Therapeutic Advances in Medical Oncology This is an RSS file. You can use it to subscribe to this data in your favourite RSS reader or to display this data on your own website or blog.

Phase II study of gemcitabine plus S-1 chemotherapy in recurrent and metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients after failure of platinum-based chemotherapy
Conclusions: Gemcitabine plus S-1 offers a satisfactory clinical activity and an acceptable safety profile for recurrent and metastatic NPC patients after failure of platinum-based chemotherapy. (Source: Therapeutic Advances in Medical Oncology)
Source: Therapeutic Advances in Medical Oncology - May 8, 2016 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Peng, P., Ou, X., Liao, H., Liu, Y., Wang, S., Cheng, Z., Lin, Z. Tags: Original Research Source Type: research

Treatment approach in patients with hyperbilirubinemia secondary to liver metastases in gastrointestinal malignancies: a case series and review of literature
Conclusion: Treatment with oxaliplatin, FP/FA ± moAb is feasible and may derive relevant benefits in patients with severe liver dysfunction caused by GI cancer liver metastases without further options of drainage. (Source: Therapeutic Advances in Medical Oncology)
Source: Therapeutic Advances in Medical Oncology - May 8, 2016 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Quidde, J., Azemar, M., Bokemeyer, C., Arnold, D., Stein, A. Tags: Original Research Source Type: research

Targeting dormant micrometastases: rationale, evidence to date and clinical implications
In spite of decades of research, cancer survival has increased only modestly. This is because most research is based on models of primary tumors. Slow recognition has begun that disseminated, dormant cancer cells (micrometastatic cells) that are generally resistant to chemotherapy are the culprits in recurrence, and until these are targeted effectively we can expect only slow progress in increasing overall survival from cancer. This paper reviews efforts to understand the mechanisms by which cancer cells can become dormant, and thereby identify potential targets and drugs either on the market or in clinical trials that pur...
Source: Therapeutic Advances in Medical Oncology - February 11, 2016 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Hurst, R. E., Bastian, A., Bailey-Downs, L., Ihnat, M. A. Tags: Reviews Source Type: research

Novel targets in the treatment of advanced gastric cancer: a perspective review
Gastric cancer is responsible for a high burden of disease globally. Although more extensive use of chemotherapy together with the recent introduction of the two targeted agents trastuzumab and ramucirumab have contributed to marginal outcome prolongation, overall survival for patients with advanced stage disease remains poor. Over the last decade, a number of novel agents have been examined in clinical trials with largely disappointing results. Potential explanations for this are the absence of molecularly selected trial populations or weak predictive biomarkers within the context of a highly heterogeneous disease. In the...
Source: Therapeutic Advances in Medical Oncology - February 11, 2016 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Fontana, E., Smyth, E. C. Tags: Reviews Source Type: research

Efficacy and toxicity of salvage weekly paclitaxel chemotherapy in non-Asian patients with advanced oesophagogastric adenocarcinoma
Conclusions: OGA cancer patients treated at RMH with salvage paclitaxel had an OS equivalent to patients in clinical trials with more (33%) PS = 2 patients treated and less haematological toxicity than Asian patients. Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) PS more than or equal to 2, ALP more than or equal to 100 U/L, and prior platinum rechallenge were associated with poor survival. However, the proportion of patients surviving more than or equal to two years from diagnosis demonstrates a clinically relevant improvement from historical controls. (Source: Therapeutic Advances in Medical Oncology)
Source: Therapeutic Advances in Medical Oncology - February 11, 2016 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Tarazona, N., Smyth, E. C., Peckit, C., Chau, I., Watkins, D., Rao, S., Starling, N., Cunningham, D. Tags: Original Research Source Type: research

Postmastectomy radiation therapy after neoadjuvant chemotherapy: review and interpretation of available data
Postmastectomy radiotherapy (PMRT) has been shown to decrease locoregional recurrence and improve overall survival in patients with tumors greater than 5 cm or positive nodes. Because neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) can cause significant downstaging, the indications for PMRT in the setting of NAC remain controversial and thus careful consideration of clinical stage at presentation, pathologic response to NAC, and other clinical characteristics, such as grade and biomarker status is required. The current review synthesizes both prospective and retrospective data to provide evidence for recommending PMRT after NAC for patient...
Source: Therapeutic Advances in Medical Oncology - December 22, 2015 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Kishan, A. U., McCloskey, S. A. Tags: Reviews Source Type: research

Pharmacologic resistance in colorectal cancer: a review
Colorectal cancer (CRC) persists as one of the most prevalent and deadly tumor types in both men and women worldwide. This is in spite of widespread, effective measures of preventive screening, and also major advances in treatment options. Despite advances in cytotoxic and targeted therapy, resistance to chemotherapy remains one of the greatest challenges in long-term management of incurable metastatic disease and eventually contributes to death as tumors accumulate means of evading treatment. We performed a comprehensive literature search on the data available through PubMed, Medline, Scopus, and the ASCO Annual Symposium...
Source: Therapeutic Advances in Medical Oncology - December 22, 2015 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Hammond, W. A., Swaika, A., Mody, K. Tags: Reviews Source Type: research

Combination therapy with BRAF and MEK inhibitors for melanoma: latest evidence and place in therapy
Treatment with BRAF inhibitors such as vemurafenib or dabrafenib in patients with advanced BRAFV600 mutated melanoma has shown objective tumor responses in approximately half of the patients. However, the duration of responses is limited in a majority of these patients, with progression-free survival rates around 6 months due to tumor progression from development of acquired resistance. Preclinical studies have suggested that concurrent inhibition of the BRAF kinases and MEK of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway could decrease MAPK-driven acquired resistance, resulting in longer duration of responses, high...
Source: Therapeutic Advances in Medical Oncology - December 22, 2015 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Eroglu, Z., Ribas, A. Tags: Reviews Source Type: research

ALK inhibitors in non-small cell lung cancer: the latest evidence and developments
The treatment of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) harbouring chromosomal rearrangements of ALK (anaplastic lymphoma kinase) was revolutionized by crizotinib, a small molecule inhibitor of ALK, ROS1 and MET. Unfortunately, the disease progressed within the first 12 months in most of the patients because of the development of crizotinib resistance in the majority of patients and the emergence of acquired resistance mutations in most of them. Many of them had been reported even before its approval leading to the rapid development of second-generation ALK inhibitors for crizotinib-resistant NSCLC. In t...
Source: Therapeutic Advances in Medical Oncology - December 22, 2015 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Sullivan, I., Planchard, D. Tags: Reviews Source Type: research

Novel cancer antigens for personalized immunotherapies: latest evidence and clinical potential
The clinical success of monoclonal antibody immune checkpoint modulators such as ipilimumab, which targets cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 (CTLA-4), and the recently approved agents nivolumab and pembrolizumab, which target programmed cell death receptor 1 (PD-1), has stimulated renewed enthusiasm for anticancer immunotherapy, which was heralded by Science as ‘Breakthrough of the Year’ in 2013. As the potential of cancer immunotherapy has been recognized since the 1890s when William Coley showed that bacterial products could be beneficial in cancer patients, leveraging the immune system in the treat...
Source: Therapeutic Advances in Medical Oncology - December 22, 2015 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Wurz, G. T., Kao, C.-J., DeGregorio, M. W. Tags: Reviews Source Type: research

Therapeutic potential of TAS-102 in the treatment of gastrointestinal malignancies
Fluoropyrimidines form the mainstay in treatment of gastrointestinal malignancies. For decades 5-fluorouracil (5FU), was the major fluoropyrimidine. Currently it is usually given in a combination with leucovorin and oxaliplatin, i.e. FOLFOX, or irinotecan, i.e. FOLFIRI, or all three, i.e. FOLFIRINOX, but gradually it has been replaced by oral fluoropyrimidine prodrug formulations, such as tegafur-uracil and S-1 (both contain ftorafur), and capecitabine (Xeloda®). Novel drugs such as the antivascular endothelial growth factor antibody, bevacizumab, and the anti-epidermal growth factor receptor antibody, cetuximab, are o...
Source: Therapeutic Advances in Medical Oncology - October 20, 2015 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Peters, G. J. Tags: Reviews Source Type: research

Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 positive (HER2+) metastatic breast cancer: how the latest results are improving therapeutic options
Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 positive (HER2+) metastatic breast cancer (MBC) remains an incurable disease, and approximately 25% of patients with HER2+ early breast cancer still relapse after adjuvant trastuzumab-based treatment. HER2 is a validated therapeutic target that remains relevant throughout the disease process. Recently, a number of novel HER2 targeted agents have become available, including lapatinib (a small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor of both HER2 and the epidermal growth factor receptor), pertuzumab (a new anti-HER2 monoclonal antibody) and ado-trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1, a novel antibody...
Source: Therapeutic Advances in Medical Oncology - October 20, 2015 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Jiang, H., Rugo, H. S. Tags: Reviews Source Type: research

Optimal management of hormone receptor positive metastatic breast cancer in 2016
Hormone receptor positive tumors represent the most common form of breast cancer and account for most of the deaths from the disease. Endocrine therapy represents the main initial therapeutic strategy for these patients and has been associated with significant clinical benefits in a majority of patients. While in early stages endocrine therapy is administered as part of a curative approach once clinical metastases develop, the disease is considered incurable and the main management objectives are tumor control and quality of life. The two major clinical paradigms of always indicating endocrine therapy in the absence of vis...
Source: Therapeutic Advances in Medical Oncology - October 20, 2015 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Reinert, T., Barrios, C. H. Tags: Reviews Source Type: research

Skeletal adverse effects with aromatase inhibitors in early breast cancer: evidence to date and clinical guidance
Aromatase inhibitors (AIs) are routinely used in the adjuvant treatment of women with hormone receptor-positive early breast cancer. Patients who receive AIs have an increased risk of bone loss and arthralgia compared with those treated with tamoxifen. In addition to the effects of AIs, the population of women with early breast cancer has a high prevalence of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) insufficiency. In our experience 88% of patients had concentrations lower than 30 ng/ml. Vitamin D supplementation should be adapted to the baseline concentration. Another relevant finding in our research program was the close relationshi...
Source: Therapeutic Advances in Medical Oncology - August 20, 2015 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Servitja, S., Martos, T., Rodriguez Sanz, M., Garcia-Giralt, N., Prieto-Alhambra, D., Garrigos, L., Nogues, X., Tusquets, I. Tags: Reviews Source Type: research

Treating patients with ALK-positive non-small cell lung cancer: latest evidence and management strategy
Rearrangements in anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene and echinoderm microtubule-associated protein-like 4 (EML4) gene were first described in a small portion of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in 2007. Fluorescence in situ hybridization is used as the diagnostic test for detecting an EML4–ALK rearrangement. Crizotinib, an ALK inhibitor, is effective in treating advanced ALK-positive NSCLC, and the US Food and Drug Administration approved it for treating ALK-positive NSCLC in 2011. Several mechanisms of acquired resistance to crizotinib have recently been reported. Second-generation ALK inhibitors ...
Source: Therapeutic Advances in Medical Oncology - August 20, 2015 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Liao, B.-C., Lin, C.-C., Shih, J.-Y., Yang, J. C.-H. Tags: Reviews Source Type: research