TOP ESMO NEWS-PART II

1. Promising results suggest that the combination of bendamustine and rituximab could become the new standard, first-line treatment option for patients with advanced follicular, indolent, and mantle-cell lymphoma To further investigate the role of bendamustine and rituximab combination therapy, researchers from the German Study Group Indolent Lymphoma (StiL) initiated a multicenter, randomized, phase III study to compare the efficacy and safety of bendamustine plus rituximab versus CHOP plus rituximab as a potential first-line therapy for patients with follicular, indolent, and mantle-cell lymphoma. Study results revealed that bendamustine and rituximab combination therapy significantly improved progression-free survival and complete remission rates, while showing less toxicity than the current standard treatment. The results were presented at the 51st Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology (5–8 December 2009, New Orleans, USA) by lead author Dr Mathias J Rummel from the Department for Hematology at the University Hospital in Giessen, Germany. Read more…

2. Some patients with advanced thyroid cancer may benefit from sorafenib Dr Karen Heemstra of Leiden University, The Netherlands, reported at the Endocrine Society meeting (Washington, USA, 10–13 June 2009) that two-thirds of patients with advanced thyroid cancer benefited from treatment with the tyrosine kinase inhibitor sorafenib. This phase II clinical trial involved 31 patients with differentiated thyroid cancer who could not be treated with surgery or radioiodine ablation. Response to treatment was not related to histology. When grouped according to presence of bone metastases, patients in whom the cancer had not spread were significantly more likely to have objective responses or stable disease. Read more…

3. Gefitinib is superior to carboplatin–paclitaxel as an initial treatment for pulmonary adenocarcinoma among nonsmokers or former light smokers in East Asia In a phase III, open-label study, Dr Tony Mok of the Department of Clinical Oncology, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin, HKSAR, China, and colleagues from different East Asian sites, randomly assigned previously untreated patients with advanced pulmonary adenocarcinoma – either nonsmokers or former light smokers – to receive gefitinib or carboplatin plus paclitaxel. The researchers found that the presence in the tumor of a mutation of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene is a strong predictor of better outcome with gefitinib. Results were published in the 3 September 2009 edition of The New England Journal of Medicine. The resutls were presented first at the ESMO 2008 Congress in Stockholm, Sweden. Read more…

4. No survival benefit for early treatment of relapsed ovarian cancer based on CA125 levels only Findings from a multinational phase III trial – carried out by the Medical Research Council (MRC) and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) – indicate that early treatment of recurrent ovarian cancer based on rising CA125 biomarker levels does not improve overall survival compared with delaying treatment until symptoms emerge. Dr Gordon Rustin of the Mount Vernon Cancer Centre in Middlesex, UK, presented these results at the plenary session of the ASCO Annual Meeting (Orlando, USA, 29 May – 2 June 2009). They represent practice-changing data: CA125 levels should be assayed less frequently, with rapid access to CA125 measurement in patients who become symptomatic. Read more…

5. Clinical activity observed in a phase I dose escalation trial of an oral cMET and ALK inhibitor Results presented first at the ASCO Annual Meeting in Orlando, USA, this year and during the Best of 2009 session at the ECCO 15 – ESMO 34 Congress in Berlin by Dr Eunice Kwak of the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Boston, USA, suggest that translocations for decades have been the hallmark of hematologic malignancies and that this represents a new finding in solid tumors. EML4-ALK possesses potent oncogenic activity both in vitro and in vivo. Discussing results of this first-in-humans, phase I dose escalation study, Prof. José Baselga of the Vall d’Hebron Hospital, Barcelona, Spain, said that 2009 will be remembered for the development of PF 02341066, a selective, ATP-competitive, small-molecule oral inhibitor of the cMET/HGFR and ALK receptor tyrosine kinases. Read more…

6. Denosumab in men receiving androgen-deprivation therapy for prostate cancer Dr Matthew R Smith of the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Boston, USA, led a Denosumab HALT Prostate Cancer Study Group to investigate the denosumab effects on bone mineral density and fractures in men receiving androgen-deprivation therapy for nonmetastatic prostate cancer. Denosumab is a fully human monoclonal antibody against receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB ligand. Investigators published the study results in the 20 August 2009 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine and found that denosumab was associated with increased bone mineral density at all sites and a reduction in the incidence of new vertebral fractures. Read more…

7. PARP-inhibitors hold promise for patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer and BRCA 1/2 deficient breast cancer Treatment with BSI-201, a poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1) inhibitor, in combination with gemcitabine/carboplatin, prolonged both progression-free and overall survival for patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer. Dr Joyce A O’Shaughnessy of the Baylor Sammons Cancer Center, Dallas, US, presented the results of a randomized, multicenter, phase II trial on behalf of the US Oncology investigators during the plenary session of the ASCO Annual Meeting (Orlando, USA, 31 May 2009). The promising safety and efficacy results have prompted the initiation of a phase III study. A second phase II study found that 40% of women with advanced BRCA-deficient breast cancer experienced tumor shrinkage after receiving the PARP-inhibitor olaparib. The results were presented at the same meeting by Dr Andrew Tutt of Kings College London, UK. Read more…