ASCO booklet to help patients learn how to manage weight gain after a cancer diagnosis is now available in Spanish. In addition, new information in Spanish has been added to Cancer.Net on obesity, weight, and cancer risk, as well as articles on nutrition and physical activity. Your patients can...
On this historic year, as ASCO proudly commemorates its 50th anniversary and decades of evolutionary change and growth, it also celebrates the significant progress that has been made against cancer throughout history. ASCO’s anniversary website, CancerProgress.Net, chronicles these achievements and ...
ASCO has issued a new template for health-care professionals to use when providing a survivorship care plan to patients who have completed curative cancer therapy. The survivorship care plan contains important information about treatment the patient received, the patient’s need for future checkups...
ASCO recently launched a new and redesigned version of Cancer.Net, its patient-facing website that includes timely, comprehensive, and oncologist-approved information. With support from the Conquer Cancer Foundation, Cancer.Net is able to bring the expertise and resources of ASCO to your patients...
1965: MOPP chemotherapy cures Hodgkin lymphoma “This was the clearest proof of concept that cancer was/is curable. It gave great impulse to therapeutic research that ultimately improved outcomes in breast, colon, kidney cancer, the leukemias, and most childhood malignancies.” 2006: HPV vaccine...
To mark ASCO’s 50th anniversary, the Society called on the oncology community to select the five most pivotal advances in cancer research and patient care over the past 50 years. Now, with more than 2,000 votes cast, ASCO has announced the results on CancerProgress.Net, its interactive website on...
With approximately 22,000 diagnoses annually in the United States, ovarian cancer isn’t among the most commonly occurring cancers. Yet, the mortality rate for women who have ovarian cancer hovers above 60%. For Pamela Kreeger, PhD, a University of Wisconsin–Madison Assistant Professor of Biomedical ...
We are witnessing unprecedented progress in the development of therapy for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued 13 approvals since 1996 for agents that have demonstrated an impact on overall survival, pain, or...
The ASCO Clinical Practice Guidelines Committee and the Cancer Care Ontario (CCO) program in evidence-based care have released a clinical practice guideline on systemic therapy in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. The guideline was published in the Journal of Clinical...
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 ...
Dartmouth researchers have developed a fluorescence imaging technique that can more accurately identify receptors for targeted cancer therapies without a tissue biopsy. They report on their findings in a recently published article in Cancer Research.1 “Protein overexpression is a hallmark of...
The Harvard Global Equity Initiative is a research program at Harvard University that is dedicated to promoting equitable global development, with a strong emphasis on health-care issues. This initiative brings together scholars, policymakers, advocates, and practitioners from around the world to...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted orphan drug designation to BGB324 for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). BGB324 is a first-in-class, highly selective small-molecule inhibitor of the Axl receptor tyrosine kinase. It blocks the epithelial-mesenchymal transition...
A study at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, led by Mong-Hong Lee, PhD, Professor of Molecular and Cellular Oncology, has demonstrated the significance of CSN6 in regulating Myc which may well open up a new pathway for treating and killing tumors. The study results are...
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy represents a novel and promising therapeutic advance in cancer.1,2 It constitutes a form of personalized therapy that harnesses adoptive cell transfer through genetic engineering of autologous T cells. The initial step in this therapeutic paradigm...
Researchers have found that patients with an advanced form of kidney cancer, for which there is no standard treatment and a very poor prognosis, respond well to a combination of two existing anticancer drugs. The combination of bevacizumab (Avastin) and erlotinib (Tarceva) produced excellent...
Findings from a pilot study of 42 parents with advanced cancer indicate that parental status is an important factor in treatment decision-making. When asked how having children influences their treatment decisions, the majority of parents (64%) responded that being a parent motivates them to pursue ...
At this year’s Quality Care Symposium, Lawrence N. Shulman, MD, Chief of Staff and Director of the Center for Global Cancer Medicine at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, looked at the issue of quality infrastructure development through the prism of several tools developed by the American...
Findings from a study of more than 23,000 women suggest that the Medicare Part D Extra Help program, which provides low-income subsidies for medications, improves adherence to hormone therapy after breast cancer surgery in all racial/ethnic groups and reduces racial/ethnic disparities. The study,...
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) recently announced the 20 hematologists and other medical professionals selected to participate in the 2014 ASH Visitor Training Program. This program provides talented hematologists, scientists, and laboratory staff from developing countries the opportunity ...
ASCO issued its new Policy Statement on Medicaid Reform on November 17, which calls for major changes to the program to ensure access to high-quality cancer care for all low-income individuals. The Society’s recommendations call for Medicaid expansion in all 50 states to close coverage gaps,...
A countdown of the top 5 breakthrough therapies in the treatment of advanced lung cancer was presented by D. Ross Camidge, MD, PhD, at the 2014 Chicago Multidisciplinary Symposium in Thoracic Oncology.1 Dr. Camidge is Director, Thoracic Oncology Clinical and Clinical Research Programs, and...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved bevacizumab (Avastin) in combination with paclitaxel, pegylated liposomal doxorubicin, or topotecan for the treatment of patients with platinum-resistant, recurrent epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer. The approval is ...
Guidelines can be incorrect if they are not based on incontrovertible evidence. Such was the case with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) 1995 guidelines recommending 5 years of tamoxifen adjuvant therapy for stage I to III hormone receptor–positive breast cancer. With more definitive evidence,...
New therapies for multiple myeloma have dramatically improved life expectancy, but despite these advances, 5-year overall survival still remains below 50%. Investigators are in hot pursuit of new therapies that will extend remissions and improve survival. Thus far, monoclonal antibodies,...
In November 2013, ASCO initiated the development of CancerLinQ, a learning health system designed to transform cancer care and improve outcomes. At this year’s Quality Care Symposium in Boston, ASCO President Peter Paul Yu, MD, FACP, FASCO, Director of Cancer Research at the Palo Alto Medical...
Trastuzumab (Herceptin) has been the cornerstone of therapy for HER2-positive tumors, which comprise about 20% of all breast tumors. Additional therapies targeted to other HER2 pathways or other targets to be used in combination with trastuzumab are being explored in both the adjuvant and...
The ASCO Post wishes to acknowledge and thank all contributors to the publication during 2014. Here we recognize those who shared their personal thoughts in our Op-Ed department. If you are interested in contributing to The ASCO Post in 2015, write to editor@ASCOPost.com. Robert Peter Gale, MD,...
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) recognized Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and Kathy Giusti, Founder of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, with awards for their outstanding support and advocacy for biomedical research and the practice of hematology at the 56th ASH Annual Meeting in...
Although Vincent T. DeVita, Jr, MD, harbored fantasies as a young child of becoming an ice deliveryman when he grew up, his love of chemistry and biology, as well as admonitions from his mother, Isabel, “to become a doctor,” propelled him toward a career in medicine. Now, more than 6 decades later, ...
Programmed cell death protein ligand 1 (PD-L1) interferes with anticancer immune response by binding programmed PD-1 and B7.1 (CD80), negative regulators of T-cell activation. In a study reported in Nature, Herbst and colleagues showed that treatment with an anti–PD-L1 antibody (MPDL3280A) produced ...
In partnership with the Regis Foundation for Breast Cancer Research, Regis Corporation, a leader in beauty salons and cosmetology, has announced that the Masonic Cancer Center at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, has established the Regis Chair for Breast Cancer Research. This milestone...
People have an image of stage III or IV lung cancer patients getting chemotherapy or chemoradiation, and they look terrible; they are losing weight. The fact is, when they respond, they can gain weight,” according to Philip Bonomi, MD, MS. He is the lead author of a phase III study showing that the ...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a new use for ruxolitinib (Jakafi) to treat patients with polycythemia vera, a chronic type of bone marrow disease. Ruxolitinib, a JAK inhibitor, is the first drug approved by the FDA for this condition. Polycythemia vera occurs when too many red ...
Adjuvant Bisphosphonates in Early Breast Cancer: Practice-Changing Findings January 15, 2014, Volume 5, Issue 1 Visit http://bit.ly/1rUM8CS HER2-Positive Breast Cancer Patients With Small Tumors Benefit From Low-Toxicity Regimen January 15, 2014, Volume 5, Issue 1 Visit http://bit.ly/1tA6UZ4...
The following list presents those articles published in 2014 that were observed most often by visitors to ASCOPost.com, as measured by the number of views.a To view the full version of the articles listed below, visit ASCOPost.com and enter the URL provided below each entry. 1. Continuous...
JANUARY 2015 Melanoma 2015: 25th Annual Cutaneous Malignancy UpdateJanuary 10-11 • San Diego, California For more information: www.scripps.org/events/melanoma-annual-cutaneous-malignancy-update-january-10-2015 7th Breast Gynecological International Cancer ConferenceJanuary 15-16 • Cairo, Egypt For ...
Bookmark Title: Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner Authors: Judy Melinek, MD, and T.J. Mitchell Publisher: Scribner, a Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc Publication Date: August 2014 Price: $25.00; hardcover, 272 pages Just as the sun came up over a...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Fast Track designation to the investigation of necuparanib as a first-line treatment in combination with paclitaxel and gemcitabine in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer. Necuparanib is a novel oncology drug candidate engineered from...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today granted accelerated approval to blinatumomab (Blincyto) for the treatment of patients with Philadelphia chromosome–negative, relapsed or refractory precursor B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-cell ALL). Blinatumomab is a bispecific...
The use of dietary supplements by patients with cancer has increased significantly over the past 2 decades despite insufficient evidence of safety and effectiveness. Finding reliable sources of information about dietary supplements can be daunting. Patients typically rely on family, friends, and...
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) has announced five additional commonly used tests, treatments, and procedures in hematology that physicians and patients should question in certain circumstances. The additional items join an initial list of five practices to question that the Society...
On November 1, 2014, 29-year-old Brittany Maynard ended her life through physician-assisted death, reigniting the controversy surrounding Death With Dignity laws, which allow physicians to prescribe life-ending drugs to terminally ill patients. Diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme in January, Ms. ...
Margaret Foti, PhD, MD (hc), Chief Executive Officer of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), recently spoke at the Institute for Cancer Research and Treatment (IRCC) in Turin, Italy, on November 25. Her lecture was titled “Reflections on the Global Cancer Research Landscape.” The...
Patients with head and neck cancer who used antacid medicines to control acid reflux had better overall survival, according to a study from the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center. Results of the study were published in Cancer Prevention Research.1 Reflux can be a common side effect...
Hayley S. Thompson, PhD, Associate Professor, Population Studies and Disparities Research Program at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, and Department of Oncology, Wayne State University School of Medicine, was recently awarded a $1.8 million grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research...
Matthew J. Ellis, MD, PhD, a renowned clinician scientist in the area of genomics and molecular profiling of breast cancer, was named the new Director of the Lester and Sue Smith Breast Center at Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Ellis assumed his new role in September 2014, succeeding C. Kent...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Breakthrough Therapy designation to JCAR015, an investigational chimeric antigen receptor therapy developed by Juno Therapeutics. The designation applies for the treatment of relapsed or refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia and was...
The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Breakthrough Therapy status to Takeda Pharmaceuticals’ investigational, oral proteasome inhibitor, ixazomib (MLN9708), for the treatment of relapsed or refractory systemic light-chain amyloidosis. This is the first proteasome inhibitor and...
Palliative care expert Diane E. Meier, MD, is the Director of the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC), a national organization devoted to enhancing the number and quality of palliative care programs across the nation. Under her leadership, the number of palliative care programs in the United...