KRAS and BRAF V600E mutations were nearly mutually exclusive and associated with specific patient and tumor characteristics, such as age and smoking status, according to an analysis of data from the N0147 phase III trial for stage III colon cancer. Primary tumors were assessed for KRAS and BRAF...
“Prolonged TV viewing and time spent in other sedentary pursuits is associated with increased risks of certain types of cancer,” concluded a meta-analysis of data from 43 observational studies including more than 4 million people and 68,936 cancer cases. A positive association with overall...
Aspirin use reduces the risk of colorectal cancer at least in part via inhibition of prostaglandin-endoperoxide synthase 2 (PTGS2, COX-2) pathways. Hydroxyprostaglandin dehydrogenase 15-(nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide; 15-PGDH, HPGD) is a metabolic antagonist of PTGS2 and is downregulated in...
In a study reported in Cell, Kitambi and colleagues screened patient-derived glioblastoma cells to identify targetable cellular processes gained by these cells that are not necessarily involved in malignancy. They found that a quinine derivative (NSC13316) selectively compromised viability of...
Akt plays important roles in cell proliferation, survival, and metabolism. Akt hyperactivation contributes to tumorigenesis and is associated with poor prognosis and resistance to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. It is known that activation of Akt results from phosphorylation at S473 and T308, but it ...
Immunotherapy with dendritic cells in combination with cytotoxic chemotherapy may eliminate minimal disease burden by generating cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs). Improving the cytosolic bioavailability of tumor-specific antigens to improve access to HLA class I molecules would result in better...
Progression to castration-resistant prostate cancer after androgen ablation therapy is primarily due to deregulated androgen receptor signaling. Treatment with agents that target such signaling, such as abiraterone (Zytiga) and enzalutamide (Xtandi), has been successful. However, durable response...
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently announced the launch of the Adjuvant Lung Cancer Enrichment Marker Identification and Sequencing Trials, or ALCHEMIST. The purpose of the trial, which has three components, is to identify patients with early-stage lung cancer whose tumors harbor...
Postmenopausal women who in the past 4 years had undertaken regular physical activity equivalent to at least 4 hours of walking per week had a lower risk for invasive breast cancer compared with women who exercised less during those 4 years, according to data published recently in Cancer...
Tony Hunter, PhD, FRS, has been awarded the 2014 Royal Medal for Biological Sciences by the Royal Society, an international fellowship of scientists based in the United Kingdom. The award recognizes Dr. Hunter, Director of Salk Institute Cancer Center in San Diego, for his contributions to the...
A recent study reporting the absolute 20-year survival benefit from contralateral prophylactic mastectomy was less than 1% for women with stage I and II breast cancer without BRCA mutations runs counter to common perceptions about the risk of contralateral breast cancer among these women and the...
For women with stage I and II breast cancer without BRCA mutations, the absolute 20-year survival benefit from contralateral prophylactic mastectomy was less than 1%, regardless of age, estrogen receptor status, and cancer stage, according to a decision analysis study using a Markov model to...
ASCO Answers: Managing the Cost of Cancer Care explains the various costs associated with cancer treatment, including health-care coverage through the Affordable Care Act. It also provides a list of financial resources available to help offset expenses related to care and tips for organizing...
In 1986, I was pregnant with my third child and excited to be interviewing for a job on the assembly line at a General Motors plant near my home in Brodhead, Wisconsin. Hiring requirements included a physical examination and a chest x-ray, which was done by my obstetrician to avoid any radiation...
Seattle Children’s has announced that Mark Del Beccaro, MD, has been appointed as Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer (CMO) effective October 1, 2014. Dr. Del Beccaro, who currently serves as Vice President of Medical Affairs, will replace David Fisher, MD, who is retiring. “Mark has...
Mr. John Mulvihill, Chair of the Board of Trustees of University Health Network (UHN), Canada, and Chair of the Board’s Selection Committee for the President and CEO, recently announced that Peter Pisters, MD, will serve as UHN’s next President and CEO, beginning January 1, 2015. Dr. Pisters is...
Two grants totaling more than $300,000 will support studies on genomic literacy among Africans as it relates to research conducted in Africa by African investigators. The 3-year grants are part of the Human Heredity and Health in Africa (H3Africa) program, funded by the National Institutes of...
Over the past 40 years, largely because of universal Pap screening, cervical cancer deaths have been drastically reduced in the United States and other wealthy industrialized countries. However, cervical cancer is still a leading cause of cancer death among women in resource-challenged areas of the ...
The information in this Clinical Trials Resource Guide includes actively recruiting clinical studies for patients with kidney cancer. The list includes a pilot study and observational, randomized, and nonrandomized phase II and phase III studies evaluating new therapies, combination therapies,...
Thomas P. Sellers, MPA, has been a tireless advocate for patients’ rights for more than 20 years. A 15-year prostate cancer survivor and only child, Mr. Sellers said it was his mother’s death from lung cancer when she was 51, followed by the death of his father from glioblastoma multiforme that led ...
Title: Lighter as We Go: Virtues, Character Strengths, and AgingAuthors: Mindy Greenstein, PhD, and Jimmie Holland, MDPublisher: Oxford University Press Publication date: September 2014Price: $27.95; Hardcover, 320 pages Death is the universal experience shared by Earth’s 7 billion or so...
Significant weight loss, cachexia, and being bedbound signal that a cancer patient is dying. However, identifying the specific signs that give physicians the ability to predict death is not well described in the literature. To better understand why predicting death is an important part of the care...
The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) has selected 43 recipients to receive a total of $35,500 for the 2014 Annual Meeting Abstract Awards. The awardees will be recognized at ASTRO’s 56th Annual Meeting. ASTRO’s 56th Annual Meeting, takes place San Francisco’s Moscone Center,...
If Anand P. Jillella, MD, has his way, no future patient with acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) will experience a delay in treatment or lack for an expert consult—and few, if any, will die of this condition. Mortality from APL is much higher than most oncologists think, especially during the first ...
The vast majority of non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients present with advanced disease, and many will develop metastases after primary curative therapy. Until recently, despite its low efficacy, chemotherapy remained the only treatment modality in metastatic NSCLC. Within the past decade,...
In the first phase III trial assessing the combination of an insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF-1R) inhibitor with chemotherapy as first-line treatment for advanced nonadenocarcinoma non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the addition of the fully human immunoglobulin G2 monoclonal antibody...
The W. Montague Cobb/National Medical Association (NMA) Health Institute (Cobb Institute) was established by the National Medical Association to develop, evaluate, and implement strategies to promote wellness and eliminate health disparities and racism in medicine. The Institute recently celebrated ...
The Association of American Cancer Institutes (AACI) has announced the election of Stanton L. Gerson, MD, as Vice-President/President-Elect for a 6-year term, effective in October 2014. Dr. Gerson is the Asa and Patricia Shiverick- Jane Shiverick (Tripp) Professor of Hematological Oncology,...
In a study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Martin C. Tammemägi, PhD, of Brock University, Ontario, and colleagues assessed smoking cessation rates among participants undergoing chest x-ray or computed tomography (CT) screening for lung cancer in the National Lung Screening ...
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 August 14, 2014, bevacizumab (Avastin) was approved for the...
ASCO has launched the ASCO in Action Beat, an e-newsletter specifically focused on the latest news and updates related to cancer policy from ASCO in Action. The ASCO in Action Beat provides a snapshot of the most significant news and updates in cancer policy, ASCO’s ongoing advocacy efforts, and...
Registration is open for the ASCO Community Research Forum Annual Meeting, September 28 to 29, 2014, at ASCO headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. Join fellow community-based researchers to discuss barriers and develop solutions to common challenges faced in the community research setting. This...
ASCO submitted a letter to the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee responding to the committee’s second white paper on its 21st Century Cures Initiative, 21st Century Cures: An Update on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) 2012 Report on Propelling ...
By every definition, ASCO’s 50th Annual Meeting was a huge success. The halls were buzzing as nearly 35,000 attendees shared excitement about cancer research. This was a banner year for federally funded clinical trials—all four of the abstracts selected for ASCO’s Plenary Session were backed by...
The 2014 Breast Cancer Symposium will take place September 4 to 6. Direct your patients to www.cancer.net/blog to listen to ASCO Experts explain some of the research announced prior to the meeting and discuss what this research means for patient care. They can also read a summary of the research...
Conquer Cancer Foundation donors are a consistently creative bunch when it comes to encouraging others to help conquer cancer: Tyler invited his friends and family to a charity spin class; elementary school students in Malibu, California, sold bracelets in honor of their principal; Steve competed...
The popular Art of Oncology (AOO) section of the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO) brings a human perspective to the art and science of practicing oncology. Lidia Schapira, MD, FASCO, Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, became the Art of Oncology...
Pfizer Inc announced that the company has initiated a multicenter, open-label expanded access program in the United States for the investigational oral CDK 4/6 inhibitor, palbociclib. Through the program, palbociclib is being made available for use in combination with letrozole for postmenopausal...
Three years ago, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, launched a Supportive and Palliative Radiation Oncology (SPRO) program to integrate generalist palliative oncology services, including the physical, psychosocial, and spiritual aspects of care, into radiation...
Since the presentation on mediastinal lymphoma at the Pan Pacific Lymphoma Conference, Wyndham H. Wilson, MD, PhD, Chief of the Hematological Malignancies Therapeutics Section, Metabolism Branch, Cancer Research Center, of the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, offered The ASCO Post...
Clinicians should use radiotherapy very judiciously in the treatment of mediastinal lymphomas, especially in young patients, recommended Wyndham H. Wilson, MD, PhD, Chief of the Hematological Malignancies Therapeutics Section, Metabolism Branch, Cancer Research Center, of the National Cancer...
A variety of treatment options used today can achieve good outcomes in patients with mediastinal lymphomas, according to James O. Armitage, MD, the Joe Shapiro Professor of Medicine at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. He discussed some of the current evidence helping to refine...
Protocol modifications to address increased risk of toxicity and excess early mortality among children with Down syndrome being treated for B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) proved safe for patients with Down syndrome, and these patients had event-free survival similar to those without Down ...
Advances in allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation for children with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) have resulted in less toxic pretransplant conditioning regimens and expanded access to transplantation, but post-treatment leukemic relapse remains a big problem. The progress and continuing...
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 August 8, 2014, the approved use of bortezomib (Velcade) in...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved bortezomib (Velcade) for the retreatment of adult patients with multiple myeloma who had previously responded to bortezomib therapy and relapsed at least 6 months following completion of prior bortezomib treatment. The labeling update includes...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the antiangiogenic agent bevacizumab (Avastin) for the treatment of persistent, recurrent, or metastatic cervical cancer. The new indication is approved for use in combination with paclitaxel and cisplatin or paclitaxel and topotecan. The FDA ...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted Fast Track designation to pacritinib for the treatment of intermediate- and high-risk myelofibrosis, including patients with disease-related thrombocytopenia on other JAK2 therapy or patients who are intolerant to or whose symptoms are suboptimally...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Cologuard, the first stool-based colorectal screening test that detects the presence of red blood cells and DNA mutations that may indicate the presence of certain kinds of abnormal growths that may be cancers such as colon cancer or...
Healthy men participating in the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial who actively participate in all steps of the clinical trial are most likely to undergo an end-of-study biopsy, according to a study published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention.1 The Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial...