GI Cancers

The first-in-class cancer stem-cell inhibitor BBI608 demonstrated activity in advanced pancreatic cancer and colorectal cancer (CRC), according to results of 2 small studies reported at the 2016 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.

The advantages of treatment at a high-volume center extended to adjuvant therapy in patients with resected pancreatic cancer, according to a study reported by Margaret T. Mandelson, PhD, MPH, Floyd and Dolores Jones Cancer Institute, Virginia Mason Medical Center, Seattle, WA, at the 2016 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors demonstrated varying degrees of activity in advanced gastric and esophageal cancers, according to preliminary clinical studies reported at the 2016 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.

An apple a day keeps the doctor away. And now it seems that 4 cups of coffee a day may reduce recurrence and death in patients with stage III colon cancer after surgical resection and adjuvant chemotherapy, according to a study led by Brendan J. Guercio, MD, Harvard Medical School, Boston.

Barcelona, Spain—Controlling and minimizing nausea and vomiting enables patients with cancer to continue their chemotherapy. A clinical trial reported at the 2015 European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) World Congress on Gastrointestinal Cancer shows that the newly approved agent aprepitant (Emend), an oral neurokinin (NK)₁ antagonist, improved antiemetic control in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) who were receiving oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy, according to Junichi Nishimura, MD, Assistant Professor, Osaka University, Japan.

Barcelona, Spain—The first randomized study prospectively investigating the efficacy of radiofrequency ablation (RFA) added to standard systemic treatment in patients with unresectable colo­rectal cancer (CRC) liver metastases revealed progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) benefits, according to Theo J.M. Ruers, MD, PhD, Department of Surgery, The Netherlands Cancer Institute-Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Ziekenhuis, Amsterdam.

Barcelona, Spain—In the REACH trial evaluating ramucirumab (Cyramza) as second-line treatment in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma after first-line therapy with sorafenib (Nexavar), overall survival (OS) was improved in the subgroup population with baseline α-fetoprotein of ?400 ng/mL (Child-Pugh class A). The OS benefits in the overall population (Child-Pugh classes A and B) did not reach significance, said lead investigator Andrew X. Zhu, MD, PhD, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Boston.