Lynch syndrome is an autosomal dominantly inherited disorder due to germline mutations in DNA mismatch repair genes. Mismatch repair mutation carriers are at increased risk of several cancers, with endometrial cancer being one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers in women with Lynch syndrome. In...
A two-step immunologic approach that includes a personalized dendritic cell vaccine for each patient followed by adoptive T-cell therapy holds promise for the treatment of recurrent ovarian cancer, according to results of two consecutive phase I studies presented at the American Association for...
Interim results from a small neoadjuvant study of patients with triple-negative breast cancer has found high rates of pathologic complete response with the combination of nab-paclitaxel (Abraxane), carboplatin, and bevacizumab (Avastin).1 The study was presented at the 18th Annual Conference of the ...
Twelve adults with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) have been treated with CD19-targeted chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia by Carl June, MD, Richard W. Vague Professor in Immunotherapy, and colleagues. These were all end-stage...
As reported by the Canadian Blood and Marrow Transplant Group in Journal of Clinical Oncology,1 patients with transformed follicular lymphoma receiving autologous transplantation have improved survival outcomes compared with patients receiving rituximab (Rituxan)-containing chemotherapy alone....
According to ASCO President Sandra M. Swain, MD, FACP, an important part of her Presidential theme, “Building Bridges to Conquer Cancer,” is finding creative ways to ensure that we have enough oncologists to care for our burgeoning cancer patient population. Adding more women to the oncology...
The paper by Darby et al provides extremely important information on quantitative estimates of the effect of radiotherapy on coronary events in women with breast cancer.1 The authors have determined a direct relationship between radiation dose and effects on the heart and provide strong evidence...
Several studies presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in Washington, DC, focused on factors associated with breast cancer mortality. One study found that older women with longer intervals between mammograms had a higher likelihood of dying of breast cancer. ...
The new guidelines from the College of American Pathologists, International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer, and Association for Molecular Pathology (CAP/IASLC/AMP) are a significant step toward personalized therapy of patients with lung cancer. More than 226,000 new patients per year are...
A new guideline for molecular testing to select lung cancer patients for treatment with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) tyrosine kinase inhibitors has been jointly developed by the College of American Pathologists, International Association for the Study ...
For the treatment of metastases to the liver and the lung, interventional radiologists reported early success with two novel approaches at the Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR) 38th Annual Scientific Meeting, held recently in New Orleans. Cryoablation of Lung Tumors For patients with...
On March 1, the deficit-budget mechanism known as sequestration took effect, triggering $85 billion in across-the-board cuts to most federal agencies over the remaining 7 months in fiscal year 2013. The total federal deficit reduction budget under the Budget Control Act of 2011 calls for $1.2...
As was recently reported in Science Translational Medicine, Renier J. Brentjens, MD, and colleagues at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, found that profound molecular remission was rapidly induced in patients with relapsed B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) using autologous T ...
The American Cancer Society announced the Society’s 100th birthday on May 22, 2013. Founded 100 years ago by 15 prominent physicians and business leaders in New York, the American Cancer Society, first known as the American Society for the Control of Cancer, launched the fight against a disease...
The use of dietary supplements by cancer patients has risen significantly over the past 2 decades despite insufficient evidence of safety and effectiveness. Finding reliable sources of information about dietary supplements can be daunting. Patients typically rely on family, friends, and the...
Liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma is feasible for HIV-infected patients, with no differences in post-transplant survival or hepatocellular carcinoma recurrence rates compared with liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma in HIV-uninfected patients. The study, published in ...
The phase III open-label AXIS trial comparing axitinib (Inlyta) vs sorafenib (Nexavar) as second-line treatment for metastatic renal cell carcinoma showed significantly prolonged independent radiology committee–assessed progression-free survival with axitinib treatment (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.665, P ...
The study discussant, Giulia Veronesi, MD, of the Division of Thoracic Surgery, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy, said that diagnostic algorithms aim to strike a balance between a too-invasive workup that exposes screened persons to useless invasive procedures and overtreatment, and...
The study discussant, Elisabeth Quoix, MD, of the University Hospitals of Strasbourg, France, said that this meta-analysis confirmed that platinum-based doublets remain the standard treatment in this setting. Benefit of platinum-based doublets over non–platinum-based chemotherapy is essentially due ...
In a molecular profile analysis of 2,271 cases of non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), EGFR was mutated in 12% and KRAS in 32% of cases. HER2 gene amplification was confirmed as a rare event in NSCLC (4%). Coexistence of HER2 gene amplification and EGFR mutation was identified in three cases, while...
Findings from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute ALL Consortium Protocol 00-01, recently reported by Lynda M. Vrooman, MD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and colleagues in Journal of Clinical Oncology, indicate that postinduction dexamethasone and individualized dosing of Escherichia coli–derived...
A retrospective analysis of a large surgical database has documented that bilateral mastectomy is associated with a doubling in complication rates, compared with unilateral mastectomy. Researchers reported the findings at the 14th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Breast Surgeons in...
Once-daily oral moxifloxacin works at least as well as twice-daily oral ciprofloxacin plus amoxicillin–clavulanic acid when it comes to treating febrile neutropenia in patients who are at low risk for complications, according to a randomized, double-blind trial reported in the Journal of Clinical...
After passage of the Washington Death with Dignity Act in November 2008, the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance—the site of outpatient care for patients with cancer from Fred Hutchinson–University of Washington Cancer Consortium—developed a Death with Dignity program. The program is adapted from existing ...
Antibody-mediated blockade of the programmed death 1 protein (PD-1) and its ligand (PD-L1) resulted in potent and durable tumor regression and prolonged stabilization of disease in patients with advanced solid tumors, according to early data on these drugs presented at the 2013 ASCO Annual Meeting. ...
Switzerland, a landlocked country with a population about that of New York City, has four geographic regions, each with its own official language. Internationally regarded lymphoma and breast cancer expert, Franco Cavalli, MD, FRCP, was born and raised in Locarno, a town in the Italian region of...
ASCO President Clifford A. Hudis, MD, grew up in northeast Philadelphia in the 1960s, a robust period in U.S. history dominated by American industry and ingenuity. His early memories are of a hard-working blue-collar neighborhood of identical row and semidetached twin houses and of a time of...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved lenalidomide (Revlimid) for the treatment of patients with mantle cell lymphoma whose disease has relapsed or progressed after two prior therapies, one of which included bortezomib (Velcade). Clinical Trial The approval was based on the results of...
Dermatologic Events in Oncology is guest edited by Mario E. Lacouture, MD, an Associate Member in the Division of Dermatology, Department of Medicine, at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York. He is a board-certified dermatologist with a special interest in dermatologic conditions that...
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 May 29, 2013, dabrafenib (Tafinlar) was approved for ...
A trial reported by Gerold Bepler, MD, PhD, of Karmanos Cancer Institute, Detroit, and colleagues in Journal of Clinical Oncology assessed whether chemotherapy selected on the basis of in situ ERCC1 and RRM1 protein levels could improve outcomes in patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer...
Earlier this month, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) released its updated projections of reductions in programs due to the deficit-budget mechanism known as sequestration, which took effect on March 1, 2013. The sequestration law requires NIH to cut 5%, or $1.55 billion, of its fiscal year...
Radiotherapy to the axilla may replace axillary lymph node dissection for local tumor control in selected patients with sentinel node–positive breast cancer, sparing many patients lymphedema, according to the final results of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC)...
For the first time in decades, a drug has halted disease progression in treatment-resistant differentiated thyroid cancer, according to the results of a phase III study presented at the 2013 ASCO Annual Meeting.1 No new drugs have been approved for differentiated thyroid cancer in 40 years, but...
In the era of personalized medicine for cancer care, it was both surprising and encouraging to hear about a simple low-tech intervention delivered by women in the community that cut the rate of death from cervical cancer in India by about one-third. The intervention, a simple visual inspection...
The addition of bevacizumab (Avastin) to chemotherapy prolongs overall survival in women with metastatic cervical cancer compared with chemotherapy alone, according to the results of a randomized phase III study presented at the Plenary Session of the ASCO Annual Meeting.1 Women on the...
“Among men with nonmetastatic prostate cancer, replacing carbohydrates and animal fat with vegetable fat may reduce the risk of all-cause mortality,” according to a prospective study of 4,577 men with nonmetastatic prostate cancer in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. Vegetable fat intake...
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 dietary supplements can be daunting. Patients typically rely on family, friends, and...
The amino acid imaging agent, O-(2-[18F]-fluoroethyl)-L-tyrosine (F-18 FET), may improve upon standard magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and its diagnostic benefit for imaging pediatric gliomas when conventional MRI is not sufficient, said researchers at the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular ...
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 May 15, 2013, radium Ra 223 dichloride (Xofigo) was...
The close association between cancer and thrombosis has been recognized now for more than 150 years.1 Not only is it now known that patients with cancer are at substantially increased risk of developing venous thromboembolism, even prior to the diagnosis of cancer, but the association between...
ASCO has released a new evidence-based clinical practice guideline for venous thromboembolism prophylaxis and treatment, updating the 2007 practice guideline.1 The update is based on a systematic review of literature published from December 2007 to December 2012. An Update Committee reviewed...
As a neoadjuvant regimen for HER2-positive early breast cancer, the use of two HER2-directed agents was no more effective than trastuzumab (Herceptin) alone in producing pathologic complete responses, although one subset of patients did benefit from this approach, according to the results of the...
A trio of presentations at the ASCO Annual Meeting focused on two promising investigational drugs for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). These two drugs—idelalisib and obinutuzumab—join a list of new approaches showing potential. Idelalisib Alone A phase I dose-ranging study of...
“The definition of molecular subsets of lung cancer [in terms of] driver mutations has revolutionized the care of patients with non–small cell lung cancer [NSCLC],” said formal discussant Christine M. Lovly, MD, PhD, Instructor in Medicine at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville. ALK...
Encouraging results were seen in a preliminary study of a second-generation ALK inhibitor in advanced ALK-positive non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The drug—dubbed LDK378—achieved tumor shrinkage in almost all patients enrolled in the study, in all mutational subsets, in crizotinib...
Given the results of the AVAglio trial, we feel that a more balanced discussion about the role of bevacizumab (Avastin) in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma is in order. The accompanying article in The ASCO Post suggests that bevacizumab has no benefit in newly diagnosed glioblastoma; data ...
More than one-third of the excess risk for cancers among men may be due to factors associated with height, according to data from the Vitamins and Lifestyle (VITAL) study. As reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, these factors include the “number of susceptible cells in a...
Treatment with lenalidomide (Revlimid) as initial therapy induced long-lasting responses in a phase II study of 60 patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). “Overall, 35 patients (58%) patients had responses lasting more than 36 months and were considered long-term responders,” the...
Two studies published in Journal of Clinical Oncology indicate that treatment-related symptoms and mammographic density reduction may predict whether a woman with hormone receptor–positive breast cancer will benefit from adjuvant endocrine therapy. In one study, women who had specific adverse...