A population-based cohort study by Fedewa et al investigating whether the risk for interval colorectal cancer—defined as cancer that develops after a negative colonoscopy result but before the next recommended screening—varies by race or ethnicity has found that black patients face a...
An observational study of 826 patients with stage III colon cancer showed that those who consumed 2 ounces or more of nuts per week had a 42% lower chance of cancer recurrence and 57% lower chance of death than those who did not eat nuts. A secondary analysis revealed the benefit of nut consumption ...
A study of 992 patients with stage III colon cancer found that those who reported a healthy lifestyle during and following adjuvant treatment had a 42% lower chance of death and a trend for lower chance of cancer recurrence than those who had less healthy lifestyles. The study will be presented by...
A UK retrospective study showed that colonoscopic surveillance was associated with a reduced risk of colorectal cancer among patients with removal of intermediate-risk adenomas. The study was reported in The Lancet Oncology by Atkin et al. Study Details The study involved routine lower...
The risk of colorectal cancer increased significantly when colonoscopy was delayed by more than 9 months following a positive fecal screening test, according to a large Kaiser Permanente study published by Rutter et al in the Journal of the American Medical Association. “With this study, we...
According to a study reported by Hamada et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, postdiagnosis aspirin use was associated with improved survival vs nonuse among patients with colorectal cancer who have lower, but not higher, tumor levels of CD274 (programmed cell death 1 ligand 1; PD-L1). Study...
A propensity score analysis in a prospectively maintained database at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) has shown that use of perioperative hepatic arterial infusion pump chemotherapy after complete resection of colorectal liver metastases is associated with a marked improvement in...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Renfro et al have derived a nomogram for predicting early mortality in metastatic colorectal cancer using data from more than 20,000 patients in the ARCAD (Aide et Recherche en Cancérologie Digestive) database. Study Details The analysis...
The long-term follow-up of a phase II trial reported by Ruers et al in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute showed a 42% reduced risk of death among patients with colorectal liver metastases receiving aggressive local treatment plus systemic therapy vs systemic therapy alone. Study Details ...
The long-term follow-up of a phase II trial reported by Ruers et al in Journal of the National Cancer Institute showed a 42% reduced risk of death among patients with colorectal liver metastases receiving aggressive local treatment plus systemic therapy vs systemic therapy alone. Study Details...
“Several gene-expression profiles have been evaluated to predict prognosis in colorectal cancer, but none have become widely accepted or U.S. Food and Drug Administration–approved. This has important implications for deciding which patients may benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy,” commented...
A machine learning model that uses a set or ensemble of algorithms has good accuracy for predicting colorectal cancer recurrence, investigators reported during a plenary session at the 2017 Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) Annual Cancer Symposium.1 Persistent key questions in managing early...
“This is one of the most beautiful stories we have in translational precision oncology research in colorectal cancer. We have robust preclinical data, rigorous molecular diagnosis, and successful clinical results,” said formal discussant of this trial, Rodrigo Dienstmann, MD, of Vall D’Hebron...
The combination of trastuzumab (Herceptin) plus lapatinib (Tykerb) achieved positive results in patients with heavily pretreated, HER2-positive metastatic colorectal cancer, according to the final results of the phase II HERACLES-A trial. This two-pronged, HER2-directed approach achieved clinical...
Publicity surrounding a recent study showing a sharp increase in colorectal cancer among young people, even those in their 20s,1 may result in increased patient visits and questions. Among people aged 20 to 39, colon cancer rates have increased 1% to 2.4%, and rectal cancer rates have increased...
The incidence of colorectal cancer continues to increase among young adults, with the sharpest increase among those aged 20 to 29, according to a recent article in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.1 This trend has been called disturbing and ominous, but the widely reported results of...
A study presented by Hildebrandt et al at the 2017 Annual Meeting of the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR; Abstract 990) revealed several findings about racial disparities in health-related quality of life among colorectal cancer patients. Hispanics and blacks had a higher burden of...
A combination of two HER2-targeted therapies, trastuzumab (Herceptin) and lapatinib (Tykerb), showed clinical benefit in patients with heavily pretreated HER2-positive metastatic colorectal cancer, according to final results from the phase II HERACLES clinical trial, presented by Siena et al at the ...
In a phase III trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Tamas Hickish, MD, of Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Dorset, England, and colleagues found that treatment with MABp1, an antibody that targets interleukin 1α and exhibits antitumor activity, was associated with improvement in the composite ...
Manish A. Shah, MD, Director of Gastrointestinal Oncology at NewYorkPresbyterian and Weill Cornell Medicine, commented that “the benefit seen in patients who regularly exercise is equal to or better than the benefit seen with some chemotherapy drugs,” although he cautioned that exercise in this...
Patients with metastatic colon cancer who exercise may live longer, according to an analysis of the CALGB/SWOG 80405 trial presented at the 2017 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.1 According to the authors, this is the first study to demonstrate an association between physical activity and...
Patients with advanced colorectal cancer mounted a robust response to an experimental vaccine and low-dose cyclophosphamide, and strong responses were associated with improvements in survival in a phase I/II clinical trial of modified vaccinia virus Ankara–5T4 (TroVax).1 Martin Scurr, PhD, of...
Phase I Study Title: A Pilot Study of SGI-110 in Combination With an Allogeneic Colon Cancer Cell Vaccine and Cyclophosphamide in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer as Maintenance Therapy Study Type: Phase I/interventional/parallel assignment Study Sponsor and Collaborators: Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive...
In a phase II trial (Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group–American College of Radiology Imaging Network Cancer Research Group E3205) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Garg et al found that the addition of cetuximab (Erbitux) to definitive chemoradiotherapy appeared to reduce the rates of...
In a study reported in JAMA Oncology, Pearlman et al found that 16% of patients with early-onset colorectal cancer had germline cancer susceptibility mutations, with a wide array of such mutations being identified. Heather Hampel, MS, CGC, of The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center,...
In a phase II trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Morris et al found that nivolumab (Opdivo) was active in previously treated unresectable metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the anal canal. This malignancy is associated with human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, with the rationale for...
Although the overall incidence rate of colorectal cancer in the United States has been declining rapidly since the mid-1980s, the decrease has been in older adults. During this same period, incidence rates have been increasing sharply for adults younger than age 50, finds a study by the American...
Nearly 60% of colorectal cancer cases are diagnosed in patients ≥ 65 years, with a median age at diagnosis of 68 years,1 but this population makes up only 34% of clinical trial participants.2 In addition, the older adults enrolled on clinical trials are traditionally the most-fit older adults....
A large population-based study suggests that the utility of particular types of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) to predict colorectal cancer survival depends on where the tumor originates in the body. Although prior research has shown an association between high TIL density and longer...
In a post hoc analysis of the UK ACT II trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Glynne-Jones et al found that the best time to assess for complete response to chemoradiotherapy in patients with anal squamous cell carcinoma is at approximately 26 weeks from the start of treatment. In the ACT II...
Philip B. Paty, MD, a surgical oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, commented on the findings for The ASCO Post. Dr. Paty is leading studies of surveillance at his own institution, which is not part of the International Watch & Wait Database. Consistency of Outcomes...
A “watch-and-wait” approach to treating rectal cancer patients with complete responses to chemoradiotherapy resulted in a 3-year survival rate of 91%, which is similar to historic survival rates after surgical resection, according to an analysis of the International Watch & Wait Database.1 For ...
Frank Sinicrope, MD, Professor of Medicine and Oncology at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, told The ASCO Post that anti–programmed cell death protein 1 (anti–PD-1) agents “have already changed the landscape” of metastatic colorectal cancer. “We are currently treating microsatellite...
With 6 additional months of follow-up since the initial presentation of results, in the phase II CheckMate 142 trial, 74% of heavily pretreated patients with metastatic colorectal microsatellite instability–high (MSI-H) cancers are alive after single-agent treatment with nivolumab (Opdivo).1...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Antonia Sepulveda, MD, PhD, of Columbia University, and colleagues, a joint guideline on the use of molecular biomarkers for evaluation of colorectal cancer has been developed by an expert panel from the American Society for Clinical Pathology...
In the largest study of its kind to date, researchers from Fox Chase Cancer Center and the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University confirmed that oral antibiotics combined with mechanical bowel preparation were more effective at preventing surgical site infections...
A new, evidenced-based clinical practice guideline on molecular biomarker testing for patients with colorectal cancer identifies opportunities for improving patient outcomes. The American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP), the College of American Pathologists (CAP), the Association for...
Cancer cells often delete genes that normally suppress tumor formation. These deletions also may extend to neighboring genes, an event known as “collateral lethality,” which may create new options for the development of therapies for several cancers. Scientists at The University of Texas MD...
In a study reported in the Journal of Oncology Practice, Gray et al found that many medical oncologists did not use genomic testing endorsed by guidelines in place in 2012 and 2013 in patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and colorectal cancer. The study involved a survey of U.S....
Frank A. Sinicrope, MD, Professor of Medicine and Oncology at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, told The ASCO Post that the regimen of irinotecan/cetuximab (Erbitux)/vemurafenib (Zelboraf) could be an important approach to treating this challenging tumor subtype. “BRAF-mutated tumors have a...
In patients with metastatic colorectal cancer who have mutations in BRAF V600, the addition of the BRAF inhibitor vemurafenib (Zelboraf) to cetuximab (Erbitux) and irinotecan significantly improved progression-free survival, results of the phase II Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) 1406 trial have...
Few studies have explored the association between metabolic phenotype and colorectal cancer incidence in normal-weight individuals. Now, a study comparing the risk of colorectal cancer in normal-weight postmenopausal women with a metabolically unhealthy phenotype vs those with a metabolically...
Cynthia L. Sears, MD, of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, summarizes her keynote talk on microbes, microbiota, and colon cancer. Next-generation sequencing combined with biologic studies suggests that most colorectal cancer cases have specific microbiome associations.
Brendan J. Guercio, MD, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses results from a study of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer who took part in weekly physical activity and its impact on their disease progression and overall survival (Abstract 659).
Cornelis van de Velde, MD, PhD, of Leiden University Medical Center, discusses the International Watch & Wait database, established to track evidence on organ-preserving strategies in patients with rectal cancer (Abstract 521). For More Information: www.IWWD.org
Michael J. Overman, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses study findings on nivolumab alone or in combination with ipilimumab in patients with DNA mismatch repair–deficient/microsatellite instability high metastatic colorectal cancer (Abstract 519).
Cathy Eng, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses management approaches to anal cancer, including the current standard of care, as well as novel approaches for locally advanced and metastatic disease.
Scott Kopetz, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses study findings on irinotecan and cetuximab with or without vemurafenib in BRAF-mutant metastatic colorectal cancer (Abstract 520).
A team of researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center found that, despite the recommendation of screening guidelines, less than half of adults younger than 50 years old who have colorectal cancer are being screened for Lynch syndrome, a genetic anomaly that increases the risk of colorectal and several...
In a phase III trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Hickish et al found that treatment with MABp1, an antibody that targets interleukin 1α and exhibits antitumor activity, was associated with improvement in the composite outcome of stabilizing/improving lean body mass and debilitating...