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Cancer incidence and mortality are expected to rise substantially in low-income countries. Franco Cavalli outlines how we should react to this threat, and gives guidance on preventive measures that can be tailored to different resource settings.
Surgery and chemotherapy form the cornerstone in the treatment of ovarian cancer. The standard of care for primary ovarian cancer is platinum and taxane-based chemotherapy. Despite the favorable response characteristics, however, most women with advanced-stage ovarian cancer will relapse. Herzog and Pothuri discuss the treatment options available and highlight the issues surrounding how these patients should be managed with surgical, chemotherapy, biological targeted agents and radiation therapy.
It is unclear whether stressful life events, work-related stress, or perceived global stress are differentially associated with breast cancer incidence and breast cancer relapse in prospective studies. In this review systematic and explicit methods were used to identify, select, and critically appraise relevant studies. Despite the heterogeneity in the results obtained, the authors conclude that stress does not seem to increase the risk of breast cancer incidence but emphasize that larger studies on stress and breast cancer relapse are required to determine if stress affects the progression of breast cancer.
Adjuvant chemotherapy improves survival for patients with early-stage disease but this benefit is not equal for all patients. Molecular characteristics of the cancer affect sensitivity to chemotherapy. In general, estrogen receptor (ER)-negative disease is more sensitive to chemotherapy than ER-positive tumors. Before any new molecular classification (or predictive test) is adopted for routine clinical use, however, several criteria need to be met. This review describes the current limitations and future promises of gene-expression-based molecular classification of breast cancer and how it might impact selection of adjuvant therapy for individual patients.
