Onclive Team

A recent study in the journal The Lancet suggests long-term, low-dose aspirin use reduces the risk of cancer-related death.

For most cancers, African Americans continue to have the highest death rates and shortest survival rates among racial and ethnic populations in the United States.

A black Labrador retriever was able to detect colorectal cancer >90% of the time when sniffing a patient%u2019s breath or stool sample.

Screening for ovarian cancer offers limited value, especially when accounting for the disease's biological diversity.

Hospitals, pharmacists, and physicians across the United States are reporting shortages of critical anticancer drugs, including carboplatin, cisplatin, dacarbazine, fludarabine, and cytarabine.

Useful Online Resources and Clinical Trials for Oral Cancer

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (www.oecd.org) %u201Cis a group of 30 member countries sharing a commitment to democratic government and the market economy. Best known for its publications and its statistics, its work covers economic and social issues from macroeconomics, to trade, education, development and science and innovation.%u201D

A collection of cancer statistics and facts

The Academy delivers the latest news on biotech and oncology research, providing a link between the clinical world of cancer care and the university researchers who are pushing the envelope of knowledge and discovery. In this issue: 1) Northwestern University: Anti-Cancer Flavonoids Synthesized 2) University of Wisconsin-Madison: Turning the Body's Immune System on Cancer, and more

Cell Genesys has announced that it has completed recruitment of more than 600 patients into VITAL-1, the first of two ongoing Phase III clinical trials of GVAX immunotherapy for prostate cancer.

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), a nonprofit alliance of 21 leading cancer centers worldwide, develops and publishes clinical practice guidelines to promote the importance of continuous quality improvement. The primary goal of all its initiatives is to improve the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of oncology practice so patients can live better lives.

According to the U.S. National Cancer Institute, there are 19,000 new cases of primary brain cancer diagnosed each year. The five-year survival rate is around 30%. Brain cancers can strike all ages, and are the leading cause of cancer deaths in children under the age of 20.

Each year, more than 60,000 people are diagnosed with bladder cancer, which has been linked to a number of risk factors, including cigarette smoking and exposure to hazardous chemicals.

1) Lenalidomide (Revlimid) has been granted orphan medicinal product designation by the European Commission (EC) for treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). 2) Treatment With Cetuximab May Enable Complete Surgical Resection of Colorectal Liver Metastases

New research suggests that a common but controversial treatment for prostate cancer reduces long-term death rates without greatly boosting patients' risk of heart problems.

In this issue: Bortezomib (Velcade) Granted Priority Review Status for Patients With Newly Diagnosed Multiple Myeloma Reports from American Society of Hematology: Advances in Thrombosis: (1) AMG 531 Demonstrates Efficacy in Sustaining Platelet Counts in Splenectomized Patients With Chronic Immune Thrombocytopenic Purpura in Phase III Study (2) Low–Molecular-Weight Heparin Reduces the Cost of Venous Thromboembolism Treatment Compared With Unfractionated Heparin

What if lung cancer recurrence could be prevented for years after surgery by giving simple recall injections every two years?

News reports in this issue include: - Tentative Link Established Between Skin Cancer and Colon Cancer - Aspirin Can Reduce Risk of Breast Cancer, Review of Studies Suggests - Douglas W. Blayney, MD, Elected ASCO President for 2009–2010 Term

Women whose breast cancer recurred after treatment had almost two times as much estrogen in their blood than did women who remained cancer free--despite treatment with anti estrogen drugs in a majority of the women.

The 5th Annual Gastrointestinal (GI) Cancers Symposium was held in January in Orlando, Florida. Educational sessions and abstract presentations focused on each type of GI cancer, including cancers of the esophagus, stomach, hepatobiliary tree, pancreas, small bowel, colon, and rectum. Key presentations are summarized below.

A dual phase clinical trial of Millennium Pharmaceuticals' injectable bortezomib assessed the efficacy and safety of the drug in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (MM) patients. The study findings were notable in that results included one of the highest reported complete remission rates ever attained in a trial of a prospective MM therapy.

Highly targeted chemotherapeutic agents, which have emerged over the past decade, offer renewed hope to many patients diagnosed with cancers once considered difficult or impossible to treat. However, with the new hope many of these "super drugs" bring come new challenges in the management of side effects, some which can become debilitating enough to interfere with cancer treatment.

The 13th annual conference of The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) was held in Hollywood, Florida, from March 5-9, 2008. Attendees were provided with updates to the organization's Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology, protocols that, according to NCCN (a not-for-profit alliance of 21 of the world's leading cancer centers), currently cover the management of more than 97% of all cancer patients. Updated treatment guidelines were presented for an array of disease states, including breast cancer, leukemia, colon and rectal cancer, kidney cancer, multiple myeloma, and lung cancer.

The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), Philadelphia, is considered the world�s oldest and largest oncology-related scientific organization. Currently celebrating its centennial, the AACR recently held its 100th annual meeting at the San Diego Convention Center from April 12�16, 2008. The following sections provide a general overview of breaking news and session highlights from the conference.

We summarize the latest oncology news.

For most people with cancer, vaccination for influenza is not only safe, but also a crucial part of staying as healthy as possible. Owing to their weakened immune system, patients with cancer are at high risk for infection with flu and pneumonia viruses, which can be lethal in these individuals. Yearly flu and pneumonia shots often prevent infection entirely and can lessen the severity of illness in those who do get sick.

According to a randomized controlled trial, men with early prostate cancer who have their prostate glands surgically removed are less likely to die from the disease than those who take a wait-and-see approach.

In an oral presentation, Ann-Lii Cheng, MD, PhD, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, highlighted the results of a phase III study evaluating the efficacy and safety of sorafenib in patients from the Asia-Pacific region with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).