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Showing 4301 - 4350Targeted Suppression of a Reactivated Developmental Pathway in Hepatocellular Cancer
This issue of The ASCO Post summarizes the results of an important study recently published in The New England Journal of Medicine by Yong and colleagues. As outlined, investigators from the National University of Singapore Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine have identified re-expression of SALL4 as a ...
Diane E. Meier, MD: From Early Lessons in Critical Thinking to 'Palliative Care Everywhere'
Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it. —Helen Keller, Optimism, 1903 Shortly past 8:00 AM on July 1977, Diane E. Meier, MD, FACP, began the first day of her medical internship. Within minutes she would experience another first: the death of a patient...
Crizotinib Improves Progression-free Survival vs Pemetrexed or Docetaxel in Advanced ALK-positive NSCLC
In a phase III trial reported by Alice T. Shaw, MD, PhD, a thoracic oncologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, and colleagues in The New England Journal of Medicine, crizotinib (Xalkori) improved progression-free survival compared with standard chemotherapy in previously treated patients ...
Ibrutinib Produces High Response Rate in Patients with Refractory Mantle Cell Lymphoma
Ibrutinib is a first-in-class oral covalent inhibitor of Bruton’s tyrosine kinase, a mediator of the B cell-receptor signaling pathway implicated in the pathogenesis of B-cell cancers. As reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Michael L. Wang, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson...
High Rate of Durable Remissions with Ibrutinib in Patients with Relapsed Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia
Durable remissions are uncommon with current treatments for relapsed chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Bruton’s tyrosine kinase is an essential component of B cell–receptor signaling that mediates interactions with the tumor microenvironment and promotes survival and proliferation of CLL cells....
Tecemotide Vaccine Warrants Further Study in Unresectable Stage III Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer
Results of the START trial suggest that maintenance therapy with the investigational immunotherapy tecemotide (formerly known as L-BLP25) may have a role in the treatment of patients with unresectable stage III non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Although there was no significant overall survival...
GeparSixto Study Finds Benefit for Neoadjuvant Carboplatin in Triple-negative Breast Cancer
In patients with triple-negative breast cancer, the addition of carboplatin significantly improved the rate of pathologic complete response after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in a study by the German Breast Group (GBG)/Gynecologic Oncology Working Group–Breast (AGO-B) reported at the 2013 ASCO Annual...
Expert Point of View: Tim Maughan, MD
Maintenance treatment with capecitabine plus bevacizumab can be considered in clinical practice, according to Tim Maughan, MD, Professor of Clinical Oncology at Oxford University in the United Kingdom, who discussed CAIRO3 at the session. He said that approximately 60% of patients with metastatic...
Maintenance Treatment Delays Progression in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer
For patients with unresectable metastatic colorectal cancer, maintenance treatment with capecitabine (Xeloda) and bevacizumab (Avastin) significantly delayed disease progression and improved overall survival in the phase III CAIRO3 study by the Dutch Colorectal Cancer Group. Miriam Koopman, MD,...
Significant Improvement in Overall Survival Seen With Pemetrexed Maintenance After Pemetrexed/Cisplatin Induction in Patients With Advanced Nonsquamous NSCLC
In the phase III PARAMOUNT trial, pemetrexed (Alimta) continuation maintenance therapy significantly reduced the risk of disease progression by 38% compared with placebo after pemetrexed/cisplatin induction in patients with advanced nonsquamous non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Final overall...
Can Obinutuzumab Benefit Patients With Rituximab-Refractory Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma?
Obinutuzumab is a glycoengineered type II antibody that differs from type I anti-CD20 antibodies by being associated with actin reorganization and adhesion followed by direct cell death.1 Obinutuzumab has been glycoengineered by reduction in fucose content of the Fc region, which increases its...
Access to and Appropriate Use of Oncology Drugs Called Into Question by ASCO Studies
Studies presented at this year’s ASCO Annual Meeting suggest that despite the wealth of amazing oncolytics on the market, drug shortages persist, drug substitutions are common, off-label use of drugs occurs frequently, and patients find their costs burdensome. Drug Shortage Persists The shortage of ...
Addressing the Key Clinical Questions in Advanced Melanoma
At the 3rd Annual World Cutaneous Malignancies Congress, in La Jolla, California, Steven J. O’Day, MD, Director of Clinical Research at the Beverly Hills Cancer Center and Adjunct Member of the John Wayne Cancer Institute, Los Angeles, addressed what he labeled the “key clinical questions” about...
Panobinostat Combined With Bortezomib and Dexamethasone Can Recapture Responses in Heavily Pretreated Patients
The combination of the investigational histone deacetylase inhibitor panobinostat (Faridak) with bortezomib (Velcade) and dexamethasone was able to recapture responses in 34.5% of heavily pretreated, bortezomib-refractory patients with multiple myeloma in the phase II PANORAMA 2 trial. The 55...
Clinical Trials, Crossover, and Clinical Equipoise: A Patient's Perspective
I am writing with regard to two articles on the ethical imperative of clinical equipoise written by Susan O’Brien, MD, and Stephen J. Schuster, MD, and published recently in The ASCO Post.1,2 I was a victim of Pharmacyclics’ policies during one of their randomized ibrutinib trials (PCI-32765)...
Sitimagene Ceradenovec/IV Ganciclovir in Glioblastoma: Legitimizing the Gene Therapy Approach for Brain Tumors
The ASPECT study,1 a randomized, open-label, phase III trial examining adenovirus-mediated gene therapy with sitimagene ceradenovec followed by IV ganciclovir for patients with operable high-grade glioma, is an important achievement for both neuro-oncology and gene therapy. As vector engineering...
Postresection Adenovirus-Mediated Gene Therapy Improves Time to Death/Reintervention but Not Survival in Adult Glioblastoma
In an open-label phase III trial (ASPECT) reported in Lancet Oncology, Manfred Westphal, MD, of University Hospital Eppendorf in Hamburg, and colleagues assessed the effects of locally applied adenovirus-mediated gene therapy with sitimagene ceradenovec followed by IV ganciclovir after surgical...
Pretreatment Lymph Node Dissection May Improve Survival in Advanced Cervical Cancer, But for Too Few?
Women with cervical cancer metastasized to para-aortic lymph nodes have historically had a poor prognosis, with 3-year overall survival rates of 25% to 40%.1-3 This has been attributed to the presence of occult systemic disease at the time of presentation and a high rate of distant recurrences...
Treatment of Relapse of Acute Leukemia Post-Transplant: Still Hope for Patients With Chemosensitive Disease
Disease recurrence is a devastating event after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation as treatment for acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Median time to relapse is approximately 4 months and the majority of relapses occur within 2 years after transplant. The prognosis is usually poor....
Paging Dr. Google: Practicing Oncology in the Era of Social Media and Telemedicine
Over the past few decades, economic and political factors have reshaped oncology, especially in the community setting. To defray risk, we’ve seen a trend toward oncology practices partnering with hospitals or aggregating into larger networks. Moreover, the Internet and the advent of telemedicine...
Platinum Agents in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: Encouraging New Data
For the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer, there is renewed interest in investigating the role of platinum chemotherapy, according to Melinda L. Telli, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Stanford University, Palo Alto. At the Best of ASCO meeting in Los Angeles, Dr. Telli reviewed the...
SIDEBAR: How to Find Out More for Your Patients With Cancer
The Patient Advocate Foundation has assisted more than 650,000 patients, and provided educational programs and information on resolving health insurance, workplace discrimination due to illness, and financial issues to millions more through its website. Visit the Patient Advocate Foundation at...
For 2 Decades, Nancy Davenport-Ennis Has Worked to Ensure Access to Health Care for All Patients Diagnosed With Life-Threatening Illness
As a young girl, Nancy Davenport-Ennis remembers hearing her parents tell stories about families struggling to pay their health-care expenses following a diagnosis of a serious illness like cancer. But it wasn’t until 3 decades later when she was coping with her own diagnosis of breast cancer and...
Herb-Drug Interactions in Oncology
Guest Editor Integrative Oncology is guest edited by Barrie R. Cassileth, MS, PhD, Chief of the Integrative Medicine Service and Laurance S. Rockefeller Chair in Integrative Medicine at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York. The Integrative Medicine Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering...
Advances in Medical Oncology Over the Next Decade
The next 10 years are expected to usher in unprecedented advances in oncology, including molecularly driven diagnostic and therapeutic developments, whole genome sequencing that results in true precision-based medicine, survivorship care plans that address long-term quality of life concerns, and...
Pazopanib vs Sunitinib in Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma: How Do We Choose?
Over the past decade, the field of metastatic renal cell carcinoma therapy has witnessed the development of multiple drugs targeting the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) pathway, based on the underlying biology of renal cell carcinoma that leads to reliance on angiogenic signaling. The...
Progression-Free Survival With Pazopanib Not Inferior to Sunitinib Benefit in Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma
Pazopanib (Votrient) and sunitinib (Sutent) have been shown to provide progression-free survival benefit compared with placebo or interferon in phase III trials in metastatic renal cell carcinoma. In a noninferiority trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Robert J. Motzer, MD, of...
Study Shows Increased Risk of Mental Disorders in Childhood Cancer Survivors and Potential Increased Risk in Young Siblings
Survivors of childhood cancer are at risk for long-term adverse physical and mental effects, but little is known about the effects of illness in siblings of these patients. In a study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Lasse Wegener Lund, MD, of the Danish Cancer Society Research Centre and...
Challenging and Changing the Standard of Care for Cervical and Ovarian Cancers
“It was a very exciting session this year, particularly for cervical cancers,” said Paul Haluska MD, PhD, of the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, in speaking of the 2013 ASCO Annual Meeting’s gynecologic oncology session and the abstracts highlighted recently at Best of ASCO in Chicago. In one...
Important Findings in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer Studies Address Treatment, Management Options
At the Best of ASCO Meeting in Los Angeles, Tony Reid, MD, PhD, Director of the Early Phase Clinical Research Program and Professor of Hematology/Oncology at the University of California, San Diego, reviewed important findings in metastatic colorectal cancer presented at the 2013 ASCO Annual...
Expert Point of View: Steven J. O’Day, MD
Steven J. O’Day, MD, Director of Clinical Research at the Beverly Hills Cancer Center and Adjunct Member of the John Wayne Cancer Institute in Los Angeles, said, “This is an important study. It allows us to feel comfortable with our aggressive approach to the management of DCIS.” Dr. O’Day...
Nab-Paclitaxel in Metastatic Pancreas Cancer
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. Indication On September 6, paclitaxel protein-bound particles...
Modifiable Risk Factors Potentiate Therapy-Associated Risk for Major Cardiac Events in Adult Survivors of Childhood Cancer
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Gregory T. Armstrong, MD, of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, and colleagues assessed the frequency of major cardiac events and cardiovascular risk factors among adult survivors of childhood cancer and their siblings.1 They...
AACR Cancer Progress Report 2013 Highlights Critical Importance of Biomedical Research
On September 17, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) presented highlights of its 2013 Cancer Progress Report1 at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. AACR Chief Executive Officer Margaret Foti, PhD, MD (hc), opened the program with a double-edged message, first citing the...
International Cancer Corps Provides Valuable First-Time Volunteer Experience
Even as oncologists try to tackle the changing landscape of health care in the United States, many realize that both physicians and patients in this country are still in a better position than those fighting cancer abroad in low- and middle-income countries. In 2009, ASCO joined with Health...
Gastric Cancer Foundation Announces Research Partnership With AGA
The Gastric Cancer Foundation recently announced the formation of a research partnership with the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) and a confirmed timeline for awarding newly funded research grants for upper gastrointestinal tract cancers. Wayne Feinstein, Chairman of the Board of...
The AVEX Trial
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Cunningham and colleagues and reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post, the AVEX trial was an open-label randomized phase III trial limited to patients over the age of 70 years with previously untreated, unresectable metastatic colorectal cancer who were not...
Aspirin Protects Against Colorectal Cancer Recurrence in PIK3CA-Mutant Tumors
At the 2013 European Cancer Congress, two investigative teams attempted to explain how aspirin may protect against colorectal cancer recurrences, with one study showing PIK3CA mutations associated with protection from aspirin, but not a COX-2 inhibitor, and the other study implicating HLA class I...
The Devastating Impact of Sequestration on Medical Research
The primacy of science and the overwhelming belief in medical research by the American people has sustained the research community and improved quality of life roughly since the turn of the 20th century. Almost without exception, the American people have voted for politicians who promise improved...
Impact of Hormone Replacement Therapy on Breast Cancer Risk Varies by Race, Weight, and Breast Density
The impact of hormone replacement therapy on breast cancer risk varies according to the patient’s to race/ethnicity, body mass index, and breast density. An analysis of 1,642,824 screening mammograms with 9,300 breast cancer cases in postmenopausal women aged 45 years or older found that hormone...
Omega-3
Common Name: Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) Brand Names: Omegaven, Max-EPA The use of dietary supplements by patients with cancer has increased significantly over the past 2 decades despite insufficient evidence of safety and effectiveness. Finding reliable sources of information about...
Focus on the Texas Society of Clinical Oncology
The second largest state in the nation (after Alaska), Texas covers a total area of 268,581 square miles and has a diverse population of over 26 million people. In 1987, the Texas Society of Medical Oncology, now the Texas Society of Clinical Oncology (TxSCO), was formed to address the oncology...
In International Study, Patients Prefer Subcutaneous Over Intravenous Trastuzumab for Breast Cancer
Subcutaneous trastuzumab (not available in the United States) has been shown to have noninferior efficacy and similar pharmacokinetic and safety profiles compared with intravenous trastuzumab (Herceptin) in patients with early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer. In the PrefHer trial reported in...
Multicenter Analysis of Outcomes of Lymphoma in Pregnancy
Lymphoma is the fourth most frequent cancer to occur in pregnant women. In a multicenter retrospective analysis reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Andrew M. Evens, DO, MSc, Chief of Hematology/Oncology at Tufts University Medical Center, Boston, and colleagues examined treatment,...
Celebrating 30 Years of Mentorship That Makes a Difference
The Conquer Cancer Foundation (CCF) Grants and Awards Program has been instrumental in helping launch the careers of hundreds of aspiring cancer researchers around the world over the past 30 years. Since the first grant provided in 1984, Conquer Cancer Foundation–funded scientists have become some...
Neoadjuvant Treatment of Early Breast Cancer
INSIDE THE BLACK BOX is an occasional column providing insight into the FDA and its policies and procedures. In this first installment, FDA Clinical Reviewers Laleh Amiri-Kordestani, MD, and Suparna Wedam, MD, discuss FDA’s recent approval of pertuzumab (Perjeta) for the neoadjuvant treatment of...
Brivanib Studied in First- and Second-Line Therapy for Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma
The investigational drug brivanib is a dual inhibitor of vascular endothelial growth factor and fibroblast growth factor signaling, both implicated in hepatocellular carcinoma. The agent was recently evaluated in two phase III trials, one comparing first-line brivanib with sorafenib (Nexavar) in...
Investigational ALK Inhibitor Shows Promise in Patients With Crizotinib-Refractory, ALK-Positive NSCLC
Patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumors have the ALK gene rearrangement usually respond to the drug crizotinib (Xalkori), with a median duration of response of approximately 10 months. In a study reported by Shirish Gadgeel, MD, of Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit, and...
Sale of Ponatinib Suspended Due to Risk of Life-Threatening Blood Clots
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has asked the manufacturer of the tyrosine kinase inhibitor ponatinib (Iclusig) to suspend marketing and sales of the drug because of the risk of life-threatening blood clots and severe narrowing of blood vessels. Ariad Pharmaceuticals has agreed to...
FDA Approves First Extended-Release, Single-Entity Hydrocodone Product
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved hydrocodone bitartrate extended-release capsules (Zohydro ER) for the management of pain severe enough to require daily, around-the-clock, long-term treatment and for which alternative treatment options are inadequate. The drug, a Schedule...
