Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology
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Multicenter Study
Wild-type BRAF is required for response to panitumumab or cetuximab in metastatic colorectal cancer.
PURPOSE Cetuximab or panitumumab are effective in 10% to 20% unselected metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. KRAS mutations account for approximately 30% to 40% patients who are not responsive. The serine-threonine kinase BRAF is the principal effector of KRAS. ⋯ Treatment with the BRAF inhibitor sorafenib restored sensitivity to panitumumab or cetuximab of CRC cells carrying the V600E allele. CONCLUSION BRAF wild-type is required for response to panitumumab or cetuximab and could be used to select patients who are eligible for the treatment. Double-hit therapies aimed at simultaneous inhibition of epidermal growth factor receptor and BRAF warrant exploration in CRC patients carrying the V600E oncogenic mutation.
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Historical Article
Changes in the quantity and level of evidence of palliative and hospice care literature: the last century.
To objectively quantify the literature and the clinical trial basis for palliative and hospice practice given a perception that its evidence base is not well developed. ⋯ Given the diversity of journals in which clinical studies related to hospice and palliative care appear, there is a key challenge for clinicians in finding ways that will allow currency of practice in a broad and rapidly changing field.
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Comparative Study
Comparison of prospective and retrospective indicators of the quality of end-of-life cancer care.
To compare prospectively and retrospectively defined benchmarks for the quality of end-of-life care, including a novel indicator for the use of opiate analgesia. ⋯ Retrospective and prospective measures, including a new measure of the use of opiate analgesia, identify some similar physician and hospital patterns of end-of-life care.
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Complete response (CR) is considered an important goal in most hematologic malignancies. However, in multiple myeloma (MM), there is no consensus regarding whether immunofixation (IF)-negative CR, IF-positive near-CR (nCR), and partial response (PR) are associated with different survivals. We evaluated the prognostic influence on event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) of these responses pre- and post-transplantation in newly diagnosed patients with MM. ⋯ Quality of response post-transplantation, notably CR, is significantly associated with EFS and OS prolongation in newly diagnosed patients with MM. There were trends toward similar associations with pretransplantation response status.