THYROID CANCERS

As its CAR T cell and high-affinity TCR products continue to advance in clinical trials, Juno Therapeutics, Inc, filed a registration statement for an initial public offering (IPO) of its common stock on November 17.

Recent news stories profiling a cancer patient whose last hope rests on treatment by injections of the virus that causes AIDS may have created some misconceptions regarding a new cancer immunotherapy.

Brittany N. Bohinc, MD, Division of Endocrinology, Duke University, discusses the potential to use LGR5 as a biomarker in papillary thyroid cancer.

The FDA has granted a priority review to the oral multiple tyrosine kinase receptor inhibitor lenvatinib as a treatment for patients with progressive, radioactive iodine (RAI)-refractory differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC).

While medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) is an uncommon malignancy, accounting for about 5% of thyroid cancers, progressive forms of the disease are poorly responsive to chemotherapy and radiation.

Marcia S. Brose, MD, PhD, discusses using both sorafenib and lenvatinib as treatment options for thyroid cancer.

Lori J. Wirth, MD, medical director, Center for Head and Neck Cancers, Massachusetts General Hospital, assistant professor, Harvard Medical School, discusses the side effects of lenvatinib in patients with thyroid cancer.

The incidence of thyroid cancer in Pennsylvania has grown at a rate significantly higher than that observed in the rest of the country.

Lori J. Wirth, MD, medical director, Center for Head and Neck Cancers, Massachusetts General Hospital, assistant professor, Harvard Medical School, discusses areas of unmet need in the field of thyroid cancer.

Although prognostic biomarkers have become increasingly important in the treatment of many types of cancer, no such markers have yet been identified and validated for thyroid cancer.

A better understanding of the molecular pathways that confer resistance to RAI in the treatment of differentiated thyroid cancer has led to success in targeting the VEGF and the VEGF receptor pathways.

Martin Schlumberger, MD, Institut Gustave Roussy, Villejuif Cedex, professor of oncology, University Paris-Sud, France, discusses the takeaway points for a community oncologist from the SELECT trial.

The investigational CD19-targeted chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) therapy CTL019 has received a breakthrough therapy designation from the FDA as a potential treatment for pediatric and adult patients with relapsed/refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

Marcia S. Brose, MD, PhD, assistant professor, Abramson Cancer Center, Department of Otolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery, Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Dermatology, University of Pennsylvania, discusses the tolerability and safety of sorafenib as seen in patients with thyroid cancer.

The combination of surgery, radioactive iodine (RAI), and L-thyroxine therapy is effective treatment for patients with differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC), which accounts for some 95% of all thyroid cancers.

An updated analysis of a phase III trial hints at a possible survival advantage for patients with radioactive iodine-refractory differentiated thyroid cancer treated with the tyrosine kinase inhibitor sorafenib.

The FDA has approved the radioactive diagnostic imaging agent Lymphoseek injection to guide sentinel lymph node biopsy in patients with cancer of the head and neck.

Lori J. Wirth, MD, discusses the results from the phase III SELECT trial that analyzed lenvatinib (E7080) in patients with 131I-refractory differentiated thyroid cancer. There were 6 treatment-related deaths on the study.

Marcia S. Brose, MD, PhD, assistant professor, Abramson Cancer Center, Department of Otolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery, Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Dermatology, University of Pennsylvania, discusses the updated overall survival analysis of the phase III DECISION trial, which looked at sorafenib for patients with locally advanced or metastatic radioactive iodine-refractory differentiated thyroid cancer (RAI-rDTC).

Lenvatinib, a novel multityrosine kinase inhibitor, is highly effective against differentiated thyroid cancer that has become resistant to standard radioiodine (RAI) therapy.

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 treatment with sorafenib.

Screening for prostate-specific antigen (PSA) significantly cuts the death rate from prostate cancer, but at the same time, America’s medical community should work harder to avoid the screen’s potential pitfalls.

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.

Marcia S. Brose, MD, PhD, assistant professor, Abramson Cancer Center, University of Pennsylvania, discusses research into vandetanib for the treatment of patients with differentiated thyroid cancer.

The investigational agent lenvatinib (E7808) met its primary endpoint of progression-free survival (PFS) in the phase III SELECT trial, which compared lenvatinib to placebo in patients with radioiodine-refractory differentiated thyroid cancer (RR-DTC),according to Eisai Inc., the company that is developing the agent.