Long-Term Survival after Complete Surgical Resection and Adjuvant Immunotherapy for Distant Melanoma Metastases.

Background: This phase III study was undertaken to evaluate the efficacy of an allogeneic whole-cell vaccine (Canvaxin™) plus bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) after complete resection of stage IV melanoma.

Methods: After complete resection of ≤5 distant metastases, patients were randomly assigned to BCG+Canvaxin (BCG/Cv) or BCG+placebo (BCG/Pl). The primary endpoint was overall survival (OS); secondary endpoints were disease-free survival (DFS), and immune response measured by skin test (ClinicalTrials.

Circulating tumor cells in patients with breast cancer dormancy.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are present in patients many years after mastectomy without evidence of disease and that these CTCs are shed from persisting tumor in patients with breast cancer dormancy.

Experimental Design: We searched for CTCs in 36 dormancy candidate patients and 26 age-matched controls using stringent criteria for cytomorphology, immunophenotype, and aneusomy.

Results: Thirteen of 36 dormancy candidates, 7 to 22 years after mastectomy and without evidence of clinical disease, had CTCs, usually on more than one occasion.

Limitations of the Gail model in the specialized breast cancer risk assessment clinic.

The Gail model is a risk assessment tool that is accurate for general breast cancer risk screening. Because of the limited way that this model incorporates family history information, however, there are concerns that it may underestimate risk for many women attending specialized breast cancer risk assessment clinics. We collected comprehensive breast cancer risk factor information for 213 women attending a specialized breast cancer risk assessment clinic using a modified version of the CancerGene software.