In the phase II Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG)-0234 trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Harari et al found that adjuvant chemoradiation with docetaxel or cisplatin plus cetuximab (Erbitux) in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck and high-risk...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted Genentech’s supplemental Biologics License Application and granted Priority Review for bevacizumab (Avastin) plus chemotherapy in the treatment of women with persistent, recurrent, or metastatic cervical cancer. The designation...
ODM-201 is a novel androgen receptor inhibitor—structurally distinct from enzalutamide (Xtandi)—that acts via high-affinity binding to the androgen receptor and inhibition of receptor nuclear translocation. In the phase I/II ARADES trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Fizazi et al...
An analysis of data from the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study reported by Siddiqui et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology indicates that vasectomy is associated with a modestly but significantly increased risk of high-grade and lethal prostate cancer. The study involved data from 49,405...
A novel approach using ChIP-seq and RNA-seq analysis in combination with RNA expression data has identified a gene called USP9X that may predict which patients with estrogen receptor–positive breast cancer will benefit from tamoxifen therapy after surgery. The gene signature the researchers...
New research raises the prospect of more effective treatments for cachexia, a profound wasting of fat and muscle occurring in about half of all cancer patients, raising their risk of death, according to scientists from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. In a study reported in Nature, Spiegelman et al...
A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase II trial comparing the antiproliferative effect of transdermal 4-hydroxytamoxifen gel (4-OHT), a potent antiestrogenic metabolite of tamoxifen, applied to the breast and oral tamoxifen in women with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), has found the...
A new analysis has found that rates of testicular cancer have been rising dramatically in recent years among young Hispanic American men, but not among their non-Hispanic counterparts. Published early online in Cancer, the findings indicate that greater awareness is needed concerning the increasing ...
Using a multidimensional platform that combined nanofluidic technology for quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis and quantitative fluorescent immunohistochemistry for protein analysis, researchers at the Danbury Hospital Biomedical Research Institute were able to accurately predict...
The phase II Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) S0802 trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Allen et al showed that adding ziv-aflibercept (Zaltrap) to topotecan improved 3-month progression-free survival, but increased toxicity and had no effect on overall survival, in patients...
In a study intended to help define optimal screening in individuals at high risk of melanoma, Moloney et al evaluated use of full-body examinations every 6 months along with dermoscopy and total-body photography for all patients and sequential digital dermoscopy imaging as indicated. The study,...
Key genetic variants may affect how cancer patients respond to radiation treatments, according to a study recently published in Nature Genetics. The research team, which included researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, found that variations in the TANC1 gene are associated with...
Researchers from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and other centers have identified novel mutations in a well-known cancer-causing pathway in lung adenocarcinoma, the most common subtype of lung cancer. Knowledge of these mutations could potentially identify a...
Risk of severe irinotecan-associated neutropenia is related in part to presence of the UGT1A1*28 variant, which is linked to reduced elimination of the irinotecan active metabolite SN-38. In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Innocenti et al identified appropriate irinotecan...
In a retrospective SEER (Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results)/Medicare data analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Lipitz-Snyderman et al found that long-term central venous catheter use was associated with a three- to sixfold increase in risk of infection in older...
In a UK phase III trial (NCRI Myeloma X Relapse [Intensive] Trial) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Cook et al found that high-dose melphalan plus salvage autologous stem cell transplantation significantly prolonged time to progression vs cyclophosphamide in patients with relapsed multiple myeloma...
Invading glioblastoma cells may hijack cerebral blood vessels during early stages of disease progression and damage the brain’s protective barrier, preclinical study published in Nature Communications indicated. The finding by Watkins et al could ultimately lead to new ways to bring about the ...
Invasive breast cancers with skin involvement, regardless of size or lymph node involvement, are automatically classified as stage III locally advanced tumors, which suggests that they are a relatively serious form of cancer with poor survival. In a study published in the Journal of the American...
In a European phase III noninferiority trial (Euro-EWING99-R1) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Le Deley et al found that cyclophosphamide was noninferior in event-free survival vs ifosfamide in combination with vincristine/dactinomycin as consolidation therapy in patients with...
In the Patient Navigation Research Program study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Freund et al found that a patient navigation intervention improved diagnostic resolution and timely treatment initiation in a clinical population comprising predominantly racial/ethnic...
The effect of neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy in early-stage esophageal cancer is not clear. In the phase III FFCD 9901 trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Mariette et al found that neoadjuvant chemoradiation including fluorouracil (5-FU) and cisplatin did not improve R0...
In a study in the population of the North Central Cancer Treatment Group (NCCTG)/Alliance N0147 adjuvant trial reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Gonsalves et al identified patient and tumor characteristics that are associated with KRAS and BRAF V600E mutations in colon...
A heparin derivative differentiated cancer cells and caused neuroblastomas to regress without causing severe bleeding, according to the findings of a preclinical study presented in The Journal of Clinical Investigation. Knelson et al identified novel roles for heparan sulfate proteoglycans in...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Sheppard et al found that frailty was a significant predictor of not starting adjuvant hormonal therapy in breast cancer patients aged ≥ 65 years, but was not predictive of discontinuation of treatment. Study Details The study was...
The multikinase inhibitor sorafenib (Nexavar) is the only effective systemic treatment available in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. In the phase III EVOLVE-1 trial reported in JAMA, Zhu et al found no survival benefit from treatment with the mTOR inhibitor everolimus (Afinitor) after sorafenib...
In the phase III Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB) 40101/Alliance trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Shulman et al found that noninferiority of adjuvant single-agent paclitaxel was not established vs doxorubicin/cyclophosphamide for relapse-free survival in women with operable...
According to a new study, a cascade of molecular events in the bone marrow produces high levels of inflammation that disrupt normal blood formation and lead to potentially deadly disorders including leukemia. The discovery, published by the journal Cell Stem Cell, points the way to potential...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Breakthrough Therapy status to CTL019, an investigational chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) therapy for the treatment of pediatric and adult patients with relapsed/refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The Breakthrough Therapy filing...
CASI Pharmaceuticals, Inc, announced that its investigational agent ENMD-2076 has received orphan drug designation from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma. ENMD-2076 is an orally active Aurora A/angiogenic kinase inhibitor with a unique...
In a study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Hedditch et al found that expression of ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter genes of the A subfamily (ABCA) had a significant impact on outcome in epithelial ovarian cancer. High ABCA1, Low ABCA5 Expression Analysis of gene...
In the German phase III CONKO-003 trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Oettle et al found that second-line oxaliplatin, leucovorin, and fluorouracil (5-FU) significantly increased overall survival and time to progression vs leucovorin/5-FU in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer...
In light of nonrandomized studies suggesting benefit of video-assisted thoracoscopic partial pleurectomy (VAT-PP) in symptom control and survival, Rintoul et al performed a randomized trial (MesoVATS) of VAT-PP vs talc pleurodesis in malignant pleural mesothelioma. As reported in The Lancet, this...
Some data indicate an increased risk for cancer in patients receiving tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha antagonists (eg, infliximab [Remicade], adalimumab [Humira], certolizumab pegol [Cimzia]) for rheumatoid arthritis. Studies with follow-up of ≤ 1 year have not found increased risk in patients ...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted accelerated approval to belinostat (Beleodaq), a histone deacetylase inhibitor, for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory peripheral T-cell lymphoma, a rare and fast-growing type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). “This is...
Recent retrospective, single-institution analyses have suggested that anatomic segmentectomy results in freedom from recurrence and survival rates similar to those achieved by lobectomy in lung cancer. In a large propensity-matched analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Landreneau...
In a systematic review and meta-analysis reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Friebel et al attempted to identify factors that appear to modulate risk of breast and ovarian cancer in women who have inherited BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations. Although the ability to perform...
In the phase III American College of Surgeons Oncology Group (ACOSOG) Z4032/Alliance trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Fernando et al found that adjuvant brachytherapy did not improve risk for local recurrence after sublobar resection in patients with high-risk stage I operable...
A research collaboration between Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital has utilized nanomedicine technologies to develop a drug-delivery system that can precisely target and attack cancer cells in the bone, as well as increase bone strength and volume to prevent...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Kuhl et al assessed whether an abbreviated breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) protocol, consisting of one pre- and one postcontrast acquisition and derived images—first postcontrast–subtracted (FAST) and maximum-intensity...
The Ontario Breast Screening Program expanded in July 2011 to include screening of high-risk women aged 30 to 69 years with annual magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and digital mammography. As reported by Chiarelli et al in Journal of Clinical Oncology, a study of the initial screen in the program...
Colorectal cancer screening rates are low among Latinos and people living in poverty. In a study reported in JAMA Internal Medicine, Baker et al found that a multifaceted intervention more than doubled adherence to screening with fecal occult blood testing in a largely Latino and uninsured...
In an updated analysis of the European phase II EXPERT-C trial reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Sclafani et al found that adding cetuximab (Erbitux) to neoadjuvant capecitabine plus oxaliplatin (CAPOX) followed by chemoradiotherapy, surgery, and adjuvant CAPOX produced no...
HIV-infected people diagnosed with cancer are two to four times more likely to go untreated for their cancer compared to uninfected cancer patients, according to a large retrospective study from researchers in Penn Medicine’s Abramson Cancer Center and the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The ...
Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and its receptor MET have been found to promote the proliferation, migration, and survival of tumor cells and to play a role in gastric cancer. In a phase II study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Iveson et al found evidence of benefit from adding the anti-HGF...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Breakthrough Therapy designation to blinatumomab for adults with Philadelphia chromosome–negative relapsed/refractory B-precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), a rapidly progressing cancer of the blood and bone marrow....
Higher intakes of calcium, vitamin D, and dairy product are associated with lower risk of colorectal cancer, but the effect of such intake on survival in colorectal cancer is unclear. In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Yang et al found that higher postdiagnosis intake of...
Given the changes in treatment of children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the risk of late effects in those treated with current protocols may be different from that in children treated decades ago. In a study of survivors of childhood standard-risk ALL reported in The Lancet Oncology,...
Surgical resection markedly improved survival among metastatic melanoma patients whose disease is isolated to a few areas in the liver, according to new study findings published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons. These results mark a departure for melanoma, which is most often...
Although cancer immunotherapy with adoptive transfer of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes represents an effective treatment for patients with metastatic melanoma, the antigen targets recognized by these effective tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes remain unclear. According to a new study, a novel...
The new combination agent TAS-102 can improve overall survival compared to placebo in patients whose metastatic colorectal cancer is refractory to standard therapies, researchers reported at the ESMO 16th World Congress on Gastrointestinal Cancer in Barcelona (Abstract O-0022). “Around 50%...