November 2012

An interview with Jenny C. Chang, MB BChir, MD, who broke new ground in cancer research when she identified and patented a 493-gene signature for breast cancer.

For the past 10 years, Matthew J.C. Ellis, MB BChir, PhD, has focused his research on exploring the breast cancer genome in partnerships with academic and government-funded centers in the United States and the United Kingdom.

The clinical subtyping of breast cancer appears to be coming into a golden era as an increased understanding of subtyping promises to help advance treatments and outcomes for patients.

Although new therapies have revolutionized the management of certain hematologic malignancies during the past 15 years, clinical trials currently under way hold the potential to yield new targeted agents and better treatment strategies.

Researchers are continuing to investigate TKIs to help manage patients with CML who either do not respond to initial therapy or relapse after subsequent treatment.

The pace of discovery in breast cancer research has been brisk in the past year, leading not only to the approval of several new therapies but also to clinical trial results with the potential to change practice.

Despite the trend toward targeted therapies, cytotoxic drugs remain a mainstay of metastatic breast cancer treatment, and new therapies in that class are needed.

For Johns Hopkins' gastrointestinal cancer surgeon Mark D. Duncan, those who help his patients cope with their diagnosis and manage their often complex treatment and follow-up are critical members of the healthcare team.

An exploratory analysis of the phase III AURELIA trial demonstrated that adding bevacizumab (Avastin) to chemotherapy in patients with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer benefited patients across treatment cohorts.

A data safety monitoring board (DSMB) has found that a phase III study of pomalidomide, an oral immunomodulatory agent, met its primary endpoint by demonstrating a significant improvement in progression-free survival for patients with multiple myeloma (MM).

Interim data from a phase II clinical study of the dendritic cell vaccine CVac in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer showed promising signs of improving PFS compared with the observational standard of care.

Targeted antineoplastic therapy based on the presence of a well-defined molecular target should be recognized as a standard-of-care approach in an increasing number of clinical settings.