The immunooncology company Vicus Therapeutics announced the presentation of two separate studies demonstrating a safety and survival benefit for VT-122, the company's lead compound, when combined with standard-of-care therapy in patients with advanced liver and pancreatic cancers. Results from both ...
A meta-analysis of published studies evaluating sedentary behavior in adults and health outcomes independent of physical activity has found that sedentary activities, such as prolonged sitting watching television or using a computer, is positively associated with an increased risk for all-cause...
Additional analyses from the global phase III NAPOLI-1 study of MM-398 (aka PEP02), a nanoliposomal encapsulation of irinotecan, in metastatic pancreatic cancer were presented by Chen et al in an oral session at the 2015 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium (Abstract 234). The primary analysis ...
New data from the phase II PEAK and phase III PRIME studies support the first-line use of panitumumab (Vectibix) in combination with FOLFOX (fluorouracil, leucovorin, oxaliplatin) in patients with wild-type RAS metastatic colorectal cancer. The study results were presented during a poster session...
A simple change to a two-drug therapy for metastatic pancreatic cancer provides similar cancer control while significantly improving quality of life and reducing the cost of care, according to data reported by researchers at the The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur...
In an analysis of the Study Alliance Leukemia (SAL) AML 2003 trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Röllig et al found that allogeneic stem cell transplantation significantly prolonged recurrence-free survival in patients with NPM1-mutant acute myeloid leukemia (AML). NPM1...
Patients with early-stage breast cancer still undergo imaging for distant metastases despite evidence-based local, national, and international guidelines, and a recommendation from ASCO to avoid such imaging, according to a retrospective review of staging imaging for distant metastases in patients...
After 4.5 years of taking tamoxifen for primary prevention of breast cancer, 46% of women discontinued use, according to research conducted within the Sister Study, a prospective cohort of women who had a sister who had been diagnosed with breast cancer but did not have breast cancer themselves....
In a phase II trial reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Dang et al found that the addition of weekly paclitaxel to trastuzumab (Herceptin)/pertuzumab (Perjeta) produced good activity in patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer. Paclitaxel may be a less toxic alternative to...
Among nearly 375,000 U.S. women diagnosed with invasive breast cancer, the likelihood of diagnosis at an early stage, and survival after stage I diagnosis, varied by race and ethnicity, with much of the difference accounted for by biologic differences, according to a study reported by Iqbal et al...
The annual rate of primary tumor removal for stage IV colorectal cancer has decreased since 1988, and the trend toward nonsurgical management of the disease noted in 2001 coincides with the availability of newer chemotherapy and biologic treatments, according to study reported by Hu et al in JAMA...
In an integrated analysis of two phase II trials reported in The Lancet Oncology, Garcia et al found that treatment with anamorelin, an oral ghrelin-receptor agonist with appetite-enhancing and anabolic activity, produced a gain in lean body mass in patients with cancer anorexia-cachexia syndrome. ...
Selenium supplementation of 140 μg/d or more after diagnosis of nonmetastatic prostate cancer may increase risk of prostate cancer mortality, according to a prospective study following 4,459 men initially diagnosed with nonmetastatic prostate cancer in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study...
A large population-based analysis of women 65 and older in the United States diagnosed with endometrial cancer has found that women with metabolic syndrome—characterized by low HDL cholesterol, hypertension, high triglycerides, and elevated waist circumference—have an increased risk of...
In a study reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Roscoe et al found that cognitive behavioral therapy combined with placebo or the wakefulness-promoting agent armodafinil (Nuvigil) had similar beneficial effects on insomnia and sleep quality in cancer survivors. Study Details In the study, 96 ...
Although scientists know that all cancers contain a mixture of both rapidly and slowly proliferating cancer cells, which complicates the detection and treatment of patients with cancer and may cause disease relapse long after apparently curative treatment, the circumstances and molecular details of ...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Frazier et al used data from U.S. and UK clinical trials to identify a high-risk group of patients with pediatric extracranial germ cell tumors. Study Details The study involved data from seven germ cell tumor trials conducted by the...
Updated results from TRIBE, an Italian phase III study of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer, indicate that FOLFOXIRI (leucovorin, fluorouracil [5-FU], oxaliplatin, irinotecan) chemotherapy in combination with bevacizumab (Avastin) is superior to the standard FOLFIRI (leucovorin, 5-FU,...
A recent study on the use of minimally invasive surgery for colorectal cancer at National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) centers has found that although laparoscopic colectomy results in equivalent oncologic outcomes compared to open colectomy, its adoption nationally has been slow. An...
New findings from an international phase III study of 1,072 patients with advanced colorectal cancer whose disease progressed on or after initial therapy indicate that a combination of the targeted drug ramucirumab (Cyramza) and FOLFIRI (irinotecan, fluorouracil, leucovorin) chemotherapy provides a ...
A retrospective review of clinical data on 145 patients with stage I to III rectal cancer indicates that patients who achieved complete response after treatment with chemoradiation and systemic chemotherapy had similar 4-year survival rates regardless of whether they had immediate surgery or...
A prospective analysis of data from a phase III study of patients newly diagnosed with metastatic colorectal cancer indicates that patients with higher vitamin D levels have better outcomes after treatment with chemotherapy and targeted therapy. The median overall survival for patients with the...
Patients with metastatic colorectal cancer showed a continued and persistent improvement over time in overall survival when they received ziv-aflibercept (Zaltrap) in addition to FOLFIRI (irinotecan, fluorouracil, leucovorin), reported by Ruff et al in the European Journal of Cancer. Survival was...
Even decades after being cured, many cancer survivors face physical and mental challenges resulting from their disease and its treatment, according to a new study reported by Burg et al in Cancer. The findings could help clinicians and other experts develop interventions that are tailored to the...
Patients with locally advanced rectal cancer who receive neoadjuvant radiation therapy with either irinotecan plus capecitabine or oxaliplatin plus capecitabine have a 4-year overall survival rate of 85% and 75%, respectively, according to a study reported by Wong et al in the International Journal ...
In a phase III trial reported in The Lancet, Slotman et al found that while thoracic radiotherapy vs no thoracic radiotherapy was not associated with a significant improvement in 1-year overall survival, the primary endpoint of the study, it significantly improved 2-year overall survival and...
Approximately 5% to 6% of cases of colorectal cancer are associated with germline mutations conferring an inherited predisposition for disease. As reported by Stoffel et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, ASCO has endorsed, with qualifying statements, the European Society for Medical Oncology...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Palmer et al found that Asian cancer survivors reported poorer care communication and care quality compared with white patients. Study Details The study involved 1,196 survivors of breast, prostate, colorectal, ovarian, and endometrial...
Oral infection with human papillomavirus 16 (HPV16), which is the type of HPV most frequently linked to HPV-driven head and neck cancers, was more likely to persist 12 or more months in men older than 45 than in those younger than 45, according to a study reported by Pierce Campbell et al in...
In a population-based study of patients with thyroid cancer, 12.3% of patients with small papillary thyroid tumors experienced thyroid cancer–related deaths despite undergoing thyroidectomy, according to a report by Nilubol and Kebebew in the journal Cancer. From the results of this study,...
In a phase II study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Edelman et al found no benefit of adding the daily COX-2 inhibitor apricoxib to second-line docetaxel or pemetrexed (Alimta) in patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who exhibited suppressed levels of the urinary...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Klotz et al found that 1.5% of prostate cancer patients in a Canadian active surveillance cohort died from the disease during up to 16 years of follow-up. Study Details The study involved 993 men with favorable-risk prostate cancer who were ...
Patients with new cases of cancer face a heightened risk of stroke in the months immediately following their diagnoses, with that risk escalating with the aggressiveness of their disease, according to a new study from researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer...
Retrospective analyses of the ATAC, TEAM, and BIG 1-98 adjuvant endocrine therapy trials in breast cancer have suggested that treatment-emergent endocrine symptoms may be associated with superior survival outcomes. In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Stearns et al found no...
In a national retrospective cohort study reported in JAMA Surgery, Kummerow et al found that an increased proportion of women with breast cancer eligible for breast-conserving surgery have undergone mastectomy during recent years. The study involved data from > 1.2 million women with...
A phase II clinical study of adjuvant paclitaxel and trastuzumab (Herceptin) in women with stage I HER2-positive breast cancer has found the 3-year rate of survival free from invasive disease was 98.7%. The findings may help establish the combination therapy as the first standard treatment approach ...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Greco et al updated a 2008 systematic review on cancer pain management. Improvements were seen between 2008 and 2013, but approximately one-third of patients still do not receive pain medication adequate for reported pain intensity. Changes...
After performing whole-genome sequencing on patients found to have BRCA1or BRCA2 mutations as well as on those that were not carriers of either mutation, researchers found cancer risk–related potentially pathogenic variants in those without BRCA mutations. While the results highlight the ...
In a meta-analysis of patients with breast cancer–related lymphedema, low-level laser therapy was associated with reduced limb volume and pain levels, according to a report by Smoot et al in the Journal of Cancer Survivorship. However, the investigators noted that regarding pain management,...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Fast Track designation to Soligenix’s synthetic hypericin (SGX301) development program for the first-line treatment of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. Fast Track designation is reserved for drugs that demonstrate the potential to address an...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Wuthrick et al found that patients with stage III or IV head and neck cancer in the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) 0129 trial who were treated at historically high-accruing centers in RTOG clinical trials had significantly better...
In a phase II study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Topp et al found that the bispecific CD19-directed CD3 T-cell engager (BiTE) blinatumomab (Blincyto) was highly active in adults with relapsed or refractory B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Blinatumomab binds to CD19 expressed ...
In a Canadian study reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Cossetti and colleagues found that temporal patterns of breast cancer relapse according to estrogen receptor and HER2 status in the period 2004–2008 were similar to those in 1986–1992 but at markedly reduced relapse rates....
A clinical trial that combined stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) with erlotinib chemotherapy more than doubled survival rates for certain patients with stage IV lung cancer patients, reported Iyengar et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. SBRT is a type of radiation therapy in which a ...
Adding radiation treatment to androgen-deprivation therapy saves more lives among older men with locally advanced prostate therapy than androgen-deprivation therapy alone, according to a new study reported by Bekelman et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The researchers found that...
In the phase II PALOMA-1/TRIO-18 trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Finn et al found that the addition of palbociclib to letrozole resulted in significant improvement in progression-free survival as first-line treatment for advanced disease in postmenopausal women with estrogen...
In a study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Gerber et al found that patients with prior cancer were excluded from most clinical trials in lung cancer, including nearly all with overall survival as a primary endpoint. The study involved review of data from 51 lung cancer...
The molecular determinants of benefit from immune checkpoint inhibitor treatment have not been characterized. In a study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Snyder et al found that benefit of the anti–cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA-4) antibodies ipilimumab (Yervoy) and...
The American Cancer Society’s annual cancer statistics report found that a 22% drop in cancer mortality over 2 decades led to the avoidance of more than 1.5 million cancer deaths that would have occurred if peak rates had persisted. And while cancer death rates have declined in every state,...
In the HOPE study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Irwin et al found that a program of aerobic exercise and strength training produced significant improvement in aromatase inhibitor–associated arthralgia in breast cancer survivors. Study Details In the study, 121 women with...