Dear Colleagues,
The annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology is the largest annual forum for cancer research. This year over 31,000 clinicians, researchers, and other individuals interested in the field of cancer research and treatment gathered in Chicago for five days to exchange ideas, hear about new treatments, and enhance their skills. I am pleased to welcome you to this special edition of MD Conference Express, which covers some of the most important and clinically relevant highlights from the 2007 American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting.
Great strides that have been made in cancer research over
the last 30 years. Researchers continue to identify better and more tolerable treatments for breast, colon, and lung cancer and new treatments are now available for some of the more difficult to treat cancers. New knowledge in the areas of genetics and proteomics holds the promise of targeted therapies and a new era of personalized medicine. These strides were evident this year at ASCO in the abstracts (more than 4,000) that were presented in addition to numerous poster presentations, clinical science symposia, and case-based panel discussions.
This special edition covers highlights from several Late Breaking Clinical trials including those from the EXTREME trial which showed that adding the targeted therapy cetuximab to a first-line chemotherapy regimen that includes cisplatin or carboplatin significantly prolongs survival for patients with head and neck cancer that has recurred or metastasized; and the results of the SHARP trial in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma treated with sorafenib, the first systemic therapy to prolong survival in HCC patients.
We’ve also prepared several Special Updates sections which cover what we believe are the most clinically applicable developments in breast, colon, non-colorectal, and lung cancer as well as advances in the field of pediatric cancer.
In the first of two Feature Articles we present a summary of a special session titled: Primary Prevention in Global Oncology: What Can We Gain? During this session several speakers presented evidence for the effectiveness of prevention efforts in lung cancer through smoking cessation, chemoprevention in breast cancer, colon cancer prevention, and vaccines for cervical and hepatic cancers. Our second feature is a summary of a special session on Alternative Donor Options for Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation, which examines the potential for HLA matched adult volunteer donors as an alternative source of allogneic stem cells and evolution of umbilical blood transplants.
The quality and breadth of the presentations at this year’s ASCO conference was truly impressive. I hope that you find the information we’ve prepared for you both interesting and useful in your daily practice.
Harold J. Burstein, MD, PhD Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Department of Medical Oncology/Solid Tumor Oncology Assistant Professor of Medicine Harvard Medical School
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August 2007
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