Project description:PurposeTo provide resource-stratified, evidence-based recommendations on the treatment and follow-up of patients with early-stage colorectal cancer.MethodsASCO convened a multidisciplinary, multinational Expert Panel that reviewed existing guidelines and conducted a modified ADAPTE process and a formal consensus process with additional experts for one round of formal ratings.ResultsExisting sets of guidelines from 12 guideline developers were identified and reviewed; adapted recommendations from six guidelines form the evidence base and provide evidence to inform the formal consensus process, which resulted in agreement of 75% or more on all recommendations.RecommendationsFor nonmaximal settings, the recommended treatments for colon cancer stages nonobstructing, I-IIA: in basic and limited, open resection; in enhanced, adequately trained surgeons and laparoscopic or minimally invasive surgery, unless contraindicated. Treatments for IIB-IIC: in basic and limited, open en bloc resection following standard oncologic principles, if not possible, transfer to higher-level facility; in emergency, limit to life-saving procedures; in enhanced, laparoscopic en bloc resection, if not possible, then open. Treatments for obstructing, IIB-IIC: in basic, resection and/or diversion; in limited or enhanced, emergency surgical resection. Treatment for IIB-IIC with left-sided: in enhanced, may place colonic stent. Treatment for T4N0/T3N0 high-risk features or stage II high-risk obstructing: in enhanced, may offer adjuvant chemotherapy. Treatment for rectal cancer cT1N0 and cT2n0: in basic, limited, or enhanced, total mesorectal excision principles. Treatment for cT3n0: in basic and limited, total mesorectal excision, if not, diversion. Treatment for high-risk patients who did not receive neoadjuvant chemotherapy: in basic, limited, or enhanced, may offer adjuvant therapy. Treatment for resectable cT3N0 rectal cancer: in enhanced, base neoadjuvant chemotherapy on preoperative factors. For post-treatment surveillance, a combination of medical history, physical examination, carcinoembryonic antigen testing, imaging, and endoscopy is performed. Frequency depends on setting. Maximal setting recommendations are in the guideline. Additional information can be found at www.asco.org/resource-stratified-guidelines .NoticeIt is the view of the American Society of Clinical Oncology that health care providers and health care system decision makers should be guided by the recommendations for the highest stratum of resources available. The guidelines are intended to complement but not replace local guidelines.
Project description:PurposeTo provide recommendations on appropriate use of breast tumor biomarker assay results to guide decisions on adjuvant systemic therapy for women with early-stage invasive breast cancer.MethodsA literature search and prospectively defined study selection sought systematic reviews, meta-analyses, randomized controlled trials, prospective-retrospective studies, and prospective comparative observational studies published from 2006 through 2014. Outcomes of interest included overall survival and disease-free or recurrence-free survival. Expert panel members used informal consensus to develop evidence-based guideline recommendations.ResultsThe literature search identified 50 relevant studies. One randomized clinical trial and 18 prospective-retrospective studies were found to have evaluated the clinical utility, as defined by the guideline, of specific biomarkers for guiding decisions on the need for adjuvant systemic therapy. No studies that met guideline criteria for clinical utility were found to guide choice of specific treatments or regimens.RecommendationsIn addition to estrogen and progesterone receptors and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2, the panel found sufficient evidence of clinical utility for the biomarker assays Oncotype DX, EndoPredict, PAM50, Breast Cancer Index, and urokinase plasminogen activator and plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 in specific subgroups of breast cancer. No biomarker except for estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 was found to guide choices of specific treatment regimens. Treatment decisions should also consider disease stage, comorbidities, and patient preferences.
Project description:Purpose This focused update addresses the use of MammaPrint (Agendia, Irvine, CA) to guide decisions on the use of adjuvant systemic therapy. Methods ASCO uses a signals approach to facilitate guideline updates. For this focused update, the publication of the phase III randomized MINDACT (Microarray in Node-Negative and 1 to 3 Positive Lymph Node Disease May Avoid Chemotherapy) study to evaluate the MammaPrint assay in 6,693 women with early-stage breast cancer provided a signal. An expert panel reviewed the results of the MINDACT study along with other published literature on the MammaPrint assay to assess for evidence of clinical utility. Recommendations If a patient has hormone receptor-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative, node-negative breast cancer, the MammaPrint assay may be used in those with high clinical risk to inform decisions on withholding adjuvant systemic chemotherapy due to its ability to identify a good-prognosis population with potentially limited chemotherapy benefit. Women in the low clinical risk category did not benefit from chemotherapy regardless of genomic MammaPrint risk group. Therefore, the MammaPrint assay does not have clinical utility in such patients. If a patient has hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative, node-positive breast cancer, the MammaPrint assay may be used in patients with one to three positive nodes and a high clinical risk to inform decisions on withholding adjuvant systemic chemotherapy. However, such patients should be informed that a benefit from chemotherapy cannot be excluded, particularly in patients with greater than one involved lymph node. The clinician should not use the MammaPrint assay to guide decisions on adjuvant systemic therapy in patients with hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative, node-positive breast cancer at low clinical risk, nor any patient with HER2-positive or triple-negative breast cancer, because of the lack of definitive data in these populations. Additional information can be found at www.asco.org/breast-cancer-guidelines and www.asco.org/guidelineswiki .
Project description:Purpose In 2016, ASCO published a guideline to assist in clinical decision making in metastatic pancreatic cancer for initial assessment after diagnosis, first- and second-line treatment options, palliative and supportive care, and follow-up. The purpose of this update is to incorporate new evidence related to second-line therapy for patients who have experienced disease progression or intolerable toxicity during first-line therapy. Methods ASCO convened an Expert Panel to conduct a systematic review of the literature on second-line therapy published between June 2015 and January 2018. Recommendations on other topics covered in the 2016 Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer Guideline were endorsed by the Expert Panel. Results Two new studies were found that met the inclusion criteria. Recommendations For second-line therapy, gemcitabine plus nanoparticle albumin-bound paclitaxel should be offered to patients with first-line treatment with FOLFIRINOX (leucovorin, fluorouracil, irinotecan, and oxaliplatin), an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (ECOG PS) of 0 to 1, and a favorable comorbidity profile; fluorouracil plus nanoliposomal irinotecan can be offered to patients with first-line treatment with gemcitabine plus NAB-paclitaxel, an ECOG PS of 0 to 1, and a favorable comorbidity profile; fluorouracil plus irinotecan or fluorouracil plus oxaliplatin may be offered when there is a lack of availability of fluorouracil plus nanoliposomal irinotecan; gemcitabine or fluorouracil should be offered to patients with either an ECOG PS of 2 or a comorbidity profile that precludes other regimens. Testing select patients for mismatch repair deficiency or microsatellite instability is recommended, and pembrolizumab is recommended for patients with mismatch repair deficiency or high microsatellite instability tumors. Endorsed recommendations from the 2016 version of this guideline for computed tomography, baseline performance status and comorbidity profile, defining goals of care, first-line therapy, and palliative care are also contained within the full guideline text. Additional information is available at www.asco.org/gastrointestinal-cancer-guidelines .
Project description:PurposeTo provide expert guidance to clinicians and policymakers in resource-constrained settings on the management of patients with late-stage colorectal cancer.MethodsASCO convened a multidisciplinary, multinational Expert Panel that reviewed existing guidelines, conducted a modified ADAPTE process, and used a formal consensus process with additional experts for two rounds of formal ratings.ResultsExisting sets of guidelines from four guideline developers were identified and reviewed; adapted recommendations from five guidelines form the evidence base and provided evidence to inform the formal consensus process, which resulted in agreement of ≥ 75% on all recommendations.RecommendationsCommon elements of symptom management include addressing clinically acute situations. Diagnosis should involve the primary tumor and, in some cases, endoscopy, and staging should involve digital rectal exam and/or imaging, depending on resources available. Most patients receive treatment with chemotherapy, where chemotherapy is available. If, after a period of chemotherapy, patients become candidates for surgical resection with curative intent of both primary tumor and liver or lung metastatic lesions on the basis of evaluation in multidisciplinary tumor boards, the guidelines recommend patients undergo surgery in centers of expertise if possible. On-treatment surveillance includes a combination of taking medical history, performing physical examinations, blood work, and imaging; specifics, including frequency, depend on resource-based setting.Additional information is available at www.asco.org/resource-stratified-guidelines.
Project description:Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in women, contributing to high rates of morbidity and mortality owing to the ability of these tumors to metastasize via the vascular system even in the early stages of progression. While ultrasonography and mammography have enabled the more reliable detection of early-stage breast cancer, these approaches entail high rates of false positive and false negative results Mammograms also expose patients to radiation, raising clinical concerns. As such, there is substantial interest in the development of more accurate and efficacious approaches to diagnosing breast cancer in its early stages when patients are more likely to benefit from curative treatment efforts. Blood-based biomarkers derived from the tumor microenvironment (TME) have frequently been studied as candidate targets that can enable tumor detection when used for patient screening. Through these efforts, many promising biomarkers including tumor antigens, circulating tumor cell clusters, microRNAs, extracellular vesicles, circulating tumor DNA, metabolites, and lipids have emerged as targets that may enable the detection of breast tumors at various stages of progression. This review provides a systematic overview of the TME characteristics of early breast cancer, together with details on current approaches to detecting blood-based biomarkers in affected patients. The limitations, challenges, and prospects associated with different experimental and clinical platforms employed in this context are also discussed at length.
Project description:Endometrial cancer (EC) is the sixth most common cancer in women worldwide. Early diagnosis is critical in recurrent EC management. The present study aimed to identify biomarkers of EC early recurrence using a workflow that combined text and data mining databases (DisGeNET, Gene Expression Omnibus), a prioritization algorithm to select a set of putative candidates (ToppGene), protein‑protein interaction network analyses (Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes, cytoHubba), association analysis of selected genes with clinicopathological parameters, and survival analysis (Kaplan‑Meier and Cox proportional hazard ratio analyses) using a The Cancer Genome Atlas cohort. A total of 10 genes were identified, among which the targeting protein for Xklp2 (TPX2) was the most promising independent prognostic biomarker in stage I EC. TPX2 expression (mRNA and protein) was higher (P<0.0001 and P<0.001, respectively) in ETS variant transcription factor 5‑overexpressing Hec1a and Ishikawa cells, a previously reported cell model of aggressive stage I EC. In EC biopsies, TPX2 mRNA expression levels were higher (P<0.05) in high grade tumors (grade 3) compared with grade 1‑2 tumors (P<0.05), in tumors with deep myometrial invasion (>50% compared with <50%; P<0.01), and in intermediate‑high recurrence risk tumors compared with low‑risk tumors (P<0.05). Further validation studies in larger and independent EC cohorts will contribute to confirm the prognostic value of TPX2.
Project description:PurposeTo develop recommendations for treatment of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC).MethodsASCO convened an Expert Panel to conduct a systematic review of relevant studies and develop recommendations for clinical practice.ResultsFive systematic reviews and 10 randomized controlled trials met the systematic review inclusion criteria.RecommendationsDoublet chemotherapy should be offered, or triplet therapy may be offered to patients with previously untreated, initially unresectable mCRC, on the basis of included studies of chemotherapy in combination with anti-vascular endothelial growth factor antibodies. In the first-line setting, pembrolizumab is recommended for patients with mCRC and microsatellite instability-high or deficient mismatch repair tumors; chemotherapy and anti-epidermal growth factor receptor therapy is recommended for microsatellite stable or proficient mismatch repair left-sided treatment-naive RAS wild-type mCRC; chemotherapy and anti-vascular endothelial growth factor therapy is recommended for microsatellite stable or proficient mismatch repair RAS wild-type right-sided mCRC. Encorafenib plus cetuximab is recommended for patients with previously treated BRAF V600E-mutant mCRC that has progressed after at least one previous line of therapy. Cytoreductive surgery plus systemic chemotherapy may be recommended for selected patients with colorectal peritoneal metastases; however, the addition of hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy is not recommended. Stereotactic body radiation therapy may be recommended following systemic therapy for patients with oligometastases of the liver who are not considered candidates for resection. Selective internal radiation therapy is not routinely recommended for patients with unilobar or bilobar metastases of the liver. Perioperative chemotherapy or surgery alone should be offered to patients with mCRC who are candidates for potentially curative resection of liver metastases. Multidisciplinary team management and shared decision making are recommended. Qualifying statements with further details related to implementation of guideline recommendations are also included.Additional information is available at www.asco.org/gastrointestinal-cancer-guidelines.
Project description:Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide. Accurate early diagnosis of breast cancer is critical in the management of the disease. Although mammogram screening has been widely used for breast cancer screening, high false-positive and false-negative rates and radiation from mammography have always been a concern. Over the last 20 years, the emergence of "omics" strategies has resulted in significant advances in the search for non-invasive biomarkers for breast cancer diagnosis at an early stage. Circulating carcinoma antigens, circulating tumor cells, circulating cell-free tumor nucleic acids (DNA or RNA), circulating microRNAs, and circulating extracellular vesicles in the peripheral blood, nipple aspirate fluid, sweat, urine, and tears, as well as volatile organic compounds in the breath, have emerged as potential non-invasive diagnostic biomarkers to supplement current clinical approaches to earlier detection of breast cancer. In this review, we summarize the current progress of research in these areas.
Project description:BackgroundThe use of minimally invasive biomarkers (MIBs - physiological biomarkers obtained from minimally invasive sample types) has expanded rapidly in science and medicine over the past several decades. The MIB approach is a methodological strength in the field of human and non-human primate evolutionary biology (HEB). Among humans and our closest relatives, MIBs provide unique opportunities to document phenotypic variation and to operationalize evolutionary hypotheses.AimsThis paper overviews the use of MIBs in HEB. Our objectives are to (1) highlight key research topics which successfully implement MIBs, (2) identify promising yet under-investigated areas of MIB application, and (3) discuss current challenges in MIB research, with suggestions for advancing the field.Discussion and conclusionsA range of MIBs are used to investigate focal topics in HEB, including energetics and life history variation/evolution, developmental plasticity, and social status and dominance relationships. Nonetheless, we identify gaps in existing MIB research on traits such as physical growth and gut function that are central to the field. Several challenges remain for HEB research using MIBs, including the need for additional biomarkers and methods of assessment, robust validations, and approaches that are standardized across labs and research groups. Importantly, researchers must provide better support for adaptation and fitness effects in hypothesis testing (e.g., by obtaining complementary measures of energy expenditure, demonstrating redundancy of function, and performing lifetime/longitudinal analyses). We point to continued progress in the use of MIBs in HEB to better understand the past, present, and future of humans and our closest primate relatives.