A survey of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers recently reported by Nancy L. Keating, MD, MPH, and colleagues at Harvard Medical School in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute showed that the presence of multidisciplinary tumor boards had little association with rates of recommended...
Several studies have suggested that short-term overall survival for women with ovarian cancer and BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations is better than that in patients without such mutations. Indeed, a recent report by Kelly L. Bolton, PhD, and colleagues indicated that 5-year overall survival was 36% for...
The French UNICANCER-PACS 01 trial compared six cycles of anthracycline-based adjuvant therapy with FEC (epirubicin, cyclophosphamide, fluorouracil; FEC6) vs three cycles of FEC followed by three cycles of docetaxel (FEC/docetaxel) in patients with node-positive primary breast cancer. After...
In an accompanying editorial, Nasser H. Hanna, MD, of Indiana University, Indianapolis, suggested that although the question of two chemotherapy drugs vs one in this setting made sense at the time GOIRC 02-2006 was initiated, advances in understanding of the heterogeneity of non–small cell lung...
An Italian randomized phase II study (GOIRC 02-2006 study) recently reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology by Andrea Ardizzoni, MD, of Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria in Parma, Italy, and colleagues showed no progression-free survival benefit of adding carboplatin to pemetrexed (Alimta) in...
Many patients receiving palliative radiation therapy to the bone or chest for metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) may be receiving a greater number of treatments and higher doses than are supported by current evidence, according to a Cancer Care and Outcomes Research and Surveillance...
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 February 8, 2013, the immunomodulatory agent...
Early detection of renal cell carcinoma using biomarkers remains challenging. Kim and colleagues recently evaluated a three-marker assay consisting of nicotinamide N-methyltransferase (NNMT), L-plastin (LCP1), and nonmetastatic cells 1 protein (NM23A). After validation of the three-marker assay in...
Colorectal cancer that is microsatellite stable but chromosomally unstable is characterized by poor prognosis and remains largely intractable at the metastatic stage. Mutational analysis has shown that the mixed lineage kinase 4 (MLK4) protein kinase is frequently mutated in microsatellite-stable...
Dysregulation of TGF-β signaling promotes tumor growth, invasion, metastasis, and a potent immunosuppressive network in pancreas cancer. A strategy for disrupting the tumor-promoting pathway is the silencing of TGF-β by use of small-interfering (si) RNA. Ellermeier and colleagues found that the...
Inactivation of the tumor suppressor p53 through somatic mutations is observed in approximately half of cancers. The finding that p53 mutations sometimes occur in tumor-associated fibroblasts and are correlated with an increased rate of metastases and poor prognosis suggests that p53 dysfunction in ...
Breast cancer deaths have declined over the past 2 decades, with approximately half of the decrease estimated to be due to advances in early detection and treatment. However, not all racial groups have benefited equally from these advances. A recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and...
Menarche and menopause mark the onset and offset of ovarian and endocrine activity associated with reproduction, and early menarche and late menopause are known to increase risk of breast cancer. In a recent Lancet Oncology article, the Collaborative Group on Hormonal Factors in Breast Cancer...
Optimal reinduction therapy for patients with relapsed pediatric acute myeloid leukemia (AML) remains undefined. Liposomal daunorubicin (DaunoXome), which offers the potential for reduced cardiotoxicity compared with traditional daunorubicin, is effective in this setting. Gertjan J.L. Kaspers, MD,...
Qigong (“qi” or “chi” = energy flow, “gong” = skill or achievement) is an integrated mind-body exercise and meditative practice that involves rhythmic breathing coordinated with repetition of fluid movements and calm focus on the body. A study reported in Cancer by Zhen Chen, MD, and colleagues...
The companion UK Special Interest Group in Gastrointestinal and Abdominal Radiology (SIGGAR) trials compared computed tomographic (CT) colonography with barium enema and colonoscopy in patients with symptoms suggestive of colon cancer. As recently reported by the SIGGAR investigators in The...
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 February 22, 2013, ado-trastuzumab emtansine...
Comparative longer-term functional outcomes of radical prostatectomy and external-beam radiation therapy for localized prostate cancer remain undefined. In a study recently reported in The New England Journal of Medicine,1 Matthew J. Resnick, MD, and colleagues at Vanderbilt University, Nashville,...
In a study recently reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Peter T. Campbell, PhD, and colleagues from the Epidemiology Research Program of the American Cancer Society, Atlanta, found that more recreational physical activity before and after a diagnosis of colorectal cancer was associated with...
As reported recently in Lancet Oncology by Jaafar Bennouna, MD, of Institut de Cancérologie de l’Ouest, Nantes, France, and colleagues, the phase III ML18147 trial showed a survival benefit with continued bevacizumab (Avastin) treatment after first progression in metastatic colorectal cancer.1 The...
Genome-wide association studies have identified numerous genetic susceptibility loci for breast cancer, although these loci explain only a small proportion of heritability. Relatively few studies have assessed associations of breast cancer risk with copy number variation, another important source...
Upregulation of BIM (BCL2L11), a proapoptotic member of the BCL2 protein family, is required for induction of apoptosis by EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors in EGFR-mutant forms of non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). A BIM deletion polymorphism occurs naturally in approximately 13% of East Asian...
Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition is known to mediate cancer cell invasion, metastasis, and drug resistance, but its impact on cancer immune surveillance is less well defined. In a study reported in Cancer Research, Akalay and colleagues found that epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and...
C-reactive protein is a biomarker of acute and chronic inflammation that is frequently elevated in patients with cancer. In a study reported in Clinical Cancer Research, Secchiero and colleagues found that increased levels of C-reactive protein were associated with downregulation of TRAIL, a...
Multiple myeloma subtypes are driven by a variety of genetic abnormalities. Given the genetic diversity of the disease, identification of oncogenic mechanisms common to all subtypes is highly desirable. In a study reported in Cancer Cell, Lamy and colleagues found that that all multiple myeloma...
About the Writers Charlotte Bath has been writing about cancer and related fields of medicine since serving as Public Information Director of the American Cancer Society, Long Island Division, from 1975 to 1979. She subsequently worked as a writer for Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and...
As reported by Hideki Ueno, MD, PhD, of National Cancer Center Hospital, Tokyo, and colleagues in Journal of Clinical Oncology, treatment with the oral fluoropyrimidine derivative S-1 was associated with noninferior overall survival and reduced hematologic toxicity compared with gemcitabine...
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...
Mismatch repair genes are involved in numerous cellular functions, including the recognition and correction of errors in DNA replication. Germline mutations of mismatch repair genes have been shown to be involved in various types of cancer. ■
As reported by Alan P. Venook, MD, Professor of Medicine (Hematology/Oncology) at the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues in Journal of Clinical Oncology, a 12-gene recurrence score (Oncotype DX Colon Cancer Assay) was shown to predict recurrence in stage II colon cancer in a...
The results of a study reported by David H. Gustafson, PhD, Research Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and colleagues in Cancer suggest that informal caregiver (eg, family member) use of a specifically designed online system to support palliative care reduces symptom distress in...
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....
A population-based case-control study reported by Sarah C. Darby, PhD, Professor of Medical Statistics in the Clinical Trial Service Unit and Epidemiologic Studies Unit at the University of Oxford, and colleagues in The New England Journal of Medicine indicates that incidental exposure of the heart ...
As recently reported by Gong Yang, MD, MPH, Research Associate Professor at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, and colleagues in the Journal of Clinical Oncology,1 higher prediagnosis consumption of soy food was associated with improved overall survival in Chinese women with lung...
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 ...
In a recently published study, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center investigators demonstrated the considerable antitumor efficacy of 19-28z chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-modified T cells in patients with relapsed/refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The ASCO Post asked lead...
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 ...
According to an analysis reported by Amanda Phipps, PhD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Washington and Assistant Member at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, and colleagues in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, patients with stage III colon cancer who...
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 ...
Elderly patients differ with respect to tolerance of therapy for colorectal cancer. In a study reported in Journal of Clinical Oncology, Thomas Aparicio, MD, PhD, of the University of Paris, and colleagues analyzed geriatric factors for potential association with severe toxicity, dose-intensity...
An analysis of a large pooled data set from the Pooling Project of Prospective Studies of Diet and Cancer reported by Seungyoun Jung, ScD, Channing Division of Network Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, and colleagues in Journal of the National Cancer...
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...
Participation in the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance Death with Dignity program reflects concerns about autonomy, dignity, and functional status rather than disease-related symptoms or depression. The Death with Dignity program “both allows patients with cancer who wish to consider this option to do...
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 ...
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most common cancer in children, and the incidence of the disease varies by ethnicity. Available evidence indicates an inherited predisposition to ALL, but the genetic basis of ALL susceptibility in diverse ancestry has not been examined in detail. Xu and...
Available data suggest that DNA methylation in blood is a potential epigenetic marker of cancer risk, but this has not been evaluated on a genome-wide scale in prospective studies of breast cancer. Xu and colleagues measured DNA methylation at 27,578 CpG sites (ie, DNA regions where cytosine and...
Clinical resistance to epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor treatment has been observed in lung cancer. The antidiabetic drug metformin has shown significant inhibitory and proapoptotic effects in several cancer models alone and in combination with chemotherapeutic...
The oncogenic microRNAs miR-21and miR-31 negatively regulate tumor-suppressor genes. Toiyama and colleagues conducted a series of studies to assess their potential as serum biomarkers in colorectal cancer. Screening in medium from two colorectal cancer cell lines and serum analysis in 12 patients...
In studies to identify circulating microRNA levels that could distinguish low-stage pancreatic cancer from healthy and disease controls, Li and colleagues, measured 735 microRNAs in pancreatic cancer case and control sera and selected 18 microRNA candidates for validation in an independent set of...
The diagnostic test for ALK rearrangement in non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) for crizotinib (Xalkori) treatment currently uses biopsy or fine-needle aspiration. Pailler and colleagues assessed whether ALK rearrangement could be detected using circulating tumor cells. They analyzed circulating...