In the Literature

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) convened a State-of-the-Science Conference to assess the evidence regarding observational strategies as an alternative to immediate treatment for localized prostate cancer (Ganz PA, et al. Ann Intern Med. 2012;156:591- 595).

Controversy abounds regarding the question of whether routine prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing reduces mortality from prostate cancer.

Cancer is the most dreaded of all diseases, the authors of a new study suggest, which may explain why policymakers have sometimes given cancer therapies preferential status over therapies for other conditions (Neumann PJ, et al. Health Aff [Millwood]. 2012;31:700-708).

The United States spends more on cancer care than European countries. Some people have argued that this extra expense is unwarranted, because US patients with cancer have similar or worse outcomes despite this increased spending. However, data from a new study suggest that the higher spending for cancer in the United States than in 10 European countries may be worth the additional expense (Philipson T, et al. Health Aff [Millwood]. 2012;31:667-675).

As many as 15% to 30% of patients who receive BRAF inhibitors (eg, vemurafenib, dabrafenib) for the treatment of metastatic melanoma develop nonmelanoma skin cancers. Data from a new study suggest that this paradoxical effect may be caused by squamous-cell carcinoma cell lines with RAS mutation that proliferate on exposure to these drugs (Su F, et al. N Engl J Med. 2012;366:207-215).

Several studies have suggested that statins may have protective effects against cancer. The results of the first study to investigate the association between statin therapy in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and the risk for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) were recently published (Tsan YT, et al. J Clin Oncol. 2012;30:623-630).

A new study has now investigated the prognosis of patients with gastric cancer who have a family history of the disease and have undergone gastrectomy (Han MA, et al. J Clin Oncol. 2012;30:701-708).

The treatment options for myelofibrosis are very limited, with ruxolitinib the potent Janus kinase (JAK) 1 and 2 inhibitor, being the first and only drug approved specifically for this condition late last year.

Findings from 2 separate studies have shown that adding the vascular endothelial growth factor inhibitor bevacizumab to adjuvant chemotherapy regimens improves response rates in patients with early-stage breast cancer (Bear HD, et al. N Engl J Med. 2012;366:310-320; von Minckwitz G, et al. N Engl J Med. 2012;366:299-309).

Results of a phase 1 study show that navitoclax, a new BH3 mimetic that targets BCL2 and related antiapoptotic intracellular proteins in cancer cells, inhibits the development of lympho­cytosis in patients with chronic lymphoyctic leukemia (CLL; Roberts AW, et al. J Clin Oncol. Epub December 19, 2011).