Every year significant progress is made in the fight against cancer. Although hundreds of cancer clinical trials are completed each year, identifying the most notable advances in cancer research in any given year can be challenging. Six years ago, ASCO stepped in to fill this information gap and undertook the compilation and publishing of Clinical Cancer Advances (CCA).

About the CCA Report

In keeping with ASCO's mission to improve the treatment and care of people living with cancer, the advances featured in the annual Clinical Cancer Advances report document the most significant progress being made on the front lines of clinical cancer research and highlight emerging trends in the field. The report is intended for anyone with an interest in cancer care, including oncologists, the oncology care team, people living with cancer, caregivers, policymakers, and patient advocates, among others.

The information in the report is categorized by cancer type, which in 2010 includes blood and lymphatic, breast, gastrointestinal, genitourinary, gynecologic, lung, and pediatric cancers, and melanoma. Research considered for the CCA also covers a wide range of clinical cancer issues, including epidemiology, prevention, screening, early detection, traditional treatment (surgery, chemotherapy, radiation), targeted therapies, immunotherapy, genetic research, personalized medicine, access to care, quality of life, and end-of-life care.

Developed under the direction of an editorial board comprising prominent oncologists, only studies that significantly altered the way a cancer is understood or had an immediate impact on patient care were included. The editors, who included a specialty editor for each of the disease- and issue-specific sections and two co-executive editors, reviewed research presented at major scientific meetings and studies published in peer-reviewed scientific journals from October 2009 to September 2010, for this year's report.

Major Advances in Care

The 2010 CCA features a total of 53 advances in clinical oncology over the past year. Of the 53 studies, 12 are noted as "major" advances, meaning they are likely to have a significant impact on survival and care for people with cancer.

The major advances include:

• NCI released initial results from the National Lung Screening Trial, which found 20% fewer lung cancer deaths among trial participants screened with low-dose chest CT than those screened with chest x-ray.
• New options for hard-to-treat cancers, such as the use of a pair of drugs for elderly patients with advanced lung cancer, a combination of drugs for metastatic pancreatic cancer, and the addition of the drug bevacizumab (Avastin) to standard chemotherapy for advanced ovarian cancer
• A new strategy of using a shorter 3-week course of higher-dose radiation in breast cancer patients that was shown to prevent recurrence in early-stage disease
• Progress in personalized medicine and targeted therapies, such as an antibody, ipilimumab, which produces a survival benefit in advanced melanoma, and a novel ALK gene inhibitor, crizotinib, which causes tumor shrinkage in patients with advanced lung cancer
• A study showing that the addition of palliative care to chemotherapy improves survival in patients with lung cancer
• Research that found that insomnia and other sleep disorders are common among patients receiving chemotherapy
  Two new treatments approved this year for hormone-refractory prostate cancer-sipuleucel-T (Provenge), a therapeutic vaccine, and cabazitaxel (Jevtana), a chemotherapy agent

Cancer Policy Priorities

Another highlight of the Clinical Cancer Advances report is ASCO's annual policy recommendations for accelerating progress against cancer and improving cancer care overall. This year, ASCO puts forth two major recommendations related to the Institute of Medicine report, "A National Cancer Clinical Trials System for the 21st Century: Reinvigorating the National Cancer Institute Cooperative Group Program." The report itself focuses on improving the speed, efficiency, and flexibility of cooperative group clinical trials, while maximizing the involvement of patients and physicians. ASCO specifically recommends the following:

• The NCI should double funding for cooperative group trials in the academic and community settings from the current level of $250 million to $500 million by 2015. Funding for cooperative group research has been virtually flat since 2002, forcing the NCI cooperative groups to limit patient enrollment in clinical trials.
• Stakeholders affected by the Institute of Medicine report should work together to implement the outlined recommendations. ASCO is working with the Institute of Medicine to convene a meeting of stakeholders to discuss implementing the IOM recommendations in early 2011.
• Clinical Cancer Advances 2010: ASCO's Annual Report on Progress Against Cancer was published online in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (www.jco.org). The full-color report and additional resources are available at www.cancer.net/clinicalcanceradvances. ■

© 2010. American Society of Clinical Oncology. All Rights Reserved.