For advanced/metastatic melanoma patients with BRAF mutations, two pathway inhibitors are much better than one, according to studies presented at the ESMO 2014 Congress that demonstrated improved progression-free and overall survival for regimens combining a BRAF inhibitor with an inhibitor of the...
Elevated esophageal mucosa cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) levels appear to be associated with the presence of Barrett’s esophagus as well as high waist-to-hip ratios and current tobacco smoking, according to the results of a study reported by Nguyen et al in Digestive Diseases & Sciences. These ...
For patients with recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer, adding the experimental drug cediranib to standard chemotherapy improved tumor shrinkage and resulted in a modest improvement in progression-free survival, researchers reported at the ESMO 2014 Congress in Madrid (Abstract LBA25_PR). In...
The tyrosine kinase inhibitor afatinib (Gilotrif) was significantly superior to methotrexate as second-line therapy in patients with advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck who progressed after platinum-based chemotherapy, according to results of the LUX-Head & Neck 1 trial. The...
For the first time, studies show that a drug is effective in treating cancer-related cachexia. Oral anamorelin hydrochloride increased lean body mass, achieved weight gain, and improved quality of life in patients with cancer-related cachexia in two pivotal phase III studies presented at the ESMO...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Orphan Drug Designations to aldoxorubicin in three indications: glioblastoma multiforme, small cell lung cancer, and ovarian cancer. Aldoxorubicin combines doxorubicin with a novel single-molecule linker that binds directly and...
In the final overall survival analysis of the phase III CLEOPATRA trial, patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer patients lived 15.7 months longer if they received pertuzumab (Perjeta) in addition to trastuzumab (Herceptin) and docetaxel, investigators reported at the ESMO 2014...
In a recent study reported in Nature Medicine, scientists from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Harvard School of Public Health, among other institutions, investigated whether pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma produces metabolic changes that can be...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Kosturakis et al found that the majority of patients with multiple myeloma had subclinical peripheral neuropathy prior to chemotherapy and that deficits corresponded with decreased fingertip innervation density. Study Details In the study,...
A new study found that the average cost to screen high-risk individuals for lung cancer with low-dose computed tomography (CT) plus the average cost of curative-intent treatment is lower than the average cost to treat advanced-stage lung cancer, which quite rarely results in a cure. The findings by ...
In the phase I portion of a phase I/II study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Gadgeel et al found that the novel ALK inhibitor alectinib showed activity against systemic disease and brain metastases in patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) resistant to the ALK inhibitor crizotinib...
In a randomized study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Shike et al found that soy supplementation resulting in high genistein levels was associated with overexpression of the tumorigenic growth factor receptor FGFR2 and genes that drive cell cycle and proliferation...
In a European phase III trial reported in The Lancet, Slotman et al found benefits of thoracic radiotherapy in patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer who had responded to chemotherapy and had received prophylactic cranial radiotherapy. Although thoracic radiotherapy did not...
In a systematic review and meta-analysis of individual patient data reported in The Lancet Oncology, Rossi et al found no overall survival benefit with six vs fewer than six planned cycles of first-line platinum-based treatment in patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). A...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted orphan drug designation to MabVax Therapeutics’ vaccine for the treatment of relapsed or recurrent high-risk neuroblastoma in remission or with limited residual disease after best available treatment. The bivalent vaccine is intended to...
In the phase III FIRST trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Benboubker et al found that continuous lenalidomide (Revlimid) plus dexamethasone significantly improved progression-free survival vs melphalan/prednisone/thalidomide (Thalomid) in transplant-ineligible myeloma patients....
In a population-based study reported in JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Bann et al found that the average annual percent increase in thyroid cancer incidence in Pennsylvania approaches twice that in the rest of the country. The incidence of thyroid cancer in the United States has more...
In the introduction to a cohort study reported in JAMA Surgery, Parsons et al stated “Surgical innovations disseminate in the absence of coordinated systems to ensure their safe integration into clinical practice, potentially exposing patients to increased risk for medical error.” Their ...
The availability of newer agents that have transformed treatment outcomes in multiple myeloma has naturally led to interest in studying these drugs earlier in precursor states, such as monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance and smoldering myeloma. Recent evidence suggests that this may...
In a phase III trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, du Bois et al found that maintenance therapy with the VEGFR and PDGFR inhibitor pazopanib (Votrient) significantly prolonged progression-free survival vs placebo in women with ovarian cancer without progression after first-line...
Eruptive melanocytic nevi are observed in patients receiving the multikinase inhibitor sorafenib (Nexavar) and the selective BRAF inhibitor vemurafenib (Zelboraf). In a case reported in JAMA Dermatology, Shen et al found that the addition of the MEK inhibitor cobimetinib to vemurafenib in a woman...
The combination of continuous daily-dosed sunitinib (Sutent) and hypofractionated stereotactic radiation therapy produced acceptable toxicity and “encouraging” 6-month progression-free survival in previously irradiated patients with recurrent high-grade glioma, according to the results...
Combining the molecular targeted drug ibrutinib (Imbruvica) with the investigational anticancer agent ABT-199 may improve outcomes for patients with mantle cell lymphoma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), according to preclinical data presented at the American Association for Cancer Research...
In the phase III PANORAMA1 trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, San-Miguel and colleagues found that adding the pan-deacetylase inhibitor panobinostat to bortezomib (Velcade) and dexamethasone improved progression-free survival in patients with relapsed or relapsed and refractory multiple...
A laboratory study of the investigational drug CX-5461, which blocks the inhibition of RNA polymerase I transcription, has found that it prolonged survival in mouse models of highly aggressive acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and multiple myeloma refractory to standard therapy. In addition, the...
Using genomic profiling and next-generation sequencing of patients with BCR-ABL1-like B-progenitor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-cell ALL) and Philadelphia chromosome–like ALL, researchers recently identified alterations targeting 18 kinase or cytokine receptor genes. They then determined...
As the U.S. population continues to age, oncologists will be faced with a growing number of elderly patients with Hodgkin lymphoma, but there is currently no consensus on how to treat this population. Regimens used to treat younger patients have too much toxicity for most older patients, and thus...
In a Scottish study reported in The Lancet Psychiatry, Walker et al assessed the prevalence and adequacy of treatment of major depression in patients with cancer of different primary sites. The prevalence of major depression ranged from 5.6% in patients with genitourinary cancers to 13.1% in those...
In the SMaRT Oncology-3 study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Walker et al found that an integrated collaborative treatment program for depression (‘depression care for people with cancer’) was associated with significantly reduced severity of depression compared with usual care in...
In a Scottish study (SMaRT Oncology-2) reported in The Lancet, Sharpe, Walker et al found that an integrated collaborative treatment program for depression (‘depression care for people with cancer’) was associated with significantly higher depression response and remission rates...
The addition of the monoclonal antibody VEGFR-2 antagonist ramucirumab (Cyramza) to paclitaxel led to a statistically significant improvement in median overall survival in patients with advanced gastric cancer or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma in a phase III trial, reported Wilke et al in ...
Abdominal irradiation for childhood cancer has been associated with increased risk of diabetes. In a Dutch study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, van Nimwegen and colleagues assessed the relationship between infradiaphragm radiotherapy and risk of diabetes in long-term survivors of...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Loibl et al found that PIK3CA mutation was associated with lower pathologic complete response rate in patients with HER2-positive breast cancer receiving trastuzumab (Herceptin), lapatinib (Tykerb), or both in addition to neoadjuvant...
In a prospective cohort study in the population of the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial, Zhou et al found that frontal plus moderate vertex baldness at age 45 is associated with increased risk of aggressive prostate cancer. The findings were reported in the...
Navidea Biopharmaceuticals, Inc, recently announced that technetium 99m tilmanocept (Lymphoseek Injection) has been granted Orphan Drug Designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in sentinel lymph node detection in patients with cancer of the head and neck. The designation...
In a study reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Vo et al in the International Neuroblastoma Risk Group Project found significant differences in clinical and biologic features of neuroblastoma according to primary tumor site, including poorer survival for adrenal sites of primary disease and...
The oral mTOR inhibitor ridaforolimus was modestly active and reasonably tolerated in women with recurrent or metastatic endometrial cancer, according to the results of a phase II study reported in Gynecologic Oncology. Tsoref et al suggested that it may prove to be an effective therapeutic...
In a phase III trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Palumbo et al found that consolidation therapy with high-dose melphalan plus autologous stem cell transplantation improved progression-free survival and overall survival compared with melphalan/prednisone/lenalidomide (Revlimid)...
In a Korean phase II trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Hong et al found that adjuvant FOLFOX (oxaliplatin, fluorouracil [5-FU], leucovorin) prolonged progression-free survival and overall survival vs 5-FU/leucovorin in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer who had received neoadjuvant...
There are few data available on long-term risk of colorectal cancer mortality after adenoma removal. In a Norwegian study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Løberg et al found that patients who had low-risk adenomas removed had lower colorectal cancer mortality risk and those...
A large, international analysis of patients with stage IV non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) indicates that a patient’s overall survival rate can be related to factors including the timing of when metastases develop and lymph node involvement, and that aggressive treatment for low-risk...
Patients with inoperable, early-stage lung cancer who receive stereotactic body radiation therapy have a 5-year survival rate of 40%, according to long-term results presented at the American Society for Radiation Oncology’s (ASTRO) 56th Annual Meeting (Abstract 56). Such a positive survival...
Prostate cancer patients who receive high-dose radiation therapy followed by a longer period of androgen-deprivation therapy have higher 5-year biochemical disease–free survival and overall survival rates compared to patients who receive high-dose radiation therapy and a shorter duration of...
In a randomized phase II trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Liu et al found a significant improvement in progression-free survival and an increase in toxicity with the addition of the antiangiogenic agent cediranib (VEGFR-1,-2,-3 inhibitor) to the PARP inhibitor olaparib in women with recurrent ...
The UK phase III ProtecT trial is comparing the effectiveness of active monitoring, radical prostatectomy, and radiotherapy in men with localized prostate cancer. Lane et al have provided baseline results of the trial in an article in The Lancet Oncology. Study Details In the trial, men aged 50...
In a recent study investigating alectinib resistance in ALK-positive lung cancers, researchers identified two novel ALK mutations that are sensitive to ceritinib (Zykadia), a next-generation ALK tyrosine kinase inhibitor approved by the FDA earlier this year for advanced non–small cell lung...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Kochenderfer et al found that single infusions of autologous T cells expressing an anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) produced responses in nearly all patients with chemotherapy-refractory CD19-positive B-cell malignancies, including...
In a study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Prat et al found that there was little difference in downstream gene or protein expression according to intrinsic breast cancer subtypes among clinical HER2-positive vs -negative breast cancers and that clinical HER2 status did...
A secondary analysis of the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project B-32 trial indicates that radiation therapy does not increase the incidence of lymphedema in patients with node-negative breast cancer, according to research presented at the American Society for Radiation...
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) released its 2014 Cancer Progress Report today, which highlights the quickening pace of drug development and approval, especially in molecularly targeted agents that are leading to increased numbers of cancer survivors. However, the report also...