MPNs

Goals of "Project Impact: A Campaign to Defeat Pediatric Brain Tumors" include improving clinical outcomes for pediatric brain tumor patients and informing the development of the first-ever standard of care for treating pediatric high-grade gliomas.

As therapeutic approaches with more efficacy and less toxicity are still highly needed, researchers are currently working to identify new targets in the MB field.

With a number of effective targeted therapies now available for patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms and chronic myeloid leukemia, patient selection for transplantation should rely heavily on prognostic scoring.

When it comes to managing high-risk patients with essential thrombocythemia (ET) or polycythemia vera (PV), John Mascarenhas, MD, starts with risk stratification.

As molecular and genetic studies have provided new insights into myelodysplastic and myeloproliferative neoplasms (MDS/MPN), diagnostic criteria and therapeutic strategies for the diseases continue to evolve.

Heinz Gisslinger, MD, Medical University of Vienna, discusses new compounds in polycythemia vera (PV).

Srdan Verstovsek, MD, PhD, Chief, Section for Myeloproliferative Neoplasms at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Department of Leukemia, discusses identifying and treating different myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs).

The management of medulloblastoma, the most common malignant brain cancer in children, has not changed in decades but breakthroughs are on the horizon.

Final 5-year efficacy and safety data from the phase III COMFORT-I trial confirm previous findings that ruxolitinib (Jakafi) confers a significant benefit in patients with intermediate-2 and high-risk myelofibrosis. The JAK-2 inhibitor resulted in durable reductions in splenomegaly and improved overall survival, with patients experiencing no new or unexpected adverse events as a result of the long-term treatment.

Neratinib, an experimental TKI being developed for breast cancer, achieved a 36% clinical benefit rate in a phase II trial, according to a poster presented June 5, 2016 at the ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago.

Genetic testing may improve treatment for multiple myeloma by helping oncologists identify patients at risk for developing more aggressive disease.

Almost 10 years following a study that proved intraperitoneal (IP), or abdominal, chemotherapy, along with intravenous (IV) therapy, may add 16 months or more to the lives of women with ovarian cancer, less than half of these patients at US hospitals receive this type of treatment

Results from the phase III METEOR study showed that treatment with cabozantinib (Cometriq) improved progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) compared with everolimus (Afinitor) in previously treated patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC).

Compared with best available therapy, the novel JAK2 inhibitor pacritinib demonstrated significantly better outcomes in spleen volume reduction and symptom control when administered to patients with myelofibrosis.

Fulvestrant (Faslodex) improved overall survival (OS) by 5.7 months compared with anastrozole as a frontline treatment for postmenopausal women with HR-positive metastatic breast cancer. These findings from the phase II FIRST trial were presented at the 2014 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

The FDA has approved ruxolitinib as a treatment for patients with polycythemia vera who are resistant or intolerant to hydroxyurea

The FDA has assigned a priority review designation to the JAK1/2 inhibitor ruxolitinib as treatment for patients with polycythemia vera who are resistant or intolerant to hydroxyurea.

The FDA has approved the radioactive diagnostic imaging agent Lymphoseek injection to guide sentinel lymph node biopsy in patients with cancer of the head and neck.

The ASCO clinical practice guideline now recommends treatment with adjuvant tamoxifen for 10 years in women with stage I-III hormone receptor (HR)-positive breast cancer.

The adaptive I-SPY 2 trial has found that a neoadjuvant regimen of neratinib and standard chemotherapy is beneficial for high-risk patients with hormone receptor (HR)-negative, HER2-positive stage II/III breast cancer.

Screening for prostate-specific antigen (PSA) significantly cuts the death rate from prostate cancer, but at the same time, America’s medical community should work harder to avoid the screen’s potential pitfalls.

Ayalew Tefferi, MD, hematologist, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, discusses the outlook for JAK inhibitors for patients with myelofibrosis.

An investigator reported at the 55th annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) that imetelstat, a telomerase inhibitor, has demonstrated significant activity in myelofibrosis, including complete responses.

James "Tate" T. Thigpen, MD, professor of medicine, director of medical oncology, University of Mississippi School of Medicine, discusses overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) as endpoints in ovarian cancer trials.

The phase III JAKARTA trial of SAR302503 for myelofibrosis met its primary endpoint in both dose groups, as reported by Sanofi.