2008 in oncology

The approvals rows on treatment records: region, year and indication.

• 2008Aprepitant (and fosaprepitant) approved in US

  Fosaprepitant intravenous prodrug for the same indications

• 2008Bendamustine approved in US

  CLL; indolent B-cell NHL progressed within 6 months of rituximab

• 2008Bortezomib approved in US

  Newly diagnosed myeloma

• 2008Degarelix approved in US

  Advanced prostate cancer

• 2008Eltrombopag approved in US

  Chronic immune thrombocytopenia with insufficient response to corticosteroids, immunoglobulins or splenectomy.

• 2008Fentanyl (transmucosal, for breakthrough cancer pain) approved in EU

  Breakthrough pain in adults receiving maintenance opioid therapy for chronic cancer pain. Effentora authorised 4 Apr 2008 (Phoenix Labs); Instanyl 20 Jul 2009 (Istituto Gentili); P...

• 2008Filgrastim (G-CSF) approved in EU

  First biosimilar filgrastims (Tevagrastim, Ratiograstim, Biograstim); Zarzio 2009

• 2008Granisetron approved in US

  Transdermal system for chemotherapy of up to five consecutive days (Sancuso)

• 2008Histamine dihydrochloride approved in EU

  Maintenance with interleukin-2 for adults with AML in first remission (exceptional circumstances)

• 2008Methylnaltrexone approved in EU

  Opioid-induced constipation in advanced illness receiving palliative care when laxatives are insufficient (Relistor)

• 2008Methylnaltrexone approved in US

  Opioid-induced constipation in advanced illness receiving palliative care (chronic non-cancer pain and oral tablets added 2014 to 2016)

• 2008Nab-paclitaxel approved in EU

  Metastatic breast cancer; later pancreatic (2013) and non-small-cell lung cancer (2015). EMA EPAR: https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/medicines/human/EPAR/abraxane

• 2008Pemetrexed approved in US

  Non-squamous NSCLC first line

• 2008Plerixafor approved in US

  Stem cell mobilisation with filgrastim for autologous transplantation in NHL and multiple myeloma

• 2008Romiplostim approved in US

  Immune thrombocytopenia with insufficient response to corticosteroids, immunoglobulins or splenectomy.

• 2008Thalidomide approved in EU

  Untreated multiple myeloma ≥65 or transplant-ineligible, with melphalan-prednisone

The regulatory events on treatment records: designations, filings, decisions, label changes and withdrawals, most of them carrying a full date.

• 19 December 2008Imatinib: approval (US)

  Adjuvant GIST

The statutes, regulations, guidance and court rulings in the law index, dated to the year the instrument was made.

• 2008GINA (Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act 2008)

  United States, statute.

The year reported on trial records, with the headline result the record gives.

• 2008ANGIOTAX reported

  Primary endpoint met: most patients progression-free at two months; responses mainly in cutaneous scalp and face disease.

  AngiosarcomaVascular tumours (angiosarcoma, epithelioid haemangioendothelioma, kaposiform haemangioendothelioma)Sarcomas (soft tissue, bone, GIST)Paclitaxel / nab-paclitaxel
• 2008EXTREME reported

  OS 10.1 vs 7.4 months; HR 0.80.

  Head and neck squamous cell carcinomaRecurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma
• 2008LACE (Lung Adjuvant Cisplatin Evaluation) pooled analysis reported

  Hazard ratio for death 0.89 (95 percent confidence interval 0.82 to 0.96), a 5.4 percent absolute five-year survival benefit; no benefit, and possible harm, in stage IA.

  Resectable stage I to III non-small-cell lung cancerCisplatinVinorelbineEtoposide
• 2008MNTX 302 reported

  Laxation within four hours of the first dose 48% vs 15% on placebo; laxation after two or more of the first four doses 52% vs 8% (P<0.001 for both).

  Methylnaltrexone
• 2008Photodynamic therapy against cryotherapy for superficial basal cell carcinoma reported

  Five-year recurrence 20 per cent after cryotherapy against 22 per cent after methyl aminolevulinate photodynamic therapy (p=0.86), with an excellent cosmetic outcome in 16 against...

  Basal cell carcinomaSkin cancer (all types)Methyl aminolevulinate
• 2008RTOG 92-02 reported

  At 10 years, 24 extra months of goserelin improved disease-free survival (22.5 against 13.2 percent), disease-specific survival (88.7 against 83.9 percent) and distant metastasis (...

  Prostate cancerLocalised prostate cancer, high and very high riskGoserelin / leuprolide (ovarian function suppression)Flutamide
• 2008SHARP reported

  OS 10.7 vs 7.9 months, HR 0.69.

  Hepatocellular carcinomaAdvanced hepatocellular carcinoma (BCLC C)Sorafenib
• 2008START-B (UK Standardisation of Breast Radiotherapy) reported

  10-year local-regional relapse 4.3% vs 5.5%; fewer late normal-tissue effects with 40 Gy in 15 fractions.

  HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancerHER2-positive breast cancerTriple-negative breast cancer (TNBC)Breast cancer (all types)

The publication year on key paper records.

• 2008A history of cancer chemotherapy

  DeVita VT, Chu E. Cancer Research.

• 2008ANGIOTAX: phase 2 trial of weekly paclitaxel for unresectable angiosarcoma

  Penel N, Bui BN, Bay JO, et al. Journal of Clinical Oncology.

• 2008Basal cell carcinomas: attack of the hedgehog

  Epstein EH. Nature Reviews Cancer.

• 2008CA 19-9 tumour-marker response to chemotherapy in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer enrolled in a randomised controlled trial

  Hess V, Glimelius B, Grawe P, et al. The Lancet Oncology.

• 2008Cancer as an overhealing wound: an old hypothesis revisited

  Schäfer M, Werner S. Nature reviews. Molecular cell biology.

• 2008Clinical and pathologic characteristics of patients with BRCA-positive and BRCA-negative breast cancer

  Atchley DP, Albarracin CT, Lopez A, et al. Journal of Clinical Oncology.

• 2008Concerning the origin of malignant tumours by Theodor Boveri. Translated and annotated by Henry Harris

  Boveri T. Journal of cell science.

• 2008Core signaling pathways in human pancreatic cancers revealed by global genomic analyses

  Jones S, Zhang X, Parsons DW, et al. Science.

• 2008Development and validation of a predictive model for chemotherapy-associated thrombosis

  Khorana AA, Kuderer NM, Culakova E, et al. Blood.

• 2008Efficient tumour formation by single human melanoma cells

  Quintana E, Shackleton M, Sabel MS, et al. Nature.

• 2008EXTREME: platinum-based chemotherapy plus cetuximab in recurrent or metastatic head and neck cancer

  Vermorken JB, Mesia R, Rivera F, et al. New England Journal of Medicine.

• 2008GROINSS-V: sentinel node dissection is safe in early-stage vulvar cancer

  Van der Zee AG, Oonk MH, De Hullu JA, et al. Journal of Clinical Oncology.

• 2008Jemal 2008: Cancer statistics, 2008

  Jemal A, Siegel R, Ward E, Hao Y, Xu J, Murray T, Thun MJ. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.

• 2008K-ras mutations and benefit from cetuximab in advanced colorectal cancer

  Karapetis CS, Khambata-Ford S, Jonker DJ, et al. New England Journal of Medicine.

• 2008Lead, mercury, and arsenic in US- and Indian-manufactured Ayurvedic medicines sold via the Internet

  Saper RB, Phillips RS, Sehgal A, et al. JAMA.

• 2008Lung adjuvant cisplatin evaluation: a pooled analysis by the LACE Collaborative Group

  Pignon JP, Tribodet H, Scagliotti GV, et al. Journal of Clinical Oncology.

• 2008Mani 2008: the epithelial-mesenchymal transition generates cells with properties of stem cells

  Mani SA, Guo W, Liao MJ, et al. Cell.

• 2008Massage therapy versus simple touch to improve pain and mood in patients with advanced cancer: a randomized trial

  Kutner JS, Smith MC, Corbin L, et al. Annals of Internal Medicine.

• 2008Methylnaltrexone for opioid-induced constipation in advanced illness (MNTX 302)

  Thomas J, Karver S, Cooney GA, et al. New England Journal of Medicine.

• 2008Mistletoe therapy in oncology

  Horneber MA, Bueschel G, Huber R, et al. The Cochrane database of systematic reviews.

• 2008Phase 1 trial of abiraterone acetate confirms that castration-resistant prostate cancer commonly remains hormone driven

  Attard G, Reid AH, Yap TA, et al. Journal of Clinical Oncology.

• 2008Phase III study comparing cisplatin plus gemcitabine with cisplatin plus pemetrexed in chemotherapy-naive patients with advanced-stage non-small-cell lung cance...

  Scagliotti GV, Parikh P, von Pawel J, et al. Journal of Clinical Oncology.

• 2008Prevalence and clinical implications of sarcopenic obesity in patients with solid tumours of the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts: a population-based stu...

  Prado CM, Lieffers JR, McCargar LJ, et al. The Lancet Oncology.

• 2008Randomized trial of a hypnosis intervention for treatment of hot flashes among breast cancer survivors

  Elkins G, Marcus J, Stearns V, et al. Journal of Clinical Oncology.

• 2008Response to neoadjuvant therapy and long-term survival in patients with triple-negative breast cancer

  Liedtke C, Mazouni C, Hess KR, et al. Journal of Clinical Oncology.

• 2008SHARP: sorafenib in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma

  Llovet JM, Ricci S, Mazzaferro V, et al. New England Journal of Medicine.

• 2008Single-strand break repair and genetic disease

  Caldecott KW. Nature reviews. Genetics.

• 2008Sites of distant recurrence and clinical outcomes in patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer: high incidence of central nervous system metastases

  Lin NU, Claus E, Sohl J, et al. Cancer.

• 2008The functional loss of the retinoblastoma tumour suppressor is a common event in basal-like and luminal B breast carcinomas

  Herschkowitz JI, He X, Fan C, Perou CM. Breast Cancer Research.

• 2008Theories of carcinogenesis: an emerging perspective

  Sonnenschein C, Soto AM. Seminars in cancer biology.

• 2008Translational research: crossing the valley of death

  Butler D. Nature.

• 2008Wild-type KRAS is required for panitumumab efficacy in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer

  Amado RG, Wolf M, Peeters M, et al. Journal of Clinical Oncology.

• 2008Wisnoski 2008: 672 patients with acinar cell carcinoma of the pancreas, a population-based comparison to pancreatic adenocarcinoma

  Wisnoski NC, Townsend CM, Nealon WH, Freeman JL, Riall TS. Surgery.

The history entries editors wrote on cancer records: the dated turning points of each disease.

• 2008163 resected MCNs: cancer in 17.5 percent, all 40 mm or larger or with nodules

  Mucinous cystic neoplasm of the pancreas with associated invasive carcinoma (MCN-associated carcinoma)

  Distal pancreatectomy (removal of the body and tail of the pancreas, usually with the spleen)
• 2008ALK mutations identified as a hereditary and somatic driver

  Neuroblastoma (paediatric)

  ALK
• 2008ANGIOTAX: weekly paclitaxel established as active in angiosarcoma

  Angiosarcoma

  ANGIOTAXPaclitaxel / nab-paclitaxel
• 2008ANGIOTAX: weekly paclitaxel in angiosarcoma

  Vascular tumours (angiosarcoma, epithelioid haemangioendothelioma, kaposiform haemangioendothelioma). Penel and colleagues, JCO, phase 2.

  Paclitaxel / nab-paclitaxel
• 2008Castration-resistant disease is proved to be still hormone driven

  Prostate cancer. Attard's phase 1 of abiraterone in 21 men resistant to multiple hormonal therapies produced prostate-specific antigen falls of at least 50 percent in 12 of them, l...

  Phase 1 trial of abiraterone acetate confirms that castration-resistant prostate cancer commonly remains hormone driven
• 2008Claudin 18.2 identified as a tumour-exposed target (Sahin and colleagues)

  Claudin 18.2-positive gastric cancer

• 2008Core signalling pathways from the first pancreatic exomes

  Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Twenty-four cancers carried an average of 63 alterations hitting twelve pathways in 67 to 100% of tumours.

  Core signaling pathways in human pancreatic cancers revealed by global genomic analysesKRAS
• 2008EORTC 55874: adjuvant pelvic radiotherapy does not improve survival in uterine sarcoma

  Uterine sarcoma

• 2008EXPeRT founded

  Rare cancers of childhood (NCI PDQ umbrella). European Cooperative Study Group for Paediatric Rare Tumours pools national registries (Italy, Germany, France, Poland, UK).

• 2008EXTREME defines first-line therapy for recurrent/metastatic disease

  Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

  EXTREME
• 2008EXTREME: cetuximab with platinum-fluorouracil first line

  HPV-negative head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (including HPV-negative oropharyngeal cancer)

  EXTREME
• 2008EXTREME: first survival gain in recurrent disease

  Recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

  EXTREME
• 2008Fukase trial: Helicobacter pylori eradication reduces metachronous cancer after endoscopic resection

  Early gastric cancer

• 2008German NB97: spontaneous regression in about half of observed infant tumours

  Low-risk neuroblastoma (INRG very low and low risk, including stage MS)

• 2008GROINSS-V I: sentinel node biopsy is safe in early vulvar cancer

  HPV-associated vulvar squamous cell carcinoma

  Sentinel lymph node biopsy
• 2008GROINSS-V I: sentinel node biopsy safe in early vulvar cancer

  Vulvar cancer

  Sentinel lymph node biopsy
• 2008Histology chooses the drug, and the adjuvant rule is fixed

  Lung cancer (all types). Pemetrexed beat gemcitabine in adenocarcinoma (12.6 against 10.9 months) and lost in squamous disease (9.4 against 10.8); LACE pooled 4,584 resected patien...

  Phase III study comparing cisplatin plus gemcitabine with cisplatin plus pemetrexed in chemotherapy-naive patients with advanced-stage non-small-cell lung cancerLung adjuvant cisplatin evaluation: a pooled analysis by the LACE Collaborative Group
• 2008IDH1 mutations discovered in glioma

  Glioma & glioblastoma. Parsons/Vogelstein glioblastoma genome sequencing; reclassification follows.

  IDH1 / IDH2
• 2008IDH1 mutations found in glioma

  Astrocytoma, IDH-mutant (grades 2 to 4). Parsons and colleagues sequence glioblastoma exomes (Science) and find IDH1 mutations concentrated in younger patients and secondary tumour...

  IDH1 / IDH2
• 2008INT-0133: mifamurtide improves overall survival; EU approval 2009

  Osteosarcoma

  Mifamurtide
• 2008Intra-arterial melphalan via ophthalmic artery (Abramson)

  Retinoblastoma

  Melphalan (including hepatic delivery system)
• 2008KIAA1549-BRAF fusion discovered

  Paediatric low-grade glioma. Tandem duplication at 7q34 found in most pilocytic astrocytomas (Jones and colleagues), defining pLGG as a MAPK-pathway disease.

  BRAFRAS / RAF / MEK / ERK (MAPK)
• 2008KRAS as a negative predictive biomarker

  Colorectal cancer. Cetuximab improved survival only in K-ras wild-type tumours (9.5 against 4.8 months) and did nothing in mutant ones, creating the first negative predictive bioma...

  K-ras mutations and benefit from cetuximab in advanced colorectal cancerKRAS
• 2008KRAS mutations shown to predict failure of cetuximab and panitumumab

  KRAS G12C-mutant colorectal cancer

  CetuximabPanitumumabKRAS
• 2008LACE meta-analysis: adjuvant cisplatin chemotherapy adds about 5 percent to five-year survival

  Resectable stage I to III non-small-cell lung cancer

  CisplatinVinorelbine
• 2008Merkel cell polyomavirus discovered

  Merkel cell carcinoma. Feng, Chang and Moore find clonally integrated MCPyV in most MCC using digital transcriptome subtraction.

• 2008MIPI prognostic index

  Mantle cell lymphoma

• 2008Propranolol for infantile haemangioma

  Vascular tumours (angiosarcoma, epithelioid haemangioendothelioma, kaposiform haemangioendothelioma). Léauté-Labrèze and colleagues, NEJM: serendipitous discovery.

• 2008RTOG 98-11: mitomycin-based chemoradiotherapy beats induction cisplatin

  Localised anal squamous cell carcinoma (stage I to III)

  Mitomycin C
• 2008SHARP: sorafenib is the first drug to extend survival in advanced HCC

  Advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (BCLC C)

  SHARPSorafenib
• 2008Tang classification separates typical goblet cell carcinoid from adenocarcinoma ex goblet cell carcinoid

  Goblet cell adenocarcinoma of the appendix

• 2008The only randomised trial of Mohs surgery reports at five years

  Skin cancer (all types). Mohs surgery better for recurrent facial basal cell carcinoma (2.4 against 12.1 per cent) and not significantly better for primary tumours; the ten-year re...

  Mohs surgery against ordinary excision for facial basal cell carcinoma (Maastricht trial)
• 2008The residual disease paradox and the brain metastasis rate

  Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Liedtke: pathological complete response 22 vs 11 percent yet worse survival, driven by residual disease.

  Response to neoadjuvant therapy and long-term survival in patients with triple-negative breast cancerSites of distant recurrence and clinical outcomes in patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer: high incidence of central nervous system metastasesBrain metastases (intracranial disease)
• 2008WHO names BPDCN

  Blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm (BPDCN). Reclassified from 'CD4+/CD56+ haematodermic neoplasm' as a distinct entity.

The since year on technology records: first use in humans or first approval, as the record states it.

• 2008Bimatoprost for eyelash and eyebrow regrowth

  First use in humans or first approval, as the technology record states it.

• 2008Confocal microscopy and optical coherence tomography for skin (VivaScope, VivoSight, deepLive)

  First use in humans or first approval, as the technology record states it.

• 2008CT body composition and sarcopenia measurement

  First use in humans or first approval, as the technology record states it.

• 2008Hypofractionated radiotherapy

  First use in humans or first approval, as the technology record states it.

• 2008Pencil-beam scanning and intensity-modulated proton therapy

  First use in humans or first approval, as the technology record states it.

• 2008Volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT)

  First use in humans or first approval, as the technology record states it.

The founded year on company records.

• 2008Alphamab Oncology founded

  Suzhou

• 2008ANZUP Cancer Trials Group founded

  Sydney

• 2008Cancer Prevention Pharmaceuticals founded

  Tucson, AZ

• 2008Lumicell founded

  Newton, MA

• 2008Netris Pharma founded

  Lyon

• 2008Profound Medical founded

  Mississauga, ON

• 2008Rhythm Pharmaceuticals founded

  Boston, Massachusetts

• 2008Xuanzhu Biopharmaceutical founded

  Beijing

The founded year on journal records.

• 2008Cancer prevention research founded

  American Association for Cancer Research

• 2008Hematology/oncology and stem cell therapy founded

  Wolters Kluwer Medknow

• 2008Journal of gynecologic oncology founded

  Asian Society of Gynecologic Oncology

• 2008Journal of hematology & oncology founded

  BMC (Springer Nature)

• 2008Journal of medical imaging and radiation oncology founded

  Wiley

• 2008Pigment cell & melanoma research founded

  Wiley

The selected publications each biography lists, which is a reading of that person rather than a reading of the year.

• 2008Androgen suppression and radiation vs radiation alone for prostate cancer: a randomized trial

  JAMA

• 2008D2 lymphadenectomy alone or with para-aortic nodal dissection for gastric cancer (JCOG 9501)

  NEJM

• 2008DNA sequencing of a cytogenetically normal acute myeloid leukaemia genome

  Nature

• 2008Down-regulated NF-E2-related factor 2 in pulmonary macrophages of aged smokers and patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

  American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology

• 2008Efficacy of gemcitabine plus axitinib compared with gemcitabine alone in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer: an open-label randomised phase II study

  Lancet

• 2008Emergence of MRSA in positive blood cultures from patients with febrile neutropenia—a cause for concern

  Supportive Care in Cancer

• 2008Epidermal Growth Factor Gene Functional Polymorphism and the Risk of Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Patients With Cirrhosis

  JAMA

• 2008Genomic Analysis of the Clonal Origins of Relapsed Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

  Science

• 2008Glycogen Synthase Kinase-3 and Cancer: Good Cop, Bad Cop?

  Cancer Cell

• 2008Human natural killer cells

  Blood

• 2008Hydrocortisone therapy for patients with septic shock

  New England Journal of Medicine

• 2008Identification of ALK as a major familial neuroblastoma predisposition gene

  Nature

  Yael P. Mossé
• 2008Identification of somatically acquired rearrangements in cancer using genome-wide massively parallel paired-end sequencing

  Nature Genetics

• 2008Innate immunity and intestinal microbiota in the development of Type 1 diabetes

  Nature

• 2008Laparoscopic and Robotic Assisted Radical Cystectomy for Bladder Cancer: A Critical Analysis

  European Urology

• 2008Leiomiossarcoma primário de adrenal

  Arquivos Brasileiros de Endocrinologia & Metabologia

• 2008Long-term results from a randomized phase II trial of standard- versus higher-dose imatinib mesylate for patients with unresectable or metastatic gastrointestin...

  Journal of Clinical Oncology

• 2008Marginal Zone Lymphomas

  Hematology/Oncology Clinics of North America

• 2008miR‐15b and miR‐16 modulate multidrug resistance by targeting BCL2 in human gastric cancer cells

  International Journal of Cancer

• 2008One hundred years after 'carcinoid': epidemiology of and prognostic factors for neuroendocrine tumors in 35,825 cases in the United States

  JCO

• 2008Patient Benefit From Endoscopically Assisted Fixation of Condylar Neck Fractures—A Randomized Controlled Trial

  Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

• 2008Phase I study of the poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitor, AG014699, in combination with temozolomide in patients with advanced solid tumors

  Clinical Cancer Research

• 2008Phase III randomized, intergroup trial assessing imatinib mesylate at two dose levels in patients with unresectable or metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumor...

  Journal of Clinical Oncology

• 2008Platinum-Based Chemotherapy plus Cetuximab in Head and Neck Cancer

  New England Journal of Medicine

• 2008Platinum-based chemotherapy plus cetuximab in head and neck cancer (EXTREME)

  NEJM

• 2008Preoperative Chemotherapy: Updates of National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project Protocols B-18 and B-27

  Journal of Clinical Oncology

• 2008Primary atrial fibrosarcoma of the heart

  Cardiovascular Pathology

• 2008Radiation-Induced CXCL16 Release by Breast Cancer Cells Attracts Effector T Cells

  The Journal of Immunology

• 2008Regulatory T cells and immune tolerance

  Cell

• 2008Retrospective Analysis of Locally Advanced Noninflammatory Breast Cancer From Chennai, South India, 1990–1999

  International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics

• 2008Role of extent of resection in the long-term outcome of low-grade hemispheric gliomas

  JCO

• 2008Sentinel Node Dissection Is Safe in the Treatment of Early-Stage Vulvar Cancer

  Journal of Clinical Oncology

• 2008Sorafenib in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (SHARP)

  NEJM

• 2008Speeding up the evaluation of new agents in cancer

  JNCI

• 2008Symptom concerns and quality of life in hepatobiliary cancers

  Oncology Nursing Forum

• 2008Velvet: algorithms for de novo short read assembly using de Bruijn graphs

  Genome Research

• 2008Vulnerability to heat-related mortality in Latin America: a case-crossover study in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Santiago, Chile and Mexico City, Mexico

  Int J Epidemiol