Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition is known to mediate cancer cell invasion, metastasis, and drug resistance, but its impact on cancer immune surveillance is less well defined. In a study reported in Cancer Research, Akalay and colleagues found that epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and...
Multiple myeloma subtypes are driven by a variety of genetic abnormalities. Given the genetic diversity of the disease, identification of oncogenic mechanisms common to all subtypes is highly desirable. In a study reported in Cancer Cell, Lamy and colleagues found that that all multiple myeloma...
I would like to suggest that ASCO take a proactive approach to the treatment of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) and the problem it presents to the oncology community. There has been and continues to be heated debate around the value of mammography screening because of “overdiagnosis,” which in my...
The FDA recently alerted health-care professionals that the use of the incorrect nonproprietary name for the breast cancer drug Kadcyla (ado-trastuzumab emtansine, also known as T-DM1 during preapproval clinical trials) in some medication-related electronic systems poses a risk of mix-up with...
sunrise the winter tree not so bare I forget to take my pain medication … first robin long summer hikes my vitamin D level still low ignoring my no another leaf falls … About the Author Jyothirmai Gubili is an editor with the Integrative Medicine Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer...
About the Writers Charlotte Bath has been writing about cancer and related fields of medicine since serving as Public Information Director of the American Cancer Society, Long Island Division, from 1975 to 1979. She subsequently worked as a writer for Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and...
George Salti, MD, FACS, Surgical Oncologist and Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of Illinois at Chicago, has joined the Edward Cancer Center in Naperville, Illinois. Dr. Salti will serve as the Co-Medical Director of the Edward Cancer Center and Medical Director of the Edward...
After a friend was diagnosed with breast cancer, I became so worried it would happen to me, I decided to perform regular breast self-exams so I could familiarize myself with the normal feel of my breasts, and quickly spot any changes. My friend’s diagnosis scared me, and that fear probably saved my ...
Bernard Fisher, MD, is recognized today for his groundbreaking research in breast cancer, which ultimately ended the standard practice of performing the Halsted radical mastectomy, a treatment that had been in place for more than 75 years. His laboratory and clinical investigations led to more...
Robert S. Miller, MD, FACP, has been appointed Editor-in-Chief of ASCO’s patient information website, Cancer.Net. Dr. Miller will assume this role at the 2013 ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago on June 1, and succeeds Diane Blum, MSW, Chief Executive Officer for the Lymphoma Research Foundation, who...
Forty years ago, President Richard Nixon announced a “war on cancer.” Some of that war’s first battles were won in the field of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with two agents, cytarabine and daunorubicin, receiving U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval based on their ability to produce...
Located in Anchorage, Alaska, the Denali Oncology Group faces the dual challenge of serving a diverse and large population of more than 731,000 spread across a vast state of 586,000 square miles, with just 20 medical oncologists and 5 radiation oncologists located mainly in Alaska’s two biggest...
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York recently announced the following appointments: Chief of Lymphoma Anas Younes, MD, has been named Chief of the Lymphoma Service in the Division of Hematologic Oncology, Department of Medicine. An internationally recognized medical oncologist with...
May Northern New England Clinical Oncology Society Spring MeetingMay 17 • Manchester, New HampshireFor more information: www.nnecos.org Iowa Oncology Society Spring Membership ConferenceMay 17-18 • West Des Moines, IowaFor more information: www.ios-iowa.com California Breast Cancer Research...
The results of the GEST study by Ueno and colleagues add to the intriguing potential role of the oral fluoropyrimidine S-1 in the treatment of pancreas adenocarcinoma. S-1 is a three-component drug consisting of tegafur (a prodrug of fluorouracil), gimeracil (5-chloro-2,4 dihydropyridine, or CDHP,...
As reported by Hideki Ueno, MD, PhD, of National Cancer Center Hospital, Tokyo, and colleagues in Journal of Clinical Oncology, treatment with the oral fluoropyrimidine derivative S-1 was associated with noninferior overall survival and reduced hematologic toxicity compared with gemcitabine...
The current uncertainty regarding the relative frequencies of cancers of various anatomic sites in Lynch syndrome poses a difficulty in commenting on the syndrome’s overall cancer spectrum. It is even more vexing to address the order in which these cancers are prone to occur. What we do know is...
Lynch syndrome is an autosomal dominantly inherited disorder due to germline mutations in DNA mismatch repair genes. Mismatch repair mutation carriers are at increased risk of several cancers, with endometrial cancer being one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers in women with Lynch syndrome. In...
A two-step immunologic approach that includes a personalized dendritic cell vaccine for each patient followed by adoptive T-cell therapy holds promise for the treatment of recurrent ovarian cancer, according to results of two consecutive phase I studies presented at the American Association for...
Patients with stage II colon cancer generally have a favorable prognosis, with about 80% of patients surviving 5 years after surgery and the majority of these long-term survivors presumed to be cured. Clearly though, some patients are destined to recur after surgery, and there is an urgent need to...
As reported by Alan P. Venook, MD, Professor of Medicine (Hematology/Oncology) at the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues in Journal of Clinical Oncology, a 12-gene recurrence score (Oncotype DX Colon Cancer Assay) was shown to predict recurrence in stage II colon cancer in a...
Men ages 55 to 69 who are considering prostate cancer screening should talk with their doctors about the benefits and harms of testing and proceed based on their personal values and preferences, according to a new clinical practice guideline released by the American Urological Association (AUA)....
For the first time at the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Annual Conference, scientific posters were included as part of the program. The ASCO Post captured some of the most interesting findings for our readers, including the following news briefs. The findings of these studies support ...
Researchers at the University of Denver and Exempla Healthcare found that multiple distress screenings per patient over the course of cancer treatment informs health-care providers about emotional distress patterns and supportive needs over time. The information gathered allows providers to improve ...
NCCN Patient Guidelines for Adolescents and Young Adults with Cancer are now available. Visit www.nccn.com to view these and other NCCN guidelines for patients. Patient versions of the NCCN Guidelines are available in the following categories: Adolescents and young adults Breast cancer Chronic...
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) has issued new NCCN Guidelines for Patients, titled “Caring for Adolescents and Young Adults [AYA].” These guidelines fill an unmet need in oncology, as Peter F. Coccia, MD, Chair of the NCCN Guidelines Panel for Young Adult Oncology and a member of...
Interim results from a small neoadjuvant study of patients with triple-negative breast cancer has found high rates of pathologic complete response with the combination of nab-paclitaxel (Abraxane), carboplatin, and bevacizumab (Avastin).1 The study was presented at the 18th Annual Conference of the ...
The use of an automated computer-based telephone monitoring system to assess symptoms during outpatient chemotherapy—and provide intervention where appropriate by a nurse practitioner—substantially reduced the number of days with symptoms in a study reported at the 18th Annual Conference of the...
Our work on an Internet-based intervention for lung cancer confirmed what many other studies have shown about technologic interventions for health-care consumers—that such interventions can improve quality of life for caregivers and patients.1 We expected this result in part because of the...
The results of a study reported by David H. Gustafson, PhD, Research Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and colleagues in Cancer suggest that informal caregiver (eg, family member) use of a specifically designed online system to support palliative care reduces symptom distress in...
Despite today’s challenging economy, health care is one field that offers vast career opportunities. Oncology, with the impending workforce shortage, is especially eager for bright young doctors to join its ranks. But the rising costs of medical school can be a deterrent, leading the best and...
Peter C. Nowell, MD, Janet D. Rowley, MD, and Brian J. Druker, MD, have been named as the recipients of the 2013 Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research, to be officially awarded May 17. The $500,000 award, given to those who have altered the course of medical research, is...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved updated labeling for the reformulated painkiller OxyContin (controlled-release oxycodone hydrochloride). The new labeling will indicate that the drug has physical and chemical properties that make injection or snorting challenging. This new measure ...
The work that we do at the Conquer Cancer Foundation would not be possible without the support of generous donors who share our vision to create a world free from the fear of cancer. Conquer Cancer Foundation supporters are invited to visit the Donor Lounge during the ASCO Annual Meeting in...
The new ASCO Answers guides to cancer are designed to help patients newly diagnosed with cancer understand their disease and treatment options. These comprehensive, patient-friendly booklets contain trusted information about diagnosis, treatment, side effects, and the psychosocial effects of...
Each year through its Special Awards Program, ASCO recognizes researchers, patient advocates, and leaders of the global oncology community who, through their work, have made significant contributions to enhancing cancer care. These recipients of ASCO’s highest, most prestigious awards collectively...
ASCO has completed a prototype of CancerLinQ™, the Society’s groundbreaking health information technology initiative to achieve higher quality, higher value cancer care with better outcomes for patients. The prototype was shown on March 27 at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, during an...
Recognizing the need for greater interconnectivity to accelerate cancer care advances, Sandra M. Swain, MD, FACP, current ASCO President and Medical Director of Washington Cancer Institute MedStar Washington Hospital Center, selected “Building Bridges to Conquer Cancer” as her presidential theme....
During her term as ASCO President, Sandra M. Swain, MD, FACP, of the Washington Cancer Institute has kept a solid focus on her presidential and 2013 ASCO Annual Meeting theme of “Building Bridges to Conquer Cancer.” These bridges take many forms, spanning challenges to be overcome in oncology...
Racial inequities were a daily observation for Edward E. Partridge, MD, growing up in Alabama during the civil rights era. When he became a physician, he saw that these disparities extended into his own field, gynecologic oncology. He decided to do something about it. Dr. Partridge recently...
Nearly two-thirds of children receiving stem cell transplants returned to the hospital within 6 months for treatment of unexplained fevers, infections, or other problems, according to a study performed at Dana-Farber/Children’s Hospital Cancer Center in Boston. Children who received donor cells...
Follow-up care for female patients treated for cancer as children, adolescents, or young adults should include assessment and management of the late effects that therapy may have on reproductive health, as detailed in updated guidelines from the Children’s Oncology Group. “It is important for...
A prospective study by researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital observed an association between risk of second primary cancer and history of nonmelanoma skin cancer in white men and women. The researchers found that people with a history of nonmelanoma skin cancer had a modestly increased risk...
Twelve adults with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) have been treated with CD19-targeted chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia by Carl June, MD, Richard W. Vague Professor in Immunotherapy, and colleagues. These were all end-stage...
Two small phase I studies at separate centers demonstrated encouraging results in the treatment of children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) using reinfused autologous genetically engineered T cells. Results of both studies were presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Association for ...
FDA has granted daratumumab breakthrough therapy designation for the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least three prior lines of therapy, including a proteasome inhibitor and an immunomodulatory agent, or who are double refractory to a proteasome inhibitor and...
Commenting on this study, Jan A. Burger, MD, PhD, Associate Professor in the Department of Leukemia, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, and first author of one of the ibrutinib studies presented at the 2012 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology, said that...
Results from an ongoing phase II study reported at the recent Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) demonstrate impressive activity with the use of ibrutinib in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and 17p deletions, which are associated with a poor...
Dermatologic Events in Oncology is guest edited by Mario E. Lacouture, MD, an Associate Member in the Division of Dermatology, Department of Medicine, at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York. He is a board-certified dermatologist with a special interest in dermatologic conditions that...
The place of either autologous or allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in the care of patients with follicular lymphoma has been a point of controversy. However, for patients in whom an effective chemotherapy or chemoimmunotherapy regimen for low-grade follicular lymphoma fails, I...