Gastrointestinal Cancer

Charles S. Fuchs, MD, MPH, director, Gastrointestinal Cancer Center, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses targeting angiogenesis in the treatment of gastric cancer.

Ghassan K. Abou-Alfa, MD, Gastrointestinal Oncology Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses a retrospective study to determine the prognostic value of C-reactive protein (CRP) levels in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who are undergoing sorafenib treatment

Ramesh K. Ramanathan, MD, medical director, Clinical Trials Program, Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center, describes the results from an analysis of metabolic response by positron emission tomography (PET) compared with tumor response by computed tomography (CT) from the phase III MPACT trial.

The members of the RAS oncogene family are central cogs in many different cell-signaling pathways, coordinate a variety of important cellular processes, and are highly mutated in a number of different cancers, including several with extremely poor prognosis.

Pamela L. Kunz, MD, assistant professor of medicine, Oncology, Stanford University Medical Center, discusses current and future treatment options for patients with neuroendocrine tumors (NETs).

Gene rearrangements ALK and ROS1 that are known to drive subsets of lung cancer are also present in colorectal cancer according to a recent study in Molecular Cancer Research.

Marc Peeters, MD, PhD, department of oncology, Antwerp University Hospital, Antwerpen, Belgium, discusses an analysis of RAS mutations in the phase III study 20050181, which compared panitumumab plus FOLFIRI versus FOLFIRI for second-line treatment of mCRC

Robert McCormack, PhD, head, Technology Innovation, Janssen Diagnostics, LLC, explains the circulating tumor cell test CellSearch.

The management of patients with malignant peritoneal surface disease (PSD) commonly known as "carcinomatosis" continues to evolve.

A recent study determined that it would take 6.7 years on average to enroll enough patients with pancreatic cancer for the trials that opened in 2011-a tall order considering that the 5-year relative survival rate for those diagnosed with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is only 6%.

Ghassan K. Abou-Alfa, MD, discusses the phase II study of a novel transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β1) receptor I kinase inhibitor, LY2157299 monohydrate, in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), which was presented at the 2014 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.

Epidemiologic and scientific research indicates that diet and other lifestyle factors have a significant influence on the risk of developing colorectal cancer.

Roberto Bordonaro, MD, discusses first-line treatment options for advanced colorectal cancer (CRC).

Marwan G. Fakih, MD, professor, director, Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology, City of Hope, discusses extended RAS mutations in colon cancer.

Studies presented at the 2014 GI Cancers Symposium emphasized the need for full RAS mutational analyses in the management of metastatic colorectal cancer prior to initiating treatment with anti-EGFR monoclonal antibodies.

Treatment with LY2157299 led to significant reductions in a prespecified biomarker that correlated with increased time to progression and overall survival in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma.

Add-on treatment with the hedgehog pathway inhibitor vismodegib demonstrated encouraging activity in patients with untreated metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.