Table of contents
March 2006 Volume 3 No 3
Editorial
Viewpoint
Chemotherapy-induced neutropenia: a useful predictor of treatment efficacy?
114When is chemotherapy too well tolerated? This Viewpoint discusses the possibilities that some patients receive inadequate doses of chemotherapy using the conventional dose calculation method based on body surface area and that a correlation between hematological toxicity and treatment efficacy could be used to titrate therapy.
Research Highlights
Efaproxiral is an effective addition to WBRT in patients with brain metastases
116Vessel-related variables improve prognostic ability of the Dukes staging system
116Lenalidomide plus dexamethasone effective in newly diagnosed myeloma
116Intraperitoneal chemotherapy for ovarian cancer: challenges and future directions
117Does concurrent exemestane affect tamoxifen pharmacokinetics?
117Improved definitions of biochemical failure in prostate cancer patients
118Occult gynecologic malignancies in BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers
118Plasma exchange does not ameliorate myeloma-induced acute renal failure
119Use of SU11248 to inhibit proangiogenic growth factors in renal-cell carcinoma patients
119Treatment of malignant glioma with high-dose conformal radiotherapy
120No association between dietary-fiber intake and colorectal cancer
120Transdermal fentanyl for managing chronic pain in children
121Reducing the gynecomastia and breast pain associated with bicalutamide therapy
121Downstaging of hepatocellular carcinoma before transplantation
122Long-term steroids might not increase lymphoma risk for some patients
122Practice Points
Preoperative radiotherapy for rectal cancer: beyond local control
124Is pathologic complete remission a useful measure of response to novel therapies in neoadjuvant trials?
126Is intraoperative lymphatic mapping and sentinel lymph node biopsy effective and safe in early-stage melanoma?
128Should prophylactic antibiotics be used in afebrile neutropenic oncology patients?
130What is the incidence of stroke in survivors of childhood Hodgkin's disease?
132Can biomarkers direct the optimal use of aromatase inhibitors versus selective estrogen receptor modulators?
134Reviews
Mechanisms of Disease: breast tumor pathogenesis and the role of the myoepithelial cell
138The myoepithelial cell exerts profound effects on breast tumor cell behavior and resides close to abnormally proliferating breast epithelial cells in precancerous ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) tumors. These cells also form a natural border separating breast epithelial cells from stromal angiogenesis. Barsky and Karlin discuss the role myoepithelial cells may have in inhibiting the progression of DCIS to invasive breast cancer, and the functional studies that are elucidating the anti-invasive and anti-angiogenic phenotypes of these cells.
doi:10.1038/ncponc0450 | Full Text | PDF (1,732K)
Cancer-related anemia and recombinant human erythropoietin—an updated overview
152Anemia can be a debilitating problem that negatively influences overall quality of life, and it can worsen the prognosis for cancer patients. The requirement for red-blood cell transfusions is reduced in patients receiving erythropoietin therapy. This review discusses quality of life issues, the thromboembolic complications associated with erythropoietin treatment, and provides a critical appraisal of the clinical trial data and evidence-based guidelines for erythropoietin treatment.
doi:10.1038/ncponc0451 | Full Text | PDF (245K)
Case Study
Sustained remission from angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma induced by alemtuzumab
165doi:10.1038/ncponc0430 | Full Text | PDF (120K)
