Results from a large cohort study showed that psychological stress is associated with increased cancer-specific mortality among women with cervical cancer, independent of tumor characteristics and treatment modality. The findings support the integration of psychological screening and intervention...
According to the World Health Organization, approximately 70% of cervical cancers worldwide are caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV) types 16 and 18. In 2006, the HPV vaccine was introduced in the United States to prevent HPV-associated morbidity and mortality. A study analyzing data on the...
A large population-based study by Soisson et al examining the long-term cardiovascular outcomes among survivors of endometrial cancer has found that women were at higher risk for a number of cardiovascular risks, including hypertension; diseases of the arteries, arterioles, and capillaries;...
The cost-effectiveness of population-based panel testing for the known high- and moderate-penetrance ovarian and breast cancer mutations, including BRCA1, BRCA2, RAD51C, RAD51D, BRIP1, and PALB2, was not known. Now, a study evaluating the cost-effectiveness of screening the general population for...
The main goal of cervical screening programs is to detect and treat precancer before the cancer develops. Human papillomavirus (HPV) testing is more sensitive than cytology for detecting precancer. However, reports of rare HPV-negative, cytology-positive cancers are motivating the continued use of...
Health-care systems use performance measures for cervical cancer screening based on guidelines from such organizations as the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists to monitor the appropriateness of cervical cancer screening. According to the performance measure in the Healthcare...
According to the National Cancer Institute, uterine sarcomas are rare gynecologic malignancies comprising between 2% and 5% of all uterine malignancies. Leiomyosarcomas, which arise from myometrial muscle, account for 30% of all uterine sarcomas. These aggressive, rare cancers are characterized by...
Although many studies have linked obesity with an increased risk for endometrial cancer, information about the influence of weight loss on the cancer in postmenopausal women has been limited. Now, a study by Luo et al evaluating the association of weight change and endometrial cancer risk among...
Although high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) is essential for developing high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN2 and CIN3) and has also been associated with noncervical anogenital cancers, little is known about the long-term risk for anal, vulvar, and vaginal cancer following a...
Although most patients with advanced ovarian cancer initially respond to platinum-based chemotherapy, they usually relapse. According to a study by Böhm et al published in Clinical Cancer Research, neoadjuvant chemotherapy seemed to alter the immune cells in the tumors of patients with...
Previously published reports from the randomized phase III Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG) protocol 240 clinical trial showed that adding bevacizumab (Avastin) to a chemotherapy regimen of paclitaxel plus cisplatin or topotecan significantly increased overall survival and progression-free survival ...
A nationwide online survey of 776 pediatricians and family physicians assessing the quality of their human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine recommendations to parents has found that a sizable minority of physicians—27%—said they do not strongly endorse HPV vaccination, and 26% and 39%...
Cytology-based screening has led to substantial declines in cervical cancer incidence and mortality since it was introduced in the 1940s. A population-based, cost-effective analysis investigating the benefits, costs, and cost-effectiveness of current cervical cancer screening practice, however, has ...
An observational study investigating the use and effectiveness of a combination regimen of intraperitoneal and intravenous chemotherapy in the treatment of advanced-stage ovarian cancer has found that although the dual approach substantially improved survival—81% of those treated with the...
Researchers have identified a gene in dendritic cells that disables an effective immune response against ovarian cancer tumors. In preclinical studies, the researchers found that silencing this gene, XBP1, in dendritic cells restores their function and enhances T-cell antitumor immunity. XBP1 is...
To provide guidance on high-value cancer care screening strategies, the American College of Physicians (ACP) recently reviewed clinical guidelines issued by various medical organizations for screening strategies in five common cancers for asymptomatic, average-risk adults. The five cancers focused...
The American College of Physicians (ACP) released its clinical advice for cervical cancer screening in asymptomatic, average-risk women 21 years or older. Women at average risk are defined as those with no history of a precancerous lesion (cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2 or a more severe ...
A study by Brohl et al investigating the case incidence of unexpected uterine sarcoma following surgery for presumed benign leiomyoma (fibroids or myomas) has found that the risk of unexpected uterine sarcoma varies significantly across age groups, with a more than fivefold difference between the...
Last December, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved olaparib (Lynparza) in the treatment of advanced ovarian cancer in women with BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutations. Now, a laboratory study by Ceccaldi et al has found that the drug may also be effective in breast and ovarian tumors that...
A large population-based analysis of women 65 and older in the United States diagnosed with endometrial cancer has found that women with metabolic syndrome—characterized by low HDL cholesterol, hypertension, high triglycerides, and elevated waist circumference—have an increased risk of...
A study of a nine-valent human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine that provides protection against HPV types 6, 11, 16, 18, 31, 33, 45, 52, and 58, has found it to be highly safe and efficacious. If vaccination programs with this new-generation vaccine are effectively implemented, approximately 90% of...
A phase Ib clinical trial of the tablet form of olaparib, a PARP inhibitor, in combination with paclitaxel and carboplatin chemotherapy in heavily pretreated patients with advanced-stage ovarian cancer finds the drug to be safe and effective, especially in those women with BRCA gene mutations. The...
A new evidence-based clinical practice guideline from the American College of Physicians (ACP) is recommending that physicians should not offer routine pelvic examinations to asymptomatic, average-risk, nonpregnant women. The recommendation stems from a review of 52 published articles from 1946...
A study by researchers from Danbury Hospital Biomedical Research Institute in Connecticut has found that patients with ovarian cancer who relapse shortly after neoadjuvant chemotherapy to shrink their tumor prior to surgery have high levels of expression of HGF and c-Met proteins. The...
Inhibiting enzymes that cause changes in gene expression could decrease chemotherapy resistance in patients with ovarian cancer, according to research by Cacan et al. The study investigated the silencing of RGS10 expression in ovarian cells by epigenetics and identified two epigenetic regulators,...
Women infected with HIV are disproportionally affected by human papillomavirus (HPV)-related anogenital disease, particularly with increased immunosuppression. In a clinical study of 319 HIV-infected women in the United States, Brazil, and South Africa, researchers assessed the immunogenicity and...
A large-scale genetic analysis of women with ovarian cancer with no known family histories of breast or ovarian cancer has found that one-fifth of them had inherited alterations in genes known to be associated with these cancers. The findings could lead to the development of better screening...
Results from the Costa Rica HPV16/18 Vaccine Trial (CVT) has found that 4-year efficacy against 12-month HPV16/18 persistent infection was similarly high among women who received one, two, or the recommended three doses of the bivalent HPV16/18 L1 virus-like particle vaccine (Cervarix). The...
Vaccines currently available to prevent the two most common strains of human papillomavirus (HPV), HPV 16 and 18, responsible for about 70% of cervical cancers, may not be protective in African American women, according to a study by Cathrine Hoyo, PhD, MPH, Associate Professor in the Obstetrics...
A study by Alexi Wright, MD, MPH, and colleagues at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston has found that two common subtypes of cervical cancer, adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, have distinct molecular profiles. The results suggest that clinical...
In a study of ovarian cancer cells taken from patients, scientists from Georgia Institute of Technology have confirmed that metastasizing cancer cells have a different molecular structure from primary tumor cells and display genetic signatures consistent with epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition....
For the first time since the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine became available for adolescent girls in 2006, the vaccination rate for the teenagers has stalled, according to data published in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly...
A new government study investigating the prevalence of human papillomavirus (HPV) infections in females aged 14 to 59 before and after the introduction in 2006 of the HPV vaccine found that the rate of the HPV infection dropped by 56%, decreasing from 11.5% in 2006 to 5.1% in 2010 among female...