Monday 28 August 2023

Blog postings will resume week of September 25th

To all Grey Horizon readers, 

Please note that postings will resume the week of September 25th.   

Thank you, as always, for your continued support of this blog.  

First prospective description of familial EGFR-mutated lung cancer

A prospective cohort study, conducted at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston has confirmed the existence "of an underappreciated syndrome of familial EGFR-mutated lung cancer predisposition which is characterized by development of lung adenocarcinomas harbouring an atypical spectrum of somatic EGFR mutations and high prevalence of lung nodules in germline carriers without a lung cancer diagnosis."   The study team further describes how cancer genomics has aided in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer, including an understanding of inherited risk in lung cancer patients who have never smoked.  

To learn more about this study, click here

Source mentioned: Oxnard GR, Chen R, Pharr JC, et al. Germline EGFR mutations and familial lung cancer. JCO; Published online 14 August 2023. DOI: 10.1200/JCO.23.01372

Tuesday 22 August 2023

Low incidence of local recurrence when omitting radiotherapy after breast-conserving surgery in Luminal A breast cancer

 The LUMINA study, conducted at the Juravinski Cancer Centre in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, indicates that women 55 years or older "with T1N0, grade 1 or 2, luminal A breast cancer have a very low risk of local recurrence at 5 years after breast-conserving surgery when treated with endocrine therapy alone."  The authors of the study further concluded that clinicopathologic factors alone (including patient's age, size and grade of tumour), are of "limited use in the identification of patients at low risk of recurrence", where radiotherapy can be omitted. 

To read more about the LUMINA study, click here

Source mentioned: 

Whelan TJ, Smith S, Parpia S, et al. for the LUMINA Study Investigators. Omitting Radiotherapy after Breast-Conserving Surgery in Luminal A Breast CancerN Engl J Med 2023;389:612-619.

Wednesday 16 August 2023

NCI unveils comprehensive proteogenomic dataset to help cancer researchers unravel molecular mysteries

 The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is releasing data, via the National Cancer Institute (NCI) "that standardizes genomic, proteomic, imaging, and clinical data from individual studies of more than 1,000 tumors across 10 cancer types."  The purpose of this pan-cancer proteogenomic dataset is to speed up cancer research via sharing of data, namely cancer mutations and protein modifications.  Proteomics data can be accessed via the Proteomic Data Commons at https://pdc.cancer.gov/pdc/cptac-pancancer. Genomic and transcriptomic data can be accessed via the Genomic Data Commons at https://portal.gdc.cancer.gov and the Cancer Data Service at https://dataservice.datacommons.cancer.gov/.

Sources mentioned: 

  1. Li Y, Dou Y, Leprevost FDV, et al. Proteogenomic data and resources for pan-cancer analysis. Cancer Cell. August 14, 2023. DOI: 10.1016/j.ccell.2023.06.009.

  2. Geffen Y, Anand S, Akiyama Y, et al. Pan-Cancer analysis of post-translational modifications reveals shared patterns of protein regulation. Cell. August 14, 2023. DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2023.07.013.

  3. Li Y, Dou Y, Leprevost FDV, et al. Pan-Cancer proteogenomics connects oncogenic drivers to functional states. Cell. August 14, 2023. DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2023.07.014.

Tuesday 8 August 2023

New study shows substantial racial and ethnic disparities among survivors of second primary cancers in the US

 A new study conducted by the American Cancer Society indicates that "non-Hispanic Black individuals diagnosed with a second primary cancer experienced 21% higher cancer-related death rates and 41% higher cardiovascular-related death rates compared [to] non-Hispanic White counterparts."  The findings further determined that Hispanic patents with a second primary cancer has a death rate 10% higher than non-Hispanic White patients.  According to lead study author Dr. Hyuna Sung, these rates were due, in part to Black and Hispanic patients being diagnosed with second primary cancer at a later stage.  

To read more about this study, click here.  

Study mentioned:  Sung HNisotel LSedeta EIslami FJemal A. Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Survival Among People With Second Primary Cancer in the US. JAMA Netw Open. 2023;6(8):e2327429. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.27429