 41% of early breast cancer patients experienced a change in status for the estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, or HER2 oncogene, researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center reported at the 2013 Breast Cancer Symposium in San Francisco...
German investigators reported at the 2013 Breast Cancer Symposium in San Francisco that an abridged magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) protocol can accurately detect cancers among women whose mammographic screenings were negative (Abstract 1). MRI, therefore, may reveal the type of tumor that...
Colin McCowan, PhD, of the University of Glasgow, and colleagues analyzed the prescription records of 1,263 women with breast cancer between 1993 and 2000 to determine how often they took their prescription of adjuvant tamoxifen following surgery and for how long. Women who filled less than 80% of...