A large population-based analysis of women 65 and older in the United States diagnosed with endometrial cancer has found that women with metabolic syndrome—characterized by low HDL cholesterol, hypertension, high triglycerides, and elevated waist circumference—have an increased risk of...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Frazier et al used data from U.S. and UK clinical trials to identify a high-risk group of patients with pediatric extracranial germ cell tumors. Study Details The study involved data from seven germ cell tumor trials conducted by the...
The effects of PMS2 germline mutations are less well understood than those of other Lynch syndrome–associated mismatch repair gene mutations. In a European cohort study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, ten Broeke et al found that risks of colorectal cancer and endometrial cancer...
A new analysis suggests that women who use bisphosphonates have about half the risk of developing endometrial cancer as women who do not use the drugs. The findings by Alford et al, published early online in Cancer, supports other research that has shown an anticancer effect of this type of...
Today’s approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of olaparib (Lynparza) occurred concurrently with that of a companion diagnostic, BRACAnalysis CDx. This genetic test is designed to detect the presence of mutations in the BRCA genes in blood samples from patients with ovarian...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today granted accelerated approval to olaparib (Lynparza) for women with advanced ovarian cancer with deleterious or suspected deleterious germline BRCA-mutated advanced ovarian cancer, as detected by an FDA-approved test, who have been treated with three ...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Eskander et al found that rates of 30-day hospital readmission after surgery for advanced ovarian cancer are high and have increased significantly in recent years. In the study, the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)-Medicare ...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Kurta et al calculated conditional disease-free survival estimates among ovarian cancer patients, showing that odds of remaining disease free improve with a longer disease-free period from initial remission. Improved Conditional Disease-Free ...
In a retrospective single-institution study reported in JAMA Surgery, Gangi et al found a low risk of breast cancer after diagnosis of ovarian cancer in women harboring BRCA mutations. The study involved 364 women who had BRCA mutation testing for stage I to IV epithelial ovarian...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced that it is taking immediate steps to help reduce the risk of spreading unsuspected cancer in women being treated for uterine fibroids. In an updated safety communication, originally issued in April 2014, the FDA warned against using...
Researchers have found a way to identify which ovarian cancer patients are likely to respond well to a new anticancer drug called rucaparib. Previous clinical trials have shown that women with platinum-sensitive tumors with BRCA1/2 mutations respond well to rucaparib. In new findings presented...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved bevacizumab (Avastin) in combination with paclitaxel, pegylated liposomal doxorubicin, or topotecan for the treatment of patients with platinum-resistant, recurrent epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer. AURELIA Trial ...
The proportion of adolescent girls receiving human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines was much lower in states with higher rates of cervical cancer incidence and mortality, according to data presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) conference on The Science of Cancer Health...
Despite evidence that cervical cancer screening saves lives, about 8 million women aged 21 to 65 years have not been screened for cervical cancer in the past 5 years, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly ...
In a retrospective analysis utilizing both uterine serous carcinoma cell lines and patient-derived xenografts, dual therapy with lapatinib (Tykerb) and trastuzumab (Herceptin) demonstrated antitumor responses, according to a study by Groeneweg et al in Clinical Cancer Research. Also, the authors...
Adjuvant radiotherapy may play a role in the management of ovarian clear cell adenocarcinoma, which appears to be less prone to peritoneal dissemination than other subtypes, according to the results of a small retrospective study reported by Macrie et al in the International Journal of...
In a UK phase II trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Tristram et al found that topical cidofovir and topical imiquimod were active in the treatment of vulval intraepithelial neoplasia, suggesting that such treatment may constitute an alternative to surgery. Study Details In the open-label...
Although low mitotic count, surgery, and disease-free interval of more than 6 months were associated with improved survival in women with recurrent or persistent uterine leiomyosarcoma, only low number of mitoses was identified as an independent predictor of survival post relapse, according to...
At least 14 million major medical conditions among U.S. adults aged 35 years and older were attributed to cigarette smoking by a study estimating the disease burden of cigarette smoking, which, according to the study’s authors, “remains immense.” Among current and former smokers,...
More women are undergoing salpingo-oophorectomy as a cancer prevention measure, but many are unaware of the potential sexual or psychological side effects of the procedure. A new study by researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute demonstrated that a half-day educational program can help ...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Sherman et al found occult cancers in 2.6% of high-risk women undergoing risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy. Study Details The study involved 966 asymptomatic high-risk women age ≥ 30 years who underwent risk-reducing...
The molecule threonyl tRNA-synthetase may provide value as a serum diagnostic marker and a potential target of therapy for ovarian cancer, according to the results of a study reported by Wellman et al in BMC Cancer. In addition, the mortality risk was slightly reduced for patients with high...
In the 4-year interim follow-up of the VIVIANE study reported in The Lancet by Skinner et al, the human papillomavirus (HPV) 16/18 AS04-adjuvanted vaccine was found to be protective against 6-month persistent infection or cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 1 or higher (CIN1+) associated with...
Perineal powder use has been associated with increased risk of ovarian cancer in case-control studies and with increased risk of serous invasive ovarian cancer in a cohort study. In a large cohort study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Houghton et al found no significant...
A study of a nine-valent human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine that provides protection against HPV types 6, 11, 16, 18, 31, 33, 45, 52, and 58, has found it to be highly safe and efficacious. If vaccination programs with this new-generation vaccine are effectively implemented, approximately 90% of...
For patients with recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer, adding the experimental drug cediranib to standard chemotherapy improved tumor shrinkage and resulted in a modest improvement in progression-free survival, researchers reported at the ESMO 2014 Congress in Madrid (Abstract LBA25_PR). In...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Orphan Drug Designations to aldoxorubicin in three indications: glioblastoma multiforme, small cell lung cancer, and ovarian cancer. Aldoxorubicin combines doxorubicin with a novel single-molecule linker that binds directly and...
In a phase III trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, du Bois et al found that maintenance therapy with the VEGFR and PDGFR inhibitor pazopanib (Votrient) significantly prolonged progression-free survival vs placebo in women with ovarian cancer without progression after first-line...
The oral mTOR inhibitor ridaforolimus was modestly active and reasonably tolerated in women with recurrent or metastatic endometrial cancer, according to the results of a phase II study reported in Gynecologic Oncology. Tsoref et al suggested that it may prove to be an effective therapeutic...
In a randomized phase II trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Liu et al found a significant improvement in progression-free survival and an increase in toxicity with the addition of the antiangiogenic agent cediranib (VEGFR-1,-2,-3 inhibitor) to the PARP inhibitor olaparib in women with recurrent ...
Radiation therapy with concurrent paclitaxel chemotherapy following surgery is an effective treatment for high-risk endometrial cancer, according to a study reported by Cho et al in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology • Biology • Physics Endometrial...
A phase Ib clinical trial of the tablet form of olaparib, a PARP inhibitor, in combination with paclitaxel and carboplatin chemotherapy in heavily pretreated patients with advanced-stage ovarian cancer finds the drug to be safe and effective, especially in those women with BRCA gene mutations. The...
A study reported in The Lancet Oncology by Wallace et al evaluated the accuracy of criteria used for predicting ovarian insufficiency and offering ovarian tissue cryopreservation in young women with cancer at the Edinburgh Children’s Cancer Centre. Ovarian tissue cryopreservation with later...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the antiangiogenic agent bevacizumab (Avastin) for the treatment of persistent, recurrent, or metastatic cervical cancer. The new indication is approved for use in combination with paclitaxel and cisplatin or paclitaxel and topotecan. The FDA ...
Researchers at Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) have found that the expression pattern of a unique class of tumor-associated antigens, known as the MAGE cancer-testis antigens (CTAs), correlates with clinical outcome in epithelial ovarian cancer. Based on their findings, the researchers have...
In a phase II Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG) trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Miller et al found that the combination of pemetrexed (Alimta) and cisplatin produced responses in the treatment of advanced, persistent, or recurrent cervical cancer. In the study, 54 patients from...
Compared with intravenous (IV) followed by consolidation intraperitoneal (IP) chemotherapy, primary IV/IP chemotherapy was associated with a statistically significant improvement in overall survival—but not progression-free survival—in patients with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer...
There is considerable concern that uterine morcellation as part of minimally invasive hysterectomy may result in the spread of undetected malignancies. In a study reported in JAMA, Wright et al identified a prevalence of 27 cases of uterine cancer and 7 cases of other gynecologic malignancies per...
A novel, dosimetry-triggered, adaptive intensity-modulated radiation therapy strategy for patients with cervical cancer may minimize the risk of target underdosing in the setting of very small margins and substantial interfractional motion, according to a study by Lim et al in the International...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted Genentech’s supplemental Biologics License Application and granted Priority Review for bevacizumab (Avastin) plus chemotherapy for the treatment of women with recurrent platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. “The majority of women...
A study by investigators at the National Cancer Institute of more than 1 million women has found that a negative test for human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is a more reliable predictor of the risk of developing cervical cancer than a negative Pap test. The findings suggest that primary HPV...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted Genentech’s supplemental Biologics License Application and granted Priority Review for bevacizumab (Avastin) plus chemotherapy in the treatment of women with persistent, recurrent, or metastatic cervical cancer. The designation...
In a study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Hedditch et al found that expression of ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter genes of the A subfamily (ABCA) had a significant impact on outcome in epithelial ovarian cancer. High ABCA1, Low ABCA5 Expression Analysis of gene...
In a systematic review and meta-analysis reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Friebel et al attempted to identify factors that appear to modulate risk of breast and ovarian cancer in women who have inherited BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations. Although the ability to perform...
A new evidence-based clinical practice guideline from the American College of Physicians (ACP) is recommending that physicians should not offer routine pelvic examinations to asymptomatic, average-risk, nonpregnant women. The recommendation stems from a review of 52 published articles from 1946...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) voted 11 to 2 that current evidence from clinical studies does not support an accelerated approval for use of olaparib as a maintenance treatment for women with platinum-sensitive relapsed ovarian cancer who have...
Trebananib inhibits angiogenesis by blocking the binding of angiopoietins 1 and 2 to the Tie2 receptor expressed on endothelial cells, a mechanism that differs from VEGF inhibitors and that involves a different signaling pathway. In the phase III TRINOVA-1 trial reported in The Lancet Oncology,...
A study by researchers from Danbury Hospital Biomedical Research Institute in Connecticut has found that patients with ovarian cancer who relapse shortly after neoadjuvant chemotherapy to shrink their tumor prior to surgery have high levels of expression of HGF and c-Met proteins. The...
A recently reported phase II trial indicated that maintenance therapy with the PARP inhibitor olaparib significantly improved progression-free survival vs placebo in patients with platinum-sensitive serous ovarian cancer. As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Ledermann et al, a preplanned...
The combination of two investigational oral drugs, the PARP inhibitor olaparib and the antiangiogenic drug cediranib, significantly extended progression-free survival and increased the overall response rate compared to olaparib alone in a phase II study among women with recurrent,...