Immune cells engineered to seek out and attack a type of deadly brain cancer were found to be safe and effective at controlling tumor growth in mice that were treated with these modified cells, according a team from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Novartis...
Patients who received chemotherapy after bladder cancer surgery demonstrated an approximately 30% lower risk of death than those who underwent surgery alone, according to an analysis presented by researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai at the 2015 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium, ...
Emergency room visits and hospitalizations are common among patients with early breast cancer receiving chemotherapy, particularly among those receiving a regimen containing docetaxel, according to a report by Enright et al in the Journal of Oncology Practice. “In this population-based cohort ...
Sensor technology has the potential to significantly improve the teaching of proper technique for clinical breast exams, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. The results of the study were published in a correspondence in The...
“In routine clinical practice, laparoscopic colectomy is associated with lower 30-day mortality, shorter length of stay, and greater likelihood of adjuvant chemotherapy initiation among stage III colon cancer patients when compared with open colectomy,” according to an analysis of data...
In a phase III study led by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, the oral antiangiogenic therapy lenvatinib has shown dramatic improvement in progression-free survival in patients with advanced radioiodine-refractory thyroid cancer. Their findings are published by...
Multiplexed genetic screening for epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene rearrangements, and subsequent biomarker-guided treatment, is cost-effective compared with standard chemotherapy treatment without any molecular testing in the metastatic...
Targeted biopsy using new fusion technology that combines magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with ultrasound is more effective than standard biopsy in detecting high-risk prostate cancer, according to a study by Siddiqui et al published in JAMA. More than 1,000 men participated in the research at the ...
The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) announced today that it will use SAP HANA®, a data management and application platform, in the development of CancerLinQ, the Society’s health information technology platform that will harness Big Data to deliver high-quality care to...
A simple change to a two-drug therapy for metastatic pancreatic cancer provides similar cancer control while significantly improving quality of life and reducing the cost of care, according to data reported by researchers at the The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur...
Oral infection with human papillomavirus 16 (HPV16), which is the type of HPV most frequently linked to HPV-driven head and neck cancers, was more likely to persist 12 or more months in men older than 45 than in those younger than 45, according to a study reported by Pierce Campbell et al in...
The American Cancer Society’s annual cancer statistics report found that a 22% drop in cancer mortality over 2 decades led to the avoidance of more than 1.5 million cancer deaths that would have occurred if peak rates had persisted. And while cancer death rates have declined in every state,...
Among women with triple-negative breast cancer, both basal-like and non–basal-like tumors were equally likely to demonstrate a pathologic complete response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy, but they responded differently to exposure to carboplatin and bevacizumab (Avastin), in an analysis of the...
In an analysis of Veterans Health Administration data reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Santana-Davila et al found that etoposide/cisplatin resulted in no overall survival difference but greater morbidity compared with carboplatin/paclitaxel used concurrently with radiotherapy in...
The Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) awarded the Gold Medal, the organization’s highest honor, to three individuals at the RSNA 100th Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting: Gary J. Becker, MD, of Tucson; Allen S. Lichter, MD, FASCO, of Alexandria, Virginia; and Etta D. Pisano,...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted Breakthrough Therapy designation to JCAR015, an investigational chimeric antigen receptor therapy developed by Juno Therapeutics. The designation applies for the treatment of relapsed or refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia and was filed...
The proportion of adolescent girls receiving human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines was much lower in states with higher rates of cervical cancer incidence and mortality, according to data presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) conference on The Science of Cancer Health...
Compared with normal colorectal mucosae, nearly half of colorectal tumors showed medium-to-high levels of lecithin retinol acyltransferase (LRAT) hypermethylation, according to the results of a study reported by Cheng et al in Medical Oncology. This finding was noted more frequent in earlier tumor...
New research by the international Cancer Genomics of the Kidney consortium (CAGEKID) reveals an important connection between kidney cancer and exposure to aristolochic acid, an ingredient in some herbal remedies. The findings, published by Scelo et al in Nature Communications, have important...
First evaluation of a pioneering “co-rounding” partnership between medical oncologists and palliative care specialists at Duke University Medical Center shows improvements in both health system–related and patient-related outcomes. The first year of the new partnership—set...
Efforts at implementing survivorship care plans have met with limited success in oncology practice, in part due to the time required to complete survivorship care plans, lack of role clarity, and lack of reimbursement for time to complete the documents. In response, ASCO convened a Survivorship...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted and granted Priority Review to Pfizer’s New Drug Application for palbociclib, in combination with letrozole, as a first-line treatment for postmenopausal women with estrogen receptor–positive, HER2-negative advanced breast cancer...
Melphalan in combination with bortezomib (Velcade) should be maintained as one of the standards of care for the treatment of elderly patients with multiple myeloma, concluded Spanish trialists reporting updated results from the GEM2005 study comparing bortezomib/melphalan/prednisone with...
Researchers in Germany report that nearly one-third of more than 2,100 patients with cancer interviewed at inpatient and outpatient care centers experienced a clinically meaningful level of mental or emotional distress that meets the strict diagnostic criteria for mental disorders including...
The MAGRIT trial showed disappointing results for a developmental vaccine called MAGE-3 in patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who had undergone surgical resection. This is the largest vaccine trial conducted in lung cancer, and investigators hoped that an immunotherapy approach...
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...
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...
Radiation therapy alone is as effective in decreasing swallowing complications experienced by advanced esophageal cancer patients as radiation therapy combined with chemotherapy, thus allowing patients to forgo chemotherapy, according to research presented at the American Society for Radiation...
When factoring in what is now known about breast cancer biology and heterogeneity, breast-conserving therapy may offer a greater survival benefit over mastectomy to women with early-stage, hormone receptor–positive disease, according to research from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer ...
Despite its acceptance as standard of care for early-stage breast cancer almost 25 years ago, barriers still exist that preclude patients from receiving breast-conserving therapy, with some still opting for a mastectomy, according to research from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center....
Circulating tumor cell clusters—clumps of from 2 to 50 tumor cells that break off a primary tumor and are carried through the bloodstream—appear to be much more likely to cause metastasis than are single circulating tumor cells, according to a study from investigators at the...
The 1964 Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking and Health started a culture change in the way Americans viewed tobacco and their health, and has saved countless million of lives. But the 1964 Report remained scientifically ambiguous on certain vital issues, such as the effect smoking had on the ...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved Cologuard, the first stool-based colorectal screening test that detects the presence of red blood cells and DNA mutations that may indicate the presence of certain kinds of abnormal growths that may be cancers such as colon cancer or...
Cancer research lost a pioneer on August 3, 2014, with the passing of Emmanuel Farber, MD, PhD, a renowned pathologist who made fundamental contributions to our understanding of chemical carcinogenesis. Dr. Farber’s studies in experimental pathology demonstrated that chemical carcinogens are...
Standardizing prescribing practices for single-fraction radiation therapy for palliation of bone metastases could lead to cost savings and improvement in patients’ quality of life, according to a study published in the August issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology •...
Use of electroacupuncture—a form of acupuncture where a small electric current is passed between pairs of acupuncture needles—produces significant improvements in fatigue, anxiety, and depression in as little as 8 weeks for early-stage breast cancer patients experiencing joint pain...
Statin use was associated with a significantly reduced risk of developing Barrett’s esophagus, according to a new study by Nguyen et al in Gastroenterology. Obese patients experienced the greatest level of risk reduction with statin use. While statins have been associated with a reduced risk...
In an analysis of metabolites in human kidney tissue, a research team from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania identified an enzyme key to applying the brakes on tumor growth. The new study, published in Nature by Simon et al, demonstrated that an enzyme called FBP1,...
As reported by Sant et al in The Lancet Oncology, the population based EUROCARE-5 study has shown significantly improved survival in hematologic malignancies in Europe between 1997 and 2008. Although improved, survival was poorer in Eastern Europe compared with other regions. Study Details This...
In a study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Noreen et al found that aspirin and hormone-replacement therapy reduced age-related gene promoter DNA methylation, and smoking and high body mass index (BMI) increased methylation in the colonic mucosa in women. Similar...
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 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...
A unique public-private collaboration among the National Cancer Institute (NCI), SWOG Cancer Research, Friends of Cancer Research, the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH), five pharmaceutical companies (Amgen, Genentech, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and AstraZeneca’s global...
Stopping statin therapy is safe for patients with cancer who have a life expectancy of less than 1 year, according to a randomized study reported at the 2014 ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago (Abstract LBA9514). Discontinuing statins did not shorten survival and provided a number of important...
According to a phase II study, customizing radiation doses based on response to induction chemotherapy and other prognostic factors may allow lower doses of radiation therapy to be administered to some patients with human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive oropharyngeal cancer without compromising...
Ibrutinib is an irreversible inhibitor of Bruton’s tyrosine kinase that was recently approved for treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients who have received at least one prior therapy. A small proportion of CLL patients have been observed to relapse during ibrutinib treatment, ...
A large phase III study, ALTTO (Adjuvant Lapatinib and/or Trastuzumab Treatment Optimisation), found no statistically significant differences in 4-year disease-free survival among women with early HER2-positive breast cancer who received adjuvant treatment that combined the HER2-targeted drugs...
Early findings from the phase III RESONATE study indicate that ibrutinib (Imbruvica) produces durable tumor responses and marked improvement in survival over standard ofatumumab (Arzerra) for patients with relapsed chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). “With ibrutinib, about 80% of patients...
Patients with stage IV non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who relapsed after initial platinum-based therapy experienced extended overall survival with a combination of the antiangiogenic agent ramucirumab (Cyramza) and standard chemotherapy with docetaxel, compared to patients receiving...
Oncologists now have a new understanding of the toxicity levels of specific chemotherapy regimens used for women with early-stage breast cancer, according to research from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. The retrospective study, reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by...