Scientists from Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, and Houston Methodist, Houston, have found that a gene previously unassociated with breast cancer plays a pivotal role in the growth and progression of the triple-negative form of the disease. The research by Chen et al, published in Nature,...
Women with BRCA1 mutations may have an increased risk for developing rare types of aggressive uterine cancer despite having their ovaries and fallopian tubes removed, suggest preliminary findings presented at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer held ...
Analysis of data from the UK NHS Breast Screening Programme has shown significant variations in the outcomes of treatment for women with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) between UK hospitals. Dr. Jeremy Thomas, a consultant pathologist at the Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, told the 9th...
Immunotherapy for ovarian, breast, and colorectal cancer has so far had limited success, primarily because the immune system often can’t destroy the cancer cells. According to a report published in Oncotarget, researchers at Johns Hopkins have identified genes that have been repressed through ...
Survival among people with lung cancer has been better for women than men, and the findings of a recent study indicate that female hormones may be a factor in this difference. The combination of estrogen plus progesterone and the use of long-term hormone therapy were associated with the most...
Using next-generation sequencing and the clinical data of patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, researchers found that combining mutant-allele tumor heterogeneity as a biomarker with patients’ human papillomavirus (HPV) status provides a reliable predictor of patient survival....
While new and better treatments have improved the odds of survival for patients diagnosed with late-stage colorectal cancer, that progress has been largely confined to non-Hispanic whites and Asians and those under age 65, according to a new study published in Cancer Causes and Control. Sineshaw et ...
Researchers have discovered a preleukemic stem cell that may be the first step in initiating disease and also the culprit that evades therapy and triggers relapse in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The research, published online in Nature, is a significant step forward in...
The Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) and American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) formed a multidisciplinary expert panel in 2013 to examine the relationship between surgical margin width and ipsilateral breast tumor recurrence and develop guidelines on margins for breast-conserving...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, van Ryn et al assessed patient-reported quality of care among patients with colorectal cancer in the Veterans Affairs health-care system. The investigators found significant gaps in patient-centered quality of supportive care, but also found...
When oncologists see a new patient, they should emphasize careful documentation of first- and second-degree cancer family history, according to new recommendations published by the American Society of Clinical Oncology. The recommendations are the first to focus on family history-taking...
An analysis of 7,776 adult cancer clinical trials registered on Clinicaltrials.gov showed that approximately 20% of trials failed to be completed for reasons unrelated to the efficacy or side effects of the intervention. In 2010, a report from the Institute of Medicine entitled “A National...
A survey of oncologists by Shanafelt et al has found that approximately 45% had at least one symptom of burnout, with risk being greatest among younger oncologists and those spending more hours per week devoted to direct patient care. However, overall career satisfaction remains high, especially...
In a study reported in JAMA Surgery, Agarwal et al compared breast cancer–specific survival rates of patients with early-stage invasive ductal carcinoma undergoing breast-conservation therapy (lumpectomy followed by radiation), mastectomy alone, or mastectomy with radiation using the SEER...
In the ESRA-CII trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Berry et al, patient use of a Web-based self-care program featuring tailored education and communication coaching resulted in significantly reduced symptom distress compared with symptom/quality-of-life tracking alone in patients ...
Today the American Cancer Society issued a report showing a 20% decline in cancer death rates between 1991 and 2010, and estimating that 1.3 million deaths have been averted as a result of the decline. ASCO issued the following statement: “This is tremendous progress and a direct result ...
Treatment with the drug decitabine prior to administration of chemotherapy and a cancer vaccine yielded clinical benefit for women with recurrent ovarian cancer, suggesting that this combinatorial chemoimmunotherapy may provide a new treatment option for patients with the disease, according to a...
Patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer and a poor performance status who were previously treated with docetaxel may benefit from currently available second-line therapies, according to the findings of a meta-analysis by Iacovelli et al published in Prostate Cancer and Prostatic...
A study by Sosman et al has identified two novel BRAF fusions in melanomas previously considered to be negative for molecular targets. In addition, these “pan-negative” melanomas were found to be sensitive to MEK inhibitors. According to the study, BRAF fusions define a new molecular...
Re-examination of data from four large studies of the benefits and harms of mammography screening shows that the benefits are more consistent across these studies than previously understood and that all the studies indicate a substantial reduction in breast cancer mortality with screening,...
Women with HER2-positive breast cancer who had the highest levels of immune cells in their tumors gained the most benefit from presurgery treatment with chemotherapy and trastuzumab (Herceptin), according to results presented today at the 2013 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (Abstract S1-05)....
In patients with indolent B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) refractory to both rituximab (Rituxan) and an alkylating agent, monotherapy with the selective oral PI3K-delta inhibitor idelalisib produced a high response rate, with responses persisting for 1 year in the average patient, according to...
A new class of drugs reduced the risk of patients contracting a serious and often deadly side effect of bone marrow transplant treatments, according to a study by Choi et al published in The Lancet Oncology. The study, the first to test this treatment in humans, combined the drug vorinostat...
Approximately 50% of metastatic melanomas harbor the BRAF mutation, and although most of these melanomas respond dramatically to treatment with BRAF inhibitors, such as vemurafenib (Zelboraf) and dabrafenib (Tafinlar), nearly all develop resistance to the drugs within 7 to 8 months. While previous...
Advanced imaging techniques may be able to distinguish which patients' tumors will respond to treatment with antiangiogenic drugs and which will not. In a report published online in PNAS, researchers studied patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma who were treated with the antiangiogenic agent...
Propofol is increasingly being used for sedation in screening colonoscopies in low-risk patients. In the United States, propofol can be administered only by an anesthesiologist, which can raise the cost of the procedure by $600 to $2,000. In a study reported in a research letter in JAMA Internal...
Results from the Costa Rica HPV16/18 Vaccine Trial (CVT) has found that 4-year efficacy against 12-month HPV16/18 persistent infection was similarly high among women who received one, two, or the recommended three doses of the bivalent HPV16/18 L1 virus-like particle vaccine (Cervarix). The...
Teenagers and young adults are at increased risk of suicide after being diagnosed with cancer, according to a study published today in Annals of Oncology. A study of nearly 8 million Swedes aged 15 and over found that among the 12,669 young people diagnosed with cancer between the ages of 15 and...
According to the Congressional Budget Office, over the next 10 years, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will result in approximately 25 million newly insured individuals and 12 million more Medicaid beneficiaries through the the Medicaid expansion provision. While the law provides...
The nanopharmaceutical CRLX101, a novel inhibitor of topoisomerase-1 and hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1 alpha, may be capable of overcoming resistance of tumors to antiangiogenic agents, according to preclinical and early clinical studies that have evaluated CRLX101 in combination with...
Approximately 50% of non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients who develop resistance to inhibitors of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) have acquired a second mutation, T790M, which no current EGFR inhibitors target. This may change if the AstraZeneca investigational compound...
The Program Chairs of the 2013 CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, which will be held December 10–14, 2013, have highlighted what they consider to be the most important abstracts to be presented at the Symposium. In a telebriefing in advance of the December meeting, C. Kent...
Patients with cutaneous malignant melanoma “do not maintain the cautious sun behavior they exhibit just after … diagnosis,” even though they are at increased risk for developing a second primary melanoma, data from a Danish study suggested. Based on measurements...
An investigational targeted drug that reduces blood flow to tumors prolonged the survival of patients with advanced stomach cancer after standard treatments failed, according to results of large multicenter clinical trial reported by Charles S. Fuchs, MD, MPH, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and...
There is no consensus on the value of routine prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening. Weighing in on this issue, investigators presented a study at the European Cancer Congress 2013 in Amsterdam (Abstract 1481) suggesting that population-based PSA screening does more harm than good. The...
Results of the phase III TH3RESA trial show that the antibody-conjugate ado-trastuzumab (Kadcyla, previously known as T-DM1) extends progression-free survival in women with advanced HER2-positive breast cancer that progressed on two or more previous HER2-directed therapies including trastuzumab...
For the first time, an immunotherapy shows promise in smokers with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The engineered monoclonal antibody MPDL3280A achieved encouraging and durable responses in a phase I study in metastatic NSCLC in smokers and nonsmokers, and with squamous and adenocarcinoma ...
Men with advanced prostate cancer are now living longer than ever, and it is estimated that one in six U.S. men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime. However, little research has been conducted to understand the psychosocial needs of these men and their caregivers after...
Cancers of unknown primary origin pose a treatment dilemma for oncologists and a great deal of anxiety for patients and their families. A study reported at the European Cancer Congress 2013 in Amsterdam (Abstract LBA39) shows that molecular profiling can identify targetable mutations in up to 80%...
There is no longer any doubt that for the treatment of metastatic or locally advanced melanoma, ipilimumab (Yervoy) conveys long-term survival benefits, according to studies presented at the European Cancer Congress 2013. In the largest survival analysis of the CTLA-4 monoclonal antibody to date...
New results from a large retrospective study of the National Cancer Institute’s SEER database, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, show that patients with cancer who were married at the time of diagnosis live markedly longer compared to unmarried patients. Researchers also found...
Researchers from University of Rochester Medical Center have shown scientifically what many women report anecdotally: that tamoxifen is toxic to cells of the brain and central nervous system (CNS), producing mental fogginess similar to “chemo brain.” In the study, published in the...
“With the unprecedented scientific opportunities now promising significant progress against cancer and other life-threatening diseases, it is a tragedy that we are even considering cuts to our nation's investment in biomedical research. Yet, such cuts are already happening because of the...
New research shows that microRNA-486 (miR-486) is a potent tumor-suppressor molecule in lung cancer, and that it helps regulate the proliferation and migration of lung cancer cells, as well as the induction of apoptosis in those cells. Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of...
Young women with breast cancer may overestimate the risk that cancer will occur in their other healthy breast and decide to undergo contralateral prophylactic mastectomy, a survey conducted by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute investigators indicated. The survey also shows that many patients may opt for ...
In a keynote lecture during the 2013 Breast Cancer Symposium breast cancer expert and ASCO Past President George Sledge, MD, offered five predictions for the future of the medical management of breast cancer. Dr. Sledge is now Chief of Oncology at Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto,...
For the first time, a genetic link specific to risk of childhood leukemia has been identified, according to a team of researchers from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, University of Washington, and other institutions. The discovery was reported...
Larry Norton, MD, of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, is the recipient of the 2013 Gianni Bonadonna Breast Cancer Award, which he received at the 2013 Breast Cancer Symposium. The Symposium is sponsored by ASCO, the American Society of Breast Surgeons, the American Society of Radiation...
Scientists at Johns Hopkins have identified a molecular marker called Mig6 that appears to accurately predict longer survival—up to 2 years—among patients being treated with the EGFR inhibitors gefitinib (Iressa) and erlotinib (Tarceva). Results from the preliminary study were published ...
A study from UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center (JCCC) has found that patients with head and neck cancer receiving radiation as part of their treatment were less likely to suffer unwanted side effects such as worsening of diet, need for a feeding tube, or narrowing of the throat passage if...