Annals of Oncology 2007 18(9):1427; doi:10.1093/annonc/mdm421
© 2007 European Society for Medical Oncology
In this issue
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Breast cancer classification and chemotherapy
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A large proportion of breast cancer patients do not benefit
from treatment with adjuvant chemotherapy, and the need has
emerged to identify predictive biomarkers that can recognize
these patients. Estrogen receptor (ER) expression has been reported
as a predictive factor for the efficacy of adjuvant methotrexate-
or paclitaxel-based chemotherapy, and several papers have reported
that ER expression correlates with resistance to preoperative
anthracycline-based chemotherapy. Nevertheless, there is no
compelling evidence that ER expression could be predictive for
the efficacy of adjuvant anthracycline-based chemotherapy. In
this issue,
Conforti et al. report the results of a study that
aimed to evaluate the predictive values of ER expression, Her2
status and molecular subclassification determined by DNA microarray
regarding the benefit of adjuvant anthracycline-based chemotherapy.
These authors report that ER expression is a strong and independent
predictive biomarker for the benefit of adjuvant chemotherapy,
but the molecular subclassification, when compared with conventional
predictors (ER and tumor grade), added little information.
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Colonoscopy in first-degree relatives of colorectal cancer patients
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Due to the known familial risk for colorectal cancer, current
guidelines recommend screening colonoscopy in first-degree relatives
of patients with colon cancer. However, a recent study investigating
the compliance for colonoscopy screening in first-degree relatives
of patients with large adenoma reported a low compliance rate
of
18%. A number of different studies have investigated the
effectiveness of colonoscopy screening in first-degree relatives
of patients with colon cancer. These, however, have been done
as part of a clinical study or research program which do not
reflect the situation among the general population. In this
issue,
Ruthotto et al. report the results of a questionnaire-based
study that aimed to estimate the number of first-degree relatives
from patients with colorectal cancer (diagnosed before 60 years
of age) who undergo colonoscopy. With data from 442 patients
and their first-degree relatives (1005 siblings and 354 parents)
these authors report that only a minority of first-degree relatives
undergo screening colonoscopy but that informing patients about
the potential risk for their relatives does increase participation.
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Polymorphisms in acute myeloid leukemia
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Exposure to DNA-damaging agents may play an important role in
the pathogenesis of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), with 10%–20%
of AML developing in patients who received chemo- and/or radiotherapy
for a primary malignancy. Genetic differences defined by polymorphisms
altering the enzymic activities in detoxification and DNA repair
pathways are prime candidates for studies to explain variation
in individual susceptibility to developing AML. In this issue,
Voso et al. report the results of a case–control study
in which 160 patients with AML were matched with 162 controls
to test the impact of six genomic polymorphisms on the risk
of developing AML and/or therapy-related AML. These authors
report an increase in frequency of the RAD51-135C allele in
AML, and particularly in
de novo AML, but not between therapy-related
AML and controls. They conclude that polymorphic variants of
enzymes involved in xenobiotic detoxification and DNA repair
via homologous recombination may synergistically increase individual
susceptibly to AML.
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Synthetic retinoid ST1926 and cisplatin in ovarian carcinoma models
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Synthetic retinoids containing the adamantyl moiety represent
a promising series of potentially useful agents characterized
by proapoptotic activity in a large variety of tumor cells.
The novel adamantyl retinoid, ST1926, has been reported to be
a potent inducer of apoptosis in ovarian carcinoma cells. In
this issue,
Pisano et al. report on a study that aimed to investigate
the antitumor activity of ST1926 in the treatment of ovarian
carcinoma models and the efficacy of combining it with cisplatin,
a DNA-damaging agent and one of the most effective agents used
in standard first-line therapy of ovarian carcinoma. These authors
report that in the animal models of human ovarian carcinoma,
oral treatment with ST1926 alone caused a marginal tumor growth
inhibition (<50%), but the combination with cisplatin resulted
in an improved efficacy most evident in terms of tumor growth
delay, without substantial increase of toxicity.
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Quote
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"In the culture I grew up in you did your work and you did not
put your arm around it to stop other people from looking—you
took the earliest possible opportunity to make knowledge available."
Sir James Black considers scientific openness.
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- Breast cancer molecular subclassification and estrogen receptor expression to predict efficacy of adjuvant anthracyclines-based chemotherapy: a biomarker study from two randomized trials
- R Conforti, T Boulet, G Tomasic, E Taranchon, R Arriagada, M Spielmann, M Ducourtieux, JC Soria, T Tursz, S Delaloge, S Michiels, and F Andre
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Breast cancer classification and...
Colonoscopy in first-degree...