Although being overweight with a high body mass index (BMI) has long been associated with a higher risk for colorectal cancer, thinner patients might not fare as well as previously expected after treatment for advanced cancer, according to a new study from Duke Medicine. The study, which was...
While the use of antiangiogenesis drugs that block the growth of new blood vessels can improve the treatment of some cancers, clinical trials of their ability to prevent the development of new metastases have failed. Now a study from the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Cancer Center may have...
In a small clinical trial, scientists at Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute found that men with advanced prostate cancer and detection of androgen receptor splice variant-7 (AR-V7) respond to chemotherapy just as well as men who lack the variant. The...
Houston Methodist Neurological Institute neurosurgeon David Baskin, MD, presented preliminary data from a phase II clinical trial that suggests gene therapy (AdV-Tk therapy), which uses a mediated herpes simplex virus, combined with a traditional treatment—surgical resection—could ...
Two studies from researchers at Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center add to preliminary evidence that high-dose radiation treatment, or stereotactic body radiotherapy, appears to be safe and as effective as standard radiation treatment for certain patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer....
An early-phase study testing the anti–PD-L1 agent MPDL3280A in combination with standard chemotherapy in the treatment of advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has provided promising early results, prompting multiple phase III studies in lung cancer. The findings are being...
The UK-led STAMPEDE trial found that adding docetaxel chemotherapy to standard hormone therapy markedly improved survival for men with newly diagnosed advanced prostate cancer not previously treated with hormone therapy (hormone-naive). Men who received docetaxel plus standard therapy lived on...
The number of surgeries performed on terminally ill cancer patients has not dropped in recent years, despite more attention to the importance of less invasive care for these patients to relieve symptoms and improve quality of life. But new research from the University of California, Davis, also...
The dual mTOR inhibitor AZD2014, when combined with the hormonal therapy fulvestrant (Faslodex), was found to be safe in patients with advanced estrogen receptor–positive breast cancer, and some of them experienced clinical benefit from the drug combination, according to phase I clinical...
Combining the immunostimulatory anti-CD40 monoclonal antibody CP-870,893 with the immune checkpoint inhibitor tremelimumab was found to be safe, with clinical evidence of response in patients with advanced melanoma, according to phase I clinical trial data presented at the AACR Annual Meeting 2015, ...
Giving the two immunotherapies ipilimumab (Yervoy) and nivolumab (Opdivo) simultaneously yielded better treatment responses than ipilimumab alone in patients with advanced melanoma who received no prior treatment, according to phase II clinical trial data presented at the AACR Annual Meeting 2015,...
Patients with advanced cancers who received mesothelin-directed chimeric antigen receptor–modified T cells (CART-meso), a type of investigational adoptive immunotherapy, tolerated the treatment well, and there was evidence that the infused immune cells persisted in the patients’ blood...
Diabetes is associated with more advanced stage breast cancer, according to a new study by the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) and Women's College Hospital. The findings, published by Lipscombe et al in Breast Cancer Research and Treatment, confirm a strong link between diabetes...
Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have identified eight highly specific physical and cognitive signs associated with imminent death in cancer patients. The findings, published by Hui et al in Cancer, could offer clinicians the ability to better communicate with...