2000s

2000   Researchers discover the most common form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, is actually two distinct diseases, thus explaining why only 40 percent of patients with NHL can be cured by chemotherapy.

NCI establishes the Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities as part of a major national commitment to identify and address the underlying causes of disease and disability in racial and ethnic communities.

2001   The drug imatinib mesylate (Gleevec) is shown to be effective against chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). Imatinib mesylate is the first anticancer drug developed specifically to target the molecular defect that causes a particular type of cancer.

The largest-ever prostate cancer prevention study, the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT), is launched. SELECT will determine whether these two dietary supplements can protect against prostate cancer.

2002   NCI launches the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) to determine whether spiral computed tomography is better than single-view chest x-ray in reducing deaths among current and former heavy smokers. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) publishes a monograph on tobacco smoke and involuntary smoking (second-hand smoke) that classifies second-hand smoke as carcinogenic to humans.

2003   Two randomized controlled trials show that taking aspirin daily for as little as three years reduces the development of colorectal polyps by 19 percent to 35 percent in individuals at high risk for colorectal cancer.

Results from the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial (PCPT) show that men taking finasteride had 25 percent fewer diagnoses of prostate cancer than men taking a placebo, proving that prostate cancer can be prevented.

An NCI-supported international clinical trial finds that postmenopausal women diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer who took the drug letrozole, an aromatase inhibitor, after completing an initial five years of adjuvant therapy with tamoxifen had a significantly reduced risk of cancer recurrence compared to women taking a placebo.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves the drug bortezomib (Velcade) for the treatment of multiple myeloma. Bortezomib represents a new class of targeted agents that inhibit proteasomes, structures inside cells that degrade proteins.

2004   Letrozole is approved by the FDA for the adjuvant treatment of early-stage breast cancer after five years of tamoxifen therapy.

NCI collaborates with the Department of Health and Human Services to establish a National Network of Tobacco Cessation Quitlines.

Palifermin (Kepivance) is approved by the FDA to decrease the incidence and duration of severe oral mucositis in patients with hematologic malignancies who receive high doses of chemotherapy and radiation therapy followed by stem cell rescue.

Data from the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) study show that women who take estrogen in combination with the hormone progestin have a greater risk of developing breast cancer than women who take estrogen alone and that estrogen-alone hormone replacement therapy has no overall benefit in disease prevention, specifically on the risks of breast and colorectal cancer.

The monoclonal antibody bevacizumab (Avastin) is approved by the FDA for use with other drugs in the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer. Bevacizumab targets a protein called vascular endothelial growth factor, which stimulates the growth of new blood vessels to tumors (a process called tumor angiogenesis).

The monoclonal antibody cetuximab (Erbitux) is approved by the FDA for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer. Cetuximab targets a protein called epidermal growth factor receptor, which is overexpressed in some cancers.

The FDA approves oxaliplatin (Eloxatin) for use in the treatment of advanced colorectal cancer.

The prevalence of U.S. adult smoking declines to 20.9 percent.

2005   Preliminary results from the Digital vs. Film Mammographic Imaging Screening Trial (DMIST) show no difference in breast cancer detection in the general population of women who participated in the study. However, women with dense breasts who are pre- or perimenopausal or women who are younger than age 50 may benefit from having a digital rather than a film mammogram.

Results from two, large, NCI-sponsored randomized clinical trials show that patients with early-stage, HER2-positive, invasive breast cancer who received the monoclonal antibody trastuzumab (Herceptin) in combination with chemotherapy experienced a significant decrease in their risk of cancer recurrence in comparison with patients who received the same chemotherapy without trastuzumab.

NCI and the National Human Genome Research Institute announce the launch of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) Project, which, in its initial phase, will systematically explore the genomic changes in lung, brain (glioblastoma), and ovarian cancer.

The FDA approves an albumin-stabilized nanoparticle formulation of paclitaxel (Abraxane) for use in the treatment of metastatic or recurrent breast cancer.

The prevalence of U.S. adult smoking holds steady at 20.9 percent, the first time in nearly a decade that the percentage failed to decline from one year to the next.

2006   Initial results from the Study of Tamoxifen and Raloxifene (STAR) show that the drug raloxifene reduces the incidence of invasive breast cancer to the same extent (approximately 50 percent) as tamoxifen, but it appears less likely to cause some of the potentially dangerous side effects found with tamoxifen.

The FDA approves the vaccine Gardasil, which protects against persistent infection by the two types of HPV that cause approximately 70 percent of cervical cancers worldwide. NCI scientists developed the underlying technology used to make this vaccine.

The U.S. Surgeon General releases a report on the harmful health consequences of involuntary exposure to tobacco smoke (second-hand smoke).

The FDA approves trastuzumab (Herceptin) for use with other drugs in the adjuvant treatment of women with early-stage, node-positive, HER2-overexpressing breast cancer.

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