Lessons from the first ecancer symposium on angiogenesis in gastric cancer

In March 2015, ecancer hosted a symposium at the European Institute of Oncology in Milan, Italy on the topic of angiogenesis in gastric cancer. During this meeting, leaders in the field focused on the latest research on the topic of angiogenesis in gastric cancer, delivering lectures combined with interactive question and answer (Q & A) sessions and a roundtable discussion with the meeting's chairs. Topics covered included biomarkers, imaging, and the current state of antiangiogenic drugs in gastric cancer. This report will provide an understanding of the relevance of angiogenesis in gastric cancer research, and clinical experiences from diverse perspectives

Phase II study of ACNU in non-small-cell lung cancer: EORTC study 08872

A total of 62 patients with metastatic or locally advanced non-small-cell lung cancer were entered in a phase II study of ACNU. Initially, the drug was given i. v. at a dose of 100 mg/m2 every 6 weeks, but due to observed haematological side effects in chemotherapy-pretreated patients, the dose was lowered in this group to 75 mg/m2. We observed one complete response in a subject exhibiting multiple lung metastases and a partial response in two patients, one showing brain metastases and one who experienced local disease recurrence. The toxicity of ACNU mainly consisted of bone marrow suppression especially thrombocytopenia, with one toxic death occurring due to intracerebral haemorrhage. We concluded that at this dose and on this schedule, ACNU has limited activity in non-small-cell lung cancer

Analysing the attributes of Comprehensive Cancer Centres and Cancer Centres across Europe to identify key hallmarks.

There is a persistent variation in cancer outcomes among and within European countries suggesting (among other causes) inequalities in access to or delivery of high-quality cancer care. European policy (EU Cancer Mission and Europe's Beating Cancer Plan) is currently moving towards a mission-oriented approach addressing these inequalities. In this study, we used the quantitative and qualitative data of the Organisation of European Cancer Institutes' Accreditation and Designation Programme, relating to 40 large European cancer centres, to describe their current compliance with quality standards, to identify the hallmarks common to all centres and to show the distinctive features of Comprehensive Cancer Centres. All Comprehensive Cancer Centres and Cancer Centres accredited by the Organisation of European Cancer Institutes show good compliance with quality standards related to care, multidisciplinarity and patient centredness. However, Comprehensive Cancer Centres on average showed significantly better scores on indicators related to the volume, quality and integration of translational research, such as high-impact publications, clinical trial activity (especially in phase I and phase IIa trials) and filing more patents as early indicators of innovation. However, irrespective of their size, centres show significant variability regarding effective governance when functioning as entities within larger hospitals

Understanding the impact of public policy on cancer research: A bibliometric approach

With global spend on cancer research from the public sector now in excess of 14 billion euro, as well as the increasing burden of disease in market economies and low-middle income countries through changing demographics (ageing and population growth) cancer is now one of the most complex and global public policy issues. Using novel bibliometrics we have sought to investigate changes in research activity (total output), relative commitment and collaborations between countries/regions with similar healthcare and population and development parameters - United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Sweden - to assess the utility of this policy research approach by analysing two different cohorts (1995-1999 and 2000-2004) to study the impact of changes on research publications as a surrogate for overall research activity