Clinical Cancer Advances 2012ASCO’s Annual Report on Progress Against Cancer |
Each year, the American Society of Clinical Oncology conducts an independent review of advances in clinical cancer research that have the greatest potential impact on patients’ lives.
This year’s report, Clinical Cancer Advances 2012: ASCO’s Annual Report on Progress Against Cancer, features 87 studies, 17 of which were designated as “major” advances by the report’s 21-person editorial board.
The large number of advances featured in this year’s Report affirms the remarkable payoff of national investments in clinical research on cancer prevention, screening, treatment and quality of life for patients with cancer.
This year's report highlights:
New Therapies Help Overcome Treatment Resistance
Too often, certain cancers respond to initial treatment but eventually develop resistance and grow. Research reported in the past year brought new, effective options for several difficult types of tumors.
- Gastrointestinal cancers: A new drug called regorafenib was found to benefit patients with treatment-resistant gastrointestinal stromal tumors and metastatic colorectal cancer
- Pediatric cancers: The adult lung cancer drug crizotinib had promising activity against aggressive forms of pediatric neuroblastoma and anaplastic large cell lymphoma
- Medullary thyroid cancer: A new targeted agent, called cabozantinib, was found to slow progression of persistent medullary thyroid carcinoma, a particularly aggressive form of thyroid cancer
- Targeted drug combinations: New successes against hard-to-treat cancers were also achieved by combining two or more molecularly targeted drugs that aim at the same molecular pathways. Three such strategies proved successful against breast cancer and another showed promising signs against advanced sarcoma that resisted standard treatments
- New targeted drugs: New molecularly targeted agents also showed promising activity against treatment-resistant forms of leukemia (ponatinib and ibrutinib) and soft-tissue sarcoma (pazopanib)
Realizing the Promise of Precision Medicine
Oncology is rapidly transitioning to an era where patients receive treatment tailored to the unique genetic make-up of their tumors. Researchers now know that even subtle genetic differences can make one tumor responsive and another resistant to the same drug.
Major advances in this field include:
- Tumors are diverse and evolving: An important study revealed there can be dramatic genetic variations within a single tumor and among primary and distant tumors in the same patient. Two more studies captured genomic snapshots of more than a thousand different cancer cell lines from a variety of human cancers, offering new clues about cancer biology that will speed the discovery of new personalized treatments.
- The Cancer Genome Project: New results from this federally funded cancer research initiative revealed potential new drug targets in colorectal cancer, identified biological processes critical for cancer cell survival, and proposed innovative ways to predict whether chemotherapy would be effective in patients with ovarian cancer, based on tumor biology.
New Insights on Cancer Screening
About one-third of all cancer cases could be prevented, primarily through lifestyle and dietary changes, or by early detection through screening. This year, researchers gained important new insights into screening, especially for colorectal and lung cancers.
- Colorectal cancer: A study this year suggested that screening with flexible sigmoidoscopy, a test which examines just the lower bowel, reduces colorectal cancer incidence and death rates. While promising, it remains unclear how the test compares to a standard colonoscopy.
- Lung cancer: A large study showed that yearly chest X-ray exams do not reduce the risk of dying from lung cancer in the general population, affirming that these tests should not be given.
New FDA Approvals Fill Urgent Treatment Gaps
Based on encouraging results from large clinical trials, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved seven new anti-cancer drugs and expanded indications for five existing agents between October 2011 and October 2012.
The approvals bring new treatment options for patients with certain forms of myeloma (carfilzomib); leukemia and lymphoma (liposomal vincristine); breast cancer (pertuzumab and everolimus); skin cancer (vismodegib); prostate cancer (enzalutamide); gastrointestinal stromal tumors (imatinib mesylate); colorectal cancer (cetuximab,ziv-Aflibercept, and regorafenib); kidney cancer (axitinib); and soft-tissue sarcoma (pazopanib).
Now in its eighth year, Clinical Cancer Advances 2012 was developed under the guidance of an 21-person editorial board of leading oncologists, overseen by Executive Editors Nicholas J. Vogelzang, MD and Bruce J. Roth, MD.
Sandra M. Swain, MD, FACP
ASCO President
A Letter From ASCO’s President
“We are on the threshold of major advances in cancer prevention, detection, and treatment—but only if, as a nation, we remain committed to this critical endeavor. Bold action must be taken to ensure that we can take full advantage of today’s scientific and technological opportunities.”
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© 2011-2013 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). All rights reserved worldwide. |
