American Association for Cancer Research

August 15 Clinical Cancer Research Highlights

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Selected Articles from the August 15, 2007 Issue

The articles referenced in this Highlights section will be available online in HTML and PDF formats to all interested users at no charge until the next issue of Clinical Cancer Research is published. Click on the article title to view the complete article.

View the Table of Contents for the August 15 issue of Clinical Cancer Research.

OSNA Assay Detects Lymph Node Metastasis

Tsujimoto et al.

Page 4807

Detection of sentinel lymph node metastasis in patients with breast cancer has conventionally been determined by intraoperative histopathologic examination of frozen sections, followed by definitive postoperative examination of permanent sections. Tsujimoto and colleagues sought to develop a more efficient method for intraoperative detection of lymph node metastasis. The authors found that a one-step nucleic acid amplification (OSNA) assay of half a lymph node provided results similar to those of three-level histopathology. Clinical results indicate that the OSNA assay provides a useful intraoperative detection method of lymph node metastasis in breast cancer patients. 

VEGF Signaling Not Sufficient to Improve Immune Responses

Fricke et al.

Page 4840

Dendritic cell defects in cancer patients have been implicated in tumor escape and the limited efficacy of cancer vaccines. Previous studies have shown that vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) plays a major role in abnormal dendritic cell differentiation and function in cancer. It has been proposed that inhibition of VEGF may result in improved immune responses. Fricke and colleagues found that inhibition of VEGF signaling may improve differentiation of dendritic cells in cancer patients, but it was not sufficient to improve immune responses. This shows the multifaceted nature of immune deficiency and points out the need for a complex approach to modulation of immune reactivity in cancer. 

Anti–VEGFR-2 Therapy Promising for Ewing’s Sarcoma

Zhou et al.

Page 4867

The role of antiangiogenic therapy in the treatment of Ewing’s sarcoma is unclear. Zhou and colleagues used an H-2 MHC-mismatched bone marrow transplant Ewing’s sarcoma mouse model to assess the effect of anti–VEGFR-2 on tumor vascular formation, tumor vasculogenesis, and tumor growth. Anti–VEGFR-2 therapy significantly decreased bone marrow cell migration into tumor, tumor vessel density and tumor growth, and increased tumor cell apoptosis. These results indicate that anti–VEGFR-2 may be effective in treating patients with Ewing’s sarcoma. 

Breast core biopsy, random periareolar fine needle aspiration, ductal lavage, and nipple aspiration are available methods that are used in short-term prevention trials. Arun and coauthors compared two of the most common methods, random periareolar fine needle aspiration and ductal lavage, in a cohort of high-risk women. The investigators concluded that random periareolar fine needle aspiration is as tolerable and feasible as ductal lavage and provides more adequate samples for biomarker analysis compared with ductal lavage and should be used for future short-term phase I or II breast cancer biomarker modulation prevention trials. 

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