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Among patients with breast cancer, lung cancer, or chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), those who had a specific form of the CYP3A7 gene (CYP3A7*1C) had worse outcomes compared with those who did not have CYP3A7*1C. This may be related to how the patients metabolize the therapeutics used to treat...
Consuming a diet with a high glycemic index was independently associated with an increased risk of developing lung cancer in non-Hispanic whites, according to a new epidemiologic study from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. This research, published by Melkonian et al in Cancer...
In the phase II POPLAR trial reported in The Lancet, Fehrenbacher et al found that the anti–PD-L1 (programmed cell death ligand 1) antibody atezolizumab improved overall survival vs docetaxel in patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who had progressed on prior platinum-based...
As reported by Shaw et al in The New England Journal of Medicine, a woman with metastatic ALK-rearranged non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who had received multiple prior therapies, including the first- and second-generation ALK inhibitors crizotinib (Xalkori) and ceritinib (Zykadia),...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved the tyrosine kinase inhibitor crizotinib (Xalkori) for the treatment of patients with metastatic non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumors are ROS1-positive. Crizotinib was first approved in 2011 for the treatment of patients...
A new study suggests that one approach to watching for a cancer's return is being inappropriately used at many hospitals and isn't helping patients survive longer. The findings are published by Healy et al in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The study looked at how often survivors ...
Anamorelin (a ghrelin-receptor agonist) increased lean body mass but had no beneficial effect on handgrip strength vs placebo in patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and cachexia, according to two international phase III trials (ROMANA 1 and 2) reported in The Lancet...
Metabolic phenotyping of blood plasma by proton nuclear magnetic resonance (H-NMR) identified unique metabolic biomarkers specific to lung cancer patients and allowed for the accurate identification of a cohort of patients with early and late-stage lung cancer. These findings were published by...
As reported by Patel et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, analysis of lung cancer incidence and mortality in the Women’s Health Initiative Study cohort of postmenopausal women showed a marginally significant lower risk of cancer in Hispanic women vs white women and no difference in...
The number of men smoking tobacco in India rose by more than one third to 108 million between 1998 and 2015, according to a new study published in the journal BMJ Global Health. The study also found that cigarettes were replacing the traditional bidi, a small, inexpensive Indian cigarette,...
Adjuvant chemotherapy and chemotherapy plus prophylactic cranial irradiation were associated with significantly improved survival vs surgery alone in patients with early-stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC) undergoing complete resection, according to an analysis of National Cancer Data Base data...
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. ...
In the UK phase III FRAGMATIC trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Macbeth et al found no survival benefit of adding low–molecular-weight heparin to standard treatment in patients with lung cancer. Previous evidence suggested that low–molecular-weight heparin might...
As reported by Senan et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the phase III PROCLAIM trial showed no significant improvement in overall survival for chemoradiation with pemetrexed (Alimta)/cisplatin vs etoposide/cisplatin followed by consolidation pemetrexed vs a platinum-based doublet in...
There is ample evidence to suggest that older adults with a good performance status (0 or 1) with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) should be treated with combination chemotherapy akin to younger patients.1,2 However, older adults comprise a heterogeneous group that has been...
Preliminary research has identified autoantibodies—immune proteins found in the blood specific for one's own proteins—that can potentially detect lung cancer early by distinguishing between smokers with or without lung cancer and can also discriminate between lung cancer and low-dose...
Intense tumor lymphocytic infiltration was associated with improved outcomes in patients with resectable non–small cell lung cancer, according to a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Brambilla et al. Study Details The LACE-Bio (Lung Adjuvant Cisplatin Evaluation...
As reported in The Lancet Oncology by Quoix et al, the addition of immunotherapy with TG4010—the modified vaccinia Ankara expressing MUC1 and interleukin 2—to first-line chemotherapy improved progression-free survival in patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in ...
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. On December 11, 2015, alectinib (Alecensa) was granted...
In the French phase III MAPS trial reported in The Lancet, Zalcman et al found that the addition of bevacizumab (Avastin) to standard cisplatin/pemetrexed (Alimta) treatment increased overall and progression-free survival in patients with newly diagnosed pleural mesothelioma. Vascular endothelial...
Non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with common epidermal growth factor (EGFR) mutations and brain metastases showed improved progression-free survival and response from the EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor afatinib (Gilotrif) compared to standard platinum doublet chemotherapy....
John C. Grecula, MD, of The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center and the James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute, discusses the evolution of precision delivery of radiation for patients with small cell lung cancer and advances that include prophylactic cranial radiotherapy, thoracic radiotherapy, and the use of PET-CT.
Thomas A. D’Amico, MD, of Duke Cancer Institute, discusses the superior efficacy of thoracoscopic lobectomy. This minimally invasive procedure is used in only 50% of lung cancer surgeries in the United States, in 30% of procedures in Asia, and in as few as 10% to 20% of procedures in Europe.
Leora Horn, MD, MSc, of the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, discusses the range of treatment options for people with lung cancer, including third generation inhibitors, and the key clinical trials studying alternatives for patients with acquired resistance.
Gregory A. Otterson, MD, of The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center and the James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute, discusses the evolution of lung cancer treatment from adjuvant chemotherapy to immunotherapy and the clinical trials underway.
James L. Mulshine, MD, of Rush University Medical Center, and David E. Gerber, MD, of The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, discuss the ALCHEMIST trial, an NCI initiative to address the role of molecular testing and targeted therapies for earlier-stage lung disease (Abstract TPS7583).
James L. Mulshine, MD, of Rush University Medical Center, and Carolyn Jean Presley, MD, of Yale Cancer Center/Yale School of Medicine, discuss the burden on patients and the Medicare system as new lung cancer CT guidelines are put into effect and treatment of early-stage NSCLC increases (Abstract 7533).
Eric Roeland, MD, FAAHPM, of the University of California, San Diego Moores Cancer Center, and Areej El-Jawahri, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital, discuss two important studies on early palliative care and the use of anamorelin in advanced NSCLC with cachexia.
Charles F. von Gunten, MD, PhD, of OhioHealth Kobacker House discusses the ROMANA 1 and 2 trials on cachexia in NSCLC and a study on olanzapine vs fosaprepitant for the prevention of nausea and vomiting (Abstracts 9500 and 9502).
Luis G. Paz-Ares, MD, PhD, of the Hospital Universitario Doce De Octubre, discusses the superior overall survival in patients taking nivolumab vs docetaxel in advanced nonsquamous NSCLC (Abstract LBA109).
Ramaswamy Govindan, MD, of Washington University, summarizes three important papers: ROVA-T in relapsed and refractory small cell lung cancer, genomic characterization of large-cell neuroendocrine tumors, and the ECOG study on bevacizumab following chemotherapy for resected non–small cell lung cancer.
Guneet Walia, PhD, of the Lung Cancer Foundation, summarizes some key presentations: bridging the quality chasm, patients’ attitudes and physicians’ perceptions on maintenance therapy, and patient advocacy.
Jennifer King, PhD, of the Lung Cancer Alliance, gives her perspective on major themes of this year’s meeting: the stigma of lung cancer, the changing face of who is affected, early detection, and advances in immunotherapy.
Everett E. Vokes, MD, of the University of Chicago, summarizes expert views on treating stage IIIA disease: decision-making in selecting patients for surgery; multiple-modality choices; and using induction chemotherapy (Abstract ED10).
Naiyer A. Rizvi, MD, of Columbia University, offers an update on immune checkpoint inhibitors in non–small cell lung cancer: what’s new and what’s next.
Nagashree Seetharamu, MD, of the North Shore LIJ Health System, discusses serum AGA-signatures that may provide a minimally invasive test for early detection of lung cancer risk (Abstract P3.04-085).
William D. Travis, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, gives an update on the WHO classification, which is crucial for optimal personalized treatment of lung cancer patients (Abstract PLEN02.01).
Fred R. Hirsch, MD, PhD, of the University of Colorado Health Science Center, and Paul A. Bunn, Jr, MD, of the University of Colorado Cancer Center, give their views on the goals and important presentations of the 2015 World Conference on Lung Cancer.
Karen Kelly, MD, of the University of California, Davis, summarizes three important papers on NSCLC: expression as a predictive biomarker; pembrolizumab, immune-mediated adverse events, and corticosteroid use; and an evaluation of disease-related symptoms in patients treated with nivolumab or docetaxel (Abstracts ORAL 31.01, 31.02, and 31.03).
Philip Bonomi, MD, of Rush Medical College, summarizes a debate on two important issues: choosing between surgery and stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) in operable NSCLC, and whether or not to use SBRT for nonbiopsied lung nodules (Abstract PC 01).
Philip Bonomi, MD, of Rush Medical College, summarizes the findings on anamorelin and its use in advanced NSCLC for improvement in anorexia/cachexia symptoms (Abstracts ORAL 29.01, ORAL 29.02).
Ugo Pastorino, MD, of the Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori Foundation, discusses his study, which showed that stopping smoking before or during low-dose computed tomography screening reduced overall mortality by more than 25%, a benefit that is three- to fivefold greater than this type of screening (Abstract PLEN04.07).
Pasi A. Jänne, MD, PhD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, summarizes a workshop he conducted on the state of the art in next-generation sequencing of lung cancer (Abstract WS 01.07).
James R. Jett, MD, of National Jewish Health, discusses his study of the early CDT-Lung biomarker. His hypothesis: When used in combination with low-dose CT in screening of a high-risk population, this biomarker would increase the detection of early-stage lung cancer (Abstract MINI 12.11).
Vassiliki Papadimitrakopoulou, MD, of MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the ways in which patients, investigators, and pharmaceutical companies are working together to accelerate research and access to care (Abstract MTE 02.01).
James L. Mulshine, MD, of Rush University Medical Center, discusses the profound challenges of implementing national CT screening to ensure delivery of high-quality, best-practice early lung cancer detection in the target population of tobacco-exposed individuals (Abstract MS 15.01).
Christine D. Berg, MD, of Johns Hopkins Medicine, discusses how increased insurance coverage should dramatically increase lung cancer screening. If done correctly—which will be a challenge—screening will help improve the prognosis of patients with lung cancer (Abstract PLEN 01.01).
Alice T. Shaw, MD, PhD, of Massachusetts General Hospital, summarizes efficacy and safety data from studies on crizotinib, brigatinib, and alectinib for ALK-positive non–small cell lung cancer (ORAL 33.03, 33.06, 33.07).
Heather A. Wakelee, MD, of Stanford University discusses the study that explored the question of whether adding bevacizumab to adjuvant chemotherapy is beneficial in the setting of resected non–small cell lung cancer (Abstract PLEN04.03).
Tony Mok, MD, of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Fred R. Hirsch, MD, PhD, of University of Colorado Health Science Center discuss the highlights of the featured plenary session, which included the conference’s top four abstracts (Abstract PLEN04).