In the phase III NEfERT-T trial reported in JAMA Oncology, Awada et al found no progression-free survival benefit of neratinib/paclitaxel vs trastuzumab (Herceptin)/paclitaxel in previously untreated inoperable recurrent or metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer. A potential benefit of...
Men with low levels of the male sex hormone testosterone need not fear that testosterone replacement therapy will increase their risk of prostate cancer. This is the finding of an analysis of more than a quarter-million medical records of mostly white men in Sweden, research led by investigators at ...
In a study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Eke and colleagues found that simultaneous β1 and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibition resulted in increased cytotoxicity, radiosensitization, and tumor control in human head and neck squamous cell carcinomas....
In a study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Lee and colleagues designed a caspase-3–specific activated prodrug containing doxorubicin linked to a peptide moiety (DEVD-S-DOX), which is cleaved by caspase-3 at apoptosis. Apoptosis was induced in C3H/HeN mammary tumor-bearing...
The use of combination therapy with estrogen plus progestin, previously shown to be associated with an increased incidence of estrogen receptor–positive breast cancer in postmenopausal women in studies based largely on white women, has been shown to increase estrogen receptor–positive breast cancer ...
Pathologists disagree about 8% of the time when interpreting a single breast biopsy slide, with more overinterpretation than underinterpretation in discordant cases, according to an analysis combining results from the B-Path (Breast Pathology) study with data on the prevalence of breast cancer...
The survival benefits of reducing the time to surgery following a diagnosis of breast cancer and the time to initiation of adjuvant chemotherapy following surgery were outlined in two articles and an accompanying editorial in JAMA Oncology. Analyzing two independent population-based studies with a...
On April 14, 2016, an 18-month-old patient with cancer named Baron Yerby flew home to Atlanta after receiving treatment at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. However, instead of flying on a crowded commercial plane with the potential for immune deficiency issues, he and his parents flew on a...
In 1997, just 6 weeks after giving birth to my second child, I started having fevers and night sweats and my lymph nodes were swollen. I’m a physician, so I knew something was wrong and that my symptoms were unrelated to having just given birth. I had a blood test, and a biopsy was performed on one ...
Imagine accidentally falling off an abyss. One simply cannot fully understand the gravity of the situation! You might skip a beat thinking about it while sitting in a chair in your living room, if you have tons of empathy, as you try to get into the shoes that are flailing for survival. But there...
In 2006, palliative care became a board-certified subspecialty of internal medicine, with specialized fellowships for physicians interested in the field. Despite its formal integration into best practices medical care, about 70% of Americans describe themselves as “not at all knowledgeable” about ...
Surveys indicate that cancer survivors have varying desires regarding the kind of support they want. Some patients find support groups very helpful as they deal with the host of issues in survivorship. Others want to distance themselves from the “world of cancer.” Studies also show that...
Friends of Cancer Research (Friends) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have been working together for many years on an idea known as breakthrough therapy, and it has produced results beyond anyone’s hopes. Said Ellen Sigal, PhD, Friends Chair and Founder, “When we were first talking...
Phase I Study Title: A Phase I Study to Examine the Toxicity of Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation for Relapsed or Therapy-Refractory Ewing Sarcoma Study Type: Interventional/nonrandomized/single-group assignment Study Sponsor and Collaborators: University of Louisville Purpose: To examine the...
The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network has announced Lynn Matrisian, PhD, MBA, as inaugural Chief Research Officer for the organization. Dr. Matrisian was promoted from Vice President of Scientific and Medical Affairs, where she has served since 2011. “To meet our aggressive goal to double survival...
Press briefing moderator Julie Margenthaler, MD, of Washington University Siteman Cancer Center, St. Louis, who is Communications Committee Chair for the American Society of Breast Surgeons, agreed that surveillance would be acceptable only within a clinical trial, and one is underway now....
A mid much debate about the potential for overly aggressive treatment of ductal carcinoma in situ comes a study that gives one pause. According to research presented at the 17th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Breast Surgeons, more than half of all women with ductal carcinoma in situ that ...
Sheldon M. Feldman, MD, was named President of the American Society of Breast Surgeons (ASBrS) at the organization’s 2016 Annual Meeting in Dallas, Texas. Dr. Feldman is the Chief of Breast Surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center and the Vivian L. Milstein Associate...
Myriad Genetics announced results from a study of the prognostic information provided by its Prolaris test in patients with prostate cancer and a Gleason score < 7 at the 111th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Urological Association (AUA) (Abstract MP02-20). Prolaris is a novel 46-gene ...
Though predominantly known for their increased associations with breast cancer risk, germline mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes are also associated with an increased susceptibility to other diseases, including prostate cancer. New data being presented during the 111th Annual Scientific Meeting ...
Not all men with prostate cancer benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy after radical prostatectomy; however, African American men and men with a higher tumor stage may, according to a new U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) study (Abstract PI LBA 06) featured at the 111th Annual Scientific...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Liu et al found that Native American ancestry, older age, higher cumulative dose of asparaginase, and a rare variant of the CPA2 gene increased risk for pancreatitis in children/young adults with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Study...
The Conquer Cancer Foundation of ASCO is collaborating with Gateway for Cancer Research (Gateway) to fund a 2016 and 2017 Young Investigator Award through the Conquer Cancer Foundation Grants and Awards program. “Conquer Cancer Foundation is grateful for the generous support from Gateway and...
As reported by Larsen et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, final data from the Children’s Oncology Group (COG) AALL0232 trial indicate that the event-free survival benefit of high-dose methotrexate was maintained in children/young adults with high-risk B-acute lymphoblastic leukemia....
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 March 30, 2016, defibrotide sodium (Defitelio) was approved for...
As our understanding of the complexities of breast cancer expands, so does our treatment armamentarium—and along with it the range of factors that must be included in our treatment decisions. Gone is the simple algorithm of adjuvant chemotherapy for almost every patient with a ≥ 2-cm tumor, except...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Lyndsay N. Harris, MD, and colleagues,1 ASCO has released a clinical practice guideline on the use of biomarkers in addition to estrogen receptor/progesterone receptor and HER2 status to guide decisions on adjuvant systemic therapy in women with...
It was over 2 decades ago that my colleagues and I reported in The New England Journal of Medicine that a first-generation oral antiandrogen, flutamide, when added to a luteinizing hormone–releasing hormone (LHRH) agonist, improved survival by nearly 6 months compared to an LHRH agonist alone in...
In the randomized phase II TERRAIN trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Neal D. Shore, MD, of Carolina Urologic Research Center, Myrtle Beach, and colleagues found that use of the androgen receptor inhibitor enzalutamide (Xtandi) more than doubled median progression-free survival vs bicalutamide...
At the 2016 Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer, The ASCO Post sat down with the SGO’s outgoing President, Robert L. Coleman, MD, and discussed the revolutionary potential of blood biomarkers, why enhanced recovery after surgery protocols is a significant...
Robert Weinberg, PhD, was honored for his seminal contributions to cancer research and cancer biology with the 13th annual American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Award for Lifetime Achievement in Cancer Research at the 2016 AACR Annual Meeting, held in New Orleans, April 16–20. The AACR...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) honored Waun Ki Hong, MD, with the 10th annual Margaret Foti Award for Leadership and Extraordinary Achievements in Cancer Research at the 2016 AACR Annual Meeting, held in New Orleans, April 16–20. The Margaret Foti Award for Leadership and...
On April 25, 2016, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved cabozantinib (Cabometyx) tablets for the treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma in patients who have received prior antiangiogenic therapy. Cabozantinib is a dual tyrosine kinase inhibitor of MET and VEGFR2. The capsule...
At the 2016 Society of Gynecologic Oncology’s (SOG’s) Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer, Thomas J. Herzog, MD, Clinical Director, University of Cincinnati (UC) Cancer Institute and Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at UC College of Medicine, provided commentary on several noteworthy ovarian...
In the discussion session, Gini Fleming, MD, Professor of Medicine and Director of the Gynecologic Oncology and Medical Oncology Breast Program at the University of Chicago Medical Center, analyzed the three previous, large trials on which the presumed benefits of intraperitoneal therapy in women...
A phase III trial of bevacizumab (Avastin) with intravenous vs intraperitoneal chemotherapy showed no improvement in progression-free survival for first-line treatment of patients with optimally surgically resected stage II and III ovarian, peritoneal, or fallopian tube cancer.1 When compared with...
The BMT Tandem Meetings are the combined annual meetings of the Center for International Blood & Marrow Transplant Research and the American Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation. Held recently in Honolulu, Hawaii, this year’s BMT Tandem Meetings drew 3,000 attendees from 35 countries,...
The national nonprofit organization CancerCare has announced the publication of a comprehensive report on experiences, perceptions, and needs of people who are living with and beyond a cancer diagnosis. The 2016 CancerCare Patient Access and Engagement Report is a compilation of results from six...
The primary analysis of the MINDACT trial confirms the value of genomic profiling for patients with early breast cancer with zero to three positive lymph nodes, according to MINDACT investigators and breast cancer specialists who heard the results at the 2016 American Association of Cancer Research ...
Formal discussant of the ado-trastuzumab emtansine plus pertuzumab trial, Mark Pegram, MD, Director of the Breast Cancer Program at Stanford Women’s Cancer Center and Co-Director of Stanford’s Molecular Therapeutics Program, Stanford, California, said that I-SPY 2 has several strengths. They...
The combination of ado-trastuzumab emtansine (Kadcyla) plus pertuzumab (Perjeta) is a worthy combination to pursue in phase III studies as neoadjuvant therapy for HER2-positive invasive breast cancer, according to findings in the I-SPY 2 trial presented at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the American...
Squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck that progresses after platinum-based therapy has a dismal prognosis, and there is no effective standard of care. No treatment has improved survival for this patient population, but that may be about to change. Nivolumab (Opdivo), an anti–PD-1 (programmed ...
John Farrow, a 67-year-old Vietnam veteran, had not been able to sleep for days. A week ago, his primary care doctor at his local outpatient Veterans Administration (VA) clinic told him that his prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood level was rapidly increasing, and his prostate was abnormal on...
Excitement was high on the last day of the 2016 Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) in anticipation of Vice President Joseph R. Biden’s remarks related to the Moonshot Initiative to accelerate progress in cancer research. The Secret Service made elaborate...
“We are at a fortunate time to have multiple routes to ‘lifetime’ (T-cell) memory (including ipilimumab [Yervoy] and nivolumab [Opdivo]),” said Jedd D. Wolchok, MD, PhD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, who was the formal discussant of the CA909-003 trial at the American...
The news is good from the longest follow-up survival study of patients with advanced melanoma who were treated with the anti–programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) agent nivolumab (Opdivo).1 Thirty-four percent of patients who received the drug in a phase I trial (CA909-003) were alive 5 years...
Researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine have demonstrated that distinct types of glioblastoma tend to develop in different regions of the brain. This finding provides an explanation for how the same cancer-causing mutation can give rise to different types of brain...
As reported by Vasen et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, surveillance for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma in high-risk individuals appears to be of benefit in individuals at risk due to CDKN2A mutation, with the advantage being less clear among individuals at risk due to familial clustering ...
Cetuximab (Erbitux) exhibited little apparent activity in refractory metastatic colorectal cancer harboring the KRAS G13D mutation, according to the findings of the phase II Australasian Gastro-Intestinal Trials Group ICECREAM study, which were reported by Segelov et al in the Journal of Clinical...
Researchers have identified a gene that may help to predict survival outcomes in patients with cancer of the mouth and tongue. Patients whose tumors express a gene called spectrin are 4.6 times more likely to die at any given time, according to a study by researchers at Loyola Medicine and Loyola...