In an analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Press et al found notable discrepancies between recent ASCO–College of American Pathologists (ASCO-CAP) changes in the recommendations for evaluation of HER2 amplification by fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) and FISH scores...
Jemal et al described findings indicating a continued decline in the incidence of localized/regional-stage prostate cancer at 2 years after the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommendation against routine prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening in men aged ≥ 50 years in 2011, in a letter ...
In a post hoc analysis of the German phase III FIRE-3 trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Stintzing et al found that first-line FOLFIRI (fluorouracil, leucovorin, irinotecan) plus cetuximab (Erbitux) was associated with improved overall survival vs FOLFIRI plus bevacizumab (Avastin) in an...
In a Chinese phase III trial reported in The Lancet, Zhang et al found that gemcitabine/cisplatin improved progression-free survival vs fluorouracil/cisplatin in patients with recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Study Details In the open-label trial, 362 patients from 22 sites in...
Two recent European phase III trials with different study designs focused on hypofractionated vs conventional radiotherapy in localized prostate cancer. Investigators in the CHHiP trial1 showed that the hypofractionated approach is noninferior to standard fractionation, with no increase in side...
In a retrospective multicohort study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Hearn et al found that the inherited HSD3B1 (1245C) allele was significantly associated with resistance to androgen-deprivation therapy and poorer outcome in men with prostate cancer. HSD3B1 (1245A>C) has been linked to...
Intratumoral tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte level and prominent peritumoral Crohn’s-like lymphoid reaction appear to be independent prognostic factors for survival in colorectal cancer, according to a study reported by Rozek et al in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The findings...
In a pooled analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Meignan et al found that higher baseline total metabolic tumor volume measured by 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) positron-emission tomography–computed tomography (FDG PET-CT) was associated with poorer outcome in patients...
Vaccarella et al estimated changes in the incidence of cervical cancer through 2040 in six Baltic, central, and eastern European (BCEE) countries on the hypotheses of continued absence of effective screening programs vs progressive implementation of such programs. Their findings were reported in...
In a systematic review and meta-analysis reported in JAMA Oncology, Nishino et al identified the rates of PD-1 (programmed cell death protein 1) inhibitor–related pneumonitis in patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), renal cell carcinoma, and melanoma. Rates were...
Adolescent girls from BRCA1/2-positive and breast cancer families appear to have higher self-esteem and similar psychosocial adjustment compared with their peers but experience greater breast cancer–specific distress and perceived risk of breast cancer. Bradbury et al reported these findings...
In the phase III CASTOR trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Palumbo et al found that adding the anti-CD38 antibody daratumumab (Darzalex) to bortezomib (Velcade) and dexamethasone markedly improved progression-free survival among patients with relapsed or relapsed and refractory...
In a genome-wide DNA-methylation analysis to identify genes implicated in Li-Fraumeni syndrome, Samuel et al found a significant association of loss-of-function <em>TP53</em> mutations with differential methylation at the locus encoding microRNA-34A (miR-34A). The study was reported in...
In a phase III trial (MINDACT) reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Cardoso et al found that adjuvant chemotherapy may be avoidable in women with early-stage breast cancer who are at high clinical risk but low genomic risk as determined by the 70-gene signature assay (MammaPrint)....
In an international genetic study (International Sarcoma Kindred Study) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Ballinger et al found that approximately half of all patients with sarcoma harbored potentially pathogenic monogenic and polygenic variation in known and novel cancer genes. Study Details The...
In a phase II trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Rini et al found that some patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma can safely undergo active surveillance for an extended duration prior to initiation of systemic therapy. Indolent growth of metastases is known to occur in some patients...
In a phase III noninferiority trial (NRG Oncology RTOG 0415) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, W. Robert Lee, MD, MS, Med, of Duke University Medical Center, and colleagues found that hypofractionated radiotherapy was not inferior to conventional radiotherapy in disease-free survival...
The proportion of patients with papillary thyroid cancer identified as having node-negative disease decreased substantially with an increased number of lymph nodes examined, according to an analysis of data from the National Cancer Database. Robinson and colleagues, of Duke University, reported...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology, Gharahkhani et al identified several new genetic risk variants for the development of Barrett’s esophagus and esophageal adenocarcinoma through a large-scale meta-analysis of genome-wide studies. Study Details The study involved a meta-analysis of four...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Zielinski et al, the final results of the phase III TURANDOT trial showed that overall survival with first-line bevacizumab (Avastin)/capecitabine was noninferior vs bevacizumab/paclitaxel in per-protocol analysis among patients with advanced HER2-negative...
In a phase III trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Hagop M. Kantarjian, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and colleagues found that treatment with the antibody-drug conjugate inotuzumab ozogamicin resulted in a greater complete remission rate and improved ...
In a phase III trial (CALGB 40503/Alliance) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Maura N. Dickler, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and colleagues found that the addition of bevacizumab (Avastin) to first-line endocrine therapy with letrozole improved progression-free...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO) by N. Lynn Henry, MD, PhD, of University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, Ann Arbor, and colleagues,1 ASCO has endorsed Cancer Care Ontario guideline recommendations on the role of patient and disease factors in decisions on adjuvant...
In the phase III GADOLIN trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Laurie H. Sehn, MD, Chair, British Columbia Cancer Agency Lymphoma Tumor Group, and Clinical Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, and colleagues, found that adding the anti-CD20 antibody obinutuzumab...
As reported by Alexi A. Wright, MD, MPH, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and colleagues in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, ASCO and the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) have released a clinical practice guideline on neoadjuvant therapy for patients with newly diagnosed stage IIIC or IV...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Neelima Denduluri, MD, and colleagues, ASCO has adapted a Cancer Care Ontario (CCO) clinical practice guideline on selection of optimal adjuvant chemotherapy for HER2-negative and adjuvant targeted therapy for HER2-positive breast cancer.1 The...
As reported by Ascierto et al in The Lancet Oncology, longer-term follow-up in the pivotal phase III coBRIM trial confirmed the benefit of adding cobimetinib to vemurafenib (Zelboraf) in first-line treatment of BRAF V600–mutant unresectable stage IIIC or IV melanoma. Study Details In the...
In an international, single-arm phase IIIB trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Saad et al found benefit with the addition of abiraterone (Zytiga) or enzalutamide (Xtandi) to radium-223 (Xofigo) in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. This early-access program was...
In a phase III noninferiority trial (NRG Oncology RTOG 0415) reported by Lee et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, W. Robert Lee, MD, MS, Med, of Duke University Medical Center, and colleagues found that hypofractionated radiotherapy was not inferior to conventional hypofractionated...
The most recent (2013) ASCO/College of American Pathologists (AC) guidelines for HER2 testing resulted in different rates of HER2 positivity compared with the use of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or 2007 AC guidelines, according to a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology...
The addition of the anti–CTLA-4 (cytotoxic T-lymphocyte–associated protein 4) checkpoint inhibitor ipilimumab (Yervoy) to etoposide/platinum did not improve overall survival in the first-line treatment of patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC), according to a phase...
Next-generation sequencing of recurrent or metastatic head and neck tumors at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) has provided insight into the molecular characteristics of these tumors, which may aid in the implementation of precision treatment. Morris et al reported these findings in...
In a National Cancer Data Base analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Seisen et al found that high-intensity local treatment was associated with an overall survival benefit in patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma of the bladder. Study Details The study included data from...
In a phase II study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Brose et al found that vemurafenib (Zelboraf) had antitumor activity in patients with BRAF V600E–positive recurrent or metastatic papillary thyroid cancer refractory to radioactive iodine. Study Details In the study, 26 patients without...
In an analysis of the observational database of the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Nilanjan Ghosh, MD, PhD, of Levine Cancer Institute, Carolinas Healthcare System, Charlotte, North Carolina, and colleagues found that...
The global economic crisis has been associated with increased unemployment and reduced public-sector expenditure on health care. In a study reported in The Lancet, Mahiben Maruthappu, MA, of Imperial College London, and colleagues found that the global economic crisis beginning in 2008 was...
In a genome-wide association study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Li et al identified genetic variants associated with the risk of nasal-type extranodal natural killer T-cell lymphoma (NKTCL). This rare aggressive malignancy is seen predominantly in Asian and Latin American populations;...
Obesity and being overweight were associated with an increased risk of cardiotoxicity in women receiving treatment with anthracyclines and sequential anthracyclines/trastuzumab (Herceptin) for breast cancer, according to a systematic review and meta-analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical...
In a population-based study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Greenlee et al found that rates of obesity have increased more in patients with a history of cancer than in the general population. These rates were particularly high among survivors of colorectal and breast cancers and black ...
Harmonized recommendations for surveillance of premature ovarian insufficiency in female survivors of childhood, adolescent, and young adult (CAYA) cancers have been published by van Dorp et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology on behalf of the International Late Effects of Childhood Cancer...
In an analysis from the St. Jude Lifetime Cohort Study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Bhakta et al found a high cumulative burden of cardiovascular morbidity among pediatric, adolescent, and young adult survivors of Hodgkin lymphoma. Study Details The study involved data from 670 survivors of...
As reported by Rugo et al and Park et al in The New England Journal of Medicine, the adaptive randomization phase II I-SPY 2 trial has shown that the addition of veliparib/carboplatin and the addition of neratinib to standard neoadjuvant therapy have met criteria predictive of success in a phase...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Judith A. Paice, PhD, RN, of Northwestern University, and colleagues, ASCO has released a clinical practice guideline on management of chronic pain in survivors of adult cancers. The guideline was based on literature review by an expert panel, with ...
In a letter to the editor in The New England Journal of Medicine, de Maleissye et al described two cases of severe demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy that occurred after pembrolizumab (Keytruda) treatment for advanced melanoma. Case 1 A 45-year-old woman receiving pembrolizumab at 2 mg/kg every ...
Pathologic complete response rate was not improved by increasing the interval between neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy and surgery from 7 to 11 weeks in patients with rectal cancer, according to the French phase III GRECCAR-6 trial reported by Lefevre et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. In...
In a prospective cohort study reported in JAMA Oncology, Shu et al found that risk for serous/serous-like endometrial carcinoma appeared to be increased after risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy (RRSO) without hysterectomy in women harboring the BRCA1 mutation. The overall risk of uterine cancer...
In a study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Zaretsky et al found that defects in interferon receptor signaling and antigen-presenting pathways were associated with acquired resistance to PD-1 (programmed cell death protein 1) inhibition in melanoma. Resistance Mutations Identified ...
Crinò et al found that ceritinib (Zykadia) was active overall and in central nervous system (CNS) metastases in patients with ALK-rearranged advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) previously treated with crizotinib (Xalkori) and chemotherapy, according to the ASCEND-2 phase II...
Treatment with the anti–PD-1 (programmed cell death protein 1) immune checkpoint inhibitor nivolumab (Opdivo) produced response in two-thirds of patients with classical Hodgkin lymphoma after failure of both autologous stem cell transplantation (SCT) and brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris),...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Chagtai et al of the International Society of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP) Renal Tumours Study Group found that chromosome 1q gain was associated with poorer event-free survival in patients with Wilms tumor treated with preoperative...