A large population-based study by Landgren et al has found that African Americans are more likely to have a higher prevalence of monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), a precursor to the development of multiple myeloma, compared with whites or Hispanics. The study is published...
Follicular lymphoma has been found to respond to radiotherapy doses as low as 4 Gy. In the phase III FORT trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Hoskin et al compared radiotherapy with 4 Gy in two fractions vs 24 Gy in 12 fractions in patients with indolent lymphoma, finding that the 24-Gy regimen...
Retreatment with cisplatin has reduced effectiveness in patients with recurrent cervical cancer who have received cisplatin with radiation therapy. In a 2×2 factorial phase III trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Tewari et al compared cisplatin/paclitaxel vs nonplatinum...
In a double-blind phase III trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Chinot et al assessed adding bevacizumab (Avastin) to radiotherapy and temozolomide in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma. This was the second of two similar studies published in the February 20 issue of...
In a double-blind phase III trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Gilbert et al assessed adding bevacizumab (Avastin), which is currently approved in recurrent glioblastoma, to radiotherapy and temozolomide in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma. The addition of bevacizumab...
Fibroblast growth factor (FGF) pathway activation may be a mechanism of escape from vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-targeted therapies. In a phase III trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Motzer et al compared the VEGF and FGF receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor dovitinib vs sorafenib...
Patients with oropharyngeal cancer treated with combined chemotherapy and radiation therapy reported a decrease in their voice and speech quality for up to 1 year after the completion of treatment, according to research presented today at the 2014 Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer Symposium....
Patients with human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive squamous cell carcinoma of the oropharynx had a longer time to development of distant metastasis after initial treatment, and had more metastatic sites in more atypical locations compared to HPV-negative patients, according to research presented...
A retrospective analysis of patients with oropharyngeal cancer with recurrence of disease after primary therapy in the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) studies 0129 and 0522 found that human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive patients had a higher overall survival rate than HPV-negative patients, ...
In a population-based study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Vaz-Luis et al assessed duration and toxicity of adjuvant trastuzumab (Herceptin) in older patients with early-stage breast cancer. They found that age and comorbidity affected treatment completion rates and that significant...
Mature results of a phase II study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Advani et al indicate that rituximab (Rituxan) is active in nodular lymphocyte–predominant Hodgkin lymphoma, which is characterized by expression of CD20 by malignant cells. Most patients relapsed, but durable...
Lenalidomide (Revlimid) has been associated with risk for second primary malignancies in patients with myeloma. In a meta-analysis of individual patient data reported in The Lancet Oncology, Palumbo et al found that lenalidomide was associated with a significantly increased risk of second primary...
In the SAFIR01/UNICANCER study reported in The Lancet Oncology, André et al used comparative genomic hybridization and Sanger sequencing on metastatic breast cancer biopsy samples to determine the proportion of cases in which targeted therapy could be offered. They found that screening...
In patients with late-stage epithelial ovarian cancer, high levels of microRNA-181a may be predictive of chemotherapy resistance and disease progression, according to the results of a study reported by Parikh et al in Nature Communications. Thus, microRNA-181a may serve as a biomarker for prognosis ...
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...
Oral ascorbate, or vitamin C, has been shown to be ineffective in cancer clinical trials. However, recent studies have indicated that millimolar concentrations of ascorbate achieved in blood and tissue with intravenous dosing is associated with cancer cell killing without harm to normal tissue. In...
In a study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Cunha et al found that receipt of a stem cell transplant from donors with a homozygous haplotype (h2/h2, G-A/G-A) in PTX3, the gene encoding the soluble pattern-recognition receptor pentraxin 3 (PTX3), is associated with significantly...
In a meta-analysis reported in The Lancet Oncology, Flaherty et al found that progression-free survival is a reliable surrogate for overall survival in clinical trials in metastatic melanoma that include dacarbazine as control treatment. Study Details In the analysis, 1,649 reports and meeting...
In a trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Milbury et al compared cancer symptoms, physical and mental function, depressive symptoms, fatigue, and sleep outcomes after sessions of expressive writing about cancer vs writing about neutral topics in patients with renal cell carcinoma....
Prior to the advent of targeted therapy, cytoreductive nephrectomy was associated with a 6-month improvement in overall survival in metastatic renal cell carcinoma. With the development of new and better targeted therapies for metastatic renal cell carcinoma, the appropriate use of cytoreductive...
A large retrospective population-based study shows that potentially fatal penile cancers are surgically undertreated in the United States and more benign penile cancers are surgically overtreated. Even though penile cancer is rare in the United States, accounting for about 1,570 new cases in 2013...
In the randomized, phase III CA184-043 trial, ipilimumab (Yervoy) improved progression-free survival and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) response compared with placebo, but failed to improve overall survival significantly in postdocetaxel metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer....
In an updated analysis of an Italian phase III trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Palumbo et al found that induction with bortezomib (Velcade), melphalan, prednisone, and thalidomide (Thalomid) followed by bortezomib plus thalidomide maintenance (VMPT-VT) significantly improved...
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...
According to a retrospective study, the use of angiotensin system inhibitors, such as lisinopril, captopril, and losartan, improved the survival of patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma by 9 months, compared with patients who were not receiving these types of agents. Survival was even...
Enzalutamide (Xtandi) improved survival by 29% in men with chemotherapy-naive metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer and reduced the risk of radiographic progression by 81%, according to complete results of the randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multinational, phase III PREVAIL...
Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)-delta mediates B-cell receptor signaling and microenvironment support signals that promote the growth and survival of malignant B lymphocytes. In a phase II study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Gopal et al found that the PI3K-delta inhibitor...
Use of standard chemotherapy is difficult in patients with relapsed chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) who have significant coexisting medical conditions. In a phase III trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Furman et al found that the combination of idelalisib, an oral inhibitor...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Montgomery et al found that an intervention consisting of cognitive-behavioral therapy plus hypnosis produced better control of fatigue than supportive meetings with trained interventionists for women undergoing radiotherapy for breast...
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is associated with increased risk of skin cancer. In a study reported in JAMA Dermatology, Velez et al attempted to determine whether progression of CLL indicated by advanced Rai stage is associated with worse skin cancer outcomes. They found that risk of death...
Afatinib (Gilotrif) improves progression-free survival compared with pemetrexed (Alimta)/cisplatin in first-line treatment of patients with EGFR mutation–positive advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In the phase III LUX-Lung 6 trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Wu ...
Neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy delays administration of optimal chemotherapy in stage II to III rectal cancer. In a pilot study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Schrag et al assessed outcomes with neoadjuvant FOLFOX (fluorouracil, leucovorin, oxaliplatin)/bevacizumab (Avastin) with...
In a phase III trial (LUME-Lung 1) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Reck et al assessed the addition of nintedanib to docetaxel in second-line treatment of non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The combination significantly improved progression-free survival in all patients and improved overall ...
According to the final results of the phase III CAIRO3 trial by the Dutch Colorectal Cancer Group, maintenance treatment with capecitabine plus bevacizumab (Avastin) significantly delayed progression compared to observation in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer, and in a subset of patients, ...
More data have emerged that discount the potential for benefit with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitors in esophageal cancer. The latest comes from the RTOG 0436 randomized phase III trial in patients with nonoperable esophageal cancer, the results of which were presented at the 2014 ...
In the global phase III RAINBOW trial of patients with metastatic gastric cancer, the investigational monoclonal antibody ramucirumab significantly improved both progression-free and overall survival when given as second-line therapy, investigators reported at a press briefing in advance of the...
In patients undergoing gastric resection for gastric/gastroesophageal junction cancers, high levels of angiogenic and growth factors are associated with poorer overall survival, according to the results of a retrospective study presented by Park et al in the Annals of Surgical Oncology. Thus, these ...
New data from a phase III clinical trial shows that patients with metastatic colorectal cancer tumors that contain RAS mutations beyond KRAS exon 2 are unlikely to benefit from the addition of panitumumab (Vectibix) to second-line FOLFIRI (leucovorin, fluorouracil, irinotecan) chemotherapy....
New findings from a four-arm phase III clinical trial in patients with stage II or stage III rectal cancer indicate that combining preoperative radiation with either capecitabine or fluorouracil (5-FU) results in equivalent outcomes. This study provides strong clinical evidence that using either...
Triple-negative breast cancer may be considered a relative contraindication to breast-conserving surgery. In a study reported in JAMA Surgery, Gangi et al from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles assessed outcomes in a large cohort of women undergoing breast-conserving surgery at their...
Obinutuzumab (Gazyva) is a glycoengineered type 2 anti-CD20 antibody that appears to exhibit increased activity against chronic lymphocytic leukemia cells (CLL), with increased antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity and reduced complement-dependent cytotoxicity, compared with rituximab (Rituxan). ...
ALK and ROS1 gene rearrangements, which are known to drive subsets of lung cancer, appear to be present in some colorectal cancers as well, according to the results of a study published in Molecular Cancer Research. The findings by Aisner et al suggest that therapies used to target these two...
Chemoimmunotherapy has produced improved response and survival in young patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), but its use in elderly patients has been limited by myelosuppression and infection. In a phase IB/II study reported in The Lancet Oncology, O’Brien et al assessed the use...
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 ...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved trametinib (Mekinist) for use in combination with dabrafenib (Tafinlar) for the treatment of patients with unresectable melanoma or metastatic melanoma with BRAF V600E or V600K mutations. These mutations must be detected by an FDA-approved...
In a phase III intergroup trial (Gynecologic Oncology Group Protocol 219) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, DiSilvestro et al in the Gynecologic Oncology Group and National Cancer Institute of Canada Clinical Trials Group evaluated the addition of the hypoxic cell sensitizer...
EGFR is overexpressed in the majority of advanced epithelial ovarian carcinomas, and there is evidence indicating that overexpression is associated with poorer prognosis. In a phase III European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC)-Gynaecological Cancer Group and Gynecologic...
Optimal dose fractionation for radiation therapy of painful bone metastases from multiple primary sites remains undefined. In a phase III noninferiority trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Chow et al compared 8 Gy in a single fraction vs 20 Gy in multiple fractions in patients with painful bone...
There is evidence that high-dose interferon alfa-2b consisting of 4 weeks of daily intravenous interferon alfa-2b followed by 48 weeks of subcutaneous maintenance interferon alfa-2b three times per week reduces risk of recurrence of resected melanoma and that response may depend on the early...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Traeger et al evaluated risk of depression symptoms and psychosocial service use by race and sex among patients with newly diagnosed lung cancer. The investigators found that black men have the highest prevalence of depressive symptoms, white ...