Articles

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women. In 2010, there were an estimated 207,090 new cases and 39,840 deaths.¹ Despite many improvements in the treatment of breast cancer, about 20% to 30% of women with the disease will progress to metastatic breast cancer (MBC). Although MBC remains incurable, a variety of treatment options are available. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved eribulin (Halaven), providing an exciting new option for women with heavily pretreated MBC.

After a diagnosis of cancer, patients often initiate or increase their use of vitamins and dietary supplements, and their use is prevalent among the 11.7 million adults in the United States living with cancer. Whereas 50% of healthy adults take 1 or more dietary supplements, between 64% and 81% of cancer survivors report that they use vitamin or dietary supplements.¹ Reasons offered for using these alternative therapies include strengthening the immune system, increasing the chance to be cured, and gaining a sense of control over their disease.

Over the past year, data regarding 2 specific ovarian cancer management strategies have generated considerable interest within the clinical gynecologic cancer community among patients, clinicians, and re - searchers. One strategy involves the use of bevacizumab (Avastin), and the other approach centers on poly(ADPribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors.

Imatinib (Gleevec) revolutionized the treatment of Philadelphia chromosome– positive chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and established targeting and inhibiting BCR-ABL as the standard of care.¹ In 2009, 8-year follow- up data from the landmark phase 3 IRIS (International Randomized Study of Interferon Versus STI571) trial were presented for the 553 patients with newly diagnosed chronic-phase (CP) CML randomized to imatinib.

For women with stage II to III estrogen receptor–rich, HER2-negative breast cancer, neoadjuvant aromatase inhibitor (AI) therapy can increase the likelihood of successful breast-conservation surgery. According to phase 2 results of American College of Surgeons Oncology Group Z1031, exemestane, letrozole, and anastrozole are biologically equivalent and therefore likely to achieve similar adjuvant activities. The researchers concluded that because this is a low-toxicity approach, neoadjuvant AI therapy is a reasonable standard of care for selected members of this population.

A clinicopathologic staging system for diffuse malignant peritoneal mesothelioma (DMPM) stratifies survival through tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) criteria. Using prospectively collected data from 8 institutions, the developers identified 3 prognostic factors independently associated with survival: peritoneal cancer index, lymph node status, and extra-abdominal metastasis. The developers based the TNM system on these 3 factors, which they identified as influenced by disease progression from a set of 7 factors associated with improved survival in their univariate analysis of the data.

Objective response rates, median progression-free survival, and overall survival increased in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and sunitinib-induced hypertension, according to results of a retrospective analysis of more than 500 RCC patients treated with sunitinib. The rate of adverse events did not increase in hypertensive patients, except for renal adverse events (5% vs 3%). Because of the ease of clinical monitoring, the researchers concluded that, if prospectively validated, sunitinib-induced hypertension will make a desirable biomarker in these patients.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved everolimus (Afinitor, Novartis) for progressive neuroendocrine tumors of pancreatic origin (PNET) in patients with unresectable, locally advanced, metastatic disease.