Disparities in outcomes for children with retinoblastoma suggest unequal access to primary care, researchers from Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center reported in a study published by Truong et al in JAMA Pediatrics. Although virtually all the children in the study...
Determining the answer to a simple question, “Would you be surprised if this patient died within the next year?” can be an important tool to help predict which patients with cancer may be in their final year of life, according to the findings from a study by Vick et al. The tool, known...
In a randomized phase IIb trial reported in JAMA Oncology, Chawla et al found that aldoxorubicin—a novel albumin-binding prodrug of doxorubicin—produced longer progression-free survival than doxorubicin as first-line treatment for metastatic or locally advanced unresectable soft-tissue...
A study evaluating the effects of bariatric surgery on obese women most at risk for cancer has found that the weight-loss surgery slashed participants' weight by one-third and eliminated precancerous uterine growths in those who had them. Other effects included improving patients' physical quality...
The latest results from a trial of a combination of two targeted therapies (dabrafenib [Tafinlar] and trametinib [Mekinist]) to treat advanced melanoma have shown that patients are living significantly longer on the combined therapy than patients treated with vemurafenib (Zelboraf) alone. Caroline...
At the 2015 European Cancer Congress in Vienna, Austria, early results were announced (Abstract 21LBA) from a pivotal phase II study, IMvigor 210, of the investigational cancer immunotherapy atezolizumab (anti–PD-L1; MPDL3280A) in people with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial...
In a study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Sundström et al found that women co-infected with high-risk and low-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) had reduced risk of squamous cervical cancer (SCC), but not cancer in situ (CIS) compared with women with high-risk HPV...
An international team of researchers has shown that the use of the mTOR inhibitor everolimus can delay tumor growth among both gastrointestinal and lung neuroendocrine tumors. This is particularly important for patients with lung tumors, the researchers say, because there is currently no approved...
Results from a multicenter randomized international trial of an innovative treatment show a marked improvement in the length of time patients with midgut neuroendocrine tumors experience progression-free survival, researchers reported at the 2015 European Cancer Congressin Vienna, Austria, on...
Millions of people are unable to receive necessary treatment worldwide because of a chronic underinvestment in radiotherapy resources, according to a major new Commission on access to radiotherapy, published in by Atun et al in The Lancet Oncology, and presented at the 2015 European Cancer Congress ...
First results from the largest international comparison of the treatment of elderly patients with breast cancer have shown substantial differences in the use of surgery, hormone therapy, and chemotherapy among European countries. The European Registration of Cancer Care (EURECCA) study compared the ...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Landier et al found that education tailored to personal risk for therapy-related complications improved risk awareness in survivors of childhood cancer. The level of awareness appeared to reach a maximum after several educational sessions....
Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is an aggressive disease that is difficult to treat and is frequently diagnosed only when it has metastasized. Five-year survival rates in SCLC, which accounts for about 14% of all lung cancers, are very low, at only 6%. Researchers presented novel findings (Abstract...
In a special session on cancer in pregnancy at the 2015 European Cancer Congress (Abstract 3205), Frédéric Amant, MD, PhD, said that new results from a study of 129 children, aged 1–3, born after prenatal exposure to cancer treatment, showed normal development of their...
Living in overcrowded conditions appears to protect children and young adults against developing a particular type of Hodgkin lymphoma. This protective effect seems to suggest that infections earlier in life may stimulate the immune system to deal with future infections and cancerous cells more...
Young women undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer may be more likely to remain fertile if they also receive hormonal treatment, according to new research (Abstract 1957) presented at the 2015 European Cancer Congress in Vienna, Austria, and published simultaneously by Lambertini et al in Annals ...
Over 80% of the 15 million people diagnosed with cancer worldwide in 2015 will need surgery, but less than one-quarter of them will have access to proper, safe, affordable surgical care when they need it, according to a major new Commission examining the state of global cancer surgery. The...
Aspirin improved survival in patients with tumors situated throughout the gastrointestinal tract, results from a large study in the Netherlands showed. This is the first time that survival data from patients with tumors in different gastrointestinal locations have been analyzed at the same time;...
Each year in Europe, 6,000 young people die from cancer, and two-thirds of those who survive suffer from treatment-related side effects. Although there has been considerable progress in the treatment of childhood cancers over the past few decades, and cancer in childhood is rare, these are major...
Patients with cancers of the mid and lower throat may have higher survival rates if their initial treatment includes surgery, according to new research (Abstract 2804) presented at the 2015 European Cancer Congress in Vienna, Austria. Researchers explained that a nationwide study in Taiwan found...
Comparisons of cancer patients’ survival and care in Europe up to 2007 showed that although more patients are surviving for at least 5 years after diagnosis, there are large variations among countries, which are particularly significant in cancers of the blood. Milena Sant, MD, from the...
Patients with advanced kidney cancer lived for nearly twice as long without their disease progressing if they were treated with cabozantinib (Cometriq), a drug that inhibits the action of tyrosine kinases. Toni Choueiri, MD, presented the research (Abstract 4LBA) at the Presidential Session of the...
In a phase I/II study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Corcoran et al found that the combination of the BRAF inhibitor dabrafenib (Tafinlar) and the MEK inhibitor trametinib (Mekinist) produced responses in some patients with BRAF V600–mutant metastatic colorectal cancer. MAPK...
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...
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...
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, ...
Women who are carriers of mutated BRCA genes are known to have a significantly higher risk for developing breast and ovarian cancers than those who do not have the mutations. A viewpoint published recently in JAMA Oncology by researchers at the University of California Los Angeles questioned...
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 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...
The number of men with breast cancer who undergo surgery to remove the unaffected breast has risen sharply, according to a new report by the American Cancer Society and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute researchers. The report, published by Jemal et al in JAMA Surgery, is the first to identify the...
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...
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...
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...
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 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...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Masters et al, ASCO has issued a clinical practice guideline update on systemic therapy for stage IV non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Recommendations are based on an update committee systematic review of randomized controlled trials...
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...
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,...
A large European study that combined both population-based and genomic techniques to investigate the heritability of testicular germ cell tumor has found that 48.9% of all the possible factors contributing to risk for the disease are inherited. Rather than being the result of one faulty gene,...
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...
The International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) issued a new statement on Tobacco Control and Smoking Cessation on September 7 at the 16th World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC) in Denver, Colorado. The statement calls for higher taxes on tobacco products; comprehensive...