ONCOLOGY Vol 24 No 5

It can alleviate adverse effects of cancer treatment, but can it also be used as a chemopreventive?

Dr. Abbas and colleagues delineate the current status of chemoradiation for anal carcinoma. Their thorough and thoughtful review serves as an excellent summation of the current therapeutic approach of the past few years.

The treatment of anal squamous cell cancer with definitive chemoradiation is the gold-standard therapy for localized anal cancer, primarily because of its sphincter-saving and colostomy-sparing potential.

Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) targeting the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), such as erlotinib (Tarceva) and gefitinib (Iressa), have shown remarkable activity in a portion of patients with non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

It is estimated that more than 1.5 million individuals in the United States will be diagnosed with cancer this year. Of these, nearly 145,000 will be diagnosed with non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

The review by Oxnard and Miller provides a thoughtful update on the use of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) gefitinib (Iressa) and erlotinib (Tarceva) as front-line therapy in patients with non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Dr. Fakih and colleagues provide a detailed and thoughtful review of the role of chemoradiation in anal cancer treatment. They have included a comprehensive description of the epidemiology and risk factors for the development of squamous cell carcinoma of the anal canal, including the strong association with human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and increased incidence in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive individuals.

Trastuzumab (Herceptin) has dramatically changed the treatment of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive breast cancer.

This review explores the use of several such agents, including lapatinib (Tykerb), HSP90 inhibitors, T-DM1, and other tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Emerging data from trials of these agents indicate that the HER2 pathway remains a valid therapeutic target following disease progression on trastuzumab.