NEWS
Active Surveillance May Be Preferred Option in Some Men with Prostate Cancer
Findings of a recent study, the largest and longest of its kind, provide strong evidence supporting a conservative approach to managing prostate cancer in some men. The study was not a randomized clinical trial; rather, it was a long-term analysis of a cohort of men diagnosed with what is called very-low-risk prostate cancer. Instead of immediately undergoing surgery or radiation therapy, the men had opted to undergo a process known as active surveillance at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
A diagnosis of very-low-risk prostate cancer means that the disease is highly unlikely to become a clinically significant, life-threatening cancer. These men could be safely monitored by active surveillance, the study found, with only a modest percentage eventually requiring some form of treatment and none dying from prostate cancer. Read more > >
Cancer Burden among People Infected with HIV Changing in U.S.
Lung cancer death rates in women decreased for the first timeGenetic Study Yields New Clues to Melanoma
NIH researchers sequence the genes of 14 patientsSignaling Molecule Selectively Kills Breast Cancer Cells
IL-25 signaling pathway may provide new targets for breast cancer therapyAlso in the News: ASCO Recommends Tumor Testing for Some Lung Cancer Patients
Provisional Clinical Opinion recommends EGFR testing
COMMENTARY
Inside NCI: A Conversation with Dr. Lauren Wood about Cancer Vaccines and Health Disparities 
A senior clinical investigator in NCI’s Vaccine Branch discusses the most recent advances in immune-based therapies and how clinical trials are important to the work she does. She also highlights why Minority Cancer Awareness Week is important and why barriers to clinical trials participation among minority populations still exist. Read more > >
IN DEPTH
Investigating Nature’s Mysteries for Drug Development
NCI researchers study plant, animal, and microbial compounds that might be used as cancer drugs
Debunking Cancer Myths, One Phone Call at a Time
How NCI’s Contact Center addresses misconceptions about cancer
Featured Clinical Trial: Cediranib to Treat Alveolar Soft Part Sarcoma
Does experimental drug shrink tumors in patients with this disease?
UPDATES
FDA Updates
- FDA Approves New Treatment for Medullary Thyroid Cancer
- Advisory Panel Recommends Targeted Therapies for Treating Rare Pancreatic Tumors
- FDA Initiates Safety Review of Myeloma Drug for Possible Cancer Risk
Cancer.gov Update
- NCI Recovery Act Web Site Highlights Small Businesses Driving Innovation in Cancer Care
Notes
- NCI Cancer Classroom Webinar Series Kicks Off April 26
- Breast Cancer Guidelines Proposed for Low- and Middle-Income Countries
- Two-Year Project Launched to Standardize Cytogenetic Testing in Mexico
- “Stupid Cancer Show” to Host Program on Clinical Trials Myths
Selected articles from past issues of the NCI Cancer Bulletin are available in Spanish.
The NCI Cancer Bulletin is produced by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), which was established in 1937. Through basic, clinical, and population-based biomedical research and training, NCI conducts and supports research that will lead to a future in which we can identify the environmental and genetic causes of cancer, prevent cancer before it starts, identify cancers that do develop at the earliest stage, eliminate cancers through innovative treatment interventions, and biologically control those cancers that we cannot eliminate so they become manageable, chronic diseases.
For more information about cancer, call 1-800-4-CANCER or visit http://www.cancer.gov.
NCI Cancer Bulletin staff can be reached at ncicancerbulletin@mail.nih.gov.
