Researchers involved in the international Reduction by Dutasteride of Prostate Cancer Events (REDUCE) trial have reported that dutasteride, a 5-alpha-reductase inhibitor that inhibits conversion of testosterone into dihydrotestosterone, was effective in reducing the risk of biopsy-proven prostate cancer in men with an elevated prostate specific antigen (PSA) with negative prostate biopsies. The details of this study were published in the April 1, 2010 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.1 Preliminary results of this study were reported reported at the Joint ECCO 15 – 34th ESMO Multidisciplinary Congress in Berlin, September 20-24. 

Researchers from Sweden have reported a 19% increased risk of breast cancer in women taking multivitamins. The details of this study were published early online on March 24, 2010 in the American Journal or Clinical Nutrition.1 However, other large studies have not found such an association.

Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh have reported that single-agent Mylotarg® (gemtuzumab ozogamicin) results in a complete remission (CR) rate of 30% in patients 70 years or older with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The details of this study were published early online in Cancer on March 30, 2010.

Researchers from the Dana-Farber Cancer Center have reported that six cycles of ABVD is effective and safe for patients with “limited-stage, nonbulky HL [Hodgkin’s lymphoma] and would spare young patients radiation toxicity.” The details of this study were published in the March, 20 2010 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Researchers from the National Cancer Institute have reported that the combination of Avastin® (bevacizumab), Thalomid® (thalidomide), Taxotere® (docetaxel), and prednisone is a highly effective with manageable toxicities in men with hormone refractory prostate cancer (HRPC). The details of this study were published early online on March 22, 2010 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Researchers from Italy have reported that adjuvant FOLFOX-4 (leucovorin, 5-FU, and oxaliplatin) for eight cycles and concomitant radiotherapy “is feasible and effective for the treatment of patients with high-risk gastric cancer.” The details of this study were published in the March 2010 issue of the Archives of Surgery.

Researchers affiliated with the Vitamins and Lifestyle (VITAL) Study have reported that women receiving estrogen and progesterone hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for 10 years or more have an approximate 50% increased risk of developing lung cancer. The details of this study were published in the March 20, 2010 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Researchers from Europe affiliated with the Herceptin® (trastuzumab), Cytoxan® (cyclophosphamide), and Ellence® (epirubicin) (HERCULES) trial have reported that this regimen is effective and tolerable for women with newly diagnosed HER2-positive (HER2+) metastatic breast cancer. The details of this study were published in the March 20, 2010 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Researchers from France and the UK have reported that a dose of as little as 5 Gy of radiation therapy to the heart for the treatment of childhood cancers results in a significant increase in cardiac death later in life. The details of this study were published in the March 10, 2010 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Researchers from Denmark have reported that they were unable to find evidence that women living in areas of routine mammography screening had a decreased risk of death from breast cancer compared with women living in areas without routine mammography screening. The details of this study were published early online on March 23, 2010 in the British Medical Journal.

Researchers from the UK have reported that adjuvant chemotherapy for patients with operable non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) improves survival of patients treated with surgery alone or surgery plus adjuvant radiotherapy. The details of this study appeared in an early online publication in the Lancet on March 24, 2010.

Researchers from the Dana Farber Cancer Center have reported that elderly men with high-risk prostate cancer without a history of cardiac infarction have a lower prostate-specific mortality following brachytherapy plus androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) than following brachytherapy alone. The details of this study were published early online in Cancer on March 22, 2010.

Researchers from the Dana Farber Cancer Center have confirmed that starting radiation therapy as soon as possible after beast conserving therapy in older women with localized breast cancer decreases the risk of local recurrence. The details of this study were published in the March 13, 2010 issue of the British Medical Journal.

Researchers from the Dartmouth Medical School have reported that “African-American Medicare beneficiaries with lung, breast, colorectal, and prostate cancers had higher mortality compared with their Caucasian counterparts; however, there were no significant differences in mortality by race among those who attended NCI cancer centers.” The details of this study were published early online in Cancer on March 22, 2010.

Researchers from several California medical centers have reported that infertile men have an increased risk of developing high-grade prostate cancer. The details of this study were published early online on March 22, 2010 in Cancer.

Researchers from the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center and the National Cancer Institute have reported: “Most cancer centers reported a palliative care program, although the scope of services and the degree of integration varied widely.” The details of this study were published in the March 2010 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Researchers from the Netherlands have reported that prophylactic mastectomy is very effective in preventing breast cancer in women with BRCA1/2 mutations. The details of this study were published in the March 2010 issue of the Annals of Surgery.

Researchers from Germany have reported that a short three-day course of Kepivance® (palifermin) reduces toxicity of high-dose therapy (HDT) and autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) in patients with multiple myeloma. The details of this study were published early online in the Annals of Oncology on March 16, 2010.

Researchers from Korea have reported no differences in morbidity or mortality between patients with Stage I gastric cancer treated with laparoscopic or open distal gastrectomy. The details of this randomized study were published in the March, 2010 issue of Annals of Surgery.

Two studies published in the March 2010 issue of Archives of Dermatology suggest that there has been a marked recent increase in the incidence of non-melanoma skin cancers in the United States. Non-melanoma skin cancers now affect 13 million persons.

Researchers from Duke University have reported that a prostate specific antigen (PSA) cutoff of 1.5 ng/ml is more predictive of prostate cancer than the median of 0.7 ng/ml. The details of this study were published in the March 2010 issue of the Journal of Urology.

Researchers affiliated with the Proton Radiation Oncology Group (PROG) 9509 trial have reported that men with localized prostate cancer treated with higher-dose radiation did not have increased long-term complications compared with men receiving conventional-dose radiation. The details of this study were published in the March 17, 2010 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

 Researchers from Emory University have reported that new chemotherapy agents for colorectal cancer are “associated with improvements in survival time but also with substantial costs.” The results of this study were published early online in the Archives of Internal Medicine on March 16, 2010.

Researchers from several U.S. medical centers have reported that “specialist visits relate strongly to prostate cancer treatment choices.” The details of this study were published in the March 8, 2010 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Researchers from the University of Michigan have reported that current tobacco users with advanced, human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive oropharyngeal cancer are at increased risk of disease recurrence. The details of this study were published in the February 15, 2010 issue of Clinical Cancer Research.

Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania have reported that “news reports about cancer frequently discuss aggressive treatment and survival but rarely discuss treatment failure, adverse events, end-of-life, or death.” The details of this study were published early online in the Archives of Internal Medicine on March 16, 2010.

Researchers affiliated with a Phase II North American multicenter study have reported that sterotactic radiotherapy for Stage TI-II non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) results in a three-year survival rate of 56% in medically inoperable patients. The details of this study were published in the March 17, 2010 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Researchers affiliated with Harvard University and the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (BCCEDP) have reported that there is a significant delay in follow-up diagnostic tests and treatment following a positive mammogram in one-third of low-income women participating in this program. The details of this study were published early online in the Archives of Internal Medicine on March 16, 2010.

Researchers from Sweden have reported: “Vitamin B6 intake and blood PLP (pyridoxal phosphate, the active form of vitamin B6) levels were inversely associated with the risk of colorectal cancer in this meta-analysis.” The details of this study were published in the March 17, 2010 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Researchers affiliated with a RAND Corporation study have reported that older patients in the community with Stage III colorectal cancer “received less-toxic and shorter chemotherapy regimes, and those treated had fewer adverse events than younger patients.” The details of this study were published in the March 17, 2010 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Researchers from Germany have reported promising results of intensive chemotherapy combined with radiotherapy directed at MRI-detected bone disease in patients with Ewing’s Sarcoma. The details of this study were published in the March 2010 issue of Bone Marrow Transplantation.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the OVA1™ test for women who require surgery for an ovarian mass. The OVA1 test assesses the likelihood that ovarian cancer is present and requires surgery by a gynecologic oncologist.

Researchers from the Mayo Clinic have reported that obese colon cancer patients have a higher risk of cancer recurrence and death than healthy-weight patients. The results of this study were published in the March 15, 2010 issue of Clinical Cancer Research.

Researchers from the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have reported that the addition of Iressa® (gefitinib) to Arimidex® (anastrozole) improves progression-free survival (PFS) in postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive metastatic breast cancer. The details of this study were published in the March 15, 2010 issue of Clinical Cancer Research.

Researchers from the National Institutes of Health have reported that children and teens with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) have better survival than young adults. These results were published in the March 2010 issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

Researchers involved in an international multicenter trial have reported that neratinib is active for the treatment of patients with advanced HER2-positive breast cancer who have or have not received Herceptin® (trastuzumab). The details of this study were published in the March 10, 2010 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Researchers from France have reported preliminary results of a Phase III randomized trial of neoadjuvant Taxotere® (docetaxel), Emcyt® (estramustine), and Zoladex® (goserelin) versus goserelin alone in men with high-risk prostate cancer. The details of this study were presented at the 2010 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium in San Francisco, March 5 to 7.

Researchers from Spain have reported: “Maximum tolerated dose chemotherapy followed by metronomic chemotherapy” is a promising approach for treatment of patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC). The details of this study were published early online in Lancet Oncology on February 16, 2010.

Researchers from the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have reported that achieving a complete remission (CR) was the dominant prognostic factor for long survival of patients with multiple myeloma (MM). The details of this large retrospective review were published in the March 2010 issue of Bone Marrow Transplantation.

Researchers affiliated with the RTOG 94-08 clinical trial have reported that short-term androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) delivered before and during moderate-dose radiation therapy improves survival and reduces risk of recurrence compared with radiation alone in men with intermediate-risk, early-stage prostate cancer. The results of this Phase III study were presented at the 2010 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium in San Francisco on March 5-7.

Researchers from the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have reported that radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is effective treatment for patients with renal masses, including renal cell carcinoma (RCC). The details of this study were presented at the 2010 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Genitourinary Cancers Symposium March 5-7 in San Francisco.

Researchers involved in an international multicenter randomized trial have reported that single-dose Neulasta® (pegfilgrastim) is as effective as multiple-dose Neupogen® (filagrastim) for support of children receiving intensive chemotherapy for previously treated sarcoma. The details of this study were published in the March 10, 2010 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Researchers affiliated with the IMPACT trial have reported that additional follow-up and more analyses demonstrate a clear survival advantage of Provenge® (sipuleucel-T) versus placebo in men with hormone-refractory prostate cancer. The details of this study were presented at the 2010 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium in San Francisco between March 5 and 7.

Researchers affiliated with the TransATAC Study have reported that the Oncotype DX® test predicts the risk of distant cancer recurrence in postmenopausal women with early, hormone receptor-positive breast cancer with both node-negative and node-positive disease treated with tamoxifen (Nolvadex®) or anastrozole (Arimidex®). These results were published early online in the Journal of Clinical Oncology on March 8, 2010.

Researchers involved in a U.S. multicenter trial (Cytokine Working Group) have reported that high-dose Proleukin® (aldesleukin, interleukin-2, IL-2) results in a higher response rate in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (MRCC) than historically reported. The details of this study were presented at the 2010 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Genitourinary Cancers Symposium, March 5-7, in San Francisco.

Researchers from the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have reported that cystoscopy alone remains the most cost-effective method of detecting recurrent superficial bladder cancer. The details of this study were presented at the 2010 American Society of Clinical Oncology Genitourinary Cancers Symposium March 5-7 in San Francisco.

Researchers from the Massachusetts General Hospital have reported that 75% of patients with locally advanced bladder cancer can be treated successfully with combined modality therapy that preserves the bladder. The details of this 15-year study were presented at the 2010 American Society of Clinical Oncology Genitourinary Cancers Symposium March 5-7 in San Francisco.

Researchers involved in the international Reduction by Dutasteride of Prostate Cancer Events (REDUCE) trial have reported that the urinary PCA3 test can predict biopsy outcome in men taking dutasteride. The details of two studies were presented at the 2010 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Genitourinary Cancer Symposium held in San Francisco, March 5-7.