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Showing 26301 - 26350FDA Approves Pertuzumab for HER2-positive Metastatic Breast Cancer
The FDA has approved pertuzumab (Perjeta), a new anti-HER2 therapy, to treat patients with HER2-positive late-stage breast cancer. Intended for patients who have not received prior treatment for metastatic breast cancer with an anti-HER2 therapy or chemotherapy, pertuzumab is combined with...
Obese Patients at Higher Risk of Aggressive Thyroid Tumors
Obese patients present with more advanced and more aggressive forms of papillary thyroid cancer and should be screened for thyroid cancer with sonography, which is more sensitive in detecting thyroid cancer than physical examination alone, according to a study published online in the Archives of...
After Complete Response to Chemotherapy, IFRT Improves Event-free Survival in Hodgkin Lymphoma
Final data from the Children’s Cancer Group (CCG) trial evaluating low-dose involved-field radiation therapy (IFRT) for patients with Hodgkin lymphoma achieving a complete response after chemotherapy show that at a median follow-up of 7.7 years, IFRT produced a statistically significant improvement ...
To Scan or Not to Scan for Colon Cancer Recurrence?
Over the past 2 decades, we have seen a substantial increase in the 5-year survival of patients with stage II and III colon cancer, marking an evolving oncologic success story. However, in the postoperative setting, the value of regular CT screening to monitor for recurrence has been greeted with...
Everolimus: New Indication in Renal Angiomyolipoma Associated with Tuberous Sclerosis Complex
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. Indication In April 2012, the kinase inhibitor everolimus...
SIDEBAR: Expect Questions from Your Patients
“We have already received several calls and requests from patients who desire to participate in our research or get the test done,” Anthony Lucci, MD, said about the response to a study published in The Lancet Oncology and media coverage of the findings. Dr. Lucci is lead author of the study, which ...
Too Soon to Know How Circulating Tumor Cells Might Be Used to Guide Treatment of Breast Cancer
In the News focuses on media reports that your patients may have questions about at their next visit. This continuing column will provide summaries of articles in the popular press that may prompt such questions, as well as comments from colleagues in the field. “A simple blood test.” These were...
Multicenter Phase II Trial Supporting Approval of Brentuximab Vedotin in Anaplastic Large-cell Lymphoma
Systemic anaplastic large-cell lymphoma (ALCL) is an aggressive T-cell lymphoma subtype characterized by uniform expression of CD30. Apart from low- to intermediate-risk patients with ALK-positive disease, patients with ALCL have a poor prognosis when treated with conventional, anthracycline-based...
Novel Agent Carfilzomib Receives Positive Vote from Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee for Use in Multiple Myeloma
Onyx Pharmaceuticals recently announced that the FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) determined by a vote of 11–0 (with 1 abstention) that, in patients with relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma who have received at least two prior lines of therapy that included a proteasome...
Medical Ethicists Reflect on Their Personal Cancer Experiences
The recently published book, Malignant: Medical Ethicists Confront Cancer, takes a personal look at the cancer experience from the perspective of seven medical ethicists who were also patients with cancer or cared for spouses with cancer.1 The book’s editor, Rebecca Dresser, JD, MS, who teaches law ...
Help Your Patients Understand the Latest Research
Direct your patients to www.cancer.net/podcasts to hear ASCO experts discuss the research that was presented at 2012 ASCO Annual Meeting. This series of “Research Round-up” podcasts provides the latest information on treatment and care for people with cancer and will help your patients understand...
A Decade of Trusted Cancer Education
May 18 marked the 10th anniversary of Cancer.Net, the patient information website of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). This milestone is not only important to the more than 12 million cancer survivors in the United States who have searched for reliable answers to many of the issues...
ASCO’s CancerLinQ: Building a Transformation in Cancer Care
Cancer science and information technology are advancing rapidly, but the way we care for patients today cannot fully capitalize on those advances. The proliferation of scientific results and novel treatments is a growing challenge for all oncology professionals as we enter the era of highly...
Expert Point of View: Kathy Miller, MD
“Our old friends are sometimes worth keeping, and that is certainly true for weekly paclitaxel,” said the invited discussant of CALGB 40502, Kathy Miller, MD, of Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, at the ASCO Annual Meeting. She noted that Dr. Rugo must “remain strict to the...
Older Breast Cancer Drugs Prove Superior to Newer Ones
In the treatment of metastatic breast cancer, established older agents outperformed newer, more expensive drugs in two studies that made news at the 2012 ASCO Annual Meeting. Microtubule Inhibitors In the phase III open-label CALBG 40502/NCCTG N063H trial of 799 chemotherapy-naive patients with...
Expert Point of View: Michael Seiden, MD
“We are approaching the 15th year of exploring molecularly targeted therapies in ovarian cancer,” said Michael Seiden, MD, of Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, and formal discussant of the papers presented during an oral abstract session on gynecologic cancer at the 2012 ASCO Annual Meeting....
Bevacizumab and Olaparib Boost Progression-free Survival in Ovarian Cancer
A trio of randomized, controlled trials of different molecularly targeted therapies showed variable results in ovarian cancer, as reported at the 2012 ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago. The phase III AURELIA trial demonstrated that the addition of the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)...
Expert Point of View: Mark Gilbert, MD
Commending the investigators for their undertaking, Mark Gilbert, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, said, “Perseverance and analysis of long-term outcomes lead to practice-changing findings and important insights.” He pointed out that two randomized trials...
New Standard of Care for Anaplastic Oligodendroglial Tumors with 1p/19q Codeletions
Adjuvant chemotherapy with PCV (procarbazine [Matulane], lomustine [CeeNU], and vincristine) following standard radiation therapy delayed disease progression and increased survival in patients with a relatively rare type of brain tumor called anaplastic oligodendroglioma. A subgroup analysis found...
Expert Point of View: William K. Oh, MD
Formal discussant of the SWOG 9346 trial, William K. Oh, MD, Tisch Cancer Institute at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, said that at least 23 phase II trials have suggested that intermittent androgen deprivation therapy was safe and effective and that this practice has been broadly...
SIDEBAR: SWOG 9346 Conclusions Debated in Special Post-plenary Discussion
Based on the controversial nature of the SWOG 9346 findings, presented at the 2012 Annual Meeting Plenary Session, ASCO intiated a pilot program at the meeting for a “town hall” type of discussion, where attendees could voice their concerns and questions, and where presenter Maha Hussain, MD,...
Continuous Androgen Deprivation Therapy Continues to Be Standard of Care for Newly Diagnosed Metastatic Prostate Cancer
Based on a prespecified definition of survival comparability, intermittent androgen deprivation proved to be inferior to continuous androgen deprivation for men with newly diagnosed hormone-sensitive metastatic prostate cancer in the phase III SWOG 9346 intergroup trial. The data were presented at...
Expert Point of View: Michael Williams, MD
Michael Williams, MD, the Byrd S. Leavell Professor of Medicine and Chief of Hematologic Malignancies at the University of Virginia Cancer Center, Charlottesville, commented, “Bendamustine/rituximab provides equivalent or better responses vs R-CHOP [rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin,...
Expert Point of View: Richard I. Fisher, MD
Richard I. Fisher, MD, the Samuel E. Durand Professor of Medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, New York, cautioned that it is too early to embrace the bendamustine/rituximab regimen. Caution Advised “Bendamustine is a very active agent with moderate toxicity that...
German Study Finds Bendamustine Improves Progression-free Survival in Patients with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma
Updated results of the StiL NHL1 study, presented at the 2012 ASCO Annual Meeting Plenary Session, showed that bendamustine plus rituximab (Rituxan) more than doubled the median progression-free survival, compared with the standard R-CHOP regimen (rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin,...
Prostate Cancer Management: A Day Late and A Dollar Short?
In the May 15 issue, The ASCO Post reported on the relative cost-effectiveness of approaches to treating localized prostate cancer (“Advances in Prostate Cancer Accompanied by Ongoing Debates,” page 1). The article analyzed an important scientific paper presented at both urology and radiation...
Breast Cancer and Noncommunicable Diseases: Where in the World Do We Start?
As the world’s most common cancer among women, and the most likely reason around the globe that a woman will die of cancer, breast cancer affects countries at all economic levels. Despite the common misconception that breast cancer is primarily a problem of high-income countries, the majority of...
New PSA Recommendations: The Debate over Prostate Cancer Screening Continues
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recently issued a recommendation statement advising against the use of prostate-specific antigen (PSA)-based testing for prostate cancer,1 leaving many in the oncology community concerned that decades of clinical progress will be stalled, and setting ...
Expert Point of View: PD-1 Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors Look Promising in Multiple Solid Tumors
Oncologists can expect to hear more about immune checkpoint blockade, according to two discussants of these abstracts. In fact, five PD-1 immune checkpoint compounds are already in the pipeline (Table 1), according to Giuseppe Giaccone, MD, PhD, of the National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland. ...
Adjuvant Chemotherapy May Confer Survival Benefit in Patients Older than 75 with Stage III Disease
Because few people over 75 participate in clinical trials, it is unknown whether adjuvant chemotherapy could benefit this population. Faced with this gap in clinical trial evidence, researchers reviewed data from 5,489 patients ≥ 75 years with stage III colon cancer. The review suggests that...
Screening Should Begin Early for Survivors of Childhood Cancer
Survivors of childhood cancer, particularly those treated for childhood Hodgkin lymphoma or Wilms tumor with abdominal radiation, procarbazine (Matulane), and platinum chemotherapy, are at an increased risk of developing gastrointestinal subsequent malignant neoplasms, according to a retrospective...
Pretreatment Tumor Hypoxia Predicts Biochemical Failure after Radiotherapy for Prostate Cancer
Hypoxia often occurs early in solid tumor development as a result of imbalances between oxygen supply and consumption and may lead to genetic and molecular signaling that influences the biology and clinical behavior of tumors and response to treatment. Milosevic and colleagues from Princess...
SIDEBAR: Expect Questions from Your Patients
Promising results announced at the recent ASCO Annual Meeting from studies with BRAF and MEK inhibitors have made headlines, but only one of these agents—the BRAF inhibitor vemurafenib (Zelboraf)—has been approved by the FDA. The others are still investigational. Patients interested in gaining...
MEK Inhibitor Reduces Progression of BRAF-mutated Melanoma and Might also Benefit Others
In the News focuses on media reports that your patients may have questions about at their next visit. This continuing column will provide summaries of articles in the popular press that may prompt such questions, as well as comments from colleagues in the field. The MEK inhibitor trametinib...
2012 Oncology Meetings
July Pan Pacific Lymphoma ConferenceJuly 17-20 • Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii For more information: unmc.edu/panpacificlymphoma 13th International Lung Cancer CongressJuly 19-22 • Huntington Beach, California For more information: http://cancerlearning.onclive.com 5th Latin American Lung Cancer...
Jesus San Miguel Receives José Carreras Award
Jesús San Miguel, MD, Professor of Medicine (Hematology), Head of the Hematology Department at the University Hospital of Salamanca, and Director of the Biomedical Research Institute of Salamanca, Spain, was awarded the José Carreras Lecture at the 17th Congress of the European Hematology...
Pazopanib: New Drug for Advanced Soft-tissue Sarcoma
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. Indication In April 2012, pazopanib (Votrient) was approved for the ...
Identification of Novel Mechanism for Suppression of Antitumor Immunity
The efficacy of cancer immunotherapy has been limited, likely reflecting in large part the incomplete understanding of the complex interactions between tumors and the immune microenvironment. A study presented at the 2012 ASCO Annual Meeting helps clarify some of these interactions. Changes in...
My Breast Cancer Had Been Coming for Years
I’ve never had a normal mammogram screening. There was always something suspicious the test picked up: macrocalcifications in one breast 1 year and a cyst in the other breast the next year. Over a period of 3 years, I had six tissue biopsies, all benign for cancer. So when I flunked another...
Early Access to Palliative/Supportive Care vs Usual Care Improves Pain Management
Many cancer patients remain undertreated for pain despite availability of guidelines and educational efforts to improve pain treatment. In a recent Annals of Oncology article, Bandieri and colleagues from the Italian Epidemiologia Clinico-Assistenziale del Dolore in Ospedale (ECAD-O) group report a ...
Soy Phytoestrogens and Breast Cancer: An Enduring Dilemma
The impact of soy consumption on breast cancer diagnosis and outcome has remained of concern to clinicians and researchers for the past 20 years. Although studied extensively in epidemiologic studies as well as lab and animal research, no medical consensus on soy’s effects has emerged. Many studies ...
Expert Point of View: Samuel A. Wells, MD
This study follows earlier phase I and II trials showing remarkable responses in patients with advanced medullary thyroid carcinoma, some of whom had progressed on prior tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy, explained formal discussant of this trial, Samuel A. Wells, MD, of the Center for Cancer...
Cabozantinib Prolongs Progression-free Survival in Advanced Medullary Thyroid Cancer
Cabozantinib prolonged progression-free survival in patients with unresectable, locally advanced, or metastatic medullary thyroid cancer with documented disease progression in the phase III EXAM trial. Based on these results, Exelixis submitted a New Drug Application to the FDA in May 2012. The...
p53 Mutation in Advanced Solid Tumors Linked to Aggressive Course
Mutations in the tumor-suppressor protein p53, among the most common mutations in cancers, affect apoptosis, genomic stability, and angiogenesis. To determine the effect of p53 mutation on clinical characteristics and disease and treatment outcomes, Rabih Said, MD, MPH, and colleagues from The...
NK Cell Signature Associated with Favorable Prognosis in Breast Cancer
Tumor cell recognition by natural killer (NK) cells is mediated by the interaction of activating and inhibitory NK cell receptors with ligands expressed on the tumor cells. NK cells also express adhesion molecules that facilitate formation of the immune synapse with tumor targets. Maria Libera...
Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms Predict Severe Toxicity of Adjuvant Therapy in Colorectal Cancer
Oxaliplatin/fluoropyrimidine–based adjuvant therapy is of benefit in patients with resected stage II/III colon cancer, but the ability to predict risk of toxicity could improve care by permitting individualization of treatment. Ana Custodio, MD, and colleagues from GEMCAD (Grupo Español...
Two Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms Associated with Risk for Paclitaxel-related Peripheral Neuropathy
Peripheral neuropathy is the most common severe toxicity in patients receiving paclitaxel, and mutations in genes affecting drug metabolism, distribution, and elimination are likely to modulate risk for such neurotoxicity. In a recent study, Daniel Hertz, PharmD, and colleagues from the University...
Alterations in PTEN Insufficient to Predict Sensitivity to Drugs Targeting PI3K/mTOR Pathway
PTEN acts as a tumor-suppressor gene through the action of its phosphatase protein product, which participates in regulation of the cell cycle to prevent too-rapid cell growth and division. Loss of PTEN function has been shown to increase PI3K/mTOR signaling, and preclinical data suggest that PTEN...
New Study Examines Racial Disparities in Breast Cancer Mortality
According to the first national study looking at racial disparity in breast cancer mortality rates at the city level in the United States, societal factors—especially poverty and residential segregation—are resulting in the unnecessary deaths of five black women every day—more than 1,700 deaths a...
Mitotane-containing Regimens Explored for a Rare Tumor
Response rates and progression-free survival rates were significantly better among patients with advanced adrenocortical carcinoma receiving mitotane (Lysodren) plus EDP (etoposide, doxorubicin, and cisplatin) than in patients receiving mitotane with streptozocin (Zanosar), according to results of...
