(Posted: 07/13/2011) - Short-term hormone therapy given in combination with radiation therapy to men with early-stage prostate cancer increased their chances of living longer compared to treatment with radiation therapy alone, according to a clinical trial supported by NCI. Benefits of the combined treatment were limited mainly to patients with intermediate-risk disease and were not seen for men with low-risk prostate cancer, researchers say.

(Posted: 07/12/2011) - In order to maintain accurate family histories from their patients, physicians should get a comprehensive family history by age 30, and then update it every five to 10 years because histories change significantly between ages 30 and 50 years. According to a new study, getting updated histories every five years would maximize the likelihood of detecting cancer at an early, more treatable state.

(Posted: 06/29/2011) - An analysis of genomic changes in ovarian cancer has provided the most comprehensive and integrated view of cancer genes for any cancer type to date. Ovarian serous adenocarcinoma tumors from 500 patients were examined by The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) Research Network. TCGA researchers completed whole-exome sequencing, which examines the protein-coding regions of the genome, on an unprecedented 316 tumors.

(Posted: 06/29/2011) - Scientists have found a 20 percent reduction in deaths from lung cancer among current or former heavy smokers who were screened with low-dose helical computed tomography (CT) versus those screened by chest X-ray.

(Posted: 06/21/2011) - NCI’s Cancer Imaging Program has inaugurated The Cancer Imaging Archive (TCIA), a web-accessible and unique clinical imaging archive linked to The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) tissue repository. It contains a large proportion of original, pre-surgical MRIs from cases that have been genomically characterized in TCGA.

(Posted: 06/06/2011) - An experimental drug, cediranib, may benefit patients with a rare, slow-growing cancer called alveolar soft part sarcoma (ASPS), according to results from a clinical trial.

(Posted: 06/05/2011) - New NCI-sponsored clinical trial results reported today at the annual American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago show that, in a high-risk form of pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), a high-dose schedule of a drug raises already high cure rates even higher.

(Posted: 06/04/2011) - Simultaneous screening with a blood test for the biomarker CA-125 along with a transvaginal ultrasound (TVU), compared with usual care, did not reduce ovarian cancer mortality in American women. These results, from a National Cancer Institute (NCI) sponsored trial, also show that diagnostic evaluation following a false-positive result was associated with potentially harmful complications.

(Posted: 05/31/2011) - Delineation of the origin of the retrovirus known as XMRV from the genomes of laboratory mice indicates that the virus is unlikely to be responsible for either prostate cancer or chronic fatigue syndrome in humans, as has been widely published. The virus arose because of genetic recombination of two mouse viruses.

(Posted: 05/31/2011) - The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) today classified mobile phone use and other radiofrequency electromagnetic fields as a possible carcinogen (group 2B). This is neither new research nor at odds with previous findings.