Latest Conference Articles

The most promising novel therapeutics in development for patients with breast cancer focus primarily on targeting activating mutations in combinations that are based on findings from next-generation sequencing.

Henry M. Kuerer, MD, PhD, FACS, professor of surgery, Department of Surgical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the overtreatment of DCIS.

Grant W. Carlson, MD, professor of surgery, Emory University School of Medicine, chief, Division of Plastic Surgery, Emory University Hospital, discusses treatment considerations for younger patients with breast cancer.

Since its approval in 1998 to treat metastatic disease, trastuzumab has dramatically expanded life expectancy and improved quality of life for women diagnosed with HER2-positive breast cancer.

The large Canadian study that has caused a stir by indicating that mammograms are of no use in women aged 40 to 59 years, and in fact can lead to over-diagnosis of breast cancer, is flawed and misleading.

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.

David F. McDermott, MD, associate professor, Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School/Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses PD-L1 expression in kidney cancer and developing biomarkers for anti-PD-L1 agents.

According to a retrospective analysis of the phase III COMPARZ trial, high tumor expression of the protein PD-L1 (programmed cell death 1 ligand 1) is independently associated with shorter overall survival (OS) in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) receiving treatment with vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-targeted therapy.

Elizabeth Plimack, MD, MS, attending physician, medical oncology, Fox Chase Cancer Center, discusses a phase I trial looking at overcoming mTOR resistance in renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

Most medical oncologists in the United States would opt for an mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin) inhibitor as second-line therapy for patients with metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma (mccRCC).

Investigators reported at the 2014 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium that two new combinations demonstrated activity in refractory or advanced, previously untreated urothelial carcinoma in phase II evaluations.

Survival, measured as either disease-specific survival or relative conditional survival, has not improved for patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma despite increasing use of second-line therapies with no formal indication in this setting.

A meta-analysis presented during the 10th Annual Genitourinary Cancers Symposium found that when used with other therapies for the treatment of mCRPC, prednisone does not raise the risk for severe toxicities, nor does it affect overall survival (OS).

William K. Oh, MD, professor of medicine, hematology and medical oncology, urology, The Mount Sinai Hospital, discusses a biomarker development trial of satraplatin in patients with metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer.

Patients with bone metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) who received radium-223 dichloride (Xofigo) continued to have a low incidence of myelosuppression and no associated secondary malignancies at a 1.5-year follow-up of the pivotal phase III ALSYMPCA study that was presented at the 2014 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.

Matthew D. Galsky, MD, from The Mount Sinai Hospital, discusses an analysis of the distribution and geographic accessibility of prostate cancer clinical trials in the U.S.

Charles Ryan, MD, Associate Clinical Professor, Department of Medicine (Hematology/Oncology), University of California, San Francisco, discusses the utility of abiraterone and enzalutamide for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.

Rana R. McKay, MD, a clinical oncology fellow at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, discusses a trial that analyzed overall survival in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma who used angiotensin system inhibitors.

Improved outcomes continued to be demonstrated with the addition of radiotherapy to oral antiandrogen therapy in men with locally advanced prostate cancer, according to an updated analysis, conducted after 11 years of observation.

Enzalutamide (Xtandi) improves survival by nearly 30% in chemotherapy-naïve men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) and delays progression of their disease by more than 80%.

The use of angiotensin system inhibitors (ASIs) may significantly improve survival outcomes in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC), according to a vast, pooled retrospective analysis.

The premature termination of clinical trials in the oncology setting is a problem that continues to vex researchers, and results of a new study that involved more than 7500 adult cancer clinical trials suggest that the concern is justified.

According to the results of a phase II study, the combination of two specific anti-cancer vaccines, rather than the administration of one as monotherapy, doubles the 1-year survival probability in patients with metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC).

RAS mutations beyond KRAS exon 2 are negative predictive biomarkers for the EGFR-inhibitor panitumumab in metastatic colorectal cancer, according to an analysis of phase III, second-line data, which are consistent with previously reported data in first-line mCRC.

Patients with carcinoid and pituitary NETs, who have been traditionally chemo-resistant, may obtain "extraordinary responses" with capecitabine and temozolomide (CAPTEM), according to data from an interim analysis of an ongoing phase II study.

According to findings from a four-arm phase III NSABP R-04 trial, single-agent neoadjuvant capecitabine combined with radiation therapy demonstrated similar outcomes as previously established standards of care for patients with stage II or stage III rectal cancer.

The combination of ramucirumab and paclitaxel resulted in a significant prolongation in survival and gains in quality of life when compared to paclitaxel alone for the second-line treatment of patients with metastatic gastric cancer.

Charles L. Shapiro, MD, discusses the IBIS II trial, which studied anastrozole in preventing breast cancer in postmenopausal women at increased risk of breast cancer.

Brian Leyland-Jones, MBBS, PhD, director of Edith Sanford Breast Cancer Research, discusses the results of the SWOG S0500 trial, which looked at circulating tumor cell (CTC) levels in patients with metastatic breast cancer.

According to results of the Phase III SWOG S0500 clinical trial, switching chemotherapy based on level of elevated CTCs after one cycle of chemotherapy did not improve OS or PFS in women with metastatic breast cancer.