A randomized clinical trial of patients with advanced metastatic melanoma treated with ipilimumab (Yervoy), an immune checkpoint inhibitor, in combination with sargramostim (Leukine), an immune stimulant, vs ipilimumab alone, has found a 1-year survival rate of 68.9% vs 52.9% in the ipilimumab-only ...
In a phase III trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Long and colleagues found that the combination of the BRAF inhibitor dabrafenib (Tafinlar) and the MEK inhibitor trametinib (Mekinist) improved response rate and progression-free survival compared with dabrafenib alone in...
The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) today issued an endorsement of the American Urological Association (AUA)/American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) guideline on the use of adjuvant and salvage radiotherapy after prostatectomy, which was based on a systematic review of medical...
In a study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Shaw et al found that crizotinib (Xalkori) produced a high response rate in patients with ROS1-rearranged non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Chromosomal rearrangements in ROS1, which encodes the proto-oncogene receptor tyrosine...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Chow and colleagues developed risk scoring that can identify likelihood of heart failure among childhood cancer survivors. Study Details The study involved survivors in the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (CCSS) free of significant...
In patients with ductal carcinoma in situ of the breast who underwent breast-conserving surgery, hypofractionated radiation therapy was not significantly associated with an increased risk of any local recurrence when compared with conventional radiation therapy, according to the study findings...
Scientists investigating the molecular mechanism of the protein p16 in cisplatin-treated head and neck cancer cells have found that the drug is able to kill the malignant cells by interacting with the protein gigaxonin. Although p16 is commonly produced in human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive...
Cancer is an unwanted experiment in progress. As the disease advances, tumor cells accumulate mutations, eventually arriving at ones that give them the insidious power to grow uncontrollably and spread. Distinguishing drivers of cancer from benign mutations open opportunities for developing...
In a French analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Bonastre and colleagues found that use of the 70-gene signature (MammaPrint) was unlikely to be cost-effective in deciding whether to administer adjuvant therapy in patients with node-negative breast cancer. Use of Adjuvant! Online...
Patients who received postoperative radiation therapy lived an average of 4 months longer when compared to the patients who had the same disease site, tumor histology, and treatment criteria and who did not receive postoperative radiotherapy, according to research presented at the 2014 Chicago ...
Even before the next Congress is formally elected, a national group of health-care stakeholders called the Cancer Innovation Coalition (CIC) went to Capitol Hill today to call for early legislative and regulatory action in 2015 that will reinvigorate cancer innovation in the United States. The...
The Dutch and Belgian NELSON trial is assessing the effect of increasing interval low-dose computed tomography (CT) screening for lung cancer on lung cancer mortality. In an analysis among screened Dutch participants reported in Lancet Oncology, Horeweg and colleagues identified screen-detected...
The Dutch and Belgian NELSON trial is assessing the effect of increasing interval low-dose computed tomography (CT) screening for lung cancer on lung cancer mortality. In an analysis of screening test performance among Dutch participants reported in Lancet Oncology, Horeweg and colleagues found...
Biopsies were found to be the most costly tool prescribed in lung cancer diagnosis, according to research presented today at the 2014 Chicago Multidisciplinary Symposium in Thoracic Oncology (Abstract 103). The study examined the utilization rates and estimated the Medicare costs of the lung...
Patients at high-risk for developing lung cancer are more likely to receive low-dose computed tomography (CT) screening when their primary care provider is familiar with guideline recommendations for low-dose CT screening for lung cancer, according to research presented today at the 2014 Chicago...
Antibody-drug conjugates, checkpoint inhibitors, and single-dose intraoperative radiation therapy for breast cancer were included in the Cleveland Clinic's Ninth Annual Top 10 Medical Innovations List released earlier today. The list identifies those advances likely to have a major impact on...
Compared with normal colorectal mucosae, nearly half of colorectal tumors showed medium-to-high levels of lecithin retinol acyltransferase (LRAT) hypermethylation, according to the results of a study reported by Cheng et al in Medical Oncology. This finding was noted more frequent in earlier tumor...
New research by the international Cancer Genomics of the Kidney consortium (CAGEKID) reveals an important connection between kidney cancer and exposure to aristolochic acid, an ingredient in some herbal remedies. The findings, published by Scelo et al in Nature Communications, have important...
Overweight and obesity are associated with increased risk of primary colorectal cancer, as well as increased risk of breast, endometrial, esophageal, pancreatic, and kidney cancers. In a pooled analysis of prospective cohort studies reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Gibson et al found...
A new study has found that patients who received chest radiation for Wilms tumor, a rare childhood cancer, face an increased risk of developing breast cancer later in life due to their radiation exposure. Reported by Lange et al in Cancer, the findings suggest that cancer screening guidelines might ...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Backhus et al found that imaging guideline recommendations for staging of locally advanced lung cancer were often not followed in a national Veterans Affairs (VA) cohort. Study Details The study involved 3,808 patients with stage IIB, IIIA, ...
The pathophysiology of steroid refractoriness in graft-vs-host disease in allogeneic stem cell transplantation is not completely understood, although there is evidence that endothelial cell stress, which involves endothelial thrombomodulin, plays a role. In a study reported in the Journal of...
Although low mitotic count, surgery, and disease-free interval of more than 6 months were associated with improved survival in women with recurrent or persistent uterine leiomyosarcoma, only low number of mitoses was identified as an independent predictor of survival post relapse, according to...
Using genomic sequencing data on all currently known genetic alterations in breast cancer, it is possible to identify a woman’s genetic risk for the disease, and this approach can bring greater gains in disease prevention than previously estimated, according to a study reported by Sieh et al...
Age-related loss of the Y chromosome from blood cells, a frequent occurrence among elderly men, is associated with elevated risk of various cancers and earlier death, according to research presented at the American Society of Human Genetics 2014 Annual Meeting in San Diego (Abstract 295). This...
In a study in the St. Jude Lifetime Cohort Study population reported in The Lancet Oncology, Green et al found that increasing alkylating agent exposure was associated with impaired spermatogenesis in adult male survivors of childhood cancer who did not undergo radiation therapy as part of their...
A small nationwide survey finds many insured patients are changing their lifestyle and medical care in the face of treatment-related financial burdens. In fact, more than one-third adopted medical care–altering strategies, with younger and lower-income patients being more likely to alter...
New results from a survey of nearly 1,600 cancer survivors indicate a high prevalence of financial and work-related difficulties: 27% reported at least one financial problem (eg, debt, bankruptcy), and 37% reported having to modify work plans, such as taking extended time off or delaying...
Early findings from a study of 319 families suggest that use of an innovative, telephone-based symptom monitoring and coaching system during home hospice care leads to significantly decreased patient symptoms in the final weeks of life. The findings will be presented at the 2014 Palliative Care in...
In a phase III French Intergroup trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Guimbaud et al found that FOLFIRI (fluorouracil [5-FU], leucovorin, and irinotecan) significantly prolonged time to treatment failure compared with ECX (epirubicin, cisplatin, and capecitabine) in first-line...
A new study shows that patients with stage I to III non–small cell lung cancer have different metabolite profiles in their blood than those of patients who are at risk but do not have lung cancer. The study abstract was released today in an online supplement to the journal CHESTand will be...
Efforts at implementing survivorship care plans have met with limited success in oncology practice, in part due to the time required to complete survivorship care plans, lack of role clarity, and lack of reimbursement for time to complete the documents. In response, ASCO convened a Survivorship...
In a study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Maude et al reported achieving sustained remissions in children and adults with relapsed/refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) using autologous CD19-targeted chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-modified T cells. Study Details In the...
A large prospective, randomized, controlled trial investigating whether individualized genetic and environmental risk assessment of colorectal cancer susceptibility improves adherence to screening in average-risk persons, has found that the information was not enough to persuade nonadherent...
Neratinib is an irreversible pan-tyrosine kinase inhibitor with activity against HER1, HER2, and HER4. In a phase I/II trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Saura et al found that the combination of neratinib and capecitabine exhibited high activity in patients with trastuzumab...
At least 14 million major medical conditions among U.S. adults aged 35 years and older were attributed to cigarette smoking by a study estimating the disease burden of cigarette smoking, which, according to the study’s authors, “remains immense.” Among current and former smokers,...
For women with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive breast cancer, combining two anti-HER2 agents with chemotherapy is the most effective treatment modality in the neoadjuvant setting, according to a meta-analysis published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The...
A new population-based study of close to 5,000 patients and 1,600 oncologists found that physician participation in weekly tumor board meetings was associated with improved survival for patients with stage IV colorectal cancer and stage IV/extensive-stage small cell lung cancer, but not other...
While early treatment of prostate cancer recurrence after a radical prostatectomy based on detectable or rising prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels may reduce the risk of disease metastasis, even without salvage treatment, many patients will die of other causes before metastatic disease...
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,...
In a new study of more than 1.1 million patients who underwent surgery for the most common or fatal cancers, nearly 1 in 20 (4.8%) patients died within 1 month of the procedure. The risk of death was highest among patients who were not married, uninsured, non-white, male, older, less educated,...
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 ...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted for review the New Drug Application for lenvatinib mesylate as a treatment for progressive radioactive iodine–refractory differentiated thyroid cancer and granted the application Priority Review status. Lenvatinib is an oral multiple...
More women are undergoing salpingo-oophorectomy as a cancer prevention measure, but many are unaware of the potential sexual or psychological side effects of the procedure. A new study by researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute demonstrated that a half-day educational program can help ...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Sudo et al found that many patients undergoing definitive chemoradiotherapy (bimodality therapy) for esophageal cancer can derive substantial survival benefit from subsequent salvage surgery, supporting a practice of intensive...
ASCO has endorsed the recently developed joint College of American Pathologists (CAP), International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC), and Association of Molecular Pathologists (AMP) guideline on molecular testing for selection of patients with lung cancer for EGFR and ALK inhibitor ...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted and granted Priority Review to Pfizer’s New Drug Application for palbociclib, in combination with letrozole, as a first-line treatment for postmenopausal women with estrogen receptor–positive, HER2-negative advanced breast cancer...
Known cancer-driving genomic aberrations in localized lung cancer appear to be so consistently present across tumors that a single biopsy of one region of the tumor is likely to identify most of them, according to a paper published by Zhang et al in Science. The study led by scientists at The...
In breast cancer patients under the age of 40, positron-emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) scanning may provide accurate clinical staging for stage IIB and III disease, according to the study findings presented by Riedl et al in The Journal of Nuclear Medicine. The utilization of...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Sherman et al found occult cancers in 2.6% of high-risk women undergoing risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy. Study Details The study involved 966 asymptomatic high-risk women age ≥ 30 years who underwent risk-reducing...