REFERENCE: Abstract 7001
Mark A. Socinski, Univerisity of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
The use of anti-angiogenic therapy for treating patients with non-small cell lung cancer received a boost at the 2006 ASCO Annual Meeting in Atlanta by results from a study looking at the use of sunitinib, a multi-targeted oral drug that achieved partial responses and stable disease among pretreated patients with non-small cell lung cancer. Mark Socinski from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill said the results suggest that sunitinib may be even more useful when used in earlier stages of treatment.

REFERENCE: ABSTRACT 7001, ASCO 2006 Annual Meeting, Atlanta
Bruce Johnson, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston
During the ASCO meeting, Bruce Johnson commented on the findings presented by Mark Socinski. Peter Goodwin asked him to assess the possible value of sunitinib and the scope of such targeted agents for treating patients with non-small cell lung cancer.

REFERENCE: Abstract 6507
Neil Shah, University of California, San Francisco
One of the options for treating patients with chronic phase chronic myeloid leukemia resistant to imatinib might be the new targeted therapy dasatinib. ASCO delegates heard more from Neil Shah, of the University of California in San Francisco.

REFERENCE: Abstract 6509
Doug Smith, Johns Hopkins Cancer Center, Baltimore
A vaccine for chronic myeloid leukemia has produced molecular remissions in a small number of patients. Results were presented at the 2006 ASCO meeting by Doug Smith of Johns Hopkins Cancer Center in Baltimore, who described to Derek Thorne how the vaccine has been performing, and why chronic myeloid leukemia might be a good disease in which to use this approach.

REFERENCE: Lancet Oncol 2006;7:633
Joan Houghton, University College, London
The case for using aromatase inhibitors rather than tamoxifen as adjuvant endocrine treatment for postmenopausal patients with breast cancer was strengthened recently by the latest report from the ATAC (Arimidex, Tamoxifen, Alone or in Combination) study just published in the Lancet Oncology. Joan Houghton from London University explained to Sarah Maxwell how the safety of anastrozole has now been confirmed by five-year mature data from more than 6,000 patients.

REFERENCE: N Engl J Med 2006;355:125
Elizabeth Barrett-Connor, University of California, San Diego
The findings of a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine shed new light on breast cancer chemoprevention by looking at the selective estrogen modulator raloxifene. Data on 10,000 women, who were recruited primarily to test the drug’s activity for preventing cardiovascular disease, showed a powerful effect in preventing breast cancer. The investigators suggest that in women at risk of osteoporosis, raloxifene may be a better agent for preventing breast cancer than tamoxifen.

REFERENCE: American Association for Cancer Research 97th Annual Meeting April 1-5, 2006, Washington DC. Education Session
Fran Balkwill, Barts Hospital, London
Chemo-attractant molecules called chemokines that direct the migration of immune cells around the body could become important new weapons in the cancer doctor’s therapeutic armory, according to Fran Balkwill who chaired an education session at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting. In difficult-to-treat diseases like ovarian cancer, chemokine modulation offers the possibility of contributing alternative targeted components to anticancer regimens.

REFERENCE: American Association for Cancer Research 97th Annual Meeting April 1-5, 2006, Washington DC. Abstract 406
Carl Christophe Schimanski, University of Mainz
The chemokine in the human body known as CXCR4 might be an omnipresent inductor of the metastatic process, according to Carl Schimanski who presented data on CXCR4 expression in hepatocellular carcinoma biopsies and related it to metastatic tumor properties in patients. He told the AACR conference that the recent availability of chemokine antagonists holds out the promise of modulating metastasis and extending patient survival.