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ASCO’s Best of 2014

What better way to begin 2015 than with a nod to our scientists who, according to the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), have led some of the past year's major achievements in clinical cancer research and care.

The research, in the immunotherapy and prostate cancer fields and led by Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and Brady Urological Institute scientists, was selected by the ASCO for inclusion in Clinical Cancer Advances 2015, the Society’s annual review of progress against cancer and emerging trends in the field.

Kimmel Cancer Center oncologist Julie Brahmer led research that was presented at the ASCO annual meeting and published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology regarding a clinical trial of an anti-PD-L1 antibody for patients with lung cancer, adding to continued progress in the field of immunotherapy. In other news on the immunotherapy front, Kimmel scientist Drew Pardoll forecasts developments in immunotherapy in the American Association for Cancer Research blog, Catalyst.

According to results of a study led by Kimmel Cancer Center oncologist Emmanuel Antonarakis and Brady Urological Institute scientist Jun Luo, prostate cancer patients whose tumors contain a shortened receptor called AR-V7 are less likely to respond to two widely used drugs for metastatic prostate cancer. If large-scale studies validate the findings, the investigators say men with detectable blood levels of AR-V7 should avoid these two drugs and instead take other medicines to treat their prostate cancer. A report on the work was described online Sept. 3 in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at the ASCO annual meeting.

To learn more, read ASCO's report at www.cancerprogress.net/CCA.