Foreign-born Hispanics with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have a decreased risk of disease-specific mortality compared with non-Hispanic whites and United States-born Hispanics with NSCLC, according to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Manali I. Patel, MD, and...
Studies evaluating two standards of care in adults with advanced Hodgkin lymphoma—ie, increased-dose bleomycin, etoposide, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, procarbazine (Matulane), and prednisone (BEACOPPescalated) and doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine...
The risk of transformation to melanoma appears very low for biopsy-diagnosed mildly or moderately dysplastic nevi, and routine surgical excision of nevi with a positive biopsy margin may not be indicated. Patients with biopsy-diagnosed moderately-to-severely and severely atypical nevi, however,...
Despite a relatively high rate of depression among patients with head and neck cancer following radiation therapy, mental health services were severely underutilized in this group, concluded researchers who analyzed questionnaire results from 211 patients. The patients had been previously treated...
Annual screening for breast cancer with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been found to be cost-effective in women aged 30 to 60 years who are BRCA1 or BRCA2 carriers or who have a 50% chance of being a carrier, and such screening is recommended in these women by many authorities. It is unclear...
It is estimated that 30% to 90% of cancer patients experience impairment of sleep quality post-treatment and such impairment can be severe enough to increase morbidity and mortality. Preliminary evidence indicates that yoga may improve sleep in cancer patients. In a study reported in the Journal of ...
Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida, suggest secondary cancers seen in melanoma patients who are being treated for a BRAF gene mutation may require new strategies, such as enhanced surveillance and combining BRAF-inhibitor therapy with other inhibitors, especially as they become...
A new population-based study has found that patients with glioblastoma who died in 2010, after the FDA approval of bevacizumab (Avastin), had lived significantly longer than patients who died of the disease in 2008, prior to the conditional approval of the drug for the treatment of brain...
A drug recently approved for use in multiple myeloma is now being tested for its ability to fight central nervous system (CNS) lymphoma, a deadly cancer of the immune system that can affect the brain, spinal cord and fluid, and eyes. The clinical trial, now open at the three campuses of Mayo Clinic ...
Prostate cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer in men and the leading cause of cancer deaths in white, African American, and Hispanic men, according to the Centers for Disease Control. However, it remains unclear why, despite treatment, some prostate cancers progress and may become...
Some data support an association between circadian disruption and prostate cancer. In a study reported in Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Erin E. Flynn-Evans, PhD, of the Division of Sleep Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and colleagues assessed the association between...
In a study (Medical Research Council AML 15 Trial) reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Alan K. Burnett, MD, of Cardiff University School of Medicine and colleagues compared induction with daunorubicin/cytarabine, daunorubicin/cytarabine plus etoposide, and fludarabine/cytarabine/granulocyte...
New research suggests that restricting calories for a defined period of time may improve the success of cancer treatment, offering valuable new data on how caloric intake may play a role in programmed cancer cell death and efficacy of targeted cancer therapies. Study results were published online...
VeriStrat, a serum-based protein assay, can help select which patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who are not known to have epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations might benefit from an EGFR-targeted agent, according to a study described at the 2013 Best of ASCO Los...
In a phase III study (REGAL trial) reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Tracy T. Batchelor, MD, MPH, of Massachusetts General Hospital, and colleagues compared oral monotherapy with the pan-VEGF tyrosine kinase inhibitor cediranib and the combination of cediranib plus lomustine (CeeNu) vs...
Poor oral health, including gum disease and dental problems, is a newly recognized independent risk factor for oral human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, which causes between 40% and 80% of oropharyngeal cancers, according to a study published in Cancer Prevention Research. Researchers from the...
In a study reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Tomasz Huzarski, MD, PhD, of Pomeranian Medical University, Szczecin, Poland, and colleagues from the Polish Hereditary Breast Cancer Consortium assessed survival among women with early-onset breast cancer with and without BRCA1 mutation and...
A new way of analyzing data acquired in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) appears to be able to identify whether or not tumors are responding to antiangiogenesis therapy, which may help physicians determine the most appropriate treatments for patients. In a report published online in Nature...
A telomerase RNA component gene called TERC, which is responsible for regulating the length of caps on the ends of DNA molecules and believed to be involved in the aging process, has been linked to the development of multiple myeloma, according to a study published in Nature Genetics. Researchers...
In a study reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Anthony V. Moorman, PhD, of Newcastle University, and colleagues compared outcomes in children and adolescents with B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and intrachromosomal amplification of chromosome 21 (iAMP21) in a trial in...
Intrachromosomal amplification of a region of chromosome 21 (iAMP21; three or more extra copies of RUNX1 on an abnormal chromosome 21) is a recently identified recurrent genomic abnormality associated with poorer outcome in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). In a study reported in Journal of...
A new study published in the Annals of Oncology reports that giving men with testicular cancer a single dose of chemotherapy before radiotherapy could improve the effectiveness of treatment and reduce the risk of long-term side effects. As many as 96% of men with testicular cancer are predicted to ...
For the two-thirds of lung cancer patients with locally advanced or metastatic disease, tumor size is not used currently to predict overall survival times. However, a new study led by researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center has shown that even in advanced stages total tumor size can have ...
A “new kind of pathology,” in which anatomy and histology are supplemented by molecular etiology, has been emerging over the past decade and promises better response rates among cancer patients as genomic alterations in cancer continue to be identified and treated with targeted...
In a study (the BEATRICE trial) reported in Lancet Oncology, David Cameron, MD, of the University of Edinburgh, and colleagues evaluated the strategy of adding the antiangiogenic agent bevacizumab (Avastin) to adjuvant chemotherapy in women with triple-negative breast cancer. The study showed that...
Despite taking a tailored risk assessment tool that factors in family history and personal habits, nearly 20% of women did not believe their breast cancer risk, according to a new study from the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center. The findings, published in Patient Education and...
A phase I clinical trial showed diffuse large B-cell lymphomas resistant to chemotherapy can be reprogrammed to respond to treatment after being pretreated with drug azacitidine (Vidaza), according to a study published in Cancer Discovery. Patients whose lymphomas recur after initial chemotherapy...
A trial reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology by John P. Crown, MD, of the Irish Cooperative Oncology Research Group, and colleagues assessed the addition of the antiangiogenesis agent sunitinib (Sutent) to capecitabine (Xeloda) in patients with previously treated metastatic breast cancer who...
A team of researchers from UC Davis, UC San Diego, and other institutions has identified a key mechanism behind aggressive prostate cancer. Published online today in Nature, the study shows that two long noncoding RNAs, PRNCR1 and PCGEM1, activate androgen receptors, circumventing...
Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center suggest secondary cancers seen in melanoma patients who are being treated for a BRAF gene mutation may require new strategies, such as enhanced surveillance and combining BRAF inhibitor therapy with other inhibitors, especially as they become more widely used....
In a study of ovarian cancer cells taken from patients, scientists from Georgia Institute of Technology have confirmed that metastasizing cancer cells have a different molecular structure from primary tumor cells and display genetic signatures consistent with epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition....
Scientists have long believed that healthy brain cells, once damaged by radiation designed to kill brain tumors, cannot regenerate. But new research in mice suggests that neural stem cells, the body's source of new brain cells, are resistant to radiation, and can be roused from a hibernation-like...
Off-label prescribing of drugs remains common in oncology, but about two-thirds of off-label prescribing is consistent with the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Drugs & Biologics Compendium, according to a study reviewed at Best of ASCO Chicago by Monika K. Krzyzanowska, MD, MPH, of ...
Cisplatin plus fluorouracil (5-FU) induction chemotherapy has been compared with taxane (docetaxel or paclitaxel), cisplatin, and 5-FU in randomized trials in locoregionally advanced head and neck cancers. An updated individual patient data meta-analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology ...
Parents and siblings of children with cancer have between a two- and four-times increased risk of developing cancer than first-degree relatives with no childhood cancer patients, according to a study published in the International Journal of Cancer. The study, led by Joshua Schiffman, MD, Medical...
In a study reported in Lancet Oncology, Timothy Key, PhD, of Oxford University, and colleagues in the Endogenous Hormones and Breast Cancer Collaborative Group analyzed data from seven prospective studies to determine associations between sex hormones and risk of breast cancer in premenopausal...
According to a study published online today in Cancer Cell, the molecule interleukin-11 may be a potential new target for anticancer therapies. Until now, interleukin-11’s role in cancer development has been underestimated, but researchers have recently identified this molecule as a "dark...
A multistate study led by researchers at the University of Utah has revealed that the risk for childhood cancer is moderately increased among children and young adolescents with certain types of major birth defects. Children born with nonchromosomal birth defects have a two-fold higher risk of...
A new analysis has found that a type of radiation therapy called carbon ion radiotherapy can control cancer growth and prolong survival in patients with spinal tumors. The study, published online in Cancer, indicates that the treatment is a promising alternative for patients whose spinal tumors...
In a study reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Kelly-Anne Phillips, MD, of Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and University of Melbourne, and colleagues analyzed the association of adjuvant tamoxifen use and risk of contralateral breast cancer among women carrying BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations in the ...
Although small clinical studies of adoptive T-cell therapy in the treatment of advanced forms of leukemia have shown positive results, including putting some patients into complete remissions, progress in the development of this type of immunotherapy is limited by the lack of readily available,...
According to a new study published in the journal Cancer, the survival outcome of patients with Burkitt lymphoma has improved substantially over the past decade, with notable exceptions. To help doctors and researchers better understand who responds well to treatment and who does not, the study...
For the first time, scientists have directly observed events that lead to the formation of a chromosome abnormality that is often found in cancer cells. The abnormality, called a translocation, occurs when part of a chromosome breaks off and becomes attached to another chromosome. The results of...
Genomic sequencing experts at Johns Hopkins partnered with pharmacologists at Stony Brook University to reveal a striking mutational signature of upper urinary tract cancers caused by aristolochic acid, a plant compound contained in herbal remedies used for thousands of years to treat a variety of...
Minimal data are available on outcomes of second allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation from unrelated donors after first hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in patients with hematologic relapse of acute leukemia. In a study reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Maximilian...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved the first rapid human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) test for the simultaneous detection of HIV-1 p24 antigen as well as antibodies to both HIV-1 and HIV-2 in human serum, plasma, and venous or fingerstick whole blood specimens. Approved for...
A new study by thoracic surgeons and pathologists at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center shows that a specific pattern found in the tumor pathology of some lung cancer patients is a strong predictor of recurrence. Knowing that this feature exists in a tumor's pathology could be an important...
Researchers from Indiana University, the University of Michigan, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have identified and validated a biomarker accessible in blood tests that could be used to predict which stem cell transplant patients are at highest risk ...
A recent study published in the Journal of Oncology Practice assessed the feasibility and value of incorporating patient reported outcomes into oncology practice. Although previous research has shown that using patient-reported outcomes in oncology can improve physician-patient communication and...
Researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James) have discovered a novel mechanism responsible for the loss of a critical tumor-suppressor gene in rhabdomyosarcoma and other...