Articles

Artificial intelligence for skin cancer diagnosis, from science-fiction to reality

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a hot topic in many sciences, including medicine. A machine capable of making a medical diagnosis in full autonomy is fascinating and highly attractive. “Many years ago, in the movie Star Trek, the spaceship’s doctor diagnosed a pancreatic cancer simply by placing a small device on the belly of the patient” […]

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Cancer drugs, costs and clinical benefits are not aligned

According to an international study just published in Lancet Oncology,  the cost of new cancer drugs is not associated to the clinical value of the therapy: “In the USA and European countries, prices of cancer drugs should be better aligned with their clinical importance, such as by prioritising drugs with low or uncertain benefit for […]

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Hormone therapy for prostate cancer may shield from COVID-19

Prostate cancer patients treated with androgen-deprivation therapies (ADTs) seem to have a lower risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 complications compared to patients not treated with ADTs and compared to other cancer patients. If confirmed, a short term treatment with ADT may be considered in male individuals at high risk of severe COVID-19. The protective […]

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The misuse of “noninferiority” in presenting trials is often misleading

When researchers have the opportunity to present their trials at medical meetings, they tend to use not-negative conclusions to discuss formally negative results. A research published in JAMA Oncology by a group of Italian oncologists from the University of Turin and the National Cancer Institute – “Fondazione G. Pascale”, Naples, shows that one third of […]

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The prevalence of vaping among cancer survivors is worrying

The use of electronic cigarettes, or vaping, seems to be particularly common among young cancer survivors: according to a survey on a sample of nearly 1,500 young adult (YA) cancer survivors, just published as a research letter in JAMA Oncology, almost half have ever used e-cigarettes and more than one quarter are current users. Notably, […]

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Parity and breast cancer risk are not so strictly linked

The reduction in birth rate has been blamed in the past for the increase in breast cancer in young women, but now a study just published in JAMA Network Open (JAMA Netw Open. 2020;3(3):e200929. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.0929) offers evidence refuting this hypothesis: analysing data going back to the 1930s, a group led by Mary Beth Terry, professor […]

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COVID-19 and cancer, still more questions than answers

COVID-19 outbreak poses a severe threat to the health of millions of people worldwide, including cancer patients. What do we know about SARS-CoV-2 infection in this specific population? The analysis of data coming from a prospective cohort established by the National Clinical Research Centre for Respiratory Disease together with the National Health Commission of the […]

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A step forward in prostate cancer screening optimisation

A single prostate-specific antigen (PSA) measurement in midlife may help to personalise prostate cancer screening, resulting in a reduced risk of overdiagnosis and overtreatment of indolent cancers. The authors of the study just published in JAMA Network Open came to this conclusion after finding that in a cohort of nearly 11,000 man aged 55 to 60 […]

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The unique toxicities of CAR-T cell therapy

  The advent of chimeric antigen receptor T  cell (CAR T  cell) therapy generated great excitement in the field of onco-haematology. Clinical trials have shown remarkable results in patients with relapsed/refractory B  cell malignancies, and two CAR T  cell products have been approved in the US and in Europe. Efforts are now underway to extend […]

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Genetics of breast cancer: much more than a BRCA story

Over 450 departments and institutions worldwide have contributed to the most comprehensive study conducted so far on breast cancer risk variants whose results have been published in Nature Genetics. The fine mapping of 150 breast cancer risk regions identified nearly 200 likely target genes. Notably, less than one in five of these target genes had […]