The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Cologuard, the first stool-based colorectal screening test that detects the presence of red blood cells and DNA mutations that may indicate the presence of certain kinds of abnormal growths that may be cancers such as colon cancer or...
A let-7 microRNA-complementary site (LCS6) polymorphism in the 3’UTR of KRAS has been shown to disrupt let-7 binding and upregulate KRAS expression. As reported in Clinical Cancer Research, Sha and colleagues found that LCS6 genotype was not associated with KRAS mutation status or disease-free...
Rick Kittles, PhD, a national leader on cancer health disparities and the role of genes and environment in disease, and a pioneer in DNA testing to trace the ancestry of African Americans, has been appointed Director of the new Division of Population Genetics, part of the new Center for Applied...
The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) presented seven physicians a total of $675,000 in awards and grants to advance radiation oncology research. The awards will fund studies in radiation and cancer biology, radiation physics, translational research, outcomes/health services research, ...
Massively parallel sequencing analyses have demonstrated that most of the common malignancies display relatively complex repertoires of somatic genetic alterations, that the number of highly recurrent mutations is limited, and that a large number of genes is mutated in a small minority of tumors...
Tests in development to detect circulating tumor cells that escape from solid tumors and travel through the blood, spreading cancer to new sites, may serve as an alternative to conventional tissue biopsy for early cancer diagnosis and gene-expression analysis over the next decade. According to...
In March, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) transformed its Cooperative Group Program into the National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN). Spurred by recommendations in the Institute of Medicine (IOM) 2010 report, A National Cancer Clinical Trials System for the 21st Century: Reinvigorating the NCI...
The recent publication by Antoniou et al on risk of breast cancer in PALB2 carriers,1 reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post (page 47), is a contribution to the interesting history of the PALB2 gene, and an important milestone in the expansion of hereditary cancer susceptibility testing in the...
The Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation has announced Mary-Claire King, PhD, of the University of Washington, Seattle, will receive the 2014 Lasker~Koshland Special Achievement Award for her contributions to medical science and human rights. Dr. King’s demonstration of the existence of familial...
For the treatment of advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), combinations of targeted agents are of great research interest but have not yet been shown to improve outcomes. Single-agent treatment with tyrosine kinase inhibitors, therefore, remains the standard of care for patients with...
Resistance to temozolomide in glioblastoma has been thought to be largely mediated by expression of the DNA repair enzyme MGMT, although there are data suggesting a role for inactivation of MSH6 and other mismatch repair proteins. In a study reported in Clinical Cancer Research, Nguyen and...
The information contained in this Clinical Trials Resource Guide includes actively recruiting clinical studies for people with breast cancer. The studies include phase I and II, interventional, and observational trials evaluating new therapies; diagnostic tools; genetic counseling; the association ...
A leader in the field of epigenetics whose work has led to important discoveries into how cancer develops and progresses has been named the co-leader of the Lung Cancer Program at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI), partner with UPMC CancerCenter. James Herman, MD, comes to...
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. On September 10, 2014, the androgen receptor inhibitor...
In the phase III CENTRIC/European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) 26071-22072 trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Roger Stupp, MD, of University Hospital Zurich, and colleagues found that adding the selective αvβ3 and αvβ5 integrin inhibitor cilengitide to standard...
Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO) and Journal of Oncology Practice (JOP) “Exclusive Coverage” summaries, available on ASCO.org and ASCO Connection, are designed to provide quick insight and additional author perspectives on select recently published studies. Based on interviews conducted with the...
Colon cancer screening using colonoscopy has significantly decreased the incidence and mortality of colorectal cancer in the United States. In the National Polyp Study (NPS), colorectal cancer was prevented by removal of adenomatous polyps.1 A more recent study looking at long-term follow-up from...
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) recently launched “The Exceptional Responders Initiative,” a study to investigate the molecular factors of tumors associated with exceptional treatment responses of patients with cancer to drug therapies. Scientists will attempt to identify the molecular features ...
Two-thirds of patients with advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma who harbored BRCA mutations responded to the combination of veliparib, cisplatin, and gemcitabine in a phase IB trial that is paving the way for future studies of novel poly(ADP-ribose) polymerases (PARP) inhibitors in this challenging...
The information contained in this Clinical Trials Resource Guide includes actively recruiting clinical studies of people with lung neoplasms, including stage I and II small cell and non–small cell lung cancers. The studies include phase Ib, II, III, observational, and interventional trials...
Two landmark randomized studies demonstrated improved survival of patients with head and neck cancer receiving the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) antibody cetuximab (Erbitux) concurrent with radiotherapy compared with radiotherapy alone,1 and similar improvement in patients with...
Combination chemotherapy for triple-negative breast cancer is anthracycline- and taxane-based and has not really changed much in the past 10 years, but “we are starting to see emerging data with selective activity of platinum agents,” Priyanka Sharma, MD, told participants at the Best of ASCO...
Progress has recently been swift in the development of new drugs to improve the response to hormone therapy in breast cancer, according to Hope S. Rugo, MD, Professor of Medicine and Director of Breast Oncology and Clinical Trials Education at the University of California, San Francisco, Helen...
In a study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Woditschka and colleagues identified a role for the DNA repair genes BARD1 and RAD51 and oxidative damage in brain metastases in breast cancer. The two genes were implicated in expression profiling of 23 matched resected brain...
ASCO has endorsed the recently developed joint College of American Pathologists (CAP), International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC), and Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP) guideline on molecular testing for selection of patients with lung cancer for EGFR and ALK inhibitor...
At the third annual Blueprint for Drug/Diagnostic Co-Development forum, cohosted by Friends of Cancer Research in Washington, DC, and the Alexandria Center for Life Science in New York, two panels tackled considerations in simultaneous development of drugs and companion diagnostics. Friends of...
Building on a successful 3-year pilot project, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded more than $64 million to six individuals at five research institutions to create a database of human cellular responses—the Library of Integrated Network-based Cellular Signatures (LINCS)....
In a related commentary, Kiran K. Turaga, MD, MPH, of the Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, writes: “In the setting of these congratulatory reports of a successful public health screening program, this report from Bailey et al is rather unsettling.” “Nevertheless, assuming that this...
Now that clinicians know to “think beyond KRAS” in metastatic colorectal cancer—and test for all RAS mutations, not just those in exon 2—it seems this is still not sufficient for selecting the best drugs. At the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2014 Congress in Madrid, a proffered paper ...
The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center and Moffitt Cancer Center have joined forces to create the Oncology Research Information Exchange Network (ORIEN), the largest collaboration of its kind designed to accelerate discoveries in cancer research. Members of this alliance of cancer...
Targeted agents have started to make inroads in sarcoma therapies, and gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) is the poster child for this success,” Mark Agulnik, MD, stated in summarizing progress in GIST and other sarcomas at the Best of ASCO meeting in Chicago. Dr. Agulnik is Associate Professor, ...
The “graying of America” poses increasing challenges for the cancer community in terms of rising numbers of cases of cancer and costs associated with geriatric care. The scope of this problem and potential solutions were explored by Andrew E. Chapman, DO, FACP, at the ASCO Quality Care Symposium in ...
Removal of incorporated gemcitabine by DNA repair mechanisms may contribute to resistance to the agent in solid tumors. In a study reported in Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Raoof and colleagues found that radiofrequency-induced hyperthermia blocked repair of gemcitabine-stalled...
In a study reported in Clinical Cancer Research, Shin and colleagues synthesized a novel polyphenol conjugate (DPP-23) that exerted antitumor effects by targeting the unfolded protein response in the endoplasmic reticulum via production of reactive oxygen species in cancer cells but not in normal...
A collaborative team of leaders in the field of cancer immunology from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center has made a key discovery that advances the understanding of why some patients respond to the CTLA-4 blocking antibody ipilimumab (Yervoy), an immunotherapy drug, while others do not. A...
Mortality from colorectal cancer remains a public-health concern, being the second leading cause of cancer-related death for men and women combined. The major preventive measure for colorectal cancer is to screen for and remove adenomatous polyps. Average-risk individuals (ie, those who do not have ...
In a study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Shannon L. Maude, MD, PhD, of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and Noelle Frey, MD, of the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues reported achieving sustained remissions in children and adults with...
In a study reported in Clinical Cancer Research, Karnak and colleagues found that WEE1 kinase inhibition increased the sensitivity of pancreas cancer to the radiosensitizing effects of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibition. Treatment of human pancreatic cancer AsPC-1 and MiaPaCa-2 cells...
In the past decade, much new knowledge about the molecular underpinnings of cancer has accumulated, and the array of molecular aberrations in each individual tumor can be assessed through genomic sequencing and other tests. The rationale for and feasibility of developing molecularly targeted...
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. On December 19, 2014, olaparib (Lynparza) was granted accelerated...
The recent U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of olaparib (Lynparza) occurred concurrently with that of a companion diagnostic, BRACAnalysis CDx. This genetic test is designed to detect the presence of mutations in the BRCA genes in blood samples from patients with ovarian cancer. The BRCA...
The packed ballroom looked like a plenary session at any big medical research meeting. But on the dais were representatives of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the subject was the Agency’s proposed regulation of laboratory-developed tests, and the attendees who lined up to ask questions for...
Adding veliparib to carboplatin and paclitaxel resulted in “clinically meaningful improvements” in progression-free survival and overall survival among patients with previously untreated metastatic or advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), particularly those with squamous histology. The...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted accelerated approval to olaparib (Lynparza) for women with advanced ovarian cancer with deleterious or suspected deleterious germline BRCA-mutated advanced ovarian cancer, as detected by an FDA-approved test, who have been treated with three...
The oncoprotein and transcription factor MYB is overexpressed in colorectal cancer and critical to proliferation and tumor cell survival. In a study reported in Clinical & Translational Immunology, Cross and colleagues developed a DNA vaccine to generate an MYB-specific immune response on the...
Researchers from Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida have participated in a global effort that has identified six new regions of the genome that increase risk of epithelial ovarian cancer, according to a news release from Moffitt. The collaborative study was published recently in Nature...
At the 2014 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, a research team led by Michael Dixon, MD, of Western General Hospital in Edinburgh, shed light on the development of endocrine resistance and presented a four-gene messenger RNA (mRNA) profile that can predict response to letrozole with a high degree ...
Inotuzumab ozogamicin combined with a low-intensity chemotherapy called mini-hyper-CVD achieved highly encouraging results in older patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in a phase II study reported at the 56th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology.1 After the...
Highlighted here are summaries of four abstracts presented at the 2014 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium: They focus on the EPO-ANE-3010 clinical trial of epoetin alfa (Epogen, Procrit) in anemic patients with metastatic breast cancer, a New York Cancer Consortium trial of fulvestrant (Faslodex)...
The first poly ADP ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitor was developed in the early 1990s. Since then, the activity of PARP inhibitors has been explored in a variety of settings, including and perhaps most enthusiastically in the treatment of cancer. The greater dependence of several cancers on PARP,...