Volume 22, Issue 12, December 2017

This commentary describes the progress of the SEAL [Surrogate Endpoints for Aggressive Lymphoma] research group and invites collaboration in sharing data to continue building a large database of individual patient data from multiple clinical trials in DLBCL.

Caregivers of patients with advanced cancer are affected physically and emotionally by the patient’s illness and are too often overlooked by health care systems. This commentary considers recent findings that early integrated palliative care is beneficial for reducing emotional distress in both patients and caregivers.

Targeted therapies are often inadequate when used in isolation as single agents. Combining diverse targeted therapies could optimally impact patient care by overcoming cancer resistance mechanisms. This commentary highlights such combinatorial strategies, including discussion on a recent trial.

Many investigators have turned their efforts toward improving the gemcitabine/nab‐paclitaxel combination by the addition of a third agent. This commentary highlights efforts to date, including the Clinical Trial Results by Ko et al.: A Randomized Double‐Blinded Phase II Trial of Gemcitabine and Nab‐Paclitaxel Plus Apatorsen or Placebo in Patients with Metastati Pancreatic Cancer: The RAINIER Trial.

Obesity is a consideration in the pharmacologic intervention for estrogen receptor‐positive breast cancer risk. This case‐control study among women in Northern and Eastern China was conducted to clarify the possible associations between both general and central obesity and breast cancer risk.

This article reports a series of 114,200 consecutive clinical cases with comprehensive genomic profiles available to identify ALK fusions that could facilitate the use of precision medicine in both non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and non‐NSCLC malignancies.

Neuroendocrine tumors can secrete hormonal peptides that lead to a condition known as carcinoid syndrome. Patients with carcinoid syndrome bear additional symptom burdens that can be alleviated but not eliminated with the use of somatostatin analogs. This article examines the cost patterns of elderly patients with neuroendocrine tumors during the first year of diagnosis, taking into account the presence of carcinoid syndrome.

This article explores the characteristics of advanced gastric cancer patients receiving a third‐line chemotherapy, as well as factors that could be useful in identifying those patients who might benefit from a further line of treatment.

Three case reports of patients with metastatic renal cell cancer, who had a significant response to anti‐PD‐L1‐antibody when used in combination with targeted therapy (bevacizumab), radiotherapy, and anti‐CTLA‐4 therapy (ipilimumab), are presented. A review of the literature and future scope for combination therapy are discussed.

The prevalence of small cell lung cancer has declined in the U.S. as tobacco use has declined; however, current and former smokers are at risk of developing small cell lung cancer. This article focuses on current and emerging treatment options for small cell lung cancer.

This study highlights the value of comprehensive genomic profiling in the largest known cohort of pediatric glioma patients and explores the most common alterations across diagnosis and anatomic location. Tumor mutational burden and associated genetic factors that may predispose patients to developing a hypermutator phenotype are also discussed.

This phase I study was designed to investigate the safety and pharmacokinetics of pictilisib in combination with erlotinib in patients with advanced solid tumors.

Surgical resection is the primary treatment option for retroperitoneal liposarcomas, but complete resection is difficult and postoperative recurrence and metastasis are common. This prospective study analyzed the feasibility and efficacy of microwave ablation combined with iodine‐125 seed implantation in the local control of recurrent retroperitoneal liposarcomas.

This systematic review and meta‐analysis was performed to assess the efficacy of salvage treatment in pretreated adult type soft tissue sarcomas, gastrointestinal stromal tumors excluded. The objective was to compare the main outcome endpoints (progression‐free survival, overall survival, objective response rate) between trials investigating second‐line therapy in soft tissue sarcomas to define the importance and the role of subsequent treatment after first‐line failure.

This article reports a single‐center randomized clinical trial that evaluated the effect of early integrated specialty palliative care on patient‐ and caregiver‐reported outcomes in patients with newly‐diagnosed, incurable cancers. It was hypothesized that caregivers of patients assigned to early integrated palliative care would report lower psychological distress and better quality of life compared with caregivers of patients assigned to usual oncology care.

Tumor lysis syndrome (TLS) is an oncologic emergency characterized by metabolic abnormalities leading to organ failure. Complications of TLS can lead to delays in chemotherapy or dose reductions, resulting in less effective treatment. The objective of this study was to describe the incidence of TLS in recent years and the associated in‐hospital mortality and morbidity using a national discharge database.

A lung cancer survivor reflects on facing an uncertain future and beating the odds, on lessons learned, on planning, and especially, on hope.

This letter reflects on the importance of external validation, in real‐world settings, for clinical application.

This letter responds to the letter from Tan et al., noting points of agreement and encouraging efforts to share genomic signatures and codes that will make future research faster and more effective.

In this Letter to the Editor, potentially flawed conclusions of a recent study are discussed.

This Letter to the Editor responds to concerns regarding a recently published analysis of BRCA1 and BRCA2 variant classifications between a single testing laboratory (Myriad Genetic Laboratories) and a database of user‐submitted variant classifications (ClinVar).