A cohort study of 2,238 men who were evaluated for infertility at a clinic in Texas from 1989 to 2009 found that those men who had azoospermia, a condition in which no measurable sperm is present, had a 2.2-fold higher cancer risk compared with those who were nonazoospermic. The study was published ...
Among men who had undergone radical prostatectomy, daily consumption of a beverage powder supplement containing soy protein isolate for 2 years did not reduce or delay development of biochemical recurrence of prostate cancer compared to men who received placebo, according to a study in the July 10...
New evidence suggests that using advanced genetics technologies to monitor for remaining cancer cells after treatment may soon become an effective tool to inform treatment decisions and ultimately predict patient outcomes for patients with a particularly aggressive form of acute lymphocytic...
Nearly half the surgical procedures for sarcoma done at 85 academic medical centers were performed by surgeons untrained in oncology, according to national data analyzed by researchers from the University of California Davis Medical Center, Sacramento. Orthopedic oncologists and surgical...
The International Myeloma Working Group (IMWG) has developed clinical practice recommendations for the management of multiple myeloma–related bone disease based on published study data through August 2012. Consensus of the interdisciplinary panel of clinical experts on the plasma-cell...
The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) issued a newly updated clinical practice guideline today on pharmacologic prevention interventions for premenopausal and postmenopausal women who are at increased risk for breast cancer. Compared to the previous version of the guideline, this third...
Although aspirin and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) have been shown to reduce cancer mortality by 20%, exactly why these drugs reduce the number of cancer incidences and deaths is not known. Now, a small longitudinal study of 13 patients with Barrett’s esophagus is...
The growth rates and clinical importance of small colorectal polyps have not been well established. In a study reported in Lancet Oncology, Perry J. Pickhardt, MD, of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, and colleagues found that volumetric growth rate on computed...
A new analysis has found that among patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), African Americans more commonly present with advanced disease and tend to have shorter survival times than Caucasians despite receiving the same care. The results, published early online in Cancer, suggest that...
Most cancers occur more frequently in men than in women and greater height has been associated with increased risk for some cancers. In a study reported in Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Roland B. Walter, MD, PhD, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and colleagues found that...
Smokers and single men are more likely to acquire oncogenic oral human papillomavirus (HPV), according to new results from the HPV Infection in Men (HIM) Study. Researchers from Moffitt Cancer Center, the National Cancer Institute, Mexico, and Brazil also reported that newly acquired oral HPV...
A jointly signed letter by ASCO and more than 50 other cancer and health-care organizations to the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Kathleen Sebelius and Acting Secretary of the Department of Labor (DOL) Seth D. Harris asks that they provide clear federal regulations and guidance on...
Although patients with early-stage type I endometrial cancer have very good prognosis, a substantial proportion experience recurrence and die from the disease. In a study published in Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Alain G. Zeimet, MD, PhD, of Innsbruck Medical University, Austria, and...
The rapid increase in papillary thyroid cancer in the United States may not be linked to increase in occurrence, but instead may be linked to an increase in the diagnosis of precancerous conditions and to a person's insurance status, according to a study published online in Thyroid. "This [study]...
A biomarker reflecting expression levels of two genes in tumor tissue may be able to predict which women treated for estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer should receive a second estrogen-blocking medication after completing tamoxifen treatment. In a report published online in the Journal...
Single-agent apixaban (Eliquis) may simplify the treatment of patients with acute venous thromboembolism, according to a new study published online in The New England Journal of Medicine. In the phase III AMPLIFY trial, the oral factor Xa inhibitor anticoagulant was found to be as effective as ...
Arm lymphedema affects approximately 30% of breast cancer survivors, with rates increasing with longer follow-up and cases presenting well beyond the active treatment period. Lymphedema is observed even with use of less-invasive surgical techniques for staging, and risk is further increased by such ...
Investigators in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) Research Network have uncovered a connection between how tumor cells use energy from metabolic processes and the aggressiveness of the most common form of kidney cancer, clear cell renal cell carcinoma. Their findings demonstrate that normal...
Recurrence of melanoma skin cancer 10 or more years after initial treatment is more common than previously thought, occurring in more than 1 in 20 patients. However, according to a new study, these patients tend to live longer after their cancer returns than patients whose melanoma recurs in the...
A study using a novel “co-clinical” approach that integrates data from hundreds of genetically engineered mouse models with clinical data from tissue samples of hundreds of patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer, has identified several molecular pathways underlying...
A study of more than 1,800 men aged 52 to 62 suggests that African Americans diagnosed with very low-risk prostate cancers are much more likely than white men to actually have aggressive disease that goes unrecognized with current diagnostic approaches. Although prior studies have found it safe to...
Melanoma is the third most common cancer among adolescents and young adults, but few studies have explored the survival differences by sex in this population. A new study published in JAMA Dermatology sought to determine whether long-term survival varied between white male and female...
According to a review of studies examining the impact of isoflavones in soyfoods on breast cancer risk, clinical evidence indicates that exposure to isoflavones, which are classified as both phytoestrogens and selective estrogen receptor modulators, has little effect on the markers of breast cancer ...
In two large studies, the association between aspirin use and risk of colorectal cancer was affected by BRAF mutation status, with regular aspirin use associated with a lower risk of BRAF wild-type colorectal cancer but not with risk of BRAF-mutated cancer. The findings, published today in JAMA,...
Use of advanced treatment technologies for prostate cancer, such as intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) and robotic prostatectomy, has increased among men with low-risk disease, high risk of noncancer mortality, or both, a population of patients who are unlikely to benefit from these...
Postmenopausal women who follow at least five Recommendations for Cancer Prevention from the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) cut their risk of developing breast cancer by more than half, compared to those who meet none, suggests a new study that adds to previous research showing...
Durable remissions are uncommon with current treatments for relapsed chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) is an essential component of B-cell receptor signaling that mediates interactions with the tumor microenvironment and promotes survival and proliferation of...
Researchers have found that antibodies against the human papillomavirus (HPV) may help identify individuals who are at greatly increased risk of HPV-related cancer of the oropharynx, In their study, at least one in three individuals with oropharyngeal cancer had antibodies to HPV, compared to...
A study by the Spanish Myeloma Group comparing the prognostic value of traditional response criteria and minimal residual disease measurement in patients with multiple myeloma found that a sequencing-based method called LymphoSIGHT and multiparameter flow cytometry analysis both accurately...
It has been shown that CD4 and CD8 tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in follicular lymphoma have impaired function and suppressed recruitment of critical signaling proteins to the immunologic synapse, and a number of studies have indicated the prognostic importance of the immune microenvironment in...
A new government study investigating the prevalence of human papillomavirus (HPV) infections in females aged 14 to 59 before and after the introduction in 2006 of the HPV vaccine found that the rate of the HPV infection dropped by 56%, decreasing from 11.5% in 2006 to 5.1% in 2010 among female...
A combination of the myxoma virus and the immune suppressant rapamycin can kill glioblastoma multiforme, the most common and deadliest malignant brain tumor, according to new research published in Neuro-Oncology. Study lead author Peter A. Forsyth, MD, Chair of the Neuro-oncology Program at Moffitt ...
Although overall mortality rates due to single primary melanomas and multiple primary melanomas appear to be similar, relative mortality for thicker single primary melanomas appears to be greater than that for thicker multiple primary melanomas, according to a study by Anne Kricker, PhD, of the...
Mutations and amplifications in the KIT oncogene have been identified in mucosal and acral melanomas and in melanomas arising on chronically sun-damaged skin. In a multicenter phase II study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, F. Stephen Hodi, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and...
This month, an international group of over 70 research and health-care organizations, academic centers, and medical societies, including ASCO, signed a letter of intent to form a global alliance to make medicine more effective by consolidating the world’s databases of genomic information. The ...
Available data suggest that patients with stage II/III colon cancer receive similar benefit from intravenous fluorouracil (5-FU) adjuvant therapy regardless of age. Combination regimens and oral fluoropyrimidine therapy are now standard treatments in this setting. Nadine J. McCleary, MD, MPH, and...
Various studies have suggested that acetyl-L-carnitine, a natural compound involved in neuronal protection, may be effective in preventing and treating sensory neuropathy. Dawn L. Hershman, MD, MS, of Columbia University Medical Center, and colleagues recently assessed whether daily...
The promotion of accountable care organizations, a crucial element in the Affordable Care Act, may result in liability risks, asserted authors H. Benjamin Harvey, MD, JD, a radiologist in the Department of Radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital, and I. Glenn Cohen, JD, Assistant Professor of...
Genomic heterogeneity within tumors and among lesions varies widely, and “discordance among lesions could lead to the selection of the ‘incorrect’ targeted inhibitor,” according to David B. Solit, MD, of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, who spoke at the ASCO/American...
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has announced that it will no longer accept investigator-initiated R01 and P01 applications that propose phase III clinical trials for cancer-related medical interventions or cancer imaging modalities. The policy change takes effect starting with the due date of...
A new molecular pathway involving the gene ZNF365 has been identified, and abnormalities in that pathway may predict worse outcomes for patients with breast cancer, according to data published in Cancer Discovery, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. “Genomic...
A drug approved in Europe to treat osteoporosis has now been shown to stop the growth of breast cancer cells, even in cancers that have become resistant to current targeted therapies, according to a study presented at the Endocrine Society’s 95th Annual Meeting in San Francisco. The findings ...
A study led by researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James) has identified an abnormal metabolic pathway that drives cancer cell growth in a particular glioblastoma...
A protein used by embryo cells during early development, and recently found in many different types of cancer, may serve as a switch regulating metastasis, according to researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center. The findings were ...
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Thursday that isolated human genes may not be patented. However, the creation of synthetic forms of DNA, known as complementary DNA (cDNA), is eligible for patent protection. The decision resolves the question brought before the Supreme Court justices in...
Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in or near the genes ZNF423 and CTSO were associated with breast cancer risk among women who underwent prevention therapy with tamoxifen and raloxifene, according to data published in Cancer Discovery, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. ...
A study from the University of Colorado Cancer Center shows that the ALK and ROS1 gene rearrangements known to drive subsets of lung cancer are also present in some colorectal cancers. Results imply that drugs used to target ALK and ROS1 in lung cancer may also have applications in this subset of...
An Indiana University cancer researcher and his Canadian collaborator have discovered how normal breast precursor cells may be genetically vulnerable to developing into cancer. David Gilley, PhD, Associate Professor of Medical and Molecular Genetics at the IU School of Medicine and a researcher at ...
A workforce shortage of geriatricians and other health professionals trained and certified in caring for older patients with cancer is colliding with the aging of the population and the increasing number of older Americans with cancer. After describing factors contributing to these dual challenges, ...
A new study from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute may help clinicians and drug researchers choose the most promising genetic targets to attack in a common type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The report, published in the June 10 issue of Cancer Cellprovides a new, “big picture” view of an...