Expression of androgen receptors in primary breast cancer
S. Park et al, Annals of Oncology, March 3 2010

• 652 breast cancer patients. AR expression was observed in 35% of triple-negative cancers. Metaplastic, medullary and mucinous types of carcinomas showed less AR expression. In the ER-negative subgroup, AR was significantly correlated with human epidermal growth factor receptor type 2 (HER-2) overexpression
• AR potential target in treatment of triple negative breast cancer

Read full paper: Annals of Oncology

Phase II Multicenter Study of Abiraterone Acetate Plus Prednisone Therapy in Patients With Docetaxel-Treated Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer
Daniel C. Danila et al, JCO, February 2010

• 58 men with progressive metastatic CRPC who experienced treatment failure with docetaxel-based chemotherapy. A 50% decline in PSA was confirmed in 22 (36%) patients. Partial responses were seen in four (18%) of 22 patients with RECIST-evaluable target lesions. Improved ECOG PS was seen in 28% of patients. Median time to PSA progression was 169 days (95% CI, 82 to 200 days).
• Abiraterone acetate is a potent and selective inhibitor of CYP17, which is required for androgen biosynthesis in the testes. It is a promising new agent for CRCP patients.

Read full paper: Journal of Clinical Oncology

Potential Clinical Significance of a Plasma-Based KRAS Mutation Analysis in Patients with Advanced Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer
Shuhang W. et al, Clin Cancer Res, February 17 2010

• DNA extracted from plasma and matched tumour tissues of 273 patients with advanced stage NSCLC. KRAS mutations in codon 12 and 13 were detected using PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism. KRAS mutation was found in 35 (12.8%) plasma samples and 30 (11.0%) matched tumour tissues. The consistency of KRAS mutations between plasma and tumours is 76.7%. Among 120 patients who received EGFR-TKI treatment, the response rate was only 5.3% (1 of 19) for patients with plasma KRAS mutation compared with 29.7% for patients with no KRAS mutation in plasma DNA
• Plasma KRAS mutation status is associated with a poor tumour response to EGFR-TKIs in NSCLC.

Read Full paper: Clinical Cancer Research 

Phase I oncology studies: Evidence that in the era of targeted therapies patients on lower doses do not fare worse
Jain RK et al. Clin Cancer Res, 2010; 16(4): 1289-1297

• 24 dose-escalation trials that reached MTD or maximum planned dose (683 pts) from 01/10/04 to 30/06/08. Even when excluding patients above the MTD, there was an early trend favouring the low- versus high-dose group in time-to-treatment failure, with 32.9% versus 25.2% of patients on therapy at 3 months (P = 0.08).
• In addition, the low-dose group fared at least as well as the other groups in all other outcomes, including response rate, progression-free survival, overall survival, and toxicity.
• These data may help alleviate concerns that patients who receive low drug doses on contemporary phase I oncology trials fare worse and suggest targeted agents may have different dose-response relationships than cytotoxic chemotherapies.

Read full paper: Clinical Cancer Research