The presence of two species of bacteria linked to periodontal disease in the mouths of healthy individuals was associated with an increased risk of subsequently developing pancreatic cancer, according to research presented by Fan et al at the 2016 AACR Annual Meeting (Abstract 4350). ...
In a phase II US Intergroup trial (Southwest Oncology Group S0816) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Press et al found that early interim fluorodeoxyglucose positron-emission tomography (FDG-PET) to guide response-adapted therapy resulted in progression-free survival substantially...
Although high-dose chemotherapy plus autologous transplantation has been a standard of care in the treatment of younger patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma, the advent of effective novel agents for the cancer over the past 15 years has raised the question of whether transplantation, with ...
Compelling hypotheses are emerging about the mechanisms driving triple-negative breast cancer, and they are driving drug development in this area, according to Joyce O’Shaughnessy, MD, Celebrating Women Chair of Breast Cancer Research at Baylor Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center. She is also Medical...
The molecularly targeted therapeutic palbociclib (Ibrance) was effective in slowing the multiplication of cancer cells in patients diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer who received no prior therapy, according to data from a phase II clinical trial presented by Arnedos et al at the 2016 AACR...
Among patients with early-stage breast cancer who were considered at high risk for disease recurrence based on clinical and biologic criteria, the MammaPrint genetic test identified a large group of patients for whom 5-year distant metastasis–free survival was equally good whether or not they ...
The new investigational anticancer therapeutic BGB-283, which targets the RAF family of proteins, was safe, tolerable, and showed signs of clinical activity in patients who had a range of types of cancer with mutations in BRAF, KRAS, and NRAS, according to results from a phase I clinical trial...
Hypofractionated radiotherapy was not inferior to conventional radiotherapy in terms of disease-free survival among men with low-risk prostate cancer, according to the results of the phase III NRG Oncology RTOG 0415 trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Lee et al. However, it was...
In a study reported in a research letter in JAMA Oncology, Rao et al found that high expression of EZH2 and Ki67 was associated with more-aggressive basal cell carcinoma.EZH2 is a histone methyltransferase of the polycomb repressive complex 2. EZH2 overexpression or gain of function mutations has...
In an analysis of the SOFT and TEXT trials reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Regan et al found that the greatest benefit of adjuvant exemestane in reducing breast cancer recurrence was among women with the highest risk of recurrence on the basis of clinicopathologic characteristics....
Immunotherapy with a live bacterium combined with chemotherapy demonstrated more than 90% disease control and a 59% response rate in patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma, according to the results of a phase Ib trial presented by Jahan et al April 14 (Abstract 208O_PR) at the European Lung...
Data from a new study show that patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) taking direct-acting antiviral treatments who have previously been diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma had a high rate of redeveloping their illness. The large retrospective cohort study (Abstract LBP506), presented by...
The 21-gene recurrence score (RS) assay score was strongly associated with recommendation for adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with early-stage breast cancer, reported Jasem et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Black women and patients treated in community facilities were more likely to...
Merck today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted for review the supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) for pembrolizumab (Keytruda), a monoclonal antibody and anti–programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) therapy, for the treatment of...
Prostate cancer patients and their doctors may want to think twice about the best timing for chemotherapy or radiation therapy in conjunction with a common nonsurgical treatment, based on international research findings led by UT Southwestern Medical Center investigators. Researchers using mouse...
Ribi et al reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology that addition of ovarian function suppression to tamoxifen resulted in greater endocrine and sexual function symptoms among premenopausal patients with early breast cancer in the Suppression of Ovarian Function Trial (SOFT). The SOFT study...
While stem cells have shown promise for treating brain regions damaged by cancer radiation treatments, University of California, Irvine (UCI) researchers have found that microscopic vesicles isolated from these cells provide similar benefits without some of the risks associated with stem cells....
Aalders et al found relatively low rates of locoregional recurrence among young (< 35 years) Dutch women undergoing surgery for unilateral invasive breast cancer between 2003 and 2008. Recurrence rates varied somewhat by biologic subtype, according to these findings reported in the Journal of...
In a study reported in JAMA Surgery, Isaacs et al found that use of primary breast-conserving surgery for early-stage breast cancer has declined somewhat in recent years in New York State, most steeply among younger women. In addition, 90-day reoperation rates have declined and are lower for...
A review of major studies and the current literature underscored the role of geriatric assessment in making treatment recommendations for patients aged 80 years and older with early and metastatic breast cancer. The review was published in the Journal of Oncology Practice. The corresponding author...
Although nevi are considered among the strongest risk factors for melanoma, most patients with melanoma had few total nevi and no atypical nevi, according to an analysis of 566 patients with invasive cutaneous melanoma. “Three notable findings emerged from this case study,” Alan C. Geller, MPH, RN, ...
The Johns Hopkins Greenberg Bladder Cancer Institute is a collaborative initiative of the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, the Brady Urological Institute, the Bloomberg School of Public Health, and the School of Medicine. It aims to develop new clinical strategies for combating bladder cancer...
Sadik Esener, PhD, has been recruited to the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) Knight Cancer Institute to lead the first large-scale early cancer detection program of its kind. Dr. Esener will be the Director of the Institute’s Center for Early Detection Research and has been awarded...
The adage “you can’t judge a book by its cover,” is true, but authors still need to be aware of the importance of first impressions. The title of science writer Travis Christofferson’s book Tripping Over the Truth: The Return of the Metabolic Theory of Cancer Illuminates a New and Hopeful Path to ...
The ASCO Post is pleased to continue this special feature on the worldwide cancer burden. In this issue, we feature a close look at the cancer incidence and mortality rates in Israel. The aim of this special feature is to highlight the global cancer burden for various countries of the world. For...
The oncology research team at HonorHealth Research Institute in Scottsdale, Arizona, is spearheading a phase Ib/II trial that is demonstrating promising results with a novel regimen in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer. “The patients we are treating have advanced adenocarcinoma of the...
Recent data indicate that the rate of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening and the rate of diagnosis of early-stage prostate cancer have decreased since a 2012 U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) statement (released in October 2011) gave a grade D recommendation against PSA...
Here is the final installment of selected abstracts from the proceedings of the 2015 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition, focusing on Hodgkin lymphoma, follicular lymphoma, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, and chronic lymphocytic leukemia. For other selected abstracts...
Sarah L. Blair, MD, of UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center, discusses surgical resection of breast cancer, which has the best chance of cure and is better than hormonal treatment alone, even in patients over age 80.
CANCERSCAPE, the 2016 Annual Meeting of the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC), provided a forum for about 300 attendees to gain insight into the complexities of oncology treatment, where “clinical advances, policy mandates, and value-based payment reform intersect.” Of particular...
The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) was passed in April 2015, introducing comprehensive changes to how Medicare pays physicians for services. As the policies passed in MACRA are rolled out over the coming years, they will profoundly impact reimbursement and care...
Updated results of the phase I ASCEND-1 trial, reported by Kim et al in The Lancet Oncology, indicate that the ALK inhibitor ceritinib (Zykadia) produced high response rates in advanced ALK-rearranged non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), including intracranial disease, in both patients with and...
On April 4, 2016, The National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), announced a Blue Ribbon Panel of scientific experts, cancer leaders, and patient advocates that will inform the scientific direction and goals at NCI of Vice President Joe Biden’s National...
Vaccines for both secondary and primary prevention of breast cancer are showing potential in clinical trials, according to Elizabeth A. Mittendorf, MD, PhD, who is leading much of the vaccine research at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston. Vaccine platforms being explored...
Clifford A. Hudis, MD, FACP, Chief of the Breast Medicine Service, Vice President for Government Relations, and Chief Advocacy Officer at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), and Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, has been named the next Chief Executive Officer...
Douglas E. Wood, MD, of the University of Washington, discusses important new developments in early detection, the need to educate primary care physicians and patients, and the potential to save up to 15,000 lives each year.
In 2012, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) issued a recommendation against routine screening for prostate cancer.1,2 The grade D recommendation was considered controversial at the time, and remains so now, because many stakeholders have weighed the same body of evidence and come to...
The randomized phase II POPLAR trial—reported by Fehrenbacher and colleagues and reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post—is another key piece of information for the medical community regarding the value of immune checkpoint blockers in second/third-line treatment of patients with non–small cell...
In the phase II POPLAR trial reported in The Lancet, Louis Fehrenbacher, MD, of Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, and colleagues found that the investigational anti–programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) antibody atezolizumab improved overall survival vs docetaxel in patients with non–small cell...
A new culture system that tests the role of chemical exposure on the developing mammary gland has found that bisphenol A (BPA) directly affects the mammary gland of mouse embryos. The study results, presented by Speroni et al Friday, April 1, at the Endocrine Society's Annual Meeting in Boston...
Treatment with adjuvant endocrine therapy and omission of chemotherapy on the basis of a 21-gene recurrence score ≤ 11 was associated with a high 3-year disease-free survival rate in women with hormone receptor–positive, HER2-negative breast cancer, according to a trial reported in...
In an analysis of the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) cohort reported in The Lancet Oncology, Patz et al found that participants who had a negative low-dose computed tomography (CT) prevalence screen had a low incidence of lung cancer detected at first annual screen and exhibited reduced...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by N. Lynn Henry, MD, PhD, of the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, and colleagues, ASCO has endorsed Cancer Care Ontario (CCO) guideline recommendations on the role of patient and disease factors in decisions on adjuvant systemic...
Dignitana Inc. announced today that the DigniCap scalp cooling system, which was cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in December 2015 to effectively reduce the likelihood of chemotherapy-induced hair loss in women with breast cancer, is now available at 10 cancer treatment...
Pancreatic cancer is often diagnosed at a late stage, when curative treatment is no longer possible. A team led by investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) identified and validated an accurate five-gene classifier for discriminating early pancreatic cancer from nonmalignant...
The phase II portion of the Italian HD0801 study suggests that treatment based on positron-emission tomography (PET) performed early in first-line therapy for advanced Hodgkin lymphoma may improve outcome in patients at risk of first-line treatment failure. Zinzani et al reported their findings in...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Harris et al, ASCO released a clinical practice guideline on the use of biomarkers in addition to estrogen receptor/progesterone receptor and HER2 status to guide decisions on adjuvant systemic therapy in women with early-stage invasive breast...
Two quality improvement projects described in the Journal of Oncology Practice resulted in reduced errors in prescribing intravenous (IV) and oral chemotherapy. A project at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston outpatient infusion centers first identified 15 different types of...
Patients diagnosed with stage I to III rectal cancer at a younger age are at increased risk of having positive lymph nodes, according to an analysis of data published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. “This finding merits further investigation and may ultimately impact treatment...
A retrospective review to evaluate the frequency of serum tumor marker testing “found a high rate of serum tumor marker testing overuse and extreme overuse in patients with advanced solid tumors,” Melissa K. Accordino, MD, of Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York,...