June 1 Clinical Cancer Research Highlights

PDF Version for Printing

Selected Articles from the June 1, 2006 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 June 1 issue of Clinical Cancer Research.

Antibody Biomarkers in Detection of Thyroid Carcinomas

It is often difficult to accurately distinguish between the benign and malignant forms of many thyroid tumors. There is also an increasing number of thyroid nodules sampled by fine needle aspiration, which does not allow a clear view of the tissue architecture. With this problem in mind, Cerutti et al. sought and tested antibody markers of thyroid malignancy on follicular tumors that are common sources of diagnostic error. The presence of any of the four marker proteins correctly indicated carcinoma with high sensitivity in tissue sections. The antibodies also detected cancerous cells in FNA samples.

Prognosis Predictor Pegs Outcome for Individualized Lung Cancer Therapies

Guo et al. offer a computational model system that may accurately predict clinical outcomes of individual lung adenocarcinoma patients based on gene expression profiles. The prediction accuracy of good prognosis and poor prognosis patients is 0.96 (p < 1E-7) using the identified 37-gene survival signature. The correct classification of stage I and stage III lung adenocarcinoma is 94.2% (p < 2.9E-20) using the 12-gene stage predictors. These results show that the gene expression-based models comprising a small number of markers may accurately predict patient outcome for lung adenocarcinoma.

NF-κB Involvement in Aggressive Inflammatory Breast Cancer Invites Targeting

Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is an aggressive form of locally advanced breast cancer. At time of diagnosis, most patients have lymph node involvement and one third patients have metastases in distant organs. Van Laere et al. demonstrated that NF-κB, an important mediator of several inflammatory and oncological processes, is activated in IBC. NF-κB target genes were significantly overexpressed in IBC compared with non-IBC by both cDNA microarray and qRT-PCR. By means of protein co-expression analysis, a significantly elevated amount of transcriptionally active NF-κB dimers was present in IBC. The increased activation of the NF-κB transcription factor offers an explanation for several hallmarks of the disease, including increased angiogenic capacity resistance to treatment and high metastatic potential, and supports NF-κB as a potential therapeutic target to treat patients with IBC.

Fatty Acid Analogue Boosts Survival in Rat Leukemia Model

Iversen et al. document the efficacy of a fatty acid analogue (TTA) in treating rats with acute leukemia. TTA treatment resulted in a profound reduction in the number of leukemic cells, a substantial decrease in metastatic potential, and a marked improvement in survival among leukemic rats fed TTA. The fact that TTA was supplied to the animals as part of their diet makes the handling and administration of this drug particularly attractive. The current study provides important new evidence for a putative anti-leukemic drug in animal models.

Barriers Identified, Recommendations Suggested for Delivery of Developed Drugs

Despite the growing scientific opportunities and significant investment, the output of new cancer therapies reaching the public as FDA-approved products is insufficient to meet the needs of patients. There are now indications that this issue has registered with the FDA and the NCI and that changes, such as the Critical Path initiative, are being planned to provide a more responsive development and regulatory environment. This process, however, may take years to implement. In this review, Schein et al. state the problem and provide recommendations for a more timely response to the urgent need for reform.