The Week of July 22 in Review

Death Receptors in Apoptotic Pathways

TweetApoptosis, or programmed cell death, is essential to the development and maintenance of multicellular organisms. Studies have confirmed that dysregulation of apoptosis is implicated in the pathogenesis of many diseases. Deficient apoptosis is key in the development of cancer.

Dr. Turtle on the Design of a Chimeric Antigen Receptor

Cameron J. Turtle, MD, PhD, Assistant Member, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Assistant Professor, University of Washington, discusses the design of a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR).

Clinical Trials in Progress

The Targeted Therapy Clinical Trials in Progress section is intended to stimulate discussion about ongoing clinical trials and to promote collaboration across the oncology community. Following are summaries of ongoing research in a broad range of cancer types.

Dr. Camidge Discusses Crizotinib in ROS1 Rearranged NSCLC

D. Ross Camidge, MD, PhD, Director, Thoracic Oncology Clinical Program, University of Colorado Cancer Center, discusses the potential to utilize crizotinib as a treatment for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who harbor a ROS1 gene rearrangement.

Ibrutinib/R-CHOP Combination Achieves 100% Response Rate in NHL

Adding the Bruton’s tyrosine kinase inhibitor ibrutinib to standard rituximab (R)-CHOP chemotherapy for non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) resulted in an objective response rate of 100% in a small preliminary clinical study presented at the 2013 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting.

Dr. Swain on the Next Steps for Pertuzumab in Breast Cancer

Sandra Swain, MD, medical director of the Washington Cancer Institute at MedStar Washington Hospital Center, gives an overview of the next steps for pertuzumab in breast cancer.

Dr. Parsa on the Administration of the G-200 Vaccine

Andrew T. Parsa MD, PhD, Associate Professor in Residence of Neurological Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, describes the administration of the prophage G-200 for recurrent glioblastoma multiforme.

Ganetespib-Docetaxel Combination Improves Survival

Salvage therapy combining the novel heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) inhibitor ganetespib with docetaxel significantly improved overall survival (OS) in some patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in the phase IIb/III GALAXY- 1 trial. The results were presented at the 2013 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

Dr. Rugo on Pathway Changes in Breast Cancer

Hope S. Rugo, MD, professor of medicine and director of breast oncology and clinical trials education at the University of California, San Francisco, Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses pathway changes in breast cancer.

Dr. Scagliotti Reviews Recent Findings on Molecular Genotyping in Lung Cancer

Giorgio V. Scagliotti, MD, PhD, head of the Thoracic Oncology Unit, Department of Clinical and Biological Sciences, University of Turin, San Luigi Hospital, Orbassano, Italy, discusses recent advances in the molecular genotyping of patients with lung cancer.

Ibrutinib Well Tolerated and Effective in Phase II Trial in CLL

Ibrutinib was well tolerated and highly effective in eradicating tumor cells in both treatment-naïve and relapsed/refractory patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) in an ongoing phase II study reported at the AACR 2013 annual meeting.