In a phase I study reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Donald M. Cannon, MD, of University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and Mountain States Tumor Institute, and colleagues attempted to identify the maximum tolerated dose of dose-escalated hypofractionated radiation...
Previously reported results of the phase III EORTC intergroup 40983 trial showed that perioperative chemotherapy with FOLFOX4 (leucovorin, fluorouracil [5-FU], and oxaliplatin) increased progression-free survival compared with surgery alone in patients with initially resectable liver metastases...
A functional biomarker that can predict whether BRAF-mutant melanomas respond to drugs targeting BRAF could help guide the treatment of patients with these cancers, according to results presented at the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics, held...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, I-Chan Huang, PhD, of University of Florida at Gainesville, and colleagues investigated the association between prevalence of symptoms and health-related quality of life in adult survivors of childhood cancer enrolled in the St. Jude...
In the phase IIIB ATLAS trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Bruce E. Johnson, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and colleagues assessed the addition of maintenance erlotinib (Tarceva) to bevacizumab (Avastin) following chemotherapy plus bevacizumab in first-line treatment of ...
A genetic analysis of 3,281 tumors from 12 cancer types, including breast, lung, endometrial, glioblastoma multiforme, ovarian, colon, and acute myeloid leukemia, has found 127 significantly mutated genes that appear to be involved in either cancer initiation or progression. Although the average...
A simple blood test that measures serum free fatty acids and their metabolites may detect early-stage lung cancer and its recurrence, according to a study from The Cleveland Clinic presented at the ANESTHESIOLOGY™ 2013 Annual Meeting in San Francisco (Abstract A4267). The study was presented ...
ASCO and the College of American Pathologists (CAP) today issued a joint, updated guideline to improve the accuracy and reporting of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) testing in patients with invasive breast cancer. The six-recommendation guideline is based on a systematic review of...
Men with advanced prostate cancer are now living longer than ever, and it is estimated that one in six U.S. men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime. However, little research has been conducted to understand the psychosocial needs of these men and their caregivers after...
A bioinformatics approach to repurposing drugs resulted in identification of a class of antidepressants as a potential new treatment for small cell lung cancer, according to a study published in Cancer Discovery. Based on data generated using bioinformatics, two drugs approved by the U.S. Food and ...
Aurora A kinase is overexpressed in aggressive lymphomas and may correlate with more histologically aggressive forms of disease. In a phase II study reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Jonathan W. Friedberg, MD, of University of Rochester Wilmot Cancer Center, and colleagues assessed the...
When treated with stereotactic radiosurgery that is not combined with whole-brain radiotherapy, adult brain cancer patients who were 50 years old and younger were found to have improved survival, according to research presented on Sunday, September 22, at the American Society for Radiation...
When used to treat pediatric patients with intracranial malignant tumors, proton therapy may limit the toxicity of radiation therapy while preserving tumor control, according to research presented on Sunday, September 22, at the American Society for Radiation Oncology’s 55th Annual Meeting...
In a study reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Yuko Kitagawa, MD, FACS, of Keio University School of Medicine, and colleagues found that sentinel node mapping using a standardized dual tracer endoscopic injection technique was safe and accurate in patients with gastric cancer. Study Details ...
In an exploratory analysis of long-term survival data from the GeparTrio trial reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Gunter von Minckwitz, MD, of the German Breast Group in Neu-Isenburg, and colleagues found that response-guided neoadjuvant chemotherapy appears to improve disease-free survival...
In a phase II study (MCL-001, EMERGE) reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Andre Goy, MD, of Hackensack University Medical Center, and colleagues evaluated the use of single-agent lenalidomide (Revlimid) in bortezomib (Velcade)-treated patients who had relapsed/refractory mantle cell lymphoma. ...
In a keynote lecture during the 2013 Breast Cancer Symposium breast cancer expert and ASCO Past President George Sledge, MD, offered five predictions for the future of the medical management of breast cancer. Dr. Sledge is now Chief of Oncology at Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto,...
In a study reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Pamela J. Goodwin, MD, and Tina Hsu of University of Toronto and colleagues assessed changes in quality of life from time of breast cancer diagnosis to long-term survivorship and compared quality of life in long-term survivors to that of...
The investigational agent brivanib is a selective dual inhibitor of VEGF and fibroblast growth factor receptors, both implicated in hepatocellular carcinoma. In a trial (BRISK-PS) reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Josep M. Llovet, MD, of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New...
The primary analysis of the Japanese JGOG 3016 trial showed that dose-dense paclitaxel plus carboplatin significantly improved progression-free and overall survival compared with conventional paclitaxel/carboplatin as first-line treatment in patients with advanced ovarian cancer. In a long-term...
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...
Anthracycline- and taxane-based three-drug chemotherapy regimens have proven benefit as adjuvant therapy for early-stage breast cancer. As reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology by Sandra M. Swain, MD, FACP, of Washington Cancer Institute–MedStar Washington Hospital Center, and colleagues,...
Based on data from a multisite imaging trial involving more than 2,600 women, researchers say breast lesions categorized as “probably benign” on supplemental screening ultrasound could be reevaluated with imaging in 12 months, reducing patient anxiety, follow-up exams, and unnecessary...
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...
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...
Patients with advanced chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) often receive allogeneic transplants that effectively “reboot” their own immune defenses, which then attack and potentially cure the hard-to-treat disease. However, there is a high rate of relapse in these patients, and the...
The contribution of purging of peripheral blood stem cells to outcome of autologous stem cell transplantation in high-risk neuroblastoma has not been defined. In a trial (COG A3973) reported in Lancet Oncology by Susan G. Kreissman, MD, of Duke University Medical Center, and colleagues, children...
In a trial (ALSYMPCA) reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Chris Parker, MD, from Royal Marsden Hospital in Surrey, United Kingdom, and colleagues compared the alpha emitter radium-223 dichloride (Xofigo) with best standard of care in men with castration-resistant prostate cancer and...
Women who survive cancer have more frequent, severe, and troubling hot flashes than other women with menopausal symptoms, according to a study published online in Menopause, the journal of The North American Menopause Society (NAMS). But surprisingly, the cancer survivors fare better...
In a study that included more than 10,000 men with nonmetastatic prostate cancer, use of androgen deprivation therapy was associated with a significantly increased risk of acute kidney injury, with variations observed with certain types of androgen deprivation therapies, according to a study in the ...
In the phase III PARAMOUNT trial, pemetrexed (Alimta) continuation maintenance therapy significantly reduced the risk of disease progression by 38% compared with placebo after pemetrexed/cisplatin induction in patients with advanced nonsquamous non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Final...
The NCI-60 cell lines, which represent cancers of lung, colon, brain, ovary, breast, prostate, and kidney as well as leukemia and melanoma, are the most frequently studied human tumor cell lines in cancer research and have generated the most extensive cancer pharmacology database worldwide. As...
Previous studies have shown that anti-EGFR monoclonal antibody treatment can improve clinical outcomes in patients with recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. In the open-label phase III SPECTRUM trial, Jan B. Vermorken, MD, of Antwerp University Hospital and...
According to research published in PNAS, scientists have used an efficient new screening strategy to identify gene mutations in tumor cells that are possible drug targets for the most common form of lung cancer. Researchers from the Cancer Research UK’s Paterson Institute for Cancer Research ...
Afatinib is an oral selective ErbB family inhibitor that irreversibly blocks signaling from EGFR/ErbB1, HER2/ErbB2, and ErbB4 and has exhibited broad-spectrum activity against EGFR mutations in preclinical studies. A phase II study of afatinib in EGFR-mutation positive lung adenocarcinoma showed...
In a phase II study reported in Lancet Oncology, Timur Mitin, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital, and colleagues assessed the effects of adding paclitaxel or fluorouracil (5-FU) to radiation therapy plus cisplatin followed by adjuvant chemotherapy in a program of selected bladder preservation in ...
In a phase III trial (FASTACT-2) conducted in 28 centers in seven Asian countries, Yi-Long Wu, MD, of the Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences and colleagues found that the intercalated combination of erlotinib (Tarceva) and chemotherapy improved progression-free survival vs chemotherapy alone as...
Tobacco control measures put in place in 41 countries between 2007 and 2010 are predicted to prevent an estimated 7.4 million premature deaths by 2050, according to a study published in the July issue of the Bulletin of the World Health Organization. The study is one of the first to ...
In studies to identify prognostic factors in diffuse large B-cell lymphomas, Thierry J. Molina, MD, PhD, of Paris Descartes University, and colleagues assessed expression of MYC, BCL2, MYC/BCL2, IgM, and germinal center B-cell–like and non–germinal center B-cell–like subtypes in a ...
Vitamin D deficiency recently was shown to be associated with worse outcome in patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. To determine whether such an association exists in patients with aggressive B-cell lymphoma, Jörg T. Bittenbring, of Saarland University Medical School, Germany, and colleagues in ...
In two large studies, the association between aspirin use and risk of colorectal cancer was affected by BRAF mutation status, with regular aspirin use associated with a lower risk of BRAF wild-type colorectal cancer but not with risk of BRAF-mutated cancer. The findings, published today in JAMA,...
A study by the Spanish Myeloma Group comparing the prognostic value of traditional response criteria and minimal residual disease measurement in patients with multiple myeloma found that a sequencing-based method called LymphoSIGHT and multiparameter flow cytometry analysis both accurately...
Mutations and amplifications in the KIT oncogene have been identified in mucosal and acral melanomas and in melanomas arising on chronically sun-damaged skin. In a multicenter phase II study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, F. Stephen Hodi, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and...
A study examining trends in x-ray computed tomography (CT) use in children in the United States has found that reducing unnecessary scans and lowering the doses for the highest-dose scans could lower the overall lifetime risk of future imaging-related cancers by 62%. The research was published...
Earlier this month, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) released its updated projections of reductions in programs due to the deficit-budget mechanism known as sequestration, which took effect on March 1, 2013. The sequestration law requires NIH to cut 5%, or $1.55 billion, of its fiscal year...
Low-dose weekly administration of paclitaxel resulted in equal progression-free survival but reduced overall toxicity compared to every-2-week dose-dense administration for women with higher-risk early-stage breast cancer who have undergone surgery, according to a phase III randomized trial....
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved lenalidomide (Revlimid) for the treatment of patients with mantle cell lymphoma whose disease has relapsed or progressed after two prior therapies, one of which included bortezomib (Velcade). Clinical Trial The approval was based on the results ...
Spouses and long-term partners of patients diagnosed with human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive oropharyngeal cancer were no more likely to test positive for oral HPV infection than people in the general population and have a low risk of HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer, according to the Human Oral...
Preliminary results of an ongoing trial suggest that the anti–PD-1 antibody lambrolizumab has significant antitumor activity in patients with advanced melanoma and is well tolerated. The data were presented by Antoni Ribas, MD, PhD, Professor of Hematology/Oncology and Surgery, and Director...
Results from a phase I study show that combination therapy with ipilimumab (Yervoy) and the investigational antibody drug nivolumab led to lasting tumor shrinkage in approximately half of patients with aggressive, advanced melanoma. The results will be presented at the 2013 ASCO Annual Meeting in...