Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group

About: Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group is a facility organization based out in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Cancer & Breast cancer. The organization has 249 authors who have published 170 publications receiving 26514 citations. The organization is also known as: ECOG.

Recommended guidelines for the management of autologous and allogeneic bone marrow transplantation : a report from the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG)

Abstract: Objective: To define the basic state-of-the-art medical care of the patients after bone marrow transplantation as practiced by the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Data Identification: Studies e

Significantly lower P-glycoprotein expression in acute promyelocytic leukemia than in other types of acute myeloid leukemia: immunological, molecular and functional analyses.

Abstract: Expression of P-glycoprotein (Pgp), the product of the multidrug resistance (MDR1) gene, detected by flow cytometric analysis of the binding of antibody 4E3.16, was found on significantly fewer leukemic cells in 35 adult patients with de novo acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) (mean 14.8%, median 7%) than in 184 patients with non-APL acute myeloid leukemia (AML) at diagnosis (mean 28.3%, median 18%) (p = 0.0038). APL was diagnosed based on morphology, the detection of t(15;17) and of the chimeric fusion transcript PML/RAR alpha by PCR. To further substantiate low MDR1 expression in APL, we studied cells from 11 APL patients at the molecular and functional level in comparison to 48 non-APL cases. The diagnosis of APL was associated with the absence of Pgp function by the rhodamine efflux assay (p = 0.0001). Furthermore, MDR1-specific transcript levels, determined by quantitative PCR with two distinct sets of primers, were significantly lower in mononuclear cells from the APL than the other AML cases (p = 0.013). The frequency of leukemic cells positive for CD34, an antigen presumably associated with Pgp expression in AML, was significantly lower in APL than other AMLs (p = 0.0001). In contrast to non-APL leukemias, those few cases of CD34 strongly positive APL neither expressed Pgp nor contained significant MDR1 transcript levels. Low expression of Pgp by APL cells may provide the biologic basis for the high sensitivity of this leukemia subtype to chemotherapeutic agents in vivo.

A randomized prospective comparison of intermittent methotrexate, methotrexate with leucovorin, and a methotrexate combination in head and neck cancer

Abstract: A randomized prospective clinical trial involved 259 cases of advanced recurrent Stage III and IV epidermoid cancers of the head and neck. The cases were randomized among three treatment programs evaluating two dose schedules and a combination treatment of methotrexate. The treatments consisted of: weekly methotrexate, biweekly methotrexate with leucovorin rescue (ML), and biweekly ML combined with cyclophosphamide and cytosine arabinoside (MLCC). Equivalent overall drug-related toxicity was produced with a 5% drug-related fatality rate. Methotrexate alone produced significantly more skin and mucosal toxicity, and the combination (MLCC) resulted in more hematologic toxicity than other treatments. Complete and partial objective responses were achieved in 26%, 24%, and 18% by each treatment. Methotrexate alone produced a median duration of response and 105 days compared with 42 and 49 days from the other treatments. Duration of response was significantly longer and survival was better in the methotrexate-alone group. Response was markedly stage dependent; 40% of Stage III patients achieved response, whereas only 17% of Stage IV patients responded. Presence of visceral metastases decreased response rates and the likelihood of response was particularly compromised by pulmonary metastatic spread; only seven of 54 such patients responded. Decreased survival was related to non-ambulatory performance status, disease-free intervals of less than one year and weight loss. Survival differences between Stage III and IV patients could not be shown. This study demonstrates the therapeutic superiority of weekly i.v. treatment with methotrexate but failed to support claims of an improved therapeutic index for high-dose methotrexate with leucovorin rescue. As the only randomized prospective clinical trial of chemotherapy in advanced head and neck cancer, this study reinforces the weekly i.v. schedule of methotrexate as the standard against which other drug schedules and drug combinations should be compared.

A retrospective study of 69 patients with t(6;9)(p23;q34) AML emphasizes the need for a prospective, multicenter initiative for rare 'poor prognosis' myeloid malignancies.

Abstract: A retrospective study of 69 patients with t(6;9)(p23;q34) AML emphasizes the need for a prospective, multicenter initiative for rare ‘poor prognosis’ myeloid malignancies