And post-hoc analysis showed a progression-free survival (PFS) benefit with FLOT regardless of whether patients underwent surgery, and that the improvement in OS with FLOT occurred independently of tumor markers such as nodal status, and the presence of Barrett mucosa or Signet cell component disease.

Dual pathway inhibition with the AKT inhibitor ipatasertib plus the androgen receptor inhibitor abiraterone may benefit certain patients with treatment-naïve, metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, phase 3 IPATential150 trial data suggest.

A combination of biologic and genetic markers may be useful to predict which patients will experience toxicity following radiotherapy, suggest data presented at the ESTRO 38 conference in Milan, Italy.

The phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase isoform p110δ inhibitor umbralisib has shown preliminary activity against relapsed or refractory hematologic malignancies, with fewer autoimmune-like toxicities than other drugs in its class, researchers report.

Median overall survival was 31.3 months for the 36 patients who proceeded to surgery after receiving four cycles of FLOT (fluorouracil, leucovorin, oxaliplatin, and docetaxel), compared with 15.9 months for the 24 who were not offered surgery, report Salah-Eddin Al-Batran (Institute of Clinical Cancer Research, Frankfurt) and colleagues. --- As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology , among 225 cancer patients with opioid-induced constipation, a 14-day course of the peripherally acting μ-opioid receptor antagonist naldemedine – at a daily dose of 0.1, 0.2, or 0.4 mg – led to a significant improvement in the frequency of spontaneous bowel movements over placebo.

REFLECT study findings indicate that lenvatinib offers non-inferior overall survival compared with the current standard of care, sorafenib, for the first-line treatment of patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma.

Cabozantinib significantly improves progression-free survival in newly diagnosed patients with intermediate- or poor-risk metastatic renal cell carcinoma, shows a head-to-head comparison with the standard of care sunitinib.

Immunotherapy is an effective treatment for many cancers. Progress in the synergistic design of immune-targeting combination therapies is discussed in this article, which also highlights the challenges in tailoring such strategies to maximize benefit to patients. Nat Rev Cancer  2015; 15: 457–472. doi: 10.1038/nrc3973