Ed Susman

Enlivening the public discussion about cancer biobanking will speed up the collection of specimens for research supporting the goal of personalized medicine. Biobanking is particularly important in minority populations, who experience a disproportionally greater burden of cancer incidence and mortality. But rather than unilaterally creating and launching a public education program, community medicine specialists in Florida first solicited public input.

Results from an observational study strongly indicated that circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are an independent prognostic marker in metastatic breast cancer at first-line chemotherapy, and an early predictive marker of clinical benefit after one cycle of chemotherapy. But questions remain about the value of CTCs for guiding treatment decision-making.

The SUCCESS adjuvant therapy trial enrolled 2,026 women with primary breast cancer and no clinical evidence of metastatic disease. Disease-free survival at three years was 88.1% in women with one or more circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in their peripheral blood before undergoing chemotherapy compared with 93.7% in women with no CTCs.

Metformin, a biguanide antidiabetic drug administered orally, could play a critical role in controlling, and possibly preventing, lung cancer in at-risk patients. Animal studies conducted at NCI demonstrated that treating mice with metformin reduced lung tumor volume by about 50%.

Modifiable-risk biomarkers are increasingly being used in early-phase research to guide larger prevention trials.

Cancer survival notwithstanding, patients must still be encouraged to maintain a healthy lifestyle to help avoid progression.

Success of adaptive randomization in BATTLE could provide new strategy in cancer trials. NSCLC also gain another tool for maintenance therapy.

Cabazitaxel, an investigational taxane, significantly extended survival among prostate cancer patients whose disease had progressed despite hormone therapy.

Adding gemcitabine (Gemzar) to concurrent radiotherapy and cisplatinum in invasive bladder cancer could preserve the organ even when the tumor has invaded the muscle.

Patients who undergo resection of all metastatic kidney lesions, especially of disease that has spread to the lungs, appear to have outcomes as good as patients who have only a single surgery.

Prostate cancer patients administered high doses of proton-beam therapy appear to have a markedly reduced risk of disease recurrence when compared with other low-risk patients treated with conventional radiation therapy, according to two recent studies.

NEW ORLEANS-A new treatment for patients who are severely debilitated by myelofibrosis offers hope of a return to normal daily life. Preliminary studies with an oral drug INCB018424 that targets the Janus-activated kinase (JAK) 2 gene appears to markedly reduce the swelling of the spleen and sometimes the liver, which can, in turn, can change patients’ quality of life.

CHICAGO-Radiation of the lymph nodes of high-risk melanoma patients appears to significantly reduce the risk that cancer will recur in those nodes, researchers said at ASTRO 2009. The study was deemed practice-changing, representing the first advance in the management of melanoma in nearly two decades.

CHICAGO-In lung cancer patients, stereotactic body radiation therapy achieved a 98% local control rate that persisted over three years in those who were too frail with comorbidities to undergo surgery, according to research presented at ASTRO 2009.

SAN FRANCISCO-Studies have identified specific volatile organic compounds in the breath of lung cancer patients, but the origin of those compounds is still ambiguous: Are they from the tumor itself, the tumor micro-environment, or a reaction to the tumor by the human body?

SAN FRANCISCO–Maintenance therapy with erlotinib (Tarceva) in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer following chemotherapy provided a statistically significant improvement in survival, according to results from the SATURN trial.

The detection of cytokeratin 19-positive/HER2-positive circulating tumor cells in early breast cancer patients both before and after adjuvant chemotherapy predicts extremely poor outcomes, according to European investigators.

DENVER-Candidate genes and epigenetics are key components in the effort to develop and deploy personalized cancer prevention and treatment. Several studies at AACR 2009 took a closer look at both those research pathways.

DENVER-Studies at AACR 2009 demonstrated the early identification of patients who may be susceptible to various forms of leukemia and lymphoma, and hinted at therapies for prevention and treatment.

DENVER—From angiogenesis to adhesion molecules to stromal factors, studies on the microenvironment offer a closer look at the cellular networks behind cancer. The microenvironment can also influence the body's access to therapeutic drugs and its ability to process those drugs.

DENVER—Candidate genes and epigenetics are key components in the effort to develop and deploy personalized cancer prevention and treatment. Several studies at the AACR took a closer look at both those research pathways.