The National Cancer Institute of Canada (NCIC) Clinical Trials Group MAP.3 (Mammary Prevention 3) trial showed that daily exemestane treatment reduced invasive breast cancer risk by 65% among postmenopausal women. In a quality-of-life study in the MAP.3 population reported in the Journal of...
Noncompliance appears to be a major challenge for active surveillance, according to the results of long-term follow-up of patients with prostate cancer presented at the European Association of Urology 29th Annual Congress in Stockholm. Over a quarter of men dropped out of the active surveillance...
A recent study published in Cancer found that, contrary to treatment guidelines for high-risk bladder cancer, neoadjuvant chemotherapy is not commonly used in routine clinical practice. Utilization of adjuvant chemotherapy was found to be increasing over time and was associated with a substantial...
Researchers have developed a quantitative multiplexed methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction assay called cMethDNA for a panel of 10 breast cancer–specific genes. The blood-based assay was found to be highly sensitive in detecting advanced breast cancer and monitoring tumor burden and ...
A majority of cancer patients experience some level of fatigue during their course of treatment, and approximately 30% contend with persistent fatigue for years after treatment. Fatigue is among the most common and distressing long-term effects of cancer treatment and significantly affects patient...
ASCO has adapted the Pan-Canadian Practice Guideline on Screening, Assessment, and Care of Psychosocial Distress (Depression, Anxiety) in Adults With Cancer for use in the screening, assessment, and care of anxiety and depressive symptoms in adults with cancer. The adapted guideline, reported in...
The American Society of Clinical Oncology has released a clinical practice guideline on prevention and treatment of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy in adult cancer patients, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The overall incidence of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy ...
The St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital–Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project has identified new mutations in pediatric high-grade gliomas. The findings by Wu et al were published in Nature Genetics and may lead to improved outcomes for children with these brain...
A quartet of proteins that play critical roles in cell replication, cell death, and DNA repair could lead to better targets for therapy against treatment-resistant head and neck squamous cell cancers. In a study presented this week at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual...
The activity of four transcription factors appears to distinguish the small proportion of glioblastoma cells responsible for the aggressiveness and treatment resistance of the deadly brain tumor. The findings by Suvà et al, published online in Cell, support the importance of epigenetics in...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Russell et al found that immunoglobulin heavy chain (IGH@) translocations were present in a substantial proportion of younger patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), including those with B-cell precursor ALL. However, IGH@...
Surgery for liver metastasis from colorectal cancer is associated with overall survival of approximately 40% at 5 years, and progression-free survival is increased with the addition of oxaliplatin and fluorouracil (5-FU). The addition of cetuximab (Erbitux) to chemotherapy has produced a survival...
Older people who are starting to have memory and thinking problems, but do not yet have dementia, may have a lower risk of dying from cancer than people who have no memory and thinking problems, according to a study by Benito-León et al published online in Neurology. “Studies have...
In women with non–small cell lung cancer, long-term hormone therapy, particularly estrogen plus progesterone, is associated with improved survival, according to the results of a retrospective study presented by Katcoff et al in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology. This finding may lead to...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved ethiodized oil injection (Lipiodol) for selective hepatic intra-arterial use for imaging tumors in adults with known hepatocellular carcinoma. The agent received orphan drug designation for management of patients with known hepatocellular carcinoma ...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Buchholz et al, ASCO has endorsed the recently published Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) and American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) consensus guideline on margins for breast-conserving surgery with whole-breast irradiation in stage I...
In a phase II study (COIN-B) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Wasan et al examined the addition of continuous or intermittent cetuximab (Erbitux) to intermittent chemotherapy in previously untreated advanced KRAS wild-type colorectal cancer. Continuous cetuximab appeared to be associated with...
In a report in The New England Journal of Medicine, Maynard et al discuss identification of consumptive hypothyroidism due to overexpression of thyroid hormone–inactivating enzyme type 3 iodothyronine deiodinase (D3) in a patient with gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) and subsequent...
Using comprehensive genomic analysis, researchers have sorted low-grade brain tumors into three categories, one of which has the molecular hallmarks and shortened survival of glioblastoma multiforme, the most lethal of brain tumors. The findings were reported at the American Association for Cancer...
The investigational, oral drug BGJ398, which blocks the activity of fibroblast growth factor receptors (FGFRs), showed promising anticancer activity in patients with various types of cancer driven by FGFR genetic alterations, according to the results of a phase I clinical trial presented at the...
Loss of the tumor suppressor PTEN was a frequent cause of resistance to the investigational drug BYL719, which blocks the activity of the PI3K-alpha protein, in a small sample of women with breast cancer that progressed after initially responding to BYL719 treatment, according to results presented...
A crossover trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Escudier et al found that patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma preferred pazopanib (Votrient) vs sunitinib (Sutent) treatment. Study Details In the double-blind study, 168 patients with no prior systemic therapy for...
Men with localized prostate cancer that is at risk of growing and spreading have a lower risk of disease progression and recurrence if they are treated with radiotherapy combined with androgen-deprivation therapy, according to new research. The findings, which were presented at the 33rd Conference...
Research in mice and human cell lines has identified an experimental compound dubbed TTT-3002 as potentially one of the most potent drugs available to block genetic mutations in cancer cells blamed for some forms of treatment-resistant leukemia. The study by Ma et al, published in Blood, found that ...
A large prospective study of patients with invasive colorectal cancer has found that higher body mass index 2 years before diagnosis increased risk of all-cause mortality after diagnosis, even in patients whose tumors harbored a marker that is usually associated with better prognosis. The...
Resistance to a combination of HER2-targeted therapies, trastuzumab (Herceptin) and lapatinib (Tykerb), was associated with elevated activation of a group of proteins called fibroblast growth factor receptors (FGFRs), which are the target of a number of drugs currently being developed, according to ...
Among patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with the investigational immune checkpoint inhibitor MK-3475, those whose tumors had high levels of the protein PD-L1 had significantly better outcomes, according to results of a phase I clinical trial presented at the American...
The results from a phase I study of a new investigational epigenetic therapy called OTX015, a small-molecule inhibitor that blocks the activity of bromodomain and extraterminal (BET)-bromodomain proteins, is showing clinical activity in some blood cancers, including leukemia and lymphoma. The study ...
In a phase II trial (PEAK) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Schwartzberg et al compared the EGFR inhibitor panitumumab (Vectibix) vs the VEGF-A inhibitor bevacizumab (Avastin) combined with modified fluorouracil, leucovorin, and oxaliplatin (FOLFOX6) in patients with previously...
Patients with cancer of the throat and who are positive for the human papillomavirus (HPV) have a good prognosis, but until now the effect of being HPV-positive on the prognosis of tumors located elsewhere in the head and neck was unknown. A new study presented at the 33rd Conference of the...
A small clinical study of a new investigational antibody-drug conjugate called DEDN6526A in patients with metastatic or unresectable cutaneous, mucosal, or ocular melanoma has found the drug to be safe and tolerable and demonstrated early evidence of antitumor activity. The findings were presented...
A new genetic signature to identify prostate cancer patients who are at high risk of their cancer recurring after surgery or radiotherapy has been developed by researchers in Canada, according to a study presented at the 33rd Conference of the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology in...
Findings from the I-SPY 2 randomized phase II clinical trial for women with newly diagnosed stage II breast cancer show that a neoadjuvant regimen containing the investigational drug neratinib, a pan-HER inhibitor, and standard chemotherapy is beneficial for patients with hormone...
The novel oral drug LY2835219, an inhibitor of cyclin-dependent kinases (CDK) 4 and 6, showed early promise as monotherapy for patients with metastatic breast cancer, particularly for those with hormone receptor–positive disease, according to results of a phase I study presented at the...
Among melanoma patients treated with the PD-1 inhibitor MK-3475, those whose tumors had the protein PD-L1 had better immune responses and higher survival rates, according to results presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2014 in San Diego. When the protein...
The t(14;18) translocation is a hallmark and critical event in the development of follicular lymphoma, but it is also detectable in otherwise healthy persons, and its relationship to progression to disease is unclear. In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Roulland et al found...
First-line treatment with the combination of palbociclib plus letrozole extended progression-free survival by approximately 50% in patients with metastatic estrogen receptor–positive, HER2-negative breast cancer, according to final results of a randomized phase II study presented at the...
The St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital–Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project found mutations in the tumor-suppressor gene TP53 in 90% of osteosarcomas, suggesting the alteration plays a key role early in development of the bone cancer. The study by Chen et al was...
A new study by Andrew et al published in BJU International suggests that certain inherited DNA sequences may affect the prognosis of patients with bladder cancer. The findings may help physicians identify subgroups of patients with high-risk bladder cancer who should receive more frequent...
According to a new study, mutations in the SMARCA4 remodeling gene may play a key role in the development of small cell carcinoma of the ovary, hypercalcemic type. The findings by Ramos et al were published in Nature Genetics and suggest that loss of SMARCA4 expression may serve as a biomarker for...
The Mantle Cell Lymphoma International Prognostic Index (MIPI) was developed in 2008 as the first prognostic stratification system specific for mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Hoster et al confirmed the validity of MIPI in a cohort of two...
In a cohort study reported in JAMA Internal Medicine, Reimers et al found that aspirin use was associated with a significant 47% reduction in mortality risk after diagnosis of colon cancer expressing HLA class I antigen. There was no difference in aspirin benefit according to strong or weak...
Dose-escalated intensity-modulated radiotherapy with use of a moderate hypofractionation regimen (72 Gy in 2.4-Gy fractions) can safely treat patients with localized prostate cancer with limited grade 2 or 3 late toxicity, according to a study by Hoffman et al published in the International Journal ...
The recently reported open-label phase III AURELIA trial showed that the addition of bevacizumab (Avastin) to chemotherapy resulted in significant improvements in progression-free survival, the primary study endpoint, and objective response rate in women with recurrent platinum-resistant ovarian...
The recently reported open-label phase III AURELIA trial showed that the addition of bevacizumab (Avastin) to chemotherapy resulted in significant improvement in progression-free survival, the primary study endpoint, and objective response rate in women with recurrent platinum-resistant ovarian...
A large study of over 12,000 women who took clomiphene citrate or gonadotropins for the treatment of infertility has found no increase in breast cancer risk over 30 years of follow-up, compared with women who were not treated with these medications. The study by Brinton et al is published in Cancer ...
Single-agent chemotherapy is standard in platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. In the open-label phase III AURELIA trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Pujade-Lauraine et al found that the addition of bevacizumab (Avastin) to chemotherapy resulted in significant improvement in...
Doctors should focus on life expectancy when deciding whether to order mammograms for their oldest female patients, since the harms of screening likely outweigh the benefits unless women are expected to live at least another decade, according to a review published online in JAMA by Walter and...
The majority of current and former smokers would welcome screenings for lung cancer if their insurance covered the spiral computed tomography (CT) scans, according to research from Roswell Park Cancer Institute and the Medical University of South Carolina. The study by Delmerico et al was published ...
In a study reported in Clinical Cancer Research, Schwarzenberg et al found 3,4-dihydroxy-6-[18F]-fluoro-L-phenylalanine (18F-FDOPA) positron-emission tomography (PET) metabolic tumor volume values at 2 weeks after the start of bevacizumab (Avastin) were highly predictive of outcome in patients with ...