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Showing 3101 - 3150Conflict of Interest Reconsidered
I read with interest the letter from Larry Weisenthal, MD, PhD, on “Platinum-Based Treatment of Triple-Negtive Breast Cancer,” which appeared in the October 15 issue of The ASCO Post. Dr. Weisenthal seems to be suggesting that an article in the September issue, regarding a Best of ASCO presentation ...
Cancer Has Given Me a Greater Appreciation for Life
I’ve been blessed with good health for most of my life, and I was careful to keep it that way. I don’t smoke, I eat a healthy diet, and I maintain a healthy weight. I also was fortunate to be born with pretty good genes and have no family history of cancer. In fact, except for an occasional...
The Quest to Optimize Personalized Therapies for Cancer
In the late 1980s, Brian J. Druker, MD, was investigating the BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase as a target for therapeutic intervention for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in a laboratory at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. By 1993, Dr. Druker had moved to Oregon Health & Science University in...
National Cancer Policy Summit: Setting Priorities for the Next 3 Years
Welcome to the meeting we hold every 3 years to choose our next projects,” said John Mendelsohn, MD, Chair of the National Cancer Policy Forum and Director of the Khalifa Institute for Personalized Cancer Therapy at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston. “We have here a...
Oncology Drug Dosing: Can an Optimal Dose Be Fine-Tuned for Each Patient?
ASCO Chief Medical Officer Richard L. Schilsky, MD, and other oncology drug experts presented a panel on drug dosing at a recent meeting, cosponsored by the Friends of Cancer Research and the Brookings Institution, in Washington, DC.1 The presentations made it clear that issues surrounding drug...
Conquer Cancer Foundation–Funded Research Identified Among Top Cancer Advances of 2013
The recently released Clinical Cancer Advances 2013: ASCO’s Annual Report on Progress Against Cancer, highlights the most impactful advances in clinical cancer research of the year, and this year’s report identifies two studies that were funded by the Conquer Cancer Foundation. Advances in Targeted ...
NCI-Led Scientists Develop Criteria for 'Omics' Tests Used in Clinical Investigations
High-throughput “omics” technologies that generate molecular profiles on tumor specimens are increasingly being incorporated into clinical trials, but some of these assays have not been well validated, leading many in the research community to question their fitness for use in patient-care...
Centers in Massachusetts Collaborate in Joint Center for Cancer Precision Medicine
The Joint Center for Cancer Precision Medicine, a collaborative initiative among Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston Children’s Hospital, and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, has been established to create “precision medicine treatment pathways” for patients...
Sharing Treatment Decision-Making With Patients: Where’s the Evidence of Value?
Though certainly not new to oncologists, “shared decision-making” between doctors and patients is receiving increased attention in the medical community today. While it’s an idea with merit, Steven J. Katz, MD, MPH, a specialist in quality care issues, maintains that expectations about the...
Janet L. Rowley, MD, Matriarch of Modern Cancer Genetics, Dies at Age 88
Dr. Janet L. Rowley’s groundbreaking research in the translocation of genetic material bucked scientific convention and heralded a new understanding that cancer is indeed a genetic disease. Her research was largely responsible for the discoveries that led to the development of the targeted cancer...
January Is National Pancreatic Cancer Clinical Trials Awareness Month
January marks the annual observance of National Pancreatic Cancer Clinical Trials Awareness Month. The 5-year survival rate of pancreatic cancer is just 6%. In the effort to highlight the urgent need to improve the survival rate for this disease, the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network is educating...
Using Hyperthermia for Cancer Treatment: Proofs, Promises, and Uncertainties
With the headline, “Rare Cancer Treatments, Cleared by F.D.A. but Not Subject to Scrutiny,” a recent article in The New York Times reported that several medical centers were treating patients with cancer using a hyperthermia system that had received a Humanitarian Use Device approval from the U.S....
Cell Mechanism Discovery Key to Stopping Breast Cancer Metastasis
Researchers from Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah discovered a cellular mechanism that drives breast cancer metastasis, as well as a therapy which blocks that mechanism. The research results were recently published online in the journal Cell Reports.1 “Genetic mutations do not...
Pamela M. McInnes Named Deputy Director of National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
Pamela M. McInnes, DDS, has been named deputy director of the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), part of the National Institutes of Health. McInnes currently serves as director of the Division of Extramural Research at the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial...
Ludwig Cancer Research Contributes One-Half Billion in New Funding to Six U.S. Research Institutions
On behalf of its founder, Daniel K. Ludwig, Ludwig Cancer Research has awarded $540 million across six Ludwig Centers, including those at Johns Hopkins University, Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Stanford University, and the...
Making Progress in Survivorship Care Planning
The recommendation that a survivorship care plan be provided to patients and their primary care providers was first presented in the 2006 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, From Cancer Patient to Cancer Survivor: Lost in Transition. The IOM committee proposed that this document include two parts—a ...
Stress and Tumor Biology: Insights Into Managing Stress to Help Improve Cancer Care
Stress is ubiquitous in our society, especially for people diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. There is a common misconception that stress is derived from a particular negative event. However, the event itself (the stressors, such as cancer diagnoses and treatment) does not causes stress....
Developing Intermediate Endpoints in Immunotherapy
“The immune system holds tremendous potential for long-term sustained antitumor activity,” said James P. Allison, PhD, Immunology Chair, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, as he opened a panel discussion at a meeting cosponsored by the Friends of Cancer Research and the...
Activation of Innovative Lung Cancer Master Protocol Officially Announced, Enrollment to Begin in March
At a recent meeting in Washington, DC, Friends of Cancer Research and the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform at the Brookings Institution officially announced activation of the Lung Cancer Master Protocol, a new research strategy that has the potential to hurdle or bypass known clinical trial...
Overcoming Drug Development Challenges in the New Era of Cancer Care
While the last 15 years have brought unprecedented advances in oncology drug development, the next 10 years promise to usher in even greater opportunities to realize the goal of precision medicine in the treatment of cancer, providing patients with more effective care and better outcomes. Reaching...
Can Postoperative Radiotherapy Be Avoided in Older Women With Early Breast Cancer and High Estrogen Receptor Expression?
A more conservative approach that avoids radiation therapy seems to be a reasonable option for a subgroup of older women with hormone receptor–positive breast cancer at low risk of recurrence. Overall outcomes were similar with or without radiation in older women with hormone receptor–positive...
Evaluating and Screening Geriatric Patients for Treatment
One of the key questions in geriatric oncology is: How can we use all of the work geriatricians have done over the years in general geriatrics and apply that to the field of oncology? One-quarter to one-third of us are going to develop cancer throughout our lifetime, and half of the time it is...
Mounting Success in Trials of Genetically Engineered T Cells to Treat Leukemias and Lymphomas
Reports have been trickling in from centers conducting research on the use of chimeric antigen receptor–modified T cells (CAR-T) in hematologic cancer, and the news is encouraging. When directed against CD19, such personalized therapeutic T cells are known as CTL019, and small pilot trials of this...
ASCO's 50th Anniversary and the Road Ahead
As the American Society of Clinical Oncology celebrates its 50th anniversary, ASCO’s Chief Executive Officer Allen S. Lichter, MD, FASCO, recently talked with The ASCO Post about the Society’s past, present, and future. Important Milestone What are your thoughts about ASCO’s origins and its 50th...
Risk-Based Breast Cancer Screening: Studies Suggest Alternatives to Age-Based Guidelines
Measuring certain hormone levels could help determine a woman’s risk for breast cancer and add a key factor to current risk-prediction models, according to investigators from Harvard Medical School. Their new study results were presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual ...
Cancer Patients Are at Increased Risk of Complications From the Flu and Should Receive Flu Shots, but Not the Nasal Spray
Widespread influenza activity continues to be reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with a recent increase in flu-related hospitalizations.1,2 Patients with cancer are at increased risk from flu complications and should receive the flu shot, but not the flu nasal spray...
ASCO Cosponsors Inaugural Palliative Care in Oncology Symposium
In October, ASCO will cosponsor the inaugural Palliative Care in Oncology Symposium with the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM), the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), and the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC). The Symposium is...
Conquer Cancer Foundation Funds Research in Low- and Middle-Income Countries for the First Time
The Conquer Cancer Foundation of the American Society of Clinical Oncology has announced the four recipients of the inaugural 2014 International Innovation Grant, which is a new program that underscores the Foundation’s continued commitment to improving the care of patients worldwide. The 1-year...
Cancer Genes, Promiscuity, and the National Debt
There is no doubt that this is a halcyon period in oncology. The unraveling of the genome has been tremendously important, and finally has helped us to move treatment selection from an era of rational empiricism to one of refined, molecular prognostication. In the care of breast cancer, the impact...
High Expression of hENT1 Can Predict Better Survival Among Patients on Postsurgical Gemcitabine
High levels of expression of the human equilibrative nucleoside transporter 1 (hENT1) were associated with longer median survival of patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma receiving gemcitabine, according to an analysis of clinical data and cancer tissue collected from the European Study Group for ...
Expect Questions from Patients
Like all early detection strategies, screening mammography involves trade-offs,” H. Gilbert Welch, MD, MPH, and Honor J. Passow, PhD, of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice, Hanover, New Hampshire, wrote in a Special Communication in JAMA Internal Medicine.1 They...
Confronting Uncertainty About the Harms and Benefits of Screening Mammography
“If women are to truly participate in the decision of whether or not to be screened [for breast cancer using mammography], they need some quantification of its benefits and harms,” asserted H. Gilbert Welch, MD, MPH, Professor of Medicine, and Honor J. Passow, PhD, Instructor, at The Dartmouth...
Lessons Learned in Cancer Care Communication
Over the past several decades, outcomes data have traced the success stories in cancer research and therapeutics. However, during those decades of increasingly rapid scientific breakthroughs, certain psychosocial components in the continuum of cancer care were often overlooked. One such element is...
An Early Chemotherapy Innovator, Franco M. Muggia, MD, Now Focuses on Advancing Therapies for Ovarian Cancer
Looking over an illustrious career in medical oncology that spans 5 decades, Franco M. Muggia, MD, told The ASCO Post that he is excited about the future and hopes to continue making contributions to the field of oncology in years to come. At the forefront of the early clinical development of...
Focus on the Michigan Society of Hematology and Oncology
Founded nearly 3 decades ago in response to unfavorable changes in Medicare reimbursement regulations and growing coverage issues with Michigan’s private payers that threatened oncologists’ ability to provide quality cancer care to patients, the Michigan Society of Hematology and Oncology (MSHO)...
Milestones in Oncology, From ASCO’s CancerProgress.Net
To help tell the story of progress against cancer, ASCO launched CancerProgress.Net in 2011. The site is intended as a resource for media, policymakers, oncologists, advocates, and the public. One central feature of the site is an interactive timeline of major milestones in cancer treatment,...
FDA Programs to Expedite Drug and Biologic Product Development
With the advent of Breakthrough Therapy designation, there are now four FDA programs to expedite the development of promising new agents: Fast Track, Breakthrough Therapy, Priority Review, and Accelerated Approval (Table 1). These programs complement one another and serve a common goal: to speed...
Conquer Cancer Foundation Launches New Planned Giving Website
In November of 2013, the Conquer Cancer Foundation partnered with the Stelter Company—one of the leaders of planned giving resources in the nonprofit community—to launch a new planned giving portal on the Foundation’s website. The planned giving portal focuses on the variety of ways individuals can ...
Serving the Underserved: Dr. Gina Villani and ASCO’s Health Disparities Committee Work to Minimize Cancer Care Gaps
It has been a little over a decade since the Institute of Medicine landmark report Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care found overwhelming evidence of racial disparities in the U.S. health-care system. Since then, ASCO has been dedicated to minimizing these...
Jamie H. Von Roenn, MD, and ASCO: A Perfect Fit
Dr. Von Roenn’s history with ASCO spans nearly 3 decades. She has served on ASCO’s Board of Directors, the ASCO Palliative Care Task Force, the Scientific Program, Cancer Education, and Cancer Communications Committees, among others. In 2011, Dr. Von Roenn received the ASCO-ACS Award at the Annual...
ASCO's Education and Professional Development Services
Last September, Jamie H. Von Roenn, MD, left her position as Professor of Medicine at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago to join ASCO as its Senior Director of Education, Science and Professional Development. In her new position, Dr. Von Roenn will provide strategic...
Paving the Way for the Surgeon General’s Report
The connection between smoking and lung cancer is universally accepted as scientific fact, and those who choose to smoke are painfully aware of the risk it poses for addiction and subsequent cancer. However, to fully appreciate the significance of the Surgeon General’s report, one must turn back to ...
The Surgeon General’s Report on Tobacco Turns 50: Much Success, Much Work Ahead
On January 11, 2014, the nation commemorated the 50th anniversary of a document that transformed our public health landscape and has saved millions of lives: Smoking and Health: Report of the Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service. This groundbreaking report, which...
City of Hope’s New Chief Scientific Officer and Cancer Center Director Reflects on His Career Path and the Future of Cancer Care
City of Hope in Duarte, California, has named Steven T. Rosen, MD, as its first Provost and Chief Scientific Officer. Dr. Rosen will guide the scientific direction of the center’s medical research, treatment, and education. He will also assume directorship of the comprehensive cancer institute,...
The Canadian National Breast Screening Trial Had So Many Flaws That Its Results Should Not Be Used to Guide Screening Recommendations
If a randomized, controlled trial of therapy for breast cancer was submitted for publication in which 1. The drug being tested was old and ineffective, and 2. prior to randomization, the women underwent a clinical breast examination and the study coordinators knew who had the largest cancers, and...
Leaders of ASCO, ASH, ASTRO, and NCCN Embrace Collaboration With Advanced Practitioners
Nearly 250 advanced practitioners assembled at the first annual JADPRO Live educational symposium in St. Petersburg, Florida, hosted by the Journal of the Advanced Practitioner in Oncology (JADPRO). Leaders from four prominent oncology organizations championed collaborative practice as not only...
Expert Point of View: Jeffrey Miller, MD
Jeffrey Miller, MD, Professor of Medicine at the University of Minnesota and Deputy Director of the Masonic Cancer Clinic in Minneapolis, commented on the haploidentical hematopoietic stem cell transplantation studies presented at the American Society of Hematology meeting for The ASCO Post “The...
Innovative I-SPY 2 Trial Yields First Results in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
An innovative approach to streamlining the testing of novel agents in breast cancer has yielded some of its first results, which were reported at the 2013 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.1 Adaptive Trial Design The veliparib/carboplatin plus standard neoadjuvant therapy regimen is currently...
Congress Agrees on Repeal of Sustainable Growth Rate
The U.S. Congress recently did something rarely seen on Capitol Hill: Leaders from both sides of the aisle agreed on a piece of legislation. On February 6, 2014, the House Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means Committees and the Senate Finance Committee announced its agreement on a bill—the SGR...
The Future of Biomedical Research
In January, Congress approved a $1 trillion appropriations bill for the rest of fiscal year 2014. While the new bill includes $29.9 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH)—$1 billion above FY2013 levels after sequestration—including $4.9 billion for the National Cancer Institute (NCI),...
