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New results from a large clinical trial show that the immunotherapy drug durvalumab (Imfinzi) can prolong survival in some people with advanced small cell lung cancer (SCLC). In the study, treatment with durvalumab combined with a standard chemotherapy regimen increased overall survival in patients with newly diagnosed advanced SCLC by approximately 3 months compared with those treated with standard chemotherapy alone. Although the improvement in survival with immunotherapy was modest, it is noteworthy because SCLC has been such a recalcitrant disease, said Anna Farago, M.D., Ph.D., a lung cancer specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, who was not involved in the trial. “We now have two…

Waiting for medical results is like watching a pot that doesn’t want to boil. When diagnosing lung cancer, many people are left waiting for what seems like an eternity. And once the results are in, the waiting doesn’t necessarily end. Those diagnosed with lung cancer often undergo additional tests to determine whether or not they will respond positively to novel immunotherapy treatments. Of course, more tests mean more waiting. Each moment waiting for results is another moment further away from receiving a clean bill of health. Luckily, thanks to a new device, lung cancer patients may be able to get results in mere…

The drug tamoxifen can help prevent breast cancer in women at an increased risk of the disease. But many women who stand to benefit from tamoxifen do not take the drug—a pill—because of concerns about side effects, such as hot flashes and the increased risk of blood clots and stroke. To explore alternatives to oral tamoxifen that might have fewer side effects, researchers are testing a topical form of the drug in two clinical trials. These randomized placebo-controlled studies are evaluating a gel formulation of tamoxifen called 4-hydroxytamoxifen (4-OHT) that women apply directly to the breasts. The goal of this…

Paige, a New York-based company, is working to revolutionize the diagnosis and treatment of cancer by providing pathologists, clinicians and researchers with insights drawn from decades of data diagnosed by world experts in cancer care. ​Paige uses large-scale machine learning algorithms that are trained at petabyte-scale from tens of thousands of digital slides. They are developing novel deep learning algorithms based on convolutional and recurrent neural networks as well as generative models that are able to learn efficiently from an unprecedented wealth of visual and clinical data. Paige derive their name from four different concepts that represent the company as…

Tests for inherited genetic mutations can provide women diagnosed with ovarian or breast cancer with important information that can have implications for family members and potentially guide treatment decisions and longer-term screening for second cancers. However, many women with ovarian and breast cancers are not receiving these genetic tests, a new study suggests. An NCI-funded analysis of data on more than 83,000 women from large cancer registries in California and Georgia found that, in 2013 and 2014, only about one-quarter of women with breast cancer and one-third of women with ovarian cancer underwent testing for known harmful variants in breast…

Viruses engineered to kill cancer cells are already used to treat one form of skin cancer and are being widely tested as treatments for other cancers. A new study suggests that such viruses, known as oncolytic viruses, can be further enhanced to improve the body’s immune response against tumors. This new type of oncolytic virus, the researchers found, can simultaneously kill cancer cells and provide immune cells drawn into tumors with a hormone they need to perform their own cell-killing functions. In mice with melanoma tumors, the dual-function virus was far more effective at shrinking and eliminating tumors than a…

The relatively new type of cancer treatment know as CAR T-cell therapy is already being used to treat some people with leukemia and lymphoma. This form of immunotherapy has also shown promise as a treatment for multiple myeloma, although it’s not yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for that use. Although such an approval may not be far off, results from a new study already suggest a potential way to improve the effectiveness of CAR T-cell therapy for multiple myeloma. The approach, spearheaded by a research team from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, relies on…

For women with the most common type of early-stage breast cancer and high scores on the Oncotype DX test, receiving chemotherapy with hormone therapy after surgery can lead to excellent long-term outcomes. That’s the conclusion of a new data analysis from the NCI-funded TAILORx clinical trial. The 10,000-patient trial investigated the use of the Oncotype DX test to help guide the care of women with hormone receptor‒positive, HER2-negative breast cancer that has not spread to lymph nodes. This diagnosis accounts for half of all breast cancer cases in the United States each year. The Oncotype DX test is used to…