Results from a phase III clinical trial initially presented more than 2 years ago have been published and, according to several experts, represent a new standard of care for treating women with advanced endometrial cancer. In the trial, adjuvant chemotherapy improved overall and disease-free survival compared with whole abdominal irradiation (WAI) in women with advanced disease. The results were released early online by the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO) on December 5.

See Special Report on new cancer genome initiative.

Led by the Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG), the NCI-funded trial, GOG 122, is the first to show a survival benefit for adjuvant chemotherapy in this patient group. In a commentary in JCO, Dr. Gini F. Fleming of the University of Chicago called the results "a milestone in the treatment of endometrial cancer."  Read more  



Looking Back on a Year of Success and Hope

As I revisit all that has happened over the past year in cancer research, I reach an inescapable conclusion: We are not only expanding our foundation of knowledge and tools with which rapid advances can be made in understanding the mechanisms of cancer, we are also exponentially increasing the opportunities to manage this lethal disease.

The Clinical Proteomics Technologies Initiative launched this year, for instance, will improve the technologies used in proteomics research - a field that is offering new avenues for early detection and diagnosis. There also is The Cancer Genome Atlas Pilot Project, which will yield information about genetic determinants of susceptibility to cancer while laying the groundwork for a full-scale understanding of the genetic etiology of cancer. And the establishment of the NCI Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer, including Centers of Excellence and new training programs, will explore new worlds of diagnosis and treatment.

Technology will undoubtedly accelerate progress, but it is just one piece of our robust National Cancer Program.  Read more  

The NCI Cancer Bulletin is produced by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). NCI, which was established in 1937, leads the national effort to eliminate the suffering and death due to cancer. Through basic, clinical, and population-based biomedical research and training, NCI conducts and supports research that will lead to a future in which we can identify the environmental and genetic causes of cancer, prevent cancer before it starts, identify cancers that do develop at the earliest stage, eliminate cancers through innovative treatment interventions, and biologically control those cancers that we cannot eliminate so they become manageable, chronic diseases. For more information on cancer, call 1-800-4-CANCER or visit http://www.cancer.gov. NCI Cancer Bulletin staff can be reached at ncicancerbulletin@mail.nih.gov.