Monitoring metabolites of tamoxifen, such as endoxifen, has been suggested as a strategy to ascertain therapeutic effect of tamoxifen therapy but clinical guidelines are missing. Herein we aim to investigate the outcome of endoxifen concentrations of low dose tamoxifen, using change in mammographic breast density (MBD) as a proxy for therapy response.

Establishing whether women with major depressive disorder (MDD) who develop breast cancer (BC) have poor outcomes is key to optimizing care for this population. To address this, we examined associations between MDD and BC recurrence and mortality.

Phase 2 trials are instrumental for designing definitive efficacy trials or attaining accelerated approval. However, high attrition of drug candidates in phase 2 raises questions about their supporting evidence.

While female survivors of Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) have an increased risk of breast cancer (BC), no BC risk prediction model is available. We developed such models incorporating mean radiation dose to the breast or breast quadrant-specific radiation doses.

Dietary patterns promoting chronic inflammation, including the empirical dietary inflammatory pattern (EDIP), have been associated with certain cancers. Investigating whether this dietary pattern is associated with breast cancer-where the role of inflammation is less well-defined-could provide valuable insights and potentially improve strategies for preventing this cancer.

The marked increase in incidence and mortality in endometrial cancer over the last two decades is driven in part by rising rates of higher grade, more aggressive endometrial cancers with mutations in TP53, uterine serous cancers and their dedifferentiated component, uterine carcinosarcomas (collectively USC). USC rates have been increasing among all racial and ethnic groups, with higher rates of this aggressive uterine cancer in Black women. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) hosted a workshop in June 2023 to examine the diverse aspects of USC across epidemiology, biology, and molecular genetics, and to advance knowledge from basic to preclinical and translational efforts. Key stakeholders came together including basic scientists, clinical investigators, and patient advocates to identify critical research gaps that, when addressed, would facilitate more comprehensive and rapid progress in understanding and ultimately treating USC across all patients. NCI released a supplemental funding opportunity (NOT-CA-24-044) in Spring 2024 to facilitate rapid translation of these recommendations.

Prognostic markers for overall survival (OS) in resected pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) are well-established but remain unclear following neoadjuvant therapy (NAT). This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to determine factors associated with OS following NAT in resected PDAC.

Pre-clinical cancer studies ascribe promising anticancer properties to metformin. Yet, clinical findings vary, casting uncertainty on its therapeutic value for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. We hypothesized that metformin could benefit obese and overweight patients with NSCLC.

Implications of relabeling grade group (GG) 1 prostate cancer as non-cancer will depend on the recommended active surveillance (AS) strategy. Whether relabeling should prompt de-intensifying, PSA-based active monitoring approaches is unclear. We investigated outcomes of biopsy-based AS strategies vs PSA-based active monitoring for GG1 diagnoses under different patient adherence rates.

Lung cancer is a leading cause of cancer mortality for most ethnic groups of Asian American females, including Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and Vietnamese Americans, a striking pattern given the exceedingly low prevalence of smoking among Asian American females in the general population. Recent research demonstrates that among Asian American females diagnosed with lung cancer, the vast majority of patients have never smoked, as high as > 80% among Chinese and Asian Indian American females. Despite declining rates in lung cancer overall in the United States, rates among Asian American females who have never smoked appear to be increasing. This Commentary articulates extant knowledge, based on studies in Asia, of a range of risk factors such as a family history of lung cancer, history of lung diseases including tuberculosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, exposure to cooking fumes and second-hand smoke, and various putative risk factors. Unique mutational profiles at the tumor level, including higher prevalence of EGFR mutations among Asian populations, highlight the importance of tumor genomic testing of newly-diagnosed patients. Additional research is essential, given the high burden of disease among Asian American females who have never smoked, and limited knowledge regarding contributing risk factors specific to Asian American females, as the risk factors identified in Asians living in Asia may not apply.

Associations between immune-related adverse events (irAEs) from checkpoint inhibitor therapy and outcomes have been previously evaluated, with most prior research finding a positive association between toxicity and survival. This prior research has generally reported on more common tumor types. We use a unique data resource of a federally-funded basket trial ((NCT02834013) for patients with rare cancers (N = 684) to evaluate associations between irAEs and overall survival and progression-free survival.

Many components of long-term cancer follow-up and survivorship care are managed in the primary care context. Given the important role that primary care has in survivorship care, it is critical to ensure that teams in these settings are prepared to address long-term needs. Evidence-based strategies to deliver survivorship care in primary care settings in the US remain limited. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) Office of Cancer Survivorship (OCS) conducted a day-long virtual event, Enhancing Capacity for Primary Care Research in Cancer Survivorship: A Workshop for Action, on February 28, 2024, to discuss research needs addressing the intersection between primary care and cancer survivorship. Topics discussed to advance this area of research included: system-level interventions, methods and measurement, and mentorship and research team building, especially for early career researchers. The purpose of this report is to provide a summary of the key findings. Gaps and opportunities include: (1) health systems-level research that investigates primary care practice-level capacity, (2) identification and characterization of the targeted cancer survivor populations for primary care research; (3) leveraging electronic medical records to track relevant patient outcomes throughout survivorship; and (4) development/creation of communities of practice to support and build research capacity. Team science approaches were identified as a core strategy to advance survivorship research. The meeting closed with a reflection and call to action focused on building collaborations that span different research areas, disciplines, and organizations and building a broad network of a primary care practice focused research.

Understanding disparities in adolescent cigarette smoking is important for effective prevention.

Cervical cytology is recommended by WHO as a triage option in HPV-based cervical cancer screening programmes. We assessed the performance of cytology to detect CIN3+ without and with knowledge of HPV positivity.

Black individuals are less likely to be treated for prostate cancer even though they are more than twice as likely to die compared to White individuals. The complex causes of these inequities are influenced by social and structural factors, including racism, which contribute to the differential delivery of care. This study investigates how factors related to the location of where individuals live and receive care affect treatment inequities for prostate cancer between Black and White individuals. We hypothesize that both location and race independently influence treatment inequities. We used data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) cancer registry linked to Medicare claims to estimate the treatment inequity, as defined by differences in radiation or radical prostatectomy. Fixed effects at the physician, hospital, and patient ZIP code levels were incorporated to adjust for all time-invariant factors at these levels. The results indicate that residential location-related factors explain only half of the treatment inequity, while provider- and hospital-level factors do not significantly account for disparities. Even after accounting for all time-invariant factors, significant differences in treatment rates persist. The study highlights the importance of understanding race as a social construct and racism as a systemic and structural phenomenon in addressing treatment inequities. These findings provide a necessary step toward understanding equitable care and designing interventions to solve this inequity.