Tamoxifen and three similar drugs reduce breast cancer incidence by 38% in women at an increased risk of the disease according to a Cancer Research UK study published in The Lancet today. In the most comprehensive study to date scientists calculate that one breast cancer would be prevented for...
“Today, out of concern for public safety, Congress provided the Federal Aviation Administration enhanced flexibility in application of sequestration related cuts, including reversal of furlough requirements imposed on air traffic controllers. Individuals with cancer deserve no less....
Tamoxifen is a time-honored breast cancer drug used to treat millions of women with early-stage and less-aggressive disease, and now a University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) team has shown how to exploit tamoxifen’s secondary activities so that it might work on more aggressive breast...
Nearly two-thirds of children receiving stem cell transplants returned to the hospital within 6 months for treatment of unexplained fevers, infections, or other problems, according to a study performed at Dana-Farber/Children’s Hospital Cancer Center in Boston. Children who received donor...
Merck has announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has designated lambrolizumab (MK-3475) as a Breakthrough Therapy for the treatment of patients with advanced melanoma. Lambrolizumab is Merck’s investigational antibody therapy targeting the programmed death receptor (PD-1) that...
More than a quarter of a century after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, many children and teenagers who developed thyroid cancer due to radiation are in complete or near remission, according to a recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology ...
A new study led by researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James) suggests that an unusual experimental drug can reduce breast cancer aggressiveness, reverse resistance to...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved updated labeling for the reformulated painkiller OxyContin (controlled-release oxycodone hydrochloride). The new labeling will indicate that the drug has physical and chemical properties that make injection or snorting challenging. This new measure ...
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Monday in a case seeking to invalidate patents on two genes associated with hereditary breast and ovarian cancer. The American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) was one of the first plaintiffs to sign onto this historic legal case. ACMG was also ...
Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center and colleagues analyzed national data to investigate the differences in cancer prevention beliefs by race and ethnicity. They found that minorities, including blacks, Asians, and Hispanics, have differing beliefs about cancer prevention and feel they are...
Frozen balls of ice can safely kill cancerous tumors that have spread to the lungs, according to the first prospective multicenter trial of cryoablation. The results were presented on April 14, 2013, at the Society of Interventional Radiology’s 38th Annual Scientific Meeting in New Orleans....
A costly and widely used mammography add-on increases detection of noninvasive and early-stage invasive breast cancer but also makes more mistakes than mammography alone, researchers from UC Davis and the University of Washington have found. A new study shows that computer-assisted detection (CAD) ...
Patients with primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma who received infusions of chemotherapy, but who did not have radiation therapy to the mediastinum, had excellent outcomes, according to clinical trial results. Until now, most standard treatment approaches for patients with this type of...
Researchers using patients’ own immune cells in an immunotherapy approach called anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy achieved responses in children whose acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) had returned after a bone marrow transplant, according to preliminary results...
A novel two-step immunotherapy approach yielded clinically beneficial responses in patients with advanced ovarian cancer, including one patient who achieved complete remission, according to data from two phase I clinical trials presented at the AACR Annual Meeting 2013, held in Washington, DC,...
For women with metastatic, HER2-positive breast cancer, the amount of HER2 on their tumor might determine how much they benefit from T-DMI—also now known as ado-trastuzumab emtansine (Kadcyla)—according to data from a subanalysis of the phase III clinical trial that led the FDA to...
The antibody-drug conjugate DMUC5754A, a novel member of a relatively new class of drugs, showed activity in women with ovarian cancer, even those with hard-to-treat, platinum-resistant disease, in a phase I trial presented at the AACR Annual Meeting 2013, held in Washington, DC, April 6 to 10....
The emergence of molecular diagnostic testing in lung cancer offers new hope for patients battling the number 1 cancer killer in the United States and abroad. Now, for the first time after a decade of biomarker testing in lung cancer, a uniform approach for testing for the EGFR mutation and ALK...
Taking a break from hormone-blocking prostate cancer treatments once the cancer seems to be stabilized is not equivalent to continuing therapy, a new large-scale international study finds. Previous smaller studies had indicated that intermittent androgen deprivation therapy might be just as good...
A research team jointly led by scientists from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and the University of California, Los Angeles, has enhanced a device they developed to identify and “grab” circulating tumor cells (CTCs) that break away from cancers and enter the blood, often leading to the...
A team of international cancer researchers led by Mathieu Lupien, PhD, at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, has identified the signaling pathway that is overactivated in estrogen receptor (ER)–positive breast cancer cells that are resistant to hormone therapies...
Researchers at Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) have found that a new formulation of a promising anticancer agent, the small chemical molecule FL118, is even more effective in controlling two types of cancer than a version reported in PLOS ONE 6 months earlier proved to be. Additional evidence...
Men with Lynch syndrome face a higher lifetime risk of developing prostate cancer and appear to develop the disease at an earlier age, according to a new study led by researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center. Results of the study appear online in the Journal of Clinical ...
Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center and colleagues at the University of Florida studied health-care providers to determine the factors associated with disparities in human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination among girls, ages 9 to 17, from low-income families. They found that physician vaccination...
The American Society of Clinical Oncology announced yesterday that it has completed a prototype of CancerLinQ™, the Society’s groundbreaking health information technology (HIT) initiative to achieve higher quality, higher value cancer care with better outcomes for patients. The...
The American Association for Cancer Research released its second Annual Report on Cancer Survivorship in the United States in advance of the AACR Annual Meeting 2013, which will be held in Washington, DC, April 6-10. The report, published in the AACR’s journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers ...
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego Moores Cancer Center have identified a humanized monoclonal antibody that targets and directly kills chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cells. The findings, published in the online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of...
New results from a large observational follow-up study conducted in Shanghai, China, indicate that women with lung cancer who consumed more soy food prior to their cancer diagnosis lived longer than those who consumed less soy. The study, published March 25 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology,...
A drug that indirectly impairs the function of several cancer-driving proteins, including anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK), may be an effective new treatment for patients with ALK-positive non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The drug, ganetespib, may also be effective for treating patients...
The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Survivorship Program and its directors, K. Scott Baker, MD, and Karen Syrjala, PhD, have been selected to lead a nationwide study that aims to improve long-term health outcomes for cancer survivors between the ages of 18 and 39. Underway this spring, the...
Molecular driven therapeutic targets have resulted in a paradigm shift in the treatment of advanced lung adenocarcinoma. However, in early non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), surgical resection remains the treatment of choice with adjuvant chemotherapy. In a recent study published in the...
New research from the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, published in the Journal of Surgical Research, may help clinicians determine which patients are at highest risk for postsurgical blood clots in the legs or lungs. A team led by Robert J. Canter, MD, Associate Professor of Surgery at UC...
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) held the NCCN 18th Annual Conference: Advancing the Standard of Cancer Care™, March 13-17, 2013, at The Westin Diplomat in Hollywood, Florida. The latest updates in clinical practice decision-making in cancer care were presented, including, but ...
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have shown that a new imaging dye, designed and developed at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center, is an effective agent in detecting and mapping cancers that have reached the lymph nodes. The radioactive dye technetium Tc-99m...
A national survey of health professionals showed that drug shortages are taking a heavy toll on cancer patients, forcing treatment changes and delays that for some patients meant worse outcomes, more therapy-related complications, and higher costs. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital...
Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center have completed a phase II clinical trial to determine the safety and efficacy of dasatinib (Sprycel) for patients with higher-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), chronic myelomonocytic leukemia, or acute myeloid leukemia resulting from MDS and have failed ...
Women with triple-negative breast cancer are more likely to have high levels of the MET biomarker in their tumors, making it a promising new target for cancer drugs according to research published in the British Journal of Cancer. High Levels of MET Expression Scientists from Austria and Greece...
Humans have between 20,000 and 25,000 genes that carry instructions for assembling the proteins that do the work of cells. Work led by St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital found that children who inherit certain variations in four particular genes are at much higher risk of developing acute...
Surgery offers better survival benefit for men with localized prostate cancer, according to a large observational study, conducted by a group of researchers in Sweden and the Netherlands. The study, “Comparative oncologic effectiveness of radical prostatectomy and radiotherapy in prostate...
A population-based case control study of major coronary events in 2,168 women who underwent radiotherapy for breast cancer between 1958 and 2001 in Sweden and Denmark found a direct link between radiation dose and the occurrence of ischemic heart disease years later. Study Details The study,...
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) has issued its first ever NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines) for Survivorship. The new NCCN Guidelines were presented at the NCCN 18th Annual Conference: Advancing the Standard of Cancer Care by Panel Chair, Crystal S....
Women are 30% less likely to die of ovarian cancer if they have guideline-recommended treatment, yet nearly two-thirds of those with the disease do not receive it, often because they are cared for at hospitals that treat a small number of ovarian cancer patients. These are the findings of a study...
Patients with advanced ovarian cancer who undergo intensive treatment with chemotherapy that bathes the abdomen are significantly more likely to live longer than those who receive standard intravenous (IV) chemotherapy, according to a study that analyzed long-term follow-up from two landmark...
The FDA has approved technetium Tc 99m tilmanocept (Lymphoseek Injection), a radioactive diagnostic imaging agent that helps doctors locate lymph nodes in patients with breast cancer or melanoma who are undergoing surgery to remove tumor-draining lymph nodes. Technetium Tc 99m tilmanocept is an...
A team of Canadian and international cancer researchers led by Brenda Gallie, MD,at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network (UHN), has discovered a new type of retinoblastoma, a rapidly developing eye cancer that affects very young children—a finding that may...
The National Cancer Policy Forum of the Institute of Medicine (IOM), in conjunction with ASCO, held a workshop in February to discuss a collaborative approach to making the National Cancer Institute (NCI)-funded clinical trials system more viable and productive. This was a follow-up meeting to...
Patients with locally advanced cervical cancer have better treatment outcomes and are more likely to survive the disease if they receive care at a high-volume medical center than patients treated at low-volume facilities, according to research presented at the Society of Gynecologic...
As Americans celebrate National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, the Colon Cancer Alliance, COLONTOWN—a survivor/patient support group for colorectal disease, including cancer—and the American College of Radiology call on Congress to pass the CT Colonography Screening...
A study from the Regenstrief Institute and the Indiana University Center for Aging Research has found that many older adults are hesitant to halt cancer screenings even when the screenings may no longer be beneficial or may even be potentially harmful. The study is among the first to explore older...
Two Indiana University researchers have been awarded a multiyear, $3.2 million grant to develop and improve therapies for pancreatic cancer, the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the United States. Mark R. Kelley, PhD, Betty and Earl Herr Professor of Pediatric Oncology Research, and Melissa ...