April 2014

Everett E. Vokes, MD, was recognized by the "Giants of Cancer Care" awards program for his groundbreaking research into head and neck cancers.

An interview with Renier J. Brentjens, MD, PhD, on new therapies for patients with acute and chronic leukemias, in particular novel immunotherapies such as chimeric antigen receptor T cells.

For the past two decades, researchers have been exploring B-cell specific antigens in hopes of developing a new anticancer target that would mirror the success of the CD20-targeting rituximab (Rituxan). Now, strategies aimed at CD19 are proving particularly promising.

Fresh insights into outcomes for patients with low-risk, HER2-positive breast cancer suggest that adjuvant chemotherapy regimens with or without trastuzumab (Herceptin) should be considered as options for managing this growing population

The value of surgery in some women with metastatic breast cancer was challenged by data from studies presented at the recent San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium

As long-term cancer survival rates continue to surge, an increasing percentage of patients with cancer-related pain are progressing to the chronic pain arena, which necessitates more contemporary treatment approaches to cancer pain management.

Leading experts in the rapidly evolving field of lung cancer treatment assembled to offer their perspectives on the latest research and provide clinical insights for practitioners dealing with challenging cases.

It seems that rarely a month goes by these days without the publication of a major study demonstrating the impact of fresh knowledge regarding molecular abnormalities in a particular tumor type.

Locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains a challenging disease to treat, with a 5-year survival rate for patients with unresectable stage III disease of approximately 20%, even after definitive radiation therapy and concurrent chemotherapy.

Although the potential for next-generation sequencing of breast cancer tumors to improve treatment strategies is widely recognized, questions swirl about the optimal use of such increasingly available technologies in clinical practice for today's patients.

A 10-year follow-up study of regional melanoma staging strategies found that patients who underwent sentinel-node biopsies had significantly greater disease-free survival rates (DFSRs) compared with patients monitored through nodal observation.

A wide-ranging analysis of more than 5500 breast cancer tumors that combined genomic and protein expression testing has identified promising targets to explore for treating patients with poor prognoses, with particularly notable findings involving androgen receptor (AR) expression

An improved assay for assessing MRD status in patients with multiple myeloma is contributing to the momentum for using MRD as a surrogate endpoint for survival in clinical trials and as a tool with the potential to help guide therapy choices.

Every patient with a pancoast tumor of the lung should be evaluated by a Pancoast-experienced thoracic surgeon (and neurosurgeon) before ruling out surgery, and before starting induction therapy.

Intricacies of translating these advances in our understanding of tumor biology into daily clinical practice are daunting in their own right.