As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Twist et al, use of reduced therapy for subsets of pediatric patients with intermediate-risk neuroblastoma in the Children’s Oncology Group (COG) study ANBL0531 did not affect the excellent overall survival rates observed in prior COG studies ...
In a phase II trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Fangusaro et al found that the MEK1/2 inhibitor selumetinib was active in pediatric patients with recurrent, refractory, or progressive pilocytic astrocytoma with common BRAF aberrations and neurofibromatosis type 1...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Olivier et al found that pediatric patients with severe sensorineural hearing loss associated with the treatment of embryonal brain tumors experienced greater reading difficulties over time. The study involved data from 260 children and...
In a retrospective cohort study reported in JAMA Oncology, Cagney et al found that pachymeningeal seeding was fairly common after neurosurgical resection in patients with brain metastases treated with adjuvant stereotactic radiation. Study Details The study involved 1,188 consecutive patients...
In a report from the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Salloum et al found that changes in medulloblastoma therapy over 3 decades that have improved survival have also increased risk for subsequent neoplasms and debilitating health conditions. As noted...
In a German phase III trial (CeTeG/NOA–09) reported in The Lancet, Herrlinger et al found that the addition of adjuvant lomustine to temozolomide and radiotherapy improved overall survival in newly diagnosed glioblastoma with methylated MGMT promoter. The researchers noted that findings...
In a phase II trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Wen et al found minimal activity of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) inhibitor buparlisib in patients with recurrent glioblastoma with PI3K pathway activation. The study included 2 cohorts. In cohort 1, 14 evaluable patients ...
In a study reported by Arrillaga-Romany et al in the Journal of Oncology Practice, a team at Massachusetts General Hospital found that implementation of a hospital pathway consisting of a dedicated admission protocol for patients with newly identified single brain masses and no history of cancer...
In a retrospective cohort study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Wolf et al found that patients undergoing Gamma Knife stereotactic radiosurgery for nonmalignant neurosurgical conditions did not appear to be at long-term increased risk of radiation-associated secondary intracranial malignancy or...
In the Italian phase II REGOMA trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Lombardi et al found that regorafenib was associated with improved overall survival vs lomustine in patients with relapsed glioblastoma. In the open-label trial, 119 patients from 10 Italian sites were randomly assigned between...
In an international phase III trial (HR-NBL1/SIOPEN) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Ladenstein et al found that the addition of interleukin (IL)-2 to dinutuximab beta did not improve event-free survival in children and young people with high-risk neuroblastoma. Study Details The current report...
As reported by Hwang et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, subsequent molecular profiling of histologically diagnosed central nervous system supratentorial primitive neuroectodermal tumors (CNS-PNET) in patients showed molecular and clinical heterogeneity that strongly affected prognosis. The ...
In a multicohort study (VE-BASKET study) in patients with BRAF V600–mutant nonmelanoma cancers in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Kaley et al found evidence of activity of vemurafenib (Zelboraf) in gliomas that appeared to vary by glioma subtype. Study Details In the study, 24...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Vatner et al identified factors associated with an increased risk of endocrine deficiency in pediatric and young adult patients receiving radiation therapy for brain tumors, including hypothalamus and pituitary radiation dose. Study Details ...
In a subgroup analysis of the phase III FLAURA trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Reungwetwattana et al found evidence of greater central nervous system (CNS) activity of osimertinib (Tagrisso) vs standard EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors in patients with previously untreated...
In the phase II CheckMate 204 study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Tawbi et al found that combined nivolumab (Opdivo) and ipilimumab (Yervoy) produced a high rate of intracranial clinical benefit in patients with melanoma brain metastases. Study Details The study included 94...
In a phase II trial funded by the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer and reported in The Lancet Oncology, van den Bent et al found no evidence of a survival benefit with the addition of bevacizumab (Avastin) to temozolomide in patients with a first recurrence of World Health ...
In a report from the St. Jude Lifetime Cohort Study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Brinkman et al found that 60% of adult survivors of pediatric central nervous system (CNS) tumors do not achieve full functional or social independence in adult life. In the study, functional and...
In a study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Desjardins and colleagues found that convection-enhanced intratumoral delivery of a recombinant nonpathogenic polio–rhinovirus chimera (PVSRIPO) was not associated with neurovirulence in patients with recurrent grade IV glioma and...
In a Japanese phase III noninferiority trial (JCOG0504) reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Kayama et al found that salvage stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) was noninferior to whole brain radiation therapy (WBRT) for survival in patients with 1 to 4 resected brain metastases. In the...
In a phase II trial (SJYC07) reported in The Lancet Oncology, Robinson et al found that risk-adapted treatment did not improve event-free survival in young children with medulloblastoma. Analysis by methylation status showed superior outcome in the sonic hedgehog (SHH) subgroup. Study Details The ...
In a report from the diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) registries of the International and European Societies for Pediatric Oncology, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Hoffman et al identified characteristics of long-term survivors among pediatric and young adult...
In a phase Ib trial reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Omuro et al found evidence of activity of carboxyamidotriazole orotate plus temozolomide in patients with recurrent anaplastic gliomas or glioblastoma and previously untreated glioblastoma. Carboxyamidotriazole orotate is an...
In an Australian phase II trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Long et al found that the combination of nivolumab (Opdivo) and ipilimumab (Yervoy) and nivolumab alone showed intracranial activity in patients with melanoma brain metastases. Study Details In the open-label trial, 76 evaluable...
In a study reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Depuydt et al identified two genomic copy number aberrations associated with risk of extremely poor survival in patients with high-risk neuroblastoma. Study Details The international collaborative study included normalized...
In a phase II study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Grill et al found that the addition of bevacizumab (Avastin) to radiotherapy plus temozolomide (RT + TMZ) did not improve event-free survival in pediatric patients with newly diagnosed high-grade glioma. Study Details In the...
Final results of a phase III trial reported by Stupp and colleagues in JAMA indicate that adding antimitotic treatment with tumor-treating fields to maintenance temozolomide is associated with improved progression-free and overall survival in patients with previously treated glioblastoma. The...
In a phase III trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Wick et al found that adding bevacizumab (Avastin) to lomustine at first disease progression did not improve overall survival in patients with progressive glioblastoma. Study Details In the trial, 437 patients with disease...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Wang et al have developed a model for predicting risk of subsequent central nervous system (CNS) tumors in survivors of childhood cancer. Study Details In the study, matched childhood cancer survivors with (n = 82) and without (n = 228) subsequent...
The phase III ACT IV study has shown no survival benefit of adding rindopepimut, a vaccine targeting the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) deletion mutation EGFRvIII, to temozolomide in patients with newly diagnosed EGFRvIII-positive glioblastoma. These findings were reported by Weller et al...
Interim results of the phase III CATNON trial (EORTC study 26053-22054) indicate a survival benefit of adjuvant temozolomide in 1p/19q non-codeleted anaplastic glioma. These findings were reported in The Lancet by van den Bent et al. Study Details In the open-label 2 x 2 factorial trial, 745...
An analysis reported by Lassaletta et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology showed that BRAF V600E mutation is associated with a poor outcome in pediatric low-grade gliomas treated with standard adjuvant therapy. Study Details The study involved patients with low-grade gliomas with long-term...
In a U.S. single-institution study reported in The Lancet Oncology, Mahajan et al found that stereotactic radiosurgery to the surgical cavity reduced local recurrence vs observation in patients with completely resected brain metastases. Study Details In the trial, 128 evaluable patients at MD...
In the phase III NCCTG N107C/CEC.3 trial, stereotactic radiosurgery to the surgical cavity reduced cognitive deterioration and was associated with similar overall survival vs whole-brain radiotherapy in patients with resected brain metastasis. These results were reported by Brown et al in The...
A randomized phase II trial (Children’s Oncology Group [COG] ANBL1221) has resulted in the selection of dinutuximab (Unituxin) plus irinotecan/temozolomide as a regimen to be further evaluated in the treatment of pediatric patients with refractory or relapsed neuroblastoma. Study results were ...
A consensus statement from a National Cancer Institute–sponsored clinical trials planning meeting, reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Park et al, presents revisions to the International Neuroblastoma Response Criteria (INRC) for assessing treatment response in patients with...
In a phase III trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Perry et al found that adding temozolomide to short-course radiotherapy improved overall survival in patients aged ≥ 65 years with newly diagnosed glioblastoma. The survival advantage was largest among patients with methylated ...
In a phase III trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Ladenstein et al found that high-dose chemotherapy with busulfan and melphalan vs carboplatin, etoposide, and melphalan was associated with an improved event-free survival in patients with high-risk neuroblastoma and adequate disease response to ...
In a study reported in JAMA Oncology, Bell et al derived a molecular-based recursive partitioning analysis model for overall survival in glioblastoma multiforme in the temozolomide era with the aim of refining existing clinically based models. Study Details The study involved analysis of 452...
In a brief report in The New England Journal of Medicine, Brown et al described regression of glioblastoma after chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy. A 50-year-old patient with recurrent multifocal glioblastoma after tumor resection, radiation therapy, and temozolomide was treated with...
As reported by Erik P. Sulman, MD, PhD, of MD Anderson Cancer Center, and colleagues in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, ASCO has endorsed the 2016 American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) evidence-based guideline on radiation therapy for glioblastoma. The endorsement was based on review of ...
In an analysis of patients with high-risk neuroblastoma from the Children’s Oncology Group A3973 study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, von Allmen et al found that surgeon-assessed resection of at least 90% was associated with improved event-free survival and a reduced cumulative ...
In a case report in Cancer Biology & Therapy, Lou et al described an exceptional response to first-line treatment with the hedgehog inhibitor vismodegib (Erivedge) in a 51-year-old patient with a history of basal cell carcinoma who was diagnosed with an unresectable/multifocal form of adult...
Clement et al found that 25% of survivors of childhood brain tumors were diagnosed with endocrine disorders over 6.6 years of follow-up, based on a Dutch nationwide study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The study involved data from 718 survivors diagnosed at age ≤ 18 years with a...
In the phase III EORTC (European Organisation for Research and Treatment) 22033-26033 intergroup trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Baumert et al found no progression-free survival difference between temozolomide chemotherapy and radiotherapy alone in patients with high-risk low-grade glioma....
In a UK-based phase III noninferiority trial (QUARTZ) reported in The Lancet, Mulvenna et al found that use of whole-brain radiotherapy in addition to optimal supportive care including dexamethasone was associated with little additional benefit in non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients...
In a phase II Canadian Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium Study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Lassaletta et al found that vinblastine monotherapy was associated with response or stable disease in most children with chemotherapy-naive low-grade glioma. Vinblastine monotherapy has shown ...
Next-generation sequencing identified clinically relevant somatic alterations in cancer-associated genes in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with central nervous system (CNS) cancers, according to a report by Pentsova et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Somatic Alterations The study...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Forlenza et al found that noninteracting KIR3DL1 and HLA-B subtypes were associated with better response to anti-GD2 antibody treatment in neuroblastoma. Study Details Treatment of neuroblastoma with anti-GD2 monoclonal antibody (eg, the...
The addition of chemotherapy with procarbazine, lomustine, and vincristine to radiotherapy significantly prolonged overall survival in patients with low-grade glioma, according to the final results of the phase III RTOG 9802 trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine by Buckner et al. A...