Results from a multicenter phase II study of patients with locally advanced HER2-positive breast cancer who receive targeted therapy with trastuzumab (Herceptin) and lapatinib (Tykerb) “support the hypothesis that selected patients with HER2-positive tumors may not need...
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine, and University of Rochester Medical Center have identified a new mechanism that appears to suppress tumor growth, opening the possibility of developing a new class of anticancer drugs. The findings were published in this...
Novel abnormalities in the FGFR gene, called FGFR fusions, were identified in a spectrum of cancers, and preliminary results with cancer cells harboring FGFR fusions suggested that some patients with these cancers may benefit from treatment with FGFR inhibitor drugs, according to data published in...
A large randomized phase II study, GALAXY-1, found that a novel heat shock protein (Hsp) 90 inhibitor, ganetespib, when combined with docetaxel in second-line therapy, leads to longer overall survival compared to standard second-line docetaxel alone in patients with advanced lung adenocarcinoma...
A genomic profiling study of African American women with breast cancer found that about one in five carries an inherited abnormality in at least 1 of 18 genes associated with breast cancer susceptibility. Such mutations were more prevalent among women with aggressive triple-negative breast cancer,...
Low-dose weekly administration of paclitaxel resulted in equal progression-free survival but reduced overall toxicity compared to every-2-week dose-dense administration for women with higher-risk early-stage breast cancer who have undergone surgery, according to a phase III randomized trial....
A novel gene variant found in human and animal tissue may be a promising treatment for cancer, including breast and brain cancer, according to scientists from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. The variant, called PTEN-Long, may contribute to a cell’s healthy function and also...
A survey of 214 U.S. oncologists and hematologists found that more than 80% encountered cancer drug shortages between March and September of 2012, and many reported that shortages affected the quality of patient care they were able to provide. As physicians were forced to substitute more expensive...
Cervical cancer mortality was reduced by 31% over a period of 15 years among women screened with biennial visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA), or vinegar, delivered by primary health workers in a large randomized study conducted among 150,000 women in India. The researchers estimate this...
A randomized phase III study found that the targeted drug sorafenib (Nexavar) stalls disease progression by 5 months in patients with metastatic differentiated thyroid cancer that has progressed despite standard radioactive iodine therapy. If approved in this setting by the U.S. Food and Drug...
This year’s ASCO Annual Meeting was really exciting in two specific ways. First, we saw the development of high-tech novel therapies and combinations that effectively manipulate the immune system and extend survival in historically difficult-to-treat diseases, like metastatic melanoma (eg,...
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. Indication On May 29, 2013, trametinib (Mekinist) was...
The addition of everolimus (Afinitor), an mTOR inhibitor, to trastuzumab (Herceptin) and vinorelbine significantly extended progression-free survival in women with HER2-positive advanced breast cancer, compared to treatment with placebo plus trastuzumab and vinorelbine, in the phase III BOLERO-3...
A lack of clinical trials aimed specifically at younger patients with breast cancer could be partly to blame for their poor survival rates, according to a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Study Details The study analyzed 2,956 women diagnosed with breast cancer...
A new study by researchers Fox Chase Cancer Center has identified a disconnect between clinical trials that look at new treatments for metastatic pancreatic cancer and the patient population most likely to be diagnosed with the disease. Clinical trials typically enroll, and base their findings on,...
An Australian study has identified a subgroup of prostate cancer cells that survive androgen deprivation therapy and could contribute to prostate cancer recurrence. Previously unidentified, these cells are potential targets for future treatments. As they are present early in disease development,...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved two new drugs, dabrafenib (Tafinlar) and trametinib (Mekinist), for patients with advanced or unresectable melanoma, the most dangerous type of skin cancer. Dabrafenib, a BRAF inhibitor, is approved to treat patients with melanoma whose tumors...
Frequent heartburn was positively associated with cancers of the throat and vocal cord among nonsmokers and nondrinkers, and the use of antacids, but not prescription medications, had a protective effect, according to data published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of...
A new study on prostate cancer describes a novel class of drugs developed by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers that interrupts critical signaling needed for prostate cancer cells to grow. In men with advanced prostate cancer, growth of cancer cells depends on androgen receptor signaling,...
In order to support high-quality science, the European Hematology Association collaborates with 16 Scientific Working Groups (SWGs) and concentrates on fostering activities directed towards basic and translational research. In simultaneous sessions on Thursday, June 13, during the European...
Mayo Clinic researchers have used next-generation genomic analysis to determine that some of the more aggressive prostate cancer tumors have similar genetic origins, which may help in predicting cancer progression. The findings appear online today in the journal Cancer Research. Gleason Patterns...
Treating pediatric leukemia patients with a liposomal formulation of anthracycline-based chemotherapy at an intensified dose during initial treatment may result in high survival rates without causing any added heart toxicity, according to the results of a study published online in Blood, the...
A new clinical trial is testing whether targeting treatments to a genetic anomaly can lead to better treatments for castration-resistant metastatic prostate cancer. The trial, led by investigators at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, is being conducted at 11 sites throughout...
Beta-blockers, normally used for high blood pressure, could enhance the effectiveness of chemotherapies in treating neuroblastoma, according to a new study published today in the British Journal of Cancer. Early Results Promising Researchers from the Children’s Cancer Institute Australia...
A new measure of the heterogeneity of cells within a tumor appears to predict treatment outcomes of patients with the most common type of head and neck cancer. In the May 20 issue of the journal Cancer, investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Massachusetts Eye and Ear...
Positively charged gold nanoparticles are usually toxic to cells, but cancer cells somehow manage to avoid nanoparticle toxicity. Mayo Clinic researchers found out why and determined how to make the nanoparticles effective against ovarian cancer cells. The discovery is detailed in the current...
Hologic, Inc, announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the use of C-View, a new low-dose two-dimensional (2D) imaging software. C-View 2D images may now be used in place of the conventional 2D exposure previously required as part of Hologic’s FDA-approved...
A large study reports that the vast majority of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma relapses are detected based on symptoms, abnormal blood tests or abnormal findings on physical exam, suggesting that CT scans, which are currently a routine part of follow-up, may be unnecessary. Researchers found that...
A long-term study of men with stage I seminoma, a common form of testicular cancer, suggests that surveillance for cancer recurrence, rather than additional chemotherapy or radiation therapy, is sufficient for the vast majority of men who have undergone successful surgery for their cancer....
Results from a phase I study of a new oral targeted drug, idelalisib (GS-1101), show the agent has potential as a therapy for relapsed or treatment-resistant chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). The drug produced rapid and long-lasting tumor shrinkage in half of the patients treated with...
Results from a phase I study show that combination therapy with ipilimumab (Yervoy) and the investigational antibody drug nivolumab led to lasting tumor shrinkage in approximately half of patients with aggressive, advanced melanoma. The results will be presented at the 2013 ASCO Annual Meeting in...
A study has identified microRNA-155 as a new independent prognostic marker and treatment target in patients with cytogenetically normal acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The study was led by researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital...
On May 15, 2013, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved radium Ra 223 dichloride (Xofigo) for the treatment of patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer, symptomatic bone metastases, and no known visceral metastatic disease. Radium-223 dichloride is an...
Despite previous scientific studies suggesting that the diabetes drug metformin has anticancer properties, a new, first-of-its-kind study from Women’s College Hospital in Toronto has found the drug may not actually improve survival rates after breast cancer in certain patients. The study,...
A comprehensive genomic analysis of nearly 400 endometrial tumors suggests that certain molecular characteristics, such as the frequency of mutations, could complement current pathology methods and help distinguish between principal types of endometrial tumors, as well as provide insights into...
Researchers at Johns Hopkins have identified a gene that, when repressed in tumor cells, puts a halt to cell growth and a range of processes needed for tumors to enlarge and spread to distant sites. The researchers hope that this so-called “master regulator” gene may be the key to...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is alerting health-care professionals that the use of the incorrect nonproprietary name for the breast cancer drug Kadcyla (ado-trastuzumab emtansine, also known as T-DM1 during preapproval clinical trials) in some medication-related electronic systems...
Patients with advanced alveolar soft part sarcoma achieved some control of their disease using the experimental anticancer drug cediranib. The results from this largest clinical trial on alveolar soft part sarcoma to date were published online ahead of print on April 29, 2013, in the Journal of...
Postmenopausal women aged 55 to 75 with early-stage breast cancer can be safely treated with breast-conserving surgery without postoperative radiation therapy, according to a double-arm, prospective, randomized study presented this week at the American Society of Breast Surgeons Annual Meeting. The ...
FDA has granted daratumumab breakthrough therapy designation for the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least three prior lines of therapy, including a proteasome inhibitor and an immunomodulatory agent, or who are double refractory to a proteasome inhibitor and...
Smoking increased the risk for developing colon cancer, and female smokers may have a greater risk than male smokers, according to data published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. “Globally, during the last 50...
Obese men were more likely to have precancerous lesions detected in their benign prostate biopsies compared with nonobese men and were at a greater risk for subsequently developing prostate cancer, according to data published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the...
When retinoblastoma is diagnosed in racial and ethnic minority children whose families don't have private health insurance, it often takes a more invasive, potentially life-threatening course than in other children, probably because of delays in diagnosis, researchers at Dana-Farber/Children's...
Merck has announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has designated lambrolizumab (MK-3475) as a Breakthrough Therapy for the treatment of patients with advanced melanoma. Lambrolizumab is Merck’s investigational antibody therapy targeting the programmed death receptor (PD-1) that...
A combination of therapies may prove to be a promising advance for the treatment of anaplastic thyroid cancer based on results of a phase I clinical trial, said researchers at Mayo Clinic in Florida. Anaplastic thyroid cancer is one of the deadliest of all cancers. Nearly all patients diagnosed...
Breast cancer survivors are among the women who could most benefit from regular physical activity, yet few meet national exercise recommendations during the 10 years after being diagnosed, according to a study by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Prior studies and available...
Frozen balls of ice can safely kill cancerous tumors that have spread to the lungs, according to the first prospective multicenter trial of cryoablation. The results were presented on April 14, 2013, at the Society of Interventional Radiology’s 38th Annual Scientific Meeting in New Orleans....
A costly and widely used mammography add-on increases detection of noninvasive and early-stage invasive breast cancer but also makes more mistakes than mammography alone, researchers from UC Davis and the University of Washington have found. A new study shows that computer-assisted detection (CAD) ...
A new study on how the progression of acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) is influenced by the bone marrow environment has demonstrated for the first time that targeting a specialized protein known as osteopontin may be an effective strategy to increase the efficacy of chemotherapy in patients with...
Patients with primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma who received infusions of chemotherapy, but who did not have radiation therapy to the mediastinum, had excellent outcomes, according to clinical trial results. Until now, most standard treatment approaches for patients with this type of...