March 2012

The Trials in Progress section supplies summaries of ongoing research in a broad range of cancer types.

The USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and Hospital has long enjoyed a national reputation as a leading resource for cancer research, treatment, prevention, and education.

A combination of immunotherapy and fractionated external-beam radiation therapy provided tumor-specific immune responses in patients with soft-tissue sarcoma.

Adding oxaliplatin to conventional chemotherapy increases survival in patients with advanced colon cancer in a broad range of community practice settings.

Shrinking reimbursements and higher healthcare costs are making it difficult for community oncologists to stay in practice.

The keynote address at the ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium highlighted a collaborative effort to develop a comprehensive molecular classification of prostate cancer.

Being newly diagnosed with lung or colorectal cancer is often not sufficient to motivate cigarette smokers to quit.

Thanks to earlier detection and improved treatment, the population of cancer survivors has increased dramatically and will continue to increase as the baby boomers age.

Targeting the bone microenvironment appears to be a potential approach to treating prostate cancer.

The concept of dose titration in patients with mRCC who fail to achieve therapeutic levels on axitinib was validated by a secondary analysis.

The addition of everolimus to standard octreotide LAR achieved about a 5-month improvement in progression-free survival in patients with advanced neuroendocrine tumors.

A new test specifically designed for breast cancer patients with DCIS appears to be a better indicator of recurrence than other assays for more invasive forms of the disease.

Patients who undergo chemotherapy for breast cancer may develop fatigue that remains problematic long after they complete treatment.

An interview with Nicholas J. Vogelzang, MD, during the ASCO 2012 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium, about treatment of prostate cancer and unmet needs.

Adjuvant chemotherapy improves disease-free and overall survival in many--but not all--patients with breast cancer.

EBRT led to more long-term toxicity and higher treatment-related costs compared with radical prostatectomy or brachyherapy.

As research progresses, optimal treatment of breast cancer will involve individualization of therapy to focus on specific targets driving each patient's cancer.

An immunoassay to detect the presence of PAM4 showed promise for the detection and diagnosis of early-stage pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

The investigational agent MDV3100 extended survival in men with late-stage castration-resistant prostate cancer in the phase III AFFIRM trial.

More research is needed to define molecular subtypes of gastric cancer and identify appropriate targets for clinical use.

For locally advanced breast cancer, molecular profiling may be an effective way to determine which patients respond better to certain therapies.

For patients with metastatic colorectal cancer that has progressed on multiple lines of standard therapy, regorafenib may be a new treatment option that achieves disease control.

Preoperative gemcitabine plus cisplatin followed by radical surgery is feasible, tolerable, and active in patients with early-stage non-small cell lung cancer.

Patients who are obese before being diagnosed with colorectal cancer are more likely to die of their disease than patients who are at a normal weight prediagnosis.

Researchers are reporting better survival rates in women with invasive EOC and germline mutations in the tumor suppressor genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 than in patients who are noncarriers.

Complementary! Sounds good, how could it hurt? When applied in cancer therapy, however, what sounds good may not always be good for patients.