REFERENCE: National Cancer Research Institute Upper Gastrointestinal Cancer Group Studies Conference, Royal College of Physicians, London July 6th, 2006
John Neoptolemos, Royal Liverpool University Hospital
Encouraging progress regarding adjuvant chemotherapy for patients with resectable pancreatic cancer was reported at the National Cancer Research Institute Upper Gastrointestinal Cancer Conference in London. Peter Goodwin spoke with John Neoptolemos of Liverpool University about improvements in survival reported by the ESPAC trial of adjuvant chemotherapy, growth-factor directed therapies, gemcitabine, and capecitabine (reported at the conference by Naureen Starling of the Royal Marsden Hospital in Surrey), and news about a new pancreatic cancer vaccine (announced by Gary Middleton from the Royal Surrey Hospital in Guildford). 

REFERENCE: American Association for Cancer Research 97th Annual Meeting 1st-5th April 2006, Washington, DC. Abstract 414
Wilko Weichert, Charité University Hospital, Berlin
Exciting new insights into the mechanism of pancreatic cancer progression were unveiled at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting in Washington, DC.  Wilko Weichert from the Charité University Hospital in Berlin presented his group’s study looking at the behavior of the gene transcription factor NFkB, which modulates programmed cell death (apoptosis) and consequently the proliferative behavior of the tumor.  He told Peter Goodwin how their recent investigation has given hope that this mechanism may be harnessed for therapy that will complement existing drug treatments for patients with pancreatic cancer.

REFERENCE: American Association for Cancer Research 97th Annual Meeting 1st-5th April 2006, Washington, DC. Abstract 415
Christophe Nemos, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha
A new blood test for pancreatic cancer was under discussion at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting held in Washington, DC.  In some patients the results of the test proved to signal pancreatic cancer six months before the disease became detectable by other means.  Christophe Némos of the University of Nebraska in Omaha told Peter Goodwin about his group’s use of MUC4 mRNA molecule normally present in tumor tissue, which has now been measured in the blood.  The hope is that very early detection of the disease could improve further the rates of survival made possible by early resection combined with chemotherapy.

REFERENCE: N Engl J Med 2006;355:11
David Cunningham, Royal Marsden Hospital
The July 6th edition of the New England Journal of Medicine leads with an article from the Royal Marsden Hospital pointing to better survival rates among patients with gastric cancer who received perioperative chemotherapy as compared with those having surgery alone. David Cunningham tells Peter Goodwin how the study (which took 16 years from design to publication) has provided clinicians with another option for extending life in gastric cancer.

REFERENCE: Abstract 4570
Kenneth MacDonald, University of Utah, Salt Lake City
At the 2006 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Atlanta Kenneth MacDonald from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City explained to Sarah Maxwell how registry data has provided guidance that salvage radiotherapy for prostate-specific antigen relapse after radical prostatectomy may yield benefits in greater numbers of patients.

REFERENCE: Abstract 4560
Mark Pomerantz, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston
The same prostate cancer session of ASCO also heard from Mark Pomerantz of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston that premarin – the hormonal therapy known for its use in women – may have value for treating men with androgen-dependent prostate cancer.

REFERENCE: Abstract 4564
Jorge Garcia, Cleveland Clinic
In high-risk prostate cancer, neoadjuvant therapy with thalidomide plus granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor appears to be a candidate therapy to prepare some patients for radical prostatectomy by manipulating immunological factors  reported Jorge Garcia from the Cleveland Clinic during the ASCO conference in Atlanta.