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Showing 27251 - 27300Support from 1999 Career Development Award Launched Dr. Kornelia Polyak’s Quest to Advance Understanding of DCIS of the Breast
In 1999, Kornelia Polyak, MD, PhD, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, received a Career Development Award from the Conquer Cancer Foundation for her project, “Isolation of Tumor Suppressor Genes Inactivated in DCIS of the Breast.” “The Career Development Award got me started,” she said. “When...
ASCO Holds Leadership Summit to Address Value in Cancer Care, Cost of Cancer Drugs and Technologies
ASCO convened a leadership summit in late January with pharmaceutical representatives, insurance payers, patient advocates, and physicians to initiate a dialogue on the challenge of defining value in cancer care. This meeting was held amid growing concerns about the sustainability of continued...
Staging of Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Neoplasms originating from skin keratinocytes are increasing in frequency in the United States and include a spectrum of diseases culminating in the development of invasive cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma. Although most cases of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma can be treated conservatively with ...
Brigham and Women’s Hospital Tumor Staging for Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma Outperforms AJCC and UICC Staging
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Pritesh S. Karia, MPH, and Chrysalyne D. Schmults, MD, MSCE, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, and colleagues compared Brigham and Women’s Hospital, American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC), and International Union Against Cancer...
Who Pays for Noncompliance? The Hidden Costs of Our Current System
The development of novel targeted therapies that capitalize on our growing understanding of the molecular underpinnings and vulnerabilities of specific malignancies has to rank among the most important advances we have seen in the 50 years since the American Society of Clinical Oncology was...
Higher Copayment Associated With Greater Discontinuation of and Nonadherence to Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor Treatment in CML
The availability of the tyrosine kinase inhibitor imatinib (Gleevec) has dramatically increased survival in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Nonadherence to therapy with imatinib and other tyrosine kinase inhibitors is associated with disease progression and treatment resistance. In a study reported ...
Melanoma and Prostate Cancer: Two Sides of One Coin?
In a recent study, reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post, Li et al present data from two long- term prospective studies—the Physicians Health Study (PHS, from 1982 to 1998), and the Health Professionals’ Follow-up Study (HPFS, from 1986 to 2010)—both of which suggest a strong association between...
History of Prostate Cancer Increases Risk of Melanoma in White Men
History of severe acne, which is a surrogate for high androgen activity, has been associated with increased risk of prostate cancer, and recent data suggest that severe teenage acne is a risk factor for melanoma. Such findings suggest a role of androgens in etiology for both prostate cancer and...
Advanced Practitioners in Oncology: Diverse Experiences, Shared Challenges
The professional paths of advanced practitioners (APs) in oncology are as varied as the locations in which they work. The first annual JADPRO Live 2014 educational symposium was held in St. Petersburg, Florida, and hosted by JADPRO, the Journal of the Advanced Practitioner in Oncology. A...
FDA Orders Cessation of Sale, Distribution of Four Tobacco Products
FDA has issued orders to stop the further sale and distribution of four tobacco products currently on the market. The action marks the first time the FDA has used its authority under the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act to order a manufacturer of currently available tobacco...
FDA Grants Orphan Drug Status to Pracinostat for the Treatment of Acute Myeloid Leukemia
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted orphan drug designation to the investigational drug pracinostat for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The FDA’s Orphan Drug Designation program provides orphan status to drugs defined as those intended for the safe and effective...
SIDEBAR: Oncology Drug Approvals in 2014
February 12, 2014: Ibrutinib (Imbruvica) receives accelerated approval for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia who have received at least one prior therapy. January 10, 2014: Trametinib (Mekinist) and dabrafenib (Tafinlar) receive approval for use in combination in the treatment of...
Omacetaxine Mepesuccinate Receives Full FDA Approval for CML
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted full approval to omacetaxine mepesuccinate (Synribo) for injection. The full approval was based on the final analysis of two phase II trials that evaluated the efficacy and tolerability data of omacetaxine. The agent received an accelerated...
Crizotinib Proves Effective in ALK-Positive Lymphoma
Crizotinib (Xalkori) produced promising results in patients with ALK-positive lymphoma in two small studies presented at the 2013 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting. Crizotinib exerted potent antitumor activity in advanced ALK-positive lymphoma and achieved durable responses in...
Gemtuzumab Ozogamicin Reduces Relapse, Improves Event-Free Survival in Pediatric AML
The monoclonal antibody gemtuzumab ozogamicin (Mylotarg) improved event-free survival and reduced the risk of relapse in children with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in a study from the Children’s Oncology Group, presented at the 55th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition ...
Idelalisib Achieves High Response Rates in ‘Double-Refractory’ Indolent NHL
In patients with indolent B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) refractory to both rituximab (Rituxan) and an alkylating agent, monotherapy with the selective oral PI3K-delta inhibitor idelalisib produced a high response rate, with responses persisting for 1 year in the average patient, according to...
Expert Point of View: Jennifer R. Brown, MD, PhD
Idelalisib is being studied in three ongoing registration trials. [Study 116] was stopped early after idelalisib/rituximab demonstrated high efficacy in relapsed chronic lymphocytic leukemia [CLL],” said Jennifer R. Brown, MD, PhD, Director of the CLL Center at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston. ...
Idelalisib Plus Rituximab in Heavily Pretreated Relapsed CLL: ‘Dawn of a New Age’?
Idelalisib plus rituximab (Rituxan) improved progression-free survival, overall response rates, and overall survival compared with rituximab alone in heavily pretreated patients with relapsed chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Moreover, the combination provided effective, durable disease control...
Expert Point of View: Anas Younes, MD
This study provides proof of principle that different tumor types that express CD30 have a good chance of responding to anti-CD30 treatment. Brentuximab achieves good response rates of about 76% in mycosis fungoides and 85% in [anaplastic T-cell lymphoma]. In [mycosis fungoides] and cutaneous...
Promising Results Demonstrated for Brentuximab Vedotin in Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma
Phase II results suggest that brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris) has encouraging activity in CD30-positive cutaneous T-cell lymphomas and lymphoproliferative disorders, including mycosis fungoides, the most common type of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. High levels of responses were achieved in a 48-patient ...
Expert Point of View: Peter Ravdin, MD
The NATAN study showed that zoledronic acid doesn’t work in that average woman in this trial [one with early breast cancer, residual tumor remaining after neoadjuvant therapy]. There is, however, a trend to modest benefit in women older than 55, which is consistent with statistically significant...
Zoledronic Acid Fails to Benefit Women With Chemoresistant Breast Cancer
Zoledronic acid does not improve outcomes in patients with early breast cancer who do not have a full response to neoadjuvant anthracycline/taxane–based chemotherapy, according to results of the Neo-Adjuvant Trial Add-On (NATAN) study presented at the 2013 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.1 A...
Adding Bevacizumab to Adjuvant Chemotherapy/Trastuzumab Fails to Improve Survival in HER2-Positive Breast Cancer
The addition of bevacizumab (Avastin) to adjuvant chemotherapy did not improve invasive disease-free survival or overall survival in patients with high-risk HER2-positive breast cancer in the large randomized phase III BETH trial. Although not specifically designed to answer this question, BETH...
Immune Modulation May Aid Some Breast Cancer Subtypes
There may be an immunogenic phenotype in breast cancer that could benefit from immune modulation as part of treatment, according to results from studies that correlated high levels of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes with both pathologic complete responses and long-term outcomes. Studies presented at ...
Novel Therapies May Help Wipe Out Residual Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia
Minimal residual disease after induction and consolidation for the treatment of acute leukemia might be eradicated by novel therapies, thus obviating the need for stem cell transplantation. That is the prediction of Matthew J. Wieduwilt, MD, PhD, Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at the...
Minimal Residual Disease Before and After Transplant: What Does It Mean?
In patients with acute leukemia, outcomes after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation are negatively impacted by the presence of minimal residual disease. However, transplant can prolong survival in patients with minimal residual disease after consolidation, according to two studies presented at...
For Progressive Neuroendocrine Tumors, Clinical Benefit Is High With Capecitabine Plus Temozolomide
In an interim analysis of a phase II trial, 97% of patients with progressive metastatic neuroendocrine tumors achieved clinical benefit with the combination of capecitabine and temozolomide (CAPTEM). The results were reported at the 2014 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium by Robert L. Fine, MD,...
Colorectal Cancer Survivors Face Challenges With Bowel Regulation
The fight against colorectal cancer leaves many survivors with battle wounds, according to studies that show a high incidence of assorted morbidities that can affect quality of life. Clinicians, in fact, may be unaware of the struggles with bowel function that occur during survivorship, researchers ...
Outcomes in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer: Studies Examine Relative Merits, Cost-Effectiveness
Targeted biologic agents have improved long-term outcomes in metastatic colorectal cancer, but debate continues as to their relative efficacy and proper sequencing. At the 2014 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium, a number of studies attempted to answer these questions by interrogating the clinical...
More Support for ‘All-RAS’ Testing in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer
Multiple studies reported at the 2014 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium add further support for widening the genetic analysis of colorectal cancer tumors. In fact, experts predict that more extensive genetic testing for RAS gene mutations (in KRAS and NRAS) beyond the routine analysis of KRAS exon ...
Expert Point of View: Neal J. Meropol, MD
Neal J. Meropol, MD, Chief of Hematology and Oncology at University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center and Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, discussed the study by Kothari et al presented at the Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium. He noted that complex interactions exist between PIK3CA and...
Aspirin Use Not Associated With Survival in PIK3CA-Mutant Colorectal Cancer
Contrary to emerging data from other studies, the regular use of aspirin was not associated with improved survival in patients with PIK3CA-mutant metastatic colorectal cancer in a study reported at the 2014 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium in San Francisco.1 Large Dataset “We did not validate...
Colorectal Cancer Screening: Quality Measures Should Focus on Patient Benefit Over Age Alone, Study Reports
Screening for colorectal cancer based on age alone may contribute to both underuse and overuse of colonoscopy, sigmoidoscopy, and fecal occult blood testing among older people, according to a study by investigators at the University of Michigan and the Veterans Affairs Center for Clinical...
Expert Point of View: Thomas W. Flaig, MD
This study has the potential to expand the number of patients who can benefit from organ-sparing therapy,” said Thomas W. Flaig, MD, Associate Professor in the Division of Medical Oncology at the University of Colorado Denver, commenting on the pooled analysis of RTOG 9906 and 0233 presented at the ...
Fine-Tuning Bladder-Preservation Trimodality Therapy for Patients With Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer
Organ preservation is a hallmark of progress in the world of cancer management. For patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer, the bladder-sparing approach is a well-established alternative to radical cystectomy. Patients undergo cystoscopic evaluation between the induction and consolidation...
Five Key Studies in Prostate Cancer and Renal Cell Carcinoma
The 10th Genitourinary Cancers Symposium, sponsored by ASCO, the American Society for Radiation Oncology, and the Society of Urologic Oncology, was held January 29–February 1, 2014, in San Francisco. The more than 630 abstracts presented addressed essential research in genitourinary malignancies,...
Role of Immunotherapy Explored in Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer
Ipilimumab (Yervoy) failed to meet the primary endpoint of improving overall survival in the randomized, phase III CA184-043 trial. However, the immunotherapy did improve progression-free survival and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) response compared with placebo in postdocetaxel metastatic...
The Evolution of U.S. Cooperative Group Trials: Publicly Funded Cancer Research at a Crossroads
Over the past 5 decades, National Cancer Institute (NCI) Clinical Trials Cooperative Groups have played an enormous role in the fight against cancer, tackling a broad social agenda, including cancer prevention, quality-of-life issues for patients with cancer, and comparison of benefits among...
I Refuse to Capitulate to Cancer
Early last year, just as I returned to my residency in neurologic surgery at Stanford University after completing 2 years of my postdoctoral fellowship in a laboratory developing optogenetic techniques, I started losing weight—dropping from 180 lb to 160 lb in just 6 months—and I was having fairly...
State-of-the-Art Update on Prostate Cancer
The 2014 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium, held in San Francisco from January 29 to February 1, brought together more than 3,100 participants from around the world involved in the care of patients with genitourinary malignancies. The abstract presentations and plenary discussions offered the latest...
Greatly Frustrated by Congressional Failure to Act on Sustainable Growth Rate
The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) is deeply frustrated by the failure of Congress to permanently repeal the flawed sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula used to set Medicare physician payments and passage of the 17th patch to the system. ASCO and the entire physician community worked ...
Transition From Busy Oncologist to Retiree: Challenges and Opportunities
Oncology is a demanding field that requires special qualities to care for very sick patients, many of whom will die prematurely of their disease. Research indicates that years of facing life-and-death decisions in the clinic can be associated with oncology burnout syndrome, which effects physician...
Bendamustine/Rituximab May Be Important Alternative for Indolent NHL or MCL
Results from the BRIGHT study combined with long-term safety data from other studies suggest that bendamustine (Treanda) plus rituximab (Rituxan) “may be an important alternative treatment option” for the initial treatment of patients with low-grade non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and mantle cell...
Adding Idelalisib to Rituximab Improved Survival in Patients With Relapsed CLL
Receiving rituximab (Rituxan) with idelalisib, rather than rituximab with placebo, “significantly improved progression-free survival, response rate, and overall survival” among patients with relapsed chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) who were less able to undergo chemotherapy because of clinically ...
Long-Term Benefit With Dasatinib After Imatinib Failure in Chronic-Phase Chronic Myeloid Leukemia
Patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in the chronic phase who are resistant or intolerant to imatinib (Gleevec) can experience long-term benefit with dasatinib (Sprycel), according to long-term results of a randomized phase III study. The CA180-034 study also found that early molecular and...
Breast Reconstruction Has Increased Over Time but Varies Widely by Region
Analysis of data from 20,560 women undergoing mastectomy for breast cancer found that breast reconstruction use “increased from 46% in 1998 to 63% in 2007 (P< .001), with increased use of implants and decreased use of autologous techniques over time (P < .001),” according to a report...
City of Hope Names Yuman Fong, MD, Chair, Department of Surgery
City of Hope recently announced the appointment of two new chairs in the Department of Surgery and for the Board of Directors. Yuman Fong, MD, has been named Chair of the Department of Surgery at City of Hope. Dr. Fong comes to City of Hope from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York,...
USPSTF Appoints New Chair and Co-Vice Chair
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recently announced the appointments of Michael L. LeFevre, MD, MSPH, as Chair of the Task Force and Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD, MD, as Co-Vice Chair. Albert L. Siu, MD, MSPH, current Co-Vice Chair, will remain in his position. Dr. LeFevre and Dr....
American Association for Cancer Research Welcomes New Board of Directors, Nominating Committee Members
The members of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) have elected five members to serve on the AACR Board of Directors for the 2014–2017 term and four members to serve on the Nominating Committee for the 2014–2016 term. They assumed their roles at the AACR Annual Meeting 2014, held in ...
Expect Questions From Patients
Results from the Scandinavian Prostate Cancer Group Study Number 4 (SPCG-4), showing that men with early-stage prostate cancer, particularly men under 65 years old, treated with radical prostatectomy had increased survival compared to those assigned to watchful waiting, has raised concerns among...
