abstract: Profiling clinical cancer research across the Atlantic: A review of research and its characteristics presented at ASCO and ESMO Congresses during the last decade

Conclusions

Cancer clinical research is a complex scientific activity with common global but also distinct characteristics at the two sides of the Atlantic.

Keywords

• Clinical research;
• Trials;
• Oncology Congresses;
• ASCO;
• ESMO

Does maternal or paternal inheritance of BRCA mutation affect the age of cancer diagnosis? 2011 ASCO Abstract

abstract #1501: Is hormone replacement therapy (HRT) following risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy (RRSO) in BRCA1 (B1)- and BRCA2 (B2)-mutation carriers associated with an increased risk of breast cancer? | 2011 ASCO Annual Meeting Abstracts

University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine - Women with BRCA mutations can take hormone-replacement therapy safely after ovary removal

CHICAGO) ––

Women with the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutations, which are linked to a very high risk of breast and ovarian cancer, can safely take hormone-replacement therapy (HRT) to mitigate menopausal symptoms after surgical removal of their ovaries, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania which will be presented Monday, June 6 during the American Society for Clinical Oncology's annual meeting (Abstract #1501). Results of the prospective study indicated that women with BRCA mutations who had their ovaries removed and took short-term HRT had a decrease in the risk of developing breast cancer...............

Domchek says some of the confusion about the role of HRT in cancer risk elevation comes from the fact that the risks and benefits associated with HRT depend on the population of women studied. In this group of women – who have BRCA1/2 mutations and who have had their ovaries removed while they are quite young – HRT should be discussed and considered an option for treating menopausal symptoms. "People want to make hormone replacement therapy evil, so they can say 'Don't do it,'" she says. "But there isn't one simple answer. The devil is in the details of the studies."

By contrast, Penn researchers and their collaborators in the PROSE consortium have shown definitively that oophorectomy reduces ovarian and breast cancer incidence in these women, and reduces their mortality due to those cancers. But paying attention to the role that hormone depletion following preventive oophorectomy plays in women's future health (blogger's note: eg. cardiovascular) is also important............"

OCRF: Preview of Ovarian Cancer Research News from ASCO

Over 4,000 research abstracts will be presented, including important research about advances in ovarian cancer treatment and care.  Below is a preview of a few of the major studies of interest to ovarian cancer patients:
• Long-Term Treatment with Olaparib May Help Treat Recurrent Ovarian Cancer
• Screening Does Not Reduce Deaths from Ovarian Cancer for the General Population
• Cabozantinib Helps Manage Several Advanced Cancers (including Ovarian) and Shrink Bone Metastases
• Genetic Variations Identify Patients Sensitive to Nerve Damage from Chemotherapy
To hear in-depth information about these studies, listen to a podcast from ASCO leaders which is alsoASCO’s patient education website.

Family Cancer Histories Are Not Highly Accurate --Doctors Lounge ASCO

Abstract
Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)
Editorial

abstract:  
Conclusions General population reports on family history for the four major adult cancers were not highly accurate. Efforts to improve accuracy are needed in primary care and other health-care settings in which family history is collected to ensure appropriate risk assessment and clinical care recommendations. 

ASCO: Ovarian CA Screening Tools Don’t Lower Death Risk --Doctors Lounge

2011 ASCO Annual Meeting - Join your colleagues from around the world at the 2011 ASCO Annual Meeting - announcements regarding clinical trial session

Search Sessions ASCO Advanced Planner annual meeting

Podcasts (numerous) - the Art of Oncology (ASCO)

American Society of Clinical Oncology Statement: Toward Individualized Care for Patients With Advanced Cancer — JCO

full free access: American Society of Clinical Oncology/American Society of Hematology Clinical Practice Guideline Update on the Use of Epoetin and Darbepoetin in Adult Patients With Cancer — JCO

"Editor's Note: This document represents an abridged version of the complete guideline update and contains updated recommendations with a brief discussion of the relevant literature. Readers should refer to the complete guideline update, which includes a comprehensive discussion and analysis of the literature and more evidence tables. The complete guideline is available at www.asco.org/guidelines/esa and http://www.hematology.org/guidelines/esa/."

Prime Oncology Clinical Spotlight: Chicago/Dr's Monk/Birrer - GOG128

prIME Oncology invites you to view important Clinical SpotlightsSM on new ovarian cancer data just released from the 2010 Oncology Annual Meeting in Chicago.
		View an expert analysis with Gini Fleming, MD, and Bradley Monk, MD, and a supplemental perspective and discussion with Bradley Monk, MD, and Michael Birrer, MD, PhD, regarding newly released data concerning targeting angiogenesis in the treatment of ovarian cancer as reported in the GOG-0218 trial. An eNewsflash and downloadable slide deck highlighting these new data accompany these interviews.
Click here to view the interviews, eNewsflash, and downloadable slide deck from this data release.

A prime example of the problem with some TV physician-"journalists" - Gary Schwitzer's HealthNewsReview Blog (ASCO/ovarian cancer/Avastin) + my response

Note: my response:

"In our own ovarian cancer patient communities and over the long term, as survivours/family caregivers, many of us have learned to question media articles and abstracts. The SGO published a statement regarding the GOG 218 study shortly after the media events. 

In addition, on June 5th in Chicago on a separate ovarian cancer seminar the issue of the new finding of GOG 218 were discussed. The over-riding bottom line is that Avastin is not the panacea for all that ails ovarian cancer women and should be used very selectively. On which patients is of primary interest (obviously).

The issue at stake for ovarian cancer women is that no new treatments in the past 2 decades have shown any improvements over the standard and current first line therapy of Taxol and Carboplatin. 

No matter how bad it gets (QOL) and it does get very 'bad', ovarian cancer women want to live and will suffer much to do so. We need to understand this mindset while at the same time considering first most patient safety and always acknowledging the 'hype'. 

There is a duty for all those who care for ovarian cancer women to be informed.
Twitter, blogs, facebook and social media help also to educate patients on these issues - we hope."

First-in-human trial of a poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor MK-4827 in advanced cancer patients (pts) with antitumor activity in BRCA-deficient and sporadic ovarian cancers (phase 1)

Results: 39 pts (male 10, female 29; median age 58 years; 11 BRCA mutation carriers) were treated...
Conclusions: MK-4827 is well tolerated, blocks PARP and has promising antitumor activity in both BRCA-deficient and sporadic cancers.

Efficacy of lower dose of weekly topotecan in recurrent epithelial ovarian and primary peritoneal cancer resistant to platinum-based therapy

Conclusions: Lower dose of weekly topotecan was well tolerated in patients with platinum-resistant ovarian or peritoneal cancer at first relapse, with a favourable hematologic profile. Moreover, antitumor activity was similar to that reported for the standard dose of weekly regimen.

Associations between age and quality of life in advanced ovarian cancer

Background:
..... Few studies have examined whether age influences advanced ovarian cancer patients' prognostic understanding or quality of life at the time of diagnosis."

Conclusions: EpCAM is highly expressed in primary chemotherapy- resistant ovarian carcinoma cell lines, and these chemotherapy-resistant tumors are highly sensitive to MT201-mediated cytotoxicity in vitro. MT201 may represent a novel, potentially highly effective treatment option for patients harboring chemotherapy-resistant ovarian carcinoma.

Note: EpCAM epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM); EpCAM gene can be tested either independently or as part of genetic testing - depending on the testing procedure (eg. Lynch Syndrome); study included clear cell ovarian cancer

(Review) Methodologic challenges in assessing patient-reported outcomes among women with relapsed/refractory ovarian cancer - QOL

Note: study of mechanisms in identifying QOL

Conclusions: PRO among women with R/R ( relapsed/refractory)ovarian cancer is limited in quality. More data are needed from R/R ovarian cancer studies to identify not only the most appropriate PRO instruments, but also methodologic strategies necessary to yield useful PRO data

Interleukin-6 as a therapeutic target in advanced ovarian cancer

Note: "Four of the eighteen patients completed 6 months of treatment and this included the partial responder who had continued decreases..."