In the phase III LUX-Lung 8 trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Soria et al found that the irreversible ErbB-family inhibitor afatinib (Gilotrif) significantly improved progression-free and overall survival vs the EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor erlotinib as second-line treatment in patients with ...
Spending more leisure time sitting was associated with a higher risk of total cancer risk in women, specifically heightened multiple myeloma, breast, and ovarian cancer risk, according to a new study by the American Cancer Society. The higher risk was present even after taking into account body...
In the phase II BELIEF trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, O’Connor et al found that the pan–histone deacetylase inhibitor belinostat (Beleodaq) produced durable responses in patients with relapsed/refractory peripheral T-cell lymphoma. The study supported the U.S. Food...
Tobacco cessation provided a significant survival benefit for patients with lung cancer who quit smoking shortly before or after diagnosis, despite the severity of the disease. Results of this Roswell Park Cancer Institute–led study were published by Dobson Amato et al in the Journal of...
In patients with early-stage non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with stereotactic body radiotherapy, outcomes were similar between patients with biopsy-proven lesions and those with radiographically diagnosed disease, according to a study by Fischer-Valuck et al in Tumori Journal....
In a meta-analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, O’Sullivan et al found that adjuvant trastuzumab (Herceptin) was associated with a significant disease-free and overall survival benefit among patients with early HER2-positive hormone receptor–positive and hormone...
Women with cervical or endometrial cancer who require treatment to the para-aortic lymph nodes can safely receive extended-field intensity-modulated radiation therapy without increased risk of duodenal toxicity, according to a study by Xu et al in Practical Radiation Oncology. Extended-Field...
Despite findings of previous studies and published guidelines, nearly two-thirds of patients with T4a laryngeal cancer are not receiving a total laryngectomy—the recommended form of treatment—and, as a result, have significantly worse survival rates vs those treated with a total...
A prospective study examining weight gain in breast cancer survivors compared with cancer-free women from a familial risk cohort has found that, overall, breast cancer survivors gained significantly more weight than cancer-free women of the same age and menopausal status. According to the study...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved gefitinib (Iressa) for the treatment of patients with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumors have epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) exon 19 deletions or exon 21 (L858R) substitution mutations as detected by an...
The enzyme phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase (PI3K) appears to be exploited in almost every type of human cancer, making it the focus of considerable interest as a therapeutic target, with many PI3K-inhibiting drugs currently in various stages of clinical development. However, PI3K inhibitors have only ...
In the largest multi-institutional study to date, patients diagnosed with bladder cancer and treated with robot-assisted surgery experienced similar results to those who underwent a traditional open operation, according to research led by scientists at Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI). The ...
A study of screening mammography across U.S. counties found that “the clearest result of mammography screening is the diagnosis of additional small cancers” but without a “concomitant decline in the detection of larger cancers, which might explain the absence of any significant...
In an analysis from the National LymphoCare Study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Casulo et al found that disease progression within 2 years of diagnosis was associated with increased mortality risk after first-line R-CHOP (rituximab [Rituxan] plus cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin,...
Clinicians testing the drug dasatinib (Sprycel), approved for several blood cancers, had hoped it would slow the aggressive growth of the deadly brain cancer glioblastoma; however, clinical trials to date have not found any benefit. Researchers at Mayo Clinic, who conducted one of those clinical...
On the hunt for better cancer screening tests, Johns Hopkins scientists led a proof-of-principle study that successfully identified tumor DNA shed in the blood and saliva of 93 patients with head and neck cancer. A report on the findings was published by Wang et al in Science Translational...
In a study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Kwan et al found that women with basal-like tumors were less likely to have breastfed than those with luminal A tumors and that breastfeeding was associated with a significantly reduced risk of recurrence and breast...
A review of medical records for almost 200 patients with breast cancer suggests that more selective use of biomarker testing for such patients has the potential to save millions of dollars in health-care spending without compromising care, according to Johns Hopkins researchers. Specifically,...
The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) issued an endorsement of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) clinical practice guideline on postoperative radiation therapy for women with endometrial (uterine) cancer. The endorsement was published by Meyer et al in the Journal of...
In a study in Swedish men reported in JAMA, Loeb et al found a statistically significant increase in risk of malignant melanoma in those using oral phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5) inhibitors for erectile dysfunction. However, risk was not significantly elevated in men filling multiple PDE5...
Janssen Biotech, Inc, announced the opening of a daratumumab expanded access program for eligible U.S. patients. Daratumumab is an investigational human anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody being evaluated in clinical trials as a treatment for patients with multiple myeloma. The multicenter, open-label...
Researchers have a significantly better understanding of the genetic alterations found in cutaneous melanoma as part of a multi-institution, international effort of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). The study, published in Cell, refined and revealed new molecular subgroups of patients who could...
In a National Cancer Data Base analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Wang et al found that postoperative radiation therapy has been declining in use in recent years but is associated with improved overall survival in patients with incompletely resected stage II or III...
Patients with metastatic colorectal cancer that are free of mutations in the KRAS, NRAS, BRAF, and PIK3CA genes showed a significant benefit from continuing antiepidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) therapy beyond progression following first-line chemotherapy and an anti-EGFR monoclonal antibody. ...
The phase IIIb CONSIGN trial has confirmed the benefit of regorafenib (Stivarga) in patients with previously treated metastatic colorectal cancer, researchers announced July 3 at the European Society for Medical Oncology World Congress on Gastrointestinal Cancer in Barcelona, Spain (Abstract...
Researchers from Norgine B.V. presented new data highlighting a perceptual gap between health-care professionals and patients in terms of the incidence and impact on patients’ daily life of chemotherapy- and radiotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV/RINV) at the joint Multinational...
Although being overweight with a high body mass index (BMI) has long been associated with a higher risk for colorectal cancer, thinner patients might not fare as well as previously expected after treatment for advanced cancer, according to a new study from Duke Medicine. The study, which was...
In a single institution study reported in JAMA Surgery, Chung et al found a low axillary recurrence rate and low mortality among women with clinical T1–2N0 breast cancer aged ≥ 70 years who underwent breast-conserving surgery without sentinel node biopsy. Study Details The study involved ...
While the use of antiangiogenesis drugs that block the growth of new blood vessels can improve the treatment of some cancers, clinical trials of their ability to prevent the development of new metastases have failed. Now a study from the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Cancer Center may have...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Turnbull et al identified a four-gene predictive model of response to aromatase inhibitor therapy that was highly predictive of response on the basis of pretreatment and 2-week on-treatment measurements. The classifier was a significant predictor of...
Because of their location, cancers on the pancreas often invade and wrap around nearby veins and arteries in the abdomen. When these vessels become involved, surgery to remove the cancer, which is typically the standard treatment, becomes significantly more difficult—sometimes impossible....
A large population-based prospective analysis of the consumption of psoralen-rich citrus products and the risk of malignant melanoma has found that the melanoma risk was 36% higher in people who consumed citrus fruit or juice at least 1.6 times daily compared with those who consumed it less than...
A new study led by Vanderbilt University Medical Center investigators found new diagnoses of prostate cancer in the United States declined 28% in the year following the draft recommendation from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) against routine prostate-specific antigen (PSA)...
In the phase III REACH trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Zhu et al found that the anti-VEGFR2 monoclonal antibody ramucirumab (Cyramza) did not significantly improve overall survival vs placebo in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma who had received first-line treatment with the...
Blood and marrow transplantation is a potentially curative treatment for patients with leukemia or other life-threating blood diseases. With a goal of increasing survival rates, a research team led by Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) investigators verified patient outcome data submitted by more ...
Early age at menarche could play a role in the disproportionate incidence of estrogen receptor–negative breast cancers diagnosed among African American women, according to a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The study is a result of a multicenter collaborative...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Brundage et al found that the addition of radiotherapy to androgen-deprivation therapy in patients with locally advanced prostate cancer in the NCIC CTG PR3/MRC PR07 trial had a transient negative impact on health-related quality of life over ...
In a study reported in JAMA Surgery, Huang et al found that use of nephron-sparing surgery has more than doubled since 2001 among older patients with small kidney cancers. Use of nonsurgical approaches has remained stable. Study Details The study involved Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End...
New research published by Søgaard et al in Blood found that blood clots in the abdominal veins might be an indicator of undiagnosed cancer. The study also suggests that these clots predict poorer survival in patients with liver and pancreatic cancer. Clotting and Cancer Risk Compared to...
In a small clinical trial, scientists at Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute found that men with advanced prostate cancer and detection of androgen receptor splice variant-7 (AR-V7) respond to chemotherapy just as well as men who lack the variant. The...
In an analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Liu et al found that a subset of patients with luminal A breast cancer may not need radiotherapy to prevent relapse. Study Details The study involved samples from 501 older patients with node-negative disease who were randomized to...
Women who were exposed to higher levels of the pesticide DDT in utero were nearly four times more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer as adults than women who were exposed to lower levels before birth, according to a study published by Cohn et al in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & ...
Houston Methodist Neurological Institute neurosurgeon David Baskin, MD, presented preliminary data from a phase II clinical trial that suggests gene therapy (AdV-Tk therapy), which uses a mediated herpes simplex virus, combined with a traditional treatment—surgical resection—could ...
In an analysis reported in JAMA Surgery, Paniccia et al identified patient and treatment characteristics that were associated with survival of at least 10 years after diagnosis of invasive pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, including lower positive lymph node ratio, receipt of adjuvant chemotherapy, ...
A single dose of the recombinant human papillomavirus (HPV) bivalent (types 16 and 18) vaccine (Cervarix) appears to be as effective in preventing certain HPV infections as three doses, the currently recommended course of vaccination, concluded a study published by Kreimer et al in The Lancet...
In an analysis of Children’s Oncology Group (COG) trials reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Chow et al found that dexrazoxane use did not appear to be associated with poorer survival among pediatric patients with leukemia or lymphoma in long-term follow-up. Study Details The...
In a single-institution study reported in JAMA Surgery, Margonis et al found that particular KRAS codon 12 mutations were associated with significantly poorer overall survival among patients with colorectal liver metastases. Study Details This retrospective study included data from 331 patients...
Scientists at multiple institutions have found a new way of classifying brain cancers that could very well change how the illness is diagnosed and treated. The study, a project of The Cancer Genome Atlas, found striking molecular differences between various forms of gliomas by looking at the makeup ...
It is estimated that one of every three Latina women will be diagnosed with cancer during her lifetime. Moffitt Cancer Center researchers, along with collaborators at the University of South Florida, recently published a study about the attitudes and cultural perspectives of Latinas undergoing...
In the phase III EURAMOS-1 trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Bielack et al found that the addition of postoperative pegylated interferon alfa-2b (Pegintron, Sylatron) to MAP (methotrexate, doxorubicin, and cisplatin) in patients with osteosarcoma showing good histologic response...