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Gastrointestinal Cancer

New NCCN Patient Resources Assist Decision-Making for Patients With Stomach Cancer

According to the American Cancer Society, it is estimated that more than 26,000 people will be diagnosed with stomach cancer in the United States this year, with nearly 1 million new cases diagnosed worldwide each year, according to the World Health Organization. Because there are no early symptoms ...

gastroesophageal cancer
gastrointestinal cancer

Martin H. Schuler, MD, on Gastric and GEJ Adenocarcinoma: Results of the FAST Study (German Language Version)

Martin H. Schuler, MD, of the University Hospital Essen, discusses in German findings from this phase II trial of epirubicin, oxaliplatin, and capecitabine with or without the antibody IMAB362 as first-line therapy in patients with advanced CLDN18.2+ disease. (Abstract 614O)

gastrointestinal cancer

Yung-Jue Bang, MD, PhD, on Gastric Cancer: Results From the GOLD Trial

Yung-Jue Bang, MD, PhD, of Seoul National University Hospital, discusses phase III study findings on olaparib and paclitaxel in patients with advanced gastric cancer who have progressed following first-line therapy. (Abstract LBA25)

gastroesophageal cancer
gastrointestinal cancer

Martin H. Schuler, MD, on Gastric and Gastroesophageal Junction Adenocarcinoma: Results of the FAST Study

Martin H.  Schuler, MD, of the University Hospital Essen, discusses findings from this phase II trial of epirubicin, oxaliplatin, and capecitabine with or without the antibody IMAB362 as first-line therapy in patients with advanced CLDN18.2+ disease. (Abstract 614O)

Gastrointestinal Cancer

Regorafenib Increases Progression-Free Survival in Advanced Gastric Cancer

The multikinase inhibitor regorafenib (Stivarga) prolonged progression-free survival vs placebo in patients with previously treated advanced gastric carcinoma, in a phase II trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Nick Pavlakis, MBBS, PhD, of the University of Sydney, Australia, and...

Gastrointestinal Cancer

Chemoradiotherapy After Surgery for Gastric Cancer Shows Similar Outcomes to Postoperative Chemotherapy

Postoperative treatment intensification with chemoradiotherapy does not achieve better outcomes when compared with postoperative chemotherapy in patients with gastric cancer who have already undergone preoperative chemotherapy, according to phase III data presented by Marcel Verheij, MD, PhD, et...

gastrointestinal cancer

World GI 2016: Chemoradiotherapy After Surgery for Gastric Cancer Shows Similar Outcomes to Postoperative Chemotherapy

Postoperative treatment intensification with chemoradiotherapy does not achieve better outcomes compared to postoperative chemotherapy in patients with gastric cancer who have already undergone preoperative chemotherapy, according to phase III data presented by Verheij et al at the ESMO 18th World...

gastrointestinal cancer

Higher Prediagnostic Plasma Vitamin D Levels May Be Associated With Prolonged Survival in Pancreatic Cancer

In a study reported by Yuan et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, higher prediagnostic plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] levels were found to be associated with prolonged overall survival in patients with pancreatic cancer. Study Details The study involved data from 493 patients from 5...

gastrointestinal cancer

Study Finds Regorafenib Increases Progression-Free Survival in Advanced Gastric Cancer

The multikinase inhibitor regorafenib (Stivarga) prolonged progression-free survival vs placebo in patients with previously treated advanced gastric carcinoma, in a phase II trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Pavlakis et al. A regional difference in treatment effect was observed. ...

Gastrointestinal Cancer

Increased Risk of Gallbladder Cancer May Be Associated With Consuming Large Amounts of Sweetened Beverages

A large prospective Swedish study reported by Susanna C. Larsson, PhD, of the Unit of Nutritional Epidemiology at the Institute of Environmental Medicine at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, and colleagues found a 2.2-fold increased risk of gallbladder cancer in people who consumed two or ...

Gastroesophageal Cancer
Gastrointestinal Cancer

Anti–PD-1 Treatment With Pembrolizumab in Gastric/Gastroesophageal Junction Cancers: Who Is Likely to Respond?

Immune checkpoint inhibitors have emerged as one of the most promising new areas of drug development in oncology. Broad activity has been observed for these agents across a spectrum of hematologic malignancies and solid tumors. As reviewed in this issue of The ASCO Post, Muro and colleagues now...

Breast Cancer
Gastroesophageal Cancer
Gastrointestinal Cancer

Pembrolizumab Active in PD-L1–Positive Advanced Gastric Cancer and Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

The KEYNOTE-012 phase Ib trial assessed single-agent pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in patients with advanced programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1)–positive gastric cancer, triple-negative breast cancer, urothelial cancer, and head and neck cancer. The activity of pembrolizumab in study patients with...

Gastrointestinal Cancer
Pancreatic Cancer
Colorectal Cancer

Treatment Update in Gastric, Pancreatic, and Colorectal Cancers

Although new gastrointestinal cancers are on the rise, advancements in their treatment, as well as the upcoming results of perioperative trials, could prove to be “clinical practice game-changers,” declared Thomas J. George, Jr, MD, FACP, at the 2016 Community Oncology Conference in Orlando,...

Gastrointestinal Cancer
Gastroesophageal Cancer

First-in-Class Antibody Reduces Gastric Cancer Recurrence

A novel immunotherapy agent, the first in its class, reduced disease progression by more than 50% when added to standard chemotherapy for patients with advanced gastric cancer, according to results from an international phase II trial presented at the 2016 ASCO Annual Meeting.1 The drug, IMAB362,...

gastrointestinal cancer

Marcel Verheij, PhD, and John Marshall, MD, on Gastric Cancer: First Results From the CRITICS Trial

Marcel Verheij, PhD, of the Netherlands Cancer Institute, and John Marshall, MD, of Georgetown University Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, discuss findings from this multicenter phase III study of neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by either surgery and chemotherapy or surgery and chemoradiotherapy in resectable gastric cancer (Abstract 4000).

gastrointestinal cancer
gastroesophageal cancer

Salah-Eddin Al-Batran, MD, on Gastric and GEJ Adenocarcinoma: Results From the FAST Trial

Salah-Eddin Al-Batran, MD, of the Institute of Clinical Cancer Research and Nordwest Hospital, discusses findings from this international phase II study of epirubicin, oxaliplatin, and capecitabine with or without IMAB362, as first-line treatment of gastric and gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma (Abstract LBA4001).

gastrointestinal cancer

ASCO 2016: Novel Antibody Significantly Improves Survival in Patients With Advanced Gastric Cancer

Findings from the European phase II FAST study showed that the novel, first-in-class antibody IMAB362 can significantly extend median survival when added to standard chemotherapy (13.2 vs 8.4 months) for patients with advanced gastric cancer. This therapy targets a protein called claudin-18 splice...

breast cancer
gastrointestinal cancer

Pembrolizumab Active in PD-L1–Positive Advanced Gastric and Metastatic Triple-Negative Breast Cancers

As reported by Muro et al in The Lancet Oncology and Nanda et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, single-agent pembrolizumab (Keytruda) showed activity in programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1)–positive advanced gastric cancer and metastatic triple-negative breast cancer in the...

gastrointestinal cancer

Pazopanib of Benefit in Imatinib- and Sunitinib-Resistant GIST in French Phase II Trial

In a French phase II trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Mir et al found that pazopanib (Votrient) plus best supportive care increased progression-free survival vs best supportive care in patients with advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) resistant to imatinib and sunitinib. Study...

head and neck cancer
lung cancer
sarcoma
gastrointestinal cancer

AACR 2016: LOXO-101 Shows Continued Promise in Patients Whose Tumors Had NTRK Gene Fusions

The investigational drug LOXO-101, which selectively targets a family of proteins called neurotrophic tyrosine kinase receptors (NTRKs), produced significant tumor regression in patients whose tumors had NTRK gene fusions, according to data from a phase I clinical trial presented by Hong et al at...

Gastrointestinal Cancer

Scandinavian Sarcoma Group Trial Shows Continued Benefit With 3 Years vs 1 Year of Adjuvant Imatinib in High-Risk GIST

As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Heikki Joensuu, MD, PhD, of the Comprehensive Cancer Center Helsinki, Finland, and colleagues, the second planned analysis in the Scandinavian Sarcoma Group XVIII/AIO trial showed a recurrence-free survival benefit and a continued overall survival ...

colorectal cancer
gastrointestinal cancer

Long-Term Follow-up of Prospective U.S. Cohorts Shows Reduced Risk of GI Tract Cancers With Regular Aspirin Use

In a long-term follow up of two large U.S. prospective cohorts reported in JAMA Oncology, Cao et al found that regular use of aspirin was associated with a reduced risk of gastrointestinal (GI) tract cancers. In 2015, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommended the use of aspirin in...

Gastrointestinal Cancer

‘Red-Flag’ Symptoms That Could Signal Colorectal Cancer in Patients Under 50 Years Old Should Be Taken Seriously

In clinical practice, Samantha Hendren, MD, MPH, has been “shocked by what a large proportion of patients we are seeing who are under 50 and presenting with colorectal cancer,” often with advanced disease due to delayed diagnosis. “And that is because patients and physicians don’t even think of...

Gastrointestinal Cancer

Radiolabeled Somatostatin Analog May Represent A Paradigm Change in the Treatment of Neuroendocrine Tumors

A radiolabeled somatostatin analog compound, 177Lu-DOTA0-Tyr3-Octreotate (Lu-177 dotatate), reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 79% in the international phase III NETTER-1 population of previously treated, advanced neuroendocrine tumors of midgut origin.1 Lu-177 dotatate belongs to...

gastrointestinal cancer

Asian Trial Finds No Survival Benefit of Adding Gastrectomy to Chemotherapy in Incurable Advanced Gastric Cancer

In the Asian phase III REGATTA trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Fujitani et al found that the addition of gastrectomy to chemotherapy did not improve overall survival in patients with advanced gastric cancer with a single noncurable factor. Study Details In this open-label trial conducted...

lung cancer
gastrointestinal cancer

FDA Approves Everolimus for Neuroendocrine Tumors of Gastrointestinal or Lung Origin

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved everolimus (Afinitor) for the treatment of adult patients with progressive, well-differentiated nonfunctional neuroendocrine tumors of gastrointestinal or lung origin with unresectable, locally advanced, or metastatic disease. ...

Gastrointestinal Cancer

Carboplatin/Paclitaxel Tops Oxaliplatin/Capecitabine as Neoadjuvant Regimen for Esophageal Cancer

The United Kingdom’s phase II ­NEOSCOPE trial compared the toxicity and efficacy of two preoperative chemoradiation regimens—carboplatin/paclitaxel and oxaliplatin/capecitabine—and judged one to be the winner. “CarPacRT passed the prespecified efficacy criteria for taking forward to phase III, but...

Gastrointestinal Cancer

Radiotherapy for Rectal Cancer: Study Reports No Risk for Subsequent Pelvic Tumors

Second malignancies were not more common among patients who underwent radiotherapy for rectal cancer. In fact, radiotherapy appeared to offer some degree of protection against subsequent cancers, according to the findings of a study from the Netherlands reported at the 2016 Gastrointestinal Cancers ...

Gastrointestinal Cancer

Receipt of Adjuvant Therapy at High-Volume Center Improves Survival in Patients With Pancreatic Cancer

Patients with pancreatic cancer who received adjuvant chemotherapy at a high-volume center had superior median and 5-year overall survival than did patients who were treated in a community setting, according to the results of a study presented at the 2016 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.1 This...

Gastrointestinal Cancer

Anti–PD-1/PD-L1 Antibodies Make Strong Showing in Gastrointestinal Cancers

Although the results may not yet be as impressive as those seen in melanoma, lung, and kidney cancers, monoclonal antibodies targeting the programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) are producing responses, with some durability, in gastrointestinal cancers, according to studies presented at the 2016...

Gastrointestinal Cancer

Practice-changing Evidence in Treatment of Noncolorectal GI Cancers

Studies presented at the ASCO Annual Meeting in the field of noncolorectal gastrointestinal cancer both reaffirmed certain standards of care and introduced some practice-changing data, according to A. Craig Lockhart, MD, of Washington University in St. Louis. Perioperative Therapy for Gastric...

Gastrointestinal Cancer

Adjuvant Chemotherapy with S-1 Improves Survival in Stage II/III Gastric Cancer

Postoperative adjuvant therapy with the oral fluoropyrimidine derivative S-1 improved overall survival and relapse-free survival in patients with stage II or III gastric cancer who had D2 gastrectomy. Five-year survival rates in the phase III study were 71.7% for patients in the S-1 group vs 61.1%...

Gastrointestinal Cancer

Gastric Cancer Is on the Rise: Screening and Education Are Vital

Gastric cancer is diagnosed in nearly 1 million people globally each year and is responsible for 740,000 deaths, making it the second leading cause of cancer death in the world. According to the American Cancer Society, more than 21,000 people in the United States were diagnosed with gastric...

Gastrointestinal Cancer

FDA Approves Imatinib for Expanded Use in GIST

The FDA has granted imatinib mesylate (Gleevec) regular approval for use in adult patients following surgical removal of CD117-positive gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST). The new approval also highlights an increase in overall patient survival when the drug is taken for 36 months rather than...

Gastrointestinal Cancer

What Were the Take-home Messages from the 2012 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium?

Richard M. Goldberg, MD, of The Ohio State University Medical Center, chaired the steering committee of the 2012 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium in San Francisco, which attracted approximately 4,000 registrants who viewed data from some 700 scientific abstracts. The ASCO Post asked Dr. Goldberg...

Gastrointestinal Cancer

New Assays, Surveillance Techniques Reported for GI Malignancies

Two studies highlighted in press conferences and one presented during an invited lecture at the 2012 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium, held recently in San Francisco, suggest that early detection of pancreatic, esophageal, and colorectal cancers could soon improve. Enzyme Immunoassay Spots...

Gastrointestinal Cancer

Expert Point of View: Re-analysis of RADIANT-2 Finds Benefit for Everolimus in Patients with Carcinoid Tumors

Timothy J. Hobday, MD, of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, discussed the findings of the RADIANT-2 re-analysis at the 2012 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium. Speaking from the perspective of a clinical researcher, he said, “the conclusions of the study are reasonable” and provide “valuable ...

Gastrointestinal Cancer

Salvage Chemotherapy plus Best Supportive Care in Advanced Gastric Cancer

Adding salvage chemotherapy to best supportive care was tolerated and improved overall survival among patients with advanced gastric cancer previously treated with both fluoropyrimidines and platinum, administered simultaneously or concurrently. The authors of the study report, published in the...

Gastrointestinal Cancer

Survival Analysis by Gastric Cancer Subtypes in AVAGAST Phase III Trial

Subset analysis of the AVAGAST trial, which evaluated the benefit of bevacizumab (Avastin) in advanced gastric cancer, has demonstrated distinct differences in outcomes according to disease subtype, reported Manish A. Shah, MD, of Weill Cornell Medical College and New York Presbyterian Hospital, at ...

Gastrointestinal Cancer

Targeting KRAS in GI Cancers: The Hunt for the Holy Grail in Cancer Research

The RAS oncogenes are the most frequently mutated class of oncogenes in human cancers, and this has prompted a search for Ras inhibitors to effectively treat tumors with these mutations. Despite intensive efforts, however, none has materialized clinically because K-Ras is proving to be a very...

Gastrointestinal Cancer

Strong Biomarker Candidates for Predicting Clinical Response to Bevacizumab

Plasma vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A) and tumor neuropilin-1 “are strong biomarker candidates for predicting clinical outcome in patients with advanced gastric cancer” after treatment with bevacizumab (Avastin). This was the conclusion of a mandatory biomarker program following up on ...

Gastrointestinal Cancer

SIDEBAR: Other Colorectal Cancer News from ASCO

Additional noteworthy gastrointestinal cancer studies presented during oral abstract sessions at the 2012 ASCO Annual Meeting included the following trials in metastatic colorectal cancer. Perifosine/Capecitabine Fails in Phase III Trial Adding perifosine, an oral alkylphospholipid inhibitor that...

Gastrointestinal Cancer

Give Your Patients the Latest GI Research News

During the upcoming Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium, to be held on January 24–26, direct your patients to www.cancer.net/gisymposium, where they can get research highlights from the 2013 Symposium. Also, your patients can download or listen to podcasts with ASCO experts explaining what this...

Hepatobiliary Cancer
Pancreatic Cancer
Gastrointestinal Cancer

Important Data and Treatment Advances Reported in GIST and in Pancreatic and Liver Cancers 

The 10th annual Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium, held recently in San Francisco, was jointly sponsored by ASCO, the AGA (American Gastroenterological Association), ASTRO (American Society for Radiation Oncology), and the SSO (Society of Surgical Oncology). “We seek to present the newest...

Gastrointestinal Cancer

SEER Analysis Shows Increased Survival with Surgery and Radiation Therapy in Metastatic Gastric Cancer 

A Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database analysis reported by Ravi Shridhar, MD, PhD, and colleagues in Cancer indicates that patients receiving surgery and radiation therapy for metastatic gastric cancer have prolonged survival compared with those receiving either alone or...

Gastrointestinal Cancer

Prognostic Significance of MTOR Pathway Component Expression in Neuroendocrine Tumors 

The MTOR serine/threonine kinase pathway is implicated in regulation of neuroendocrine tumor growth. In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Qian and colleagues investigated the potential prognostic significance of MTOR pathway component expression in patients with neuroendocrine...

Gastrointestinal Cancer

FDA Grants Priority Review to Ramucirumab as a Potential Single-Agent Treatment for Advanced Gastric Cancer

The FDA has assigned Priority Review to the regulatory submission for ramucirumab as a single-agent treatment for advanced gastric cancer following disease progression after initial chemotherapy. Ramucirumab is a human monoclonal antibody that specifically blocks the vascular endothelial growth...

Gastrointestinal Cancer

Gastric Cancer: Time to Revisit Angiogenesis

Progress in the treatment of gastric cancer has lagged behind advances in other solid tumor malignancies. A modest but clear survival benefit with the use of adjuvant therapy combined with surgery has been achieved, including the use of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy as shown in large-scale...

Gastroesophageal Cancer
Gastrointestinal Cancer

Anti–VEGFR-2 Antibody Ramucirumab Prolongs Survival in Previously Treated Advanced Gastric or Gastroesophageal Cancer

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)– and VEGF receptor-2 (VEGFR-2)–mediated signaling and angiogenesis seem to have an important role in the pathogenesis of gastric cancer. In the phase III REGARD trial reported in Lancet, Charles S. Fuchs, MD, MPH, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston,...

Gastrointestinal Cancer

Disease-Free Survival Is Acceptable Surrogate for Overall Survival in Trials of Adjuvant Chemotherapy

Disease-free survival is an acceptable surrogate for overall survival in trials of cytotoxic agents for gastric cancer in the adjuvant setting, the GASTRIC group concluded after conducting a meta-analysis of data from 3,288 individual patients enrolled in 14 randomized clinical trials. The trials...

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