Gastrointestinal Cancer

The combination of ramucirumab and FOLFIRI significantly improved OS and PFS compared with chemotherapy alone as a second-line treatment for patients with mCRC.

This article reviews up-to-date clinical studies combining chemotherapy with immunotherapy; it also explains the rationale for this combination in treatment of pancreatic cancer.

Gastric cancer is comprised of 4 distinct molecular subtypes of disease, each representing a unique opportunity for new drug development, according to a paper published in Nature by The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA).

The FDA has assigned a priority review designation to lanreotide (Somatuline Depot) as a treatment for patients with gastroenteropancreatic (GEP) neuroendocrine tumors (NETs)

Hendrik-Tobias Arkenau, MD, PhD, medical director, Sarah Canon Research Institute, discusses an exploratory analysis of AZD4547 in patients with advanced tumors.

This review highlights that preclinical data and discusses several ongoing clinical trials that are leveraging this information to explore new therapeutic strategies in targeting BRAF-mutated colorectal cancer.

Marc Peeters, MD, PhD, department of oncology, Antwerp University Hospital, Antwerpen, Belgium, discusses the efficacy and safety of panitumumab versus cetuximab as seen in the ASPECCT trial in colorectal cancer (CRC).

Alan P. Venook, MD, professor, Department of Medicine (Hematology/Oncology), University of California, San Francisco, discusses implications from the CALGB/SWOG 80405 trial of targeted therapies administered in colorectal cancer.

The FDA has approved the noninvasive stool-based DNA test Cologuard for the detection of colorectal cancer or cancer precursors in asymptomatic patients at average risk.

Margaret A. Tempero, MD, director, Pancreas Center, University of California, San Francisco, discusses screening tools used for patients at high risk for pancreatic cancer.

There is a tension in the air these days when it comes to the manner in which evidence-based oncology research should be conducted in this revolutionary era, and that tension is evident on the pages of peer-reviewed articles describing novel findings in clinical molecular oncology, in editorials discussing these studies, and in commentaries related to future approaches to discovery.

Andrea Wang-Gillam, MD, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Medicine, Oncology Division, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, discusses the mechanism of action of MM-398, a novel encapsulation of irinotecan in a long-circulating nanoliposome.

Melanie B. Thomas, MD, medical oncologist, associate director for clinical trials, Hollings Cancer Center, Medical University of South Carolina, discusses the potential utility for the monoclonal antibody PF-03446962 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Tanios Bekaii-Saab, MD, discusses an analysis of two targeted drugs for the treatment of patients with colorectal cancer (CRC).

Paulo Marcelo Hoff, MD, PhD, FACP, University of São Paulo, Brazil, discusses a meta-analysis of randomized trials that examined the effect of chemotherapy delivered until progression versus complete stop on the overall survival of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC).